IAQSE 2025 tests: Catalan proficiency in second-year secondary school students drops 15 points (especially in Menorca)

PalmThe results of the IAQSE tests for the 2024-2025 academic year, corresponding to fourth-grade primary school, show an improvement compared to the previous year, although they are still very low. Students obtained an additional 2.5 points in English; 7 in Spanish; 5 in Catalan (after dropping 10 points last year); and 4.5 in mathematics. However, the breakdown by island highlights a worrying reality for the Catalan language. Although in Mallorca the level of Catalan proficiency increased by 6.7 points—to a 56.6% achievement rate—in Menorca it fell by 8 points (47%), despite being the island with, in theory, the most favorable sociolinguistic reality. In Ibiza and Formentera, the drop was 4.9 points, to 33.1%, already starting from very low results. In the second year of compulsory secondary education, the balance is even more negative for Catalan. Majorcan students have dropped by 14.4 points; those from Menorca, by 23.5; and those from Ibiza and Formentera, by 19.1. A total of 15 points on average.

Regarding Spanish, a general decline is also observed in the second year of compulsory secondary education, partially offset by the improvement in Mallorca, which rose 9.8 points (64.8% achievement). In Menorca, it fell 22.6 points (42.4%) and in the Pitiusas, 26.6 (33.1%). English decreased on all the islands: -7.3 points in Mallorca, -17 in Menorca, and -10 in Ibiza and Formentera. In contrast, the results in mathematics are more mixed: it rose 3.5 points in Mallorca and 12 in Menorca, but fell 6.6 in the Pitiusas. The demographic weight of Mallorca prevents the overall average from being even lower. Overall, second-year compulsory secondary education students in the Balearic Islands lost 8 points in English and 15 in Catalan compared to the previous year, while improving slightly in Spanish (+3) and mathematics (+2).

Primary School Rebound

Primary school data have improved in all areas, which is clearly positive. However, the breakdown by island once again shows that the educational realities in the Balearic Islands are very different. Regarding Spanish, proficiency improved by 10.5 points in Mallorca and 6.5 in Ibiza and Formentera, but fell by 27.8 points in Menorca. A similar situation exists in English: it rose by 2.1 points in Mallorca and 13.2 in Menorca, while it fell by 3.7 points in the Pitiusas. In mathematics, the results are also uneven: they increased by 4.9 points in Mallorca and 9.9 in Menorca, but fell slightly, by half a point, in Ibiza and Formentera.

Last year, for the first time, the IAQSE tests were also administered in the fourth year of compulsory secondary education. It should be remembered that regulations stipulate that all students must complete the compulsory stage with an equivalent level in both official languages. However, in practice, this is not the case, as the tests have shown. Only 46% of fourth-year compulsory secondary school students achieve a satisfactory level in Catalan, compared to 52% in Spanish, 54% in English, and between 35.6% and 43% in mathematics, depending on whether they take the science or social sciences option. We will have to wait for future tests to see how students perform in their final year of compulsory education.