The poor PISA results do not surprise Alternativa Docent: "We have been denouncing this for years"

PalmaAlternativa Docent believes that the results of the 2025 PISA report, which place the Balearic Islands below the Spanish, OECD, and European Union average in Mathematics, Reading, and Science, "are no surprise." The union points out that the Islands' educational system has been dragging a combination of shortcomings for years that hinder the improvement of learning. The organization argues that there is not a single cause that explains the results, but rather a sum of factors. Among these, it points to "historical underfunding," overcrowded and heterogeneous classrooms, the lack of teachers and covered positions, continuous legislative changes, the impact of screens and artificial intelligence, and socioeconomic inequalities.

For Alternativa Docent, it is a "structural, not cyclical" problem. The union recalls that for more than a decade it has been warning about the system's difficulty in absorbing the increase in students and the growing complexity of classrooms with the available resources. In this sense, it cites as an example the 3,801 newly arrived students who joined the education system during the 2025-2026 school year. According to its calculations, this arrival would be equivalent, according to the criteria of ratios and spaces defended by the union, to the need to build nine two-track primary schools. Alternativa laments that this growth falls mostly on the public network without, it asserts, enough spaces or reinforcements having been enabled.

The union also links the PISA results to the increased exposure of adolescents to screens. It criticizes the introduction of digital devices into the education system without, in its view, there having been enough critical spirit regarding the role of large technology companies and the impact they may have on students' attention. Alternativa Docent also considers that schools cannot take on the consequences of adolescents' digital consumption alone and calls for greater involvement from families. The union advocates for "real family control" over screen usage and a social pact to address this issue.

The organization also puts the results into perspective and recalls that the students evaluated by PISA 2025 have gone through stages marked by educational cuts from the financial crisis, the increase in ratios, the lack of support, the pandemic, and the increase in the school population on the Islands. Therefore, it considers that the current results are the outcome of an accumulation of factors over recent years.

Faced with this situation, Alternativa Docent demands a "country plan" from the Government that goes beyond isolated measures. Among its proposals are an infrastructure plan that allows for the construction of new centers and the reduction of ratios, resources to address diversity and inclusion, a reduction in the bureaucracy that affects teachers, and greater legislative stability.

The union also demands "decent" working conditions for teachers and to recover trust in education professionals. Regarding digitalization, it proposes a social pact to limit the use of screens with shared responsibility between schools and families. Alternativa Docent warns that PISA tests do not, by themselves, constitute a complete diagnosis of the education system, but it considers that they do represent "a very clear warning" about the need to act on several fronts. "There is no single culprit, but there is a shared responsibility," the organization defends.