The College of Teachers suspends Prohens' educational legislature (despite the money they have given/promised them)

PalmaThe Government of Marga Prohens and the Ministry of Education of Antoni Vera arrive at the last course of the legislature with more money than ever for the educational system, but with a fail from the College of Teachers. The entity considers that the new salary supplements for teachers and the increase in other remuneration do not compensate for a policy that, according to the coordinator, Antoni Salvà, has sidelined the public network, has favored the subsidized one and has cornered the educational community. “There is no dialogue, the educational community is not listened to and they go with their roadmap and step over everyone. That is to say, all possible meetings and assemblies are held, but they go with decisions already made. If we had to give a grade to the Ministry, we would fail it,” states Salvà. In his opinion, Education has shown less negotiation capacity than other Education departments of previous governments.

There are also positive aspects in the balance sheet. Among the measures he values, the recognition of the tutoring supplement stands out and, above all, the opening of the door to incorporating new professionals into the dynamics of the centers. "The incorporation of other professionals not linked to the educational field, but necessary for inclusive education, has been put on the table," he points out. In this regard, he considers the incorporation of educational psychologists particularly positive and argues that it will reinforce the teaching function: "This is very positive, because it means we don't have to do work that is not part of our professional profile, which is what happens now".

Salvà acknowledges that the Government has respected the formal participation procedures, but considers that complying with the procedure is not equivalent to negotiating. "They do it formally, but not with a spirit of dialogue," he states. He gives the School Council (CEIB) as an example, criticizing that deadlines have been shortened and that urgent procedures have been abused to thus reduce the room for maneuver of the plenary, which on more than one occasion has pushed back (consultatively) initiatives from the Administration. Of the last five decrees, he explains, the School Council explicitly requested the withdrawal of two, that of initial qualification and that of Excellence Baccalaureate. The response from the Ministry, according to the coordinator, was eloquent: "They didn't give a damn about us".

More money than ever

Suspense arrives in a legislature in which Education has increased the resources allocated to the system and has approved new salary supplements for teachers, in addition to increasing other supplements that already existed. The Government can showcase a policy of pay improvement and an educational budget that has reached historic highs. But for the College of Teachers, the global amount of money is not enough to assess the state of the system. “Never before has so much been spent on education, in absolute budget, but if you look at it in euros per student, it's not that much,” states Salvà. The coordinator believes that it is necessary to analyze how resources are distributed and what part of the investment serves to directly strengthen the public network.

In this regard, he considers the economic measures aimed at teachers insufficient. “They have contained teachers with economic measures, cosmetic measures that do not help,” he assures. The criticism is not, therefore, that there has been no money, but that it would not have served to resolve the structural problems that education is dragging. The College demands that the increase in resources also translate into fewer students per classroom, more public places, better infrastructure, air conditioning, and more resources for inclusion. “It is essential, because if we want individualized and inclusive teaching, it is impossible to do it with high ratios,” he defends.

For Salvà, this is the main contradiction of the legislature: an educational system that has more resources in absolute terms, but which, according to his reading, has not sufficiently reinforced the elements that determine the quality of public education. The College considers that salary improvements are necessary, but they are not sufficient if they are not accompanied by a structural policy of positions, personnel and infrastructures.

Concerted schools, ratios and inclusion

The subsidized network is one of the main points of disagreement. Antoni Salvà believes that the legislature has been accompanied by an increase in the weight of private-subsidized education. “Now we will start the school year in which the private sector will become strong,” he predicts. According to him, the budgets already reflect this trend, with a “decrease in spending on public education and an increase in subsidized education”. Salvà does not advocate for eliminating subsidized education: “The subsidized system must exist, because public ones are not enough,” he admits. But he believes that its weight is a consequence, in part, of the lack of creation of new public places. “There are none because none have been created, because what is now being inaugurated comes from the previous legislature and all governments have always been slower than the pace of student growth,” he states.

The coordinator recalls that the Pact for Education stipulated that educational planning should be based on the creation of public places. Therefore, he considers that directing a large part of the resources towards the private sector distorts the model. "Wanting a high percentage of resources to be allocated to the private sector is perverting the system," he maintains.

The underlying problem, according to Salvà, is the “containment of expenditure in education”. The reduction of ratios is one of his main demands. He recalls that the Ministry of Education has reduced them and believes that the Balearic Islands cannot be left behind if they want to move towards a more individualized system. He opines that the Government has introduced measures that may increase the segregation of students by language, academic level, and special educational needs. “They have not repealed laws, but they have prevented their development, because they have introduced measures of segregation by language, by academic level, and now, segregation by students with special educational needs,” he states.

The coordinator also questions the legislative policy. He recalls that the Government began the legislature announcing that it wanted to achieve the repeal of LOMLOE, but they were ultimately unable to. According to Salvà, however, it has not been necessary to repeal it, because they do not apply it fully. The same situation, in his opinion, occurs with the Balearic Islands Education Law (LEIB), which he considers to have been "parked in a drawer".

"They have tampered with Catalan in schools that the LEIB protected with the Omnibus Law," he assures. Salvà criticizes the measures related to teachers without knowledge of Catalan and the exemptions for newly arrived students, as well as the Linguistic Segregation Plan, to which, he denounces, only state-subsidized schools have adhered. "This issue of teachers without Catalan and permanently exempting newcomers from Catalan is to diminish the language," he states. For the College, these decisions are part of the same political project. "It is a right-wing, reactionary roadmap, which does not favor inclusion, but rather goes against it," he maintains.

Infrastructure and air conditioning are another of the fronts that explain the suspense. “Infrastructure is at a standstill, the few that have been done were those planned for the previous academic year,” he says. Regarding air conditioning, he recalls that the Government launched a pilot plan, but considers that it has not been followed by sufficient investment and efficiency policy. One more year, educational centers will most likely start the academic year with high temperatures. Salvà's forecast is that the centers will again face episodes of extreme temperatures: “The academic year will start with heat and beware of serious atmospheric situations, because if it rains in the fall, we will swim.”

Gaze set on the elections

The final stretch of the legislature will be conditioned by the regional elections of 2027. The coordinator of the College of Teachers believes that the Government will take advantage of these months to present measures that allow it to reach the elections with a more favorable image before the public network. “Probably, during the last school year and with an eye on the elections, they will implement policies that favor public education,” he states. “They will have to offer positions. They will clean up their image before the public, after having approved a decree for subsidized schools that meets all their wishes, with 10-year subsidies,” he says.

The private university is also part of its diagnosis. “The Government has knelt before the private university,” states Salvà. He finds that the very creation of the Ministry of Education and Universities (in plural) showed a change in priorities. “It has no public service perspective, everything possible is outsourced,” he sentences.

The College also criticizes the management of administrative instruments. Salvà considers that the current Education team will leave a weakened structure. “A dismantled ministry,” he summarizes. He gives Gest-IB as an example, which the Government has decided to replace with the controversial Llull. Salvà questions the project and the cost, which he places at 4.5 million euros, and criticizes the Ministry for outsourcing services that, according to him, should be part of the public structure.

Salvà's final assessment is conclusive, as he considers that the Ministry has indeed fulfilled the political program that the Government had entrusted to it. “What the Ministry has done well is to keep the conflict with people down, they have deactivated the educational community and they have also done well in complying with the Government's directives,” he affirms. Among these directives, he places “annulling the effects of the LOMLOE, returning to quarterly grades, proposing a more regressive education, modifying old-fashioned curricula and adding many orientations reminiscent of the LOMQE (Wert Law)”.

With this diagnosis, the College of Teachers reaches the final school year of the legislature with a clear idea: the money allocated to the system and the salary improvements for teachers are not enough to change its balance sheet. For Salvà, the question is not only how much the Government has spent on education, but which model it has reinforced with these resources.

His answer is that the public network has not been prioritized enough, while the subsidized network has gained weight and measures have been introduced that, according to the College, consolidate segregation. The last school year will be the test of whether the Government takes advantage of the remaining months to save the furniture in front of public education or if it consolidates the subsidized model that the professional body of teachers, and also the majority of the educational community, have questioned during the legislature. Therefore, when asked to grade Prohens' educational legislature, Salvà does not hesitate: "Failed".