The unions see in PISA the failure of an educational system without enough resources

PalmaEducational unions react with very different diagnoses to the poor results of the Balearic Islands in the 2025 PISA report. While SIAU considers that the data once again demonstrates the "failure of the educational model that is being imposed in the Balearic Islands" and demands a change of course, STEI rejects that the results should become a tool to question teachers and focuses on the lack of resources and investment. ANPE, for its part, demands addressing the structural problems of the system and warns that PISA does not allow attributing the results to a single cause.

SIAU is the most forceful union in its reading of the data. It recalls that the Balearic Islands are situated below the Spanish average in Science, Mathematics, and Reading comprehension, with a particularly sharp drop in Reading, where students in the Islands lose 31 points compared to 2022. But the union places special emphasis on grade repetition. 24.8% of Balearic students have repeated a year, a proportion that, according to the data managed by SIAU, reaches 29.8% in public schools: practically three out of every ten students.

For the union, this data proves that "public education has ceased to be their priority" and accuses the Ministry of Education of a process of "privatization and progressive dismantling" of the public network. SIAU considers that the poor results are a consequence of a model that for years has lowered "demands" and discredited "effort". The union also attacks pedagogical innovation policies and what it qualifies as "pseudopedagogical experiments". "Fewer gurus, fewer experiments, and less privatization. More teaching staff, more resources, more demand, and an unequivocal commitment to public education," summarizes SIAU.

The reading from STEI is practically the other side of the coin. The union rejects that the poor PISA results end up being blamed on the teaching staff and even questions whether the OECD can act as a neutral benchmark to determine educational policies. "Every time standardized statistics do not give the numbers expected by the offices, the teaching profession suffers public discredit and questioning of the profession," denounces the STEI, which demands a focus on educational investment and the conditions in which schools work. The union considers it especially serious that better results are demanded while more than 57,000 students in the Islands need specific educational support measures. According to the STEI, the lack of specialists, resources, and individualized attention prevents part of the student body from being able to follow the ordinary pace of classes.

STEI, however, agrees with SIAU on another element: concern over the impact of screens. The union points out that new digital habits favor a "hasty and fragmentary" reading and a "cognitive delegation" that harms attention span, critical thinking, and deep learning. Its response, however, mainly involves increasing resources. It demands a "true dignification" of the teaching profession, more budget, resources to attend to diversity, and equipment adapted to the needs of the centers.

"Wake-up call"

ANPE shares part of this structural diagnosis, but adopts a more cautious position. The union points out that PISA "does not by itself measure the quality of an educational system nor does it allow the results to be attributed to a single cause." At the same time, it considers that the fact that the Balearic Islands repeatedly remain below the Spanish average should serve as a "wake-up call." ANPE puts on the table specific factors of the Islands, such as the high mobility of the student body, demographic pressure, the socioeconomic reality linked to tourism, and the difficulties in consolidating stable teaching staff. Insularity, the price of housing, and the cost of living, it points out, complicate the coverage and permanence of certain positions.

For this reason, it demands sufficient and stable staff, reduction of ratios, more support personnel, less bureaucracy, and reinforcement of basic competencies. It also defends an "educational, balanced, and responsible" use of technology and requests that the conclusions of PISA be taken into account in the negotiation of the new Educational Commitment 2027-2031. With three different readings, the unions agree, however, on a fundamental issue: the PISA results cannot be ignored. The discrepancy is in the diagnosis. For SIAU, the data confirm that the educational model needs to be rectified; for the STEI, they evidence above all the lack of resources with which the public network works, while ANPE demands acting on the structural problems of the system without attributing the results to a single cause.