Is being a civil servant enough to be a teacher?
In just over half a century, society has undergone profound transformations that have radically altered the main agents of socialization. The family, the street, the world of work, and the media no longer play the same role they did decades ago. This change cannot be interpreted through the lens of nostalgia for an idealized past, often imbued with a conservative and even authoritarian morality, as has also been the case in our own society. Many of the social changes of the last century, both in Europe and in Spain and the Balearic Islands, have been clearly liberating and humanizing.
However, in the current context of a postmodern and fluid society, these traditional agents have been weakened. The extended family has given way to diverse family structures, often marked by precarious housing; the street has lost its function as a space for play and encounter, becoming instead a site of traffic; stable, lifelong employment has been replaced by fragmented career paths. Social media has ceded prominence to traditional media, where truth coexists with misinformation. It is not just an era of change; it is a change of era.
In this context, the school remains, paradoxically, one of the most solid institutions in the social system. This is not only due to its enduring presence, but also to the legal and political recognition of its role. Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), education—and its principal institution, the school—has been recognized as a fundamental human right. It is closely linked to personal development, respect for rights and freedoms, democratic participation, and coexistence based on tolerance. Without education, all other rights are severely undermined.
Recent international frameworks, such as the 2030 Agenda (UN, 2015) and the conclusions of the report Reimagining Our Futures Together (UNESCO, 2021), define the 21st-century school as an institution that is not only formative but also educational and transformative. These three functions are deeply interconnected. They are part of the same project, oriented toward a single educational objective. Either public schools assume this threefold function in an integrated way, or they cease to fulfill the very reason why, in the 19th century, they came to be considered key to economic and social progress.
The analysis of the difficulties and challenges facing schools cannot be limited to simply stating that they are a reflection of society. The schools we work for every day should not be a reflection of current society, but rather a reflection of the society we want to build. The difference between a merely formative school and a truly transformative one is not anecdotal, but substantial. This difference also determines the role of those who work within it: that of a mere civil servant or that of a teacher in the fullest sense.
Being a civil servant guarantees stability, rights, and legal protection. The LOMLOE (Organic Law for the Modification of the Organic Law on Education), in its Article 91, assigns teachers the responsibility of ensuring the intellectual, emotional, social, and moral development of students. Regulations such as Decree 209/2025, which implements Law 3/2021, recognize the authority of teachers. Without these laws, the educational function would be much more difficult. But the law alone is not enough. Being a teacher involves much more than having a regulatory framework. It involves establishing meaningful educational relationships, connecting with students, and understanding the human complexity inherent in any learning process.
That's why the question in the title makes perfect sense: Is being a civil servant enough to be a teacher? No. Working as a teacher can be a way of being a civil servant, but being a civil servant doesn't, in itself, make you a teacher. And you, what are you: a teacher or just a civil servant? The good civil servant goes to work to fulfill their schedule and exercise their rights. The teacher—who strives to be a good teacher—goes to school with a sense of duty and social responsibility. They know that their work has meaning and value.
Today, being a teacher is undoubtedly a demanding and multidimensional task. Teachers must operate in pedagogical, personal, emotional, social, and community spheres. They must not only be experts in their subject matter, but also creators of trusting environments, communicators, ethical role models, rigorous evaluators, and agents of social cohesion. The educational function must take precedence over the discipline taught. This undoubtedly represents a paradigm shift for which teachers have not had—and still do not have—the necessary support from institutions and society at large.
At the heart of it all is vocation, virtues, or theethos From the teacher's perspective. Not as a romanticized myth, but as a profound commitment to education and to the specific individuals who make it possible. Vocation alone is not enough, but without it there is no true professionalism. Believing in education, believing that it has meaning and is worthwhile, transforms a public function into an educational endeavor with social impact.
Therefore, the distinction is essential: teachers must be civil servants to guarantee the public interest, but they must also be educators to transform lives. The future of public education depends, to a great extent, on never forgetting this difference and ensuring that these two dimensions always go hand in hand.