Cristina Lladó (Palma, 2009) is the third best grade in the PAU in the Balearic Islands (9.706), the second best in Mallorca. After excellent results, she reflects on the preparation for the selectivity exam, defends the role of public education in Catalan, and argues why she does not share the model of the new Baccalaureate of Excellence that the Ministry of Education will implement.

The Baccalaureate of Excellence promoted by the Ministry of Education will begin next academic year with a response, for now, very unequal between islands. The new Llorenç Villalonga institute in Palma has already received 65 applications for the initially planned 60 places—which can be extended to 70—, while the excellence classroom at IES Algarb, in Eivissa, has registered 22 (for 30 places). On the other hand, in Menorca, the project has awakened, at the moment, much less interest: only 11 students have requested a place at IES Joan Ramis i Ramis in Maó (30 places). Of the students who have requested a place, 90.48% come from public schools. Enrollment remains active.

The high school teacher Xavier Vadell, dean of the Official College and Association of Chemists of the Balearic Islands and a native of Andratx, will be the first director of IES Llorenç Villalonga, the new center promoted by the Ministry of Education to offer the Baccalaureate of Excellence in Mallorca from the 2026-2027 academic year and labeled as segregating by a good part of the educational community. Vadell will take on the direction after winning a competition for which he was the sole applicant and will be in charge of launching a high school that will open its doors in September. The new director shares his hometown with the Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera, also from Andratx.

The new IES Llorenç Villalonga, which will offer the Excellence Baccalaureate in Mallorca starting next academic year, will have to complete a large part of its staff with interim teachers, after only five tenured teachers have obtained a commission of services to join the center. This is according to various sources consulted by this newspaper, who believe that the final result deviates from the initial idea of the Ministry of Education to configure a faculty mainly composed of experienced tenured teachers. The same sources also question some of the movements made during the staffing process, including the incorporation of a 68-year-old teacher who, by seniority, could be retired.

The advancement of final exams and the closing of evaluation records for first-year Baccalaureate has altered the end of the school year in the Balearic Islands' high schools and has opened a growing debate among teachers, families, and students about the real meaning of June now. The decision by the Department of Education—which sets the closing of ordinary grades before June 5 and keeps classes until the 19th—aimed to reorganize the calendar, advance retakes, and dedicate the following weeks to both supporting students with pending subjects and maintaining teaching activity with approved students. However, on the ground, the majority perception is different: absenteeism has soared and effective learning time has been lost.

Separate students with the best grades from the rest of the students to create an Excellence Bachelor's itinerary. This is the bet of the Department of Education and Universities for the 2026-2027 academic year, which has raised alarms among pedagogues, teachers, and families, who see it as a new step towards educational segregation and a model that questions the idea of inclusive education promoted in recent years. "'Excellent' students must coexist with the rest, because society is like that: diverse," summarizes Joan Jordi Muntaner, doctor in Pedagogy from the UIB. "Contact, relationship, and exchange with diverse people enrich, because the 'good ones' are a model for the rest. Grouping students just because they have a very high performance, is that the only objective?", he asks. With this Bachelor's degree comes a new form of student segregation, which is added to the linguistic one and to the one that will occur with the implementation of the single zone in most of the municipalities of the Balearic Islands.

“As a student who has gone through Baccalaureate and Selectivity and knows the pressure to get a good grade, I find that this Excellence Baccalaureate is a good idea, especially when it comes to learning and expanding knowledge. Having the option to deepen subjects, do laboratory practices, or have the ease of doing a double modality is an opportunity that enriches you a lot and can open more doors for you for the university future, something I would have liked to have at the time”, explains Fèlix Coll, former student of IES Biel Martí de Ferreries and with one of the best grades in the 2025 Selectivity (9.35 unweighted).

The Government will launch a new Baccalaureate Excellence Program (PEB) that will begin operating in a newly created center in Palma, named IES Llorenç Villalonga, and which will also have a presence in Ibiza and Menorca through specific classrooms. The initial offer will be divided into two training pathways: one oriented towards Science and Technology and another focused on Humanities and Social Sciences. According to the Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera, the future institute in Palma will be approved shortly by the Governing Council and, provisionally, will be installed in the Sa Riera building of the UIB.

The Governing Council has given the go-ahead to the decree that sets the foundations for the new Baccalaureate Excellence Program (PEB), an initiative aimed at fostering and recognizing the academic performance of students with the most outstanding results. As explained by the Executive's spokesperson, Antoni Costa, the program will provide students with additional tools and a specific framework designed to enhance talent during the post-compulsory stage.

The General Baccalaureate has been at the forefront of one of the most significant transformations in post-compulsory education in recent years. This track—designed for students who haven't yet decided on a specific pathway—combines subjects from Science and Technology, Humanities and Social Sciences, and Arts, offering an interdisciplinary education that breaks with the rigidity of traditional baccalaureate programs. Since the 2022-2023 academic year began, following the approval of the LOMLOE (Organic Law for the Modification of the Organic Law on Education), the number of enrolled students in the Balearic Islands has practically tripled, rising from 518 in the first year to 1,402 this year. Beyond this overall growth, a phenomenon has caught the attention of teachers and counselors: the clear masculinization of this track. Data from 2022 to 2025 show a sustained increase in male students across all the islands, to the point that, in some cases, they make up well over 60% of the total. In Mallorca, men represented 55.5% of students in the first year, reaching 62% in 2024 (58% in 2025), while in Menorca they have consistently remained between 55% and 60%. In Ibiza, male enrollment has skyrocketed from 47% in 2022 to 62.5% in 2025. In Formentera, they now account for 77% of enrollments. Men represent 58.2% of those currently enrolled in the General Baccalaureate program in the Balearic Islands (2025-2026).

The Teachers' Assembly of the IES Can Peu Blanc (Sa Pobla) has expressed its "deep disagreement" with the modification of the first-year Baccalaureate school calendar for the 2025-2026 academic year, which brings forward the extraordinary exams to June. Teachers complain that the change, announced after the school year had begun, disrupts teaching planning and overloads both students and teaching teams. Specifically, the modification was announced on September 9th at a meeting of the Education Department with management teams.

The Ministry of Education has informed high schools that, starting this year, they will have to complete regular assessment reports before June 5th, which means final exams will be held earlier. This advance will allow for the make-up tests (extraordinary assessments) to be held during the month of June and the final reports to be completed before the 26th of the same month, thus eliminating the September tests. According to the instructions sent to schools, students will be required to continue attending classes until the last day of the school year (June 19th), even if they have already been assessed. Teaching staff will have to organize reinforcement activities, tutoring, and extra tests for students with outstanding subjects, as well as specific proposals.