The IES Can Peu Blanc assembly protests the change in the high school calendar: "It violates pedagogical coherence."

PalmThe 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.

In a letter sent to the Education Department and obtained by ARA Baleares, the teachers criticize the Ministry for imposing the new calendar model on them. According to the updated instructions, the records of the ordinary evaluation must be completed before June 5th, while the extraordinary exams must also be held within that month, with the school year still in progress and mandatory attendance until June 19th. Teachers believe that this measure, in addition to being hasty, breaks pedagogical coherence and complicates end-of-year management.

Teachers point to five critical points: the contradiction of maintaining classes as normal after grades are finalized; the excessive workload of combining teaching, tutoring, and special exams in the same period; the lack of real time for students to prepare for their make-up exams; the need to redo previously scheduled schedules; and the logistical tensions this creates at the school level. "Once students receive their regular grades, motivation and performance decrease significantly, not to mention the absolute certainty that students who have passed will not attend," they explain.

The Ministry maintains that the new calendar responds to a "rationalization" of the academic year and puts the Balearic Islands on par with most autonomous communities, which no longer hold exams in September. Sources from the department insist that the measure has been discussed with representatives of the educational community and has been "very well received."

Request for reconsideration

In this context, the Teachers' Assembly of the IES Can Peu Blanc demands that the Regional Ministry reconsider its decision and reinstate the extraordinary September session or establish a "viable, pedagogical, and coherent" calendar. The statement concludes that any such reform "must be carried out within the appropriate timeframe and manner, and above all, listening to the voice of the teaching staff."

In addition to this school, teachers from other schools have expressed displeasure with the change. "Beyond the fact that they're giving us days to finish the syllabuses, which are endless, it will be impossible to get students, once they've been assessed, to come to class willingly, to spend time in the heat when they're no longer at stake. Many won't," lamented a teacher from the Pla de Mallorca School of Education, who also highlights the contradiction between the increase in hours (33 hours in the first year of high school) and the reduction in actual days for teaching content. "They haven't shortened the curriculum, and while they've increased our teaching hours, they're now cutting them elsewhere," he says.