The Minister of Education, Anna Simó, has asked education professionals to “participate and enrich” in the “much-needed” debate on education in Catalonia, after the poor results obtained by Catalan students in the PISA report.
In a letter that she sent today to the management of the educational centers, to the teachers and to the educational staff, the counselor asks them to contribute to “a serene and enriching debate that allows us to identify the elements that explain the difficulties detected and specify the priorities.” to improve student learning and the Catalan educational system”.
The councilor states in the letter that “recognition of her task” will be accompanied by her “commitment to improve teaching conditions” such as “the corresponding financial allocation” and the “reduction of bureaucracy.”
“You know the measures that I have proposed in public, and that Parliament has also proposed to strengthen the educational system” and “we will work on them in the form of an agreement between political parties, with long-term commitments and with the corresponding financial allocation,” says the counselor
Anna Simó reminds them that the economic improvement “will be added to the effort of these last two years”, which has implied “a 20% increase in the budget, the incorporation of nearly 7,000 teachers, the progressive reduction of ratios or the investment in reception and in inclusive education”.
On the other hand, he assures that “we agree with the centers’ management on the need to simplify management and bureaucracy” and that their intention is to “relieve certain procedures and prioritize the relevant ones.”
According to the person responsible for Catalan education, it is “a good time to carry out constructive reflection on the aspects that should be improved” and to “thoroughly analyze the results of the PISA tests”, as well as the “diagnostic and end-of-stage tests”. ” to “agree on measures with all political, social and educational agents.”
“You, as professionals who are in the classroom every day, are the most authoritative voice in this entire process that we are launching,” the counselor communicates to the professionals, and conveys to them her “full confidence in their work,” while at the same time she is “convinced that we will move forward”
The counselor also informs those who work in education that she has sent another letter to families in which she asks for “trust, involvement and support in the teachers of their sons and daughters.”
“You are committed professionals, who have had to adapt to many changes quickly and overcome exceptional situations, such as the pandemic,” adds Anna Simó.
The head of Catalan education also states in the letter that she is “fully aware that the teaching community considers that perhaps their work is not sufficiently valued and that they assume an excessive workload.”
Finally, he assures that “all these measures will not bear fruit immediately” and that reforms in the educational field require “time and require broad consensus, starting with education professionals.”
