It is clear that the results of the PISA report are bad, without excuses. This is how clearly the president of the Generalitat responded to the results published this week by the OECD, which evaluates the educational systems of the countries. Clarity is appreciated, because acknowledging that things are not working as they should is the first step to finding solutions. It is not enough to say that the issue is very complex and that there are many causes that explain the result. The statement is true, but you need courage and assertiveness to identify where you need to put your focus and efforts.
In the same way that we all carry a football coach inside us and know, especially after the game, what was the best line-up, a similar thing happens with education, about which experts appear with foolproof solutions. And we also tend to resort to some mantras that seem to give answers to all problems, but the common places are not always useful to understand what is happening.
Almost always, changes lag behind reality. What we gather today is the picture of what has been sown in recent years and structural changes require time, but the diagnosis must be correct. It is surprising and frustrating that when more is invested in education than ever before (6,800 million euros in Catalonia, two thousand more than a decade ago) and when there are more teachers in the system than ever, the results do not improve but get worse. For this reason, just as it happens in other countries, once a certain point has been reached, the improvements in the system cannot be explained only by the millions of euros spent, since there are many factors, some exogenous to the school, which explain the results.
Many elements impact the education system. Of course, the educational policies and the resources allocated or the scholarship system, but also the degree of commitment of families, students and teachers, the socio-economic conditions of the environment, the management models of the educational centers and, of course , the way in which global challenges such as digitization and the omnipresence of screens and social networks are being addressed. Each actor has to play their part and that is why it would be unfair, and unhelpful, for the bad results of the PISA report to be dismissed by attributing everything to the fact that more money needs to be put into the system and that’s it.
One of the few things that generate consensus in the analysis of the situation, and this is supported by the data, is that there is a direct relationship between the results and school performance of the students and the socio-economic and cultural conditions of the families. It can be uncomfortable to acknowledge this reality openly, especially in times when what is politically correct marks opinions and speeches, but it is a fact that the reality of our society, of our towns, neighborhoods and cities has a reflection, as if it was a mirror, in what happens at school. School is not a bubble where you start from a blank sheet of paper where everything is to be done and everything is possible; the school is in tow of reality and has the noble function of improving it, but it does not work miracles.
Catalonia has reached eight million inhabitants this autumn. In fifteen years we have added another million, half in the last five years. It is impossible, with an honest and objective analysis, not to reach the conclusion that this reality – which has very positive things in other areas – has a direct impact on educational results. In the same way that it impacts other public services, such as healthcare.
Explaining this is not shirking responsibility because it is part of the answer to the question of what is happening to us. It is true that, based on bad faith and intentionality, it can support classist and xenophobic discourses, but falling into the naivety of not incorporating this element into the analysis would be reckless if, in truth, you want to turn the situation around. And this is everyone’s job, without exceptions and without excuses.
