Originally from Valencia, with a degree in Catalan Philology, Anna always thought that she preferred to work in Catalonia rather than in the Valencian Community, “I didn’t want to end up teaching, for example in the south of Alicante, where little Valencian is spoken so as not to have to be there all the time. a while justifying myself. She preferred to feel less questioned.” She moved and has been teaching Catalan in Catalonia for nine years, first in Montornès del Vallès and for a few years now in Camp de Tarragona, at an institute in Vila-seca.
Born in Enguera, predominantly Spanish-speaking, he studied in the La Costera region because his parents wanted him to learn and interact in their own language. And as a teacher, she preferred to go to the Catalan educational system, where for years hundreds of Valencian teachers have emigrated due to the facilities to work and the common language.
Thus, Anna explains that at the beginning she encountered “the typical questions, like when the students asked me why I said ‘estimate’ and not ‘estimate’ and I explained to them that we pronounce the r.” Now that she teaches classes in Tarragona, they ask her fewer questions. However, she believes that “there is no normality” in the relationship between speakers from both territories since “we Valencians have the inferiority complex that we have. And to that she adds that Catalans, in general, look little towards the south, although there are exceptions.
He has never had any problems, he assures. Neither does David, who three years ago left Ontinyent, in La Vall d’Albaida, to live in Catalonia. He teaches Kindergarten and Primary classes at a school in Terrassa where from time to time he has been told “how do you speak?”, but he says that he has immediately made it understood that “Valencian is a form that the language adopts in my land, “just like in Tortosa, for example.” Last year, for the first time, he taught Catalan Language and Literature classes in Secondary School, a possibility that the Department of Education gave to graduates with a C2 Catalan title. “I took advantage of my notes from my degree in Valencia and also tried to talk about Valencian authors, such as Vicent Andrés Estellés or Isabel Clara-Simó,” he recalls.
Paloma is another example, but with a different route. Born in Mislata, her mother tongue is Spanish. He studied teaching in Teruel, where he has family, and chose Catalonia to try his luck as soon as he finished his studies. She got the spot the first time. “But at first it was difficult for me, mine was textbook Catalan… and now, however, it comes out on its own, it flows without problems,” he explains. She has never had any difficulties, on the contrary, she is delighted: “The kids are very used to it, and the families too, because our accent is different, but now it happens to me when I go to Valencia, that they tell me that my Catalan accent has rubbed off on me.” and, on the other hand, here I sound very Valencian.”
All three highlight the advantages of bilingualism, but are critical of certain regressions that they observe in their daily lives. For David, the Catalan “has lost his pulse” at school and regrets that it is a situation that also occurs outside of school. “When the students speak to us, we continually reformulate them, but we would need support from the administrations, from the political establishments, something that we know is unthinkable in Valencia, but the language needs to be reinforced. I want to be positive, but we have to work harder for her, protect her. We work for that,” he reflects.
Anna seeks to connect with her students beyond classes: “I look for ‘backfire’ music for them in Catalan because they have the right to enjoy that too. How am I going to tell them that Catalan is cool if it is the language we force them to speak but they almost never need it nor do they have references?” he asks. She considers that the native language is “in clear decline” and regrets that “what has happened before in Valencia is now happening here.” She leaves a very clear message: “Survival, we are in survival mode.”
Paloma is less pessimistic, considering that everything depends on experience. Last year she found a 100% Catalan-speaking class, but this year the profile has changed. “Although they are all bilingual and they always speak to me in Catalan, it is true that everything depends on the habits they have at home and that they have adopted since they were little,” she says.
The unions explain that when the transfer competitions take place, where most personnel arrive are from Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. And just as Anna does not consider returning – “I already have my life here” -, Paloma is one of those many Valencian teachers who long to get a transfer to the Valencian Community. “I would like to return, but until I have a permanent school assigned, I cannot request a transfer, so it will still take a while,” explains Paloma. This year, the part of the 2022-23 secondary national transfer competition that affects the Valencian Community will be repeated, after the ruling won by FECCOOPV and the work of the Platform for the Catalog of Vacancies.
To avoid this already common flight of teachers to other territories, mainly to Catalonia, CCOO-PV explains that they have proposed to the Department of Education that the employment pools be opened every year, as happens there, so that the Valencian system has templates more stable.
