Education unions across Catalonia have strongly rejected a pilot programme by the Catalan government to deploy plainclothes Mossos d'Esquadra, the Catalan police force, in schools. The initiative, set to begin in areas including L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Vic, Alta Ribagorça-Vall d’Aran, Tàrrega, and two centres in El Prat de Llobregat and Sabadell, aims to address increasing complexity in educational settings.
According to the Department of Education, the programme seeks to reinforce the well-being of students and the wider educational community by integrating police agents as reference figures within schools. The department stated that the initiative aligns with trends in other territories, citing OECD data suggesting approximately half of developed countries have similar school-security collaboration programmes for preventive purposes. Several autonomous communities in Spain also reportedly have such projects.
However, unions such as CGT, USTEC, and Intersindical have frontally opposed the measure, questioning both the government's diagnosis of the problem and its proposed solution. They argue that the plan represents a "police logic" response that fails to tackle the structural causes of conflicts in schools.
Unions Warn of Distrust and Punitive Measures
CGT warned that the presence of police, even plainclothes officers, could generate dynamics of distrust, stigmatisation, and tension, particularly in schools with high complexity. The union cautioned that conflicts typically resolved through dialogue or mediation might instead be treated punitively, potentially leading to an increase in sanctions, expulsions, or formal complaints. CGT also criticised the programme's focus on centres with vulnerable students, suggesting it could reinforce their criminalisation.
Marc Martorell, spokesperson for Intersindical Educació, described the idea of placing armed forces or police in schools and institutes as "nonsense". While acknowledging that conflict exists in some centres, Martorell told reporters that it "is not resolved with police". He explained, "Conflict is resolved with prevention, more staff, more educators and social services. We work with vulnerable groups and minors, and an approach to conflict that is not punitive is needed." Martorell added that while police have participated in coordination meetings when necessary, the current model "is a waste of resources and an absurdity for the vision of the school model we want".
USTEC also recognised that coexistence in schools is a genuine problem but rejected a solution involving police presence. The union stated, "In institutes, we do not need a normalised police presence, but an educational, preventive and community response." USTEC insisted that the issue is primarily educational and social, linked to a lack of resources. The union called for measures such as reducing class sizes, reinforcing teaching staff, and incorporating more educational support and guidance professionals. USTEC concluded, "This pilot programme starts from a mistaken premise: it treats what is, above all, an educational, social and underfunded problem as a security problem."
The unions frame their rejection as part of a broader defence of the educational model, emphasising that schools should be spaces for coexistence, critical thinking, and building relationships. USTEC maintained that "coexistence is educated, built and cared for; it is not imposed with police presence".
Rejecting the "American Model"
CGT believes the proposal has the "school resource officers" (SRO) model from the United States as its reference. The union highlighted that "in the United States, the massive implementation of police officers in educational centres has been widely documented as a factor in increasing expulsions and the entry of minors, especially those of racialised origins, into the penal system." CGT asserted, "Catalonia does not need to import a model that has failed. It needs to listen to those who are in the classrooms every day: the teaching staff, the management team, social educators and guidance counsellors."
Martorell of Intersindical also pointed to Article 30 of Catalonia's Education Law, which concerns the right and duty of coexistence. This article stipulates that "centres must establish measures for the promotion of coexistence, and in particular mediation mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of conflicts and formulas through which families commit to cooperate effectively in the guidance, encouragement and, when necessary, the amendment of students' attitudes and conduct in the educational centre."
Martorell further recalled that the Catalan Parliament approved a resolution "For the construction of a culture of peace and demilitarisation" on 18 December 2020, as part of the "Demilitarise Education" campaign. This resolution, among other measures, urged the government to avoid the presence of police forces, including Mossos d’Esquadra, with weapons in school premises and classrooms when visiting for talks on road safety or online security.
Calls for Pilot Withdrawal
The "Demilitarise Education" campaign has called for the withdrawal of the pilot programme. The entities involved condemned what they described as the "authoritarian drift" of such programmes, which they believe "feed an anti-democratic social discourse based on the use of force, punishment and surveillance, even if it is sweetened with words like deterrence or preventive intervention". They argue that the pilot contravenes existing regulations, the pedagogical objectives of basic education, and parliamentary resolutions favouring the construction of coexistence models in schools based on positive conflict transformation.
