President Salvador Illa will appear before the Catalan Parliament at 09:00 on Wednesday 23 September to explain the failure in Catalunya’s PISA international education tests, while teachers’ groups prepare to discuss fresh action in a dispute affecting public schools across the region.

The appearance will be the sole item on the parliamentary sitting. Illa will speak without a time limit before the parliamentary groups respond. For families and staff at more than 1,300 public schools, the dispute continues to affect planning for school trips and residential stays, which remain subject to a boycott until an agreement is reached.

L’Empordà reported that the Assemblea Educativa de Catalunya (AEC), an informal teachers’ organisation involved in last school year’s protests, is meeting in L’Hospitalet de l’Infant, Baix Camp, on Saturday. It will assess steps announced by the Generalitat, including school air-conditioning plans, and debate its next mobilisations.

PISA explanation follows proposed disciplinary action

The parliamentary appearance follows the PISA testing error that led to the dismissal of Teresa Sambola, then the second most senior official in the Departament d’Educació, Catalonia’s education department.

On 31 August, education minister Esther Niubó said a preliminary inquiry had ended and proposed disciplinary proceedings against three people: two civil servants at the former Consell Superior d’Avaluació del Sistema Educatiu, the body that coordinated the tests, and a senior education department official.

Niubó said Catalunya had received seven warnings from Spain’s education ministry about an error in the test sample, but maintained that the warnings had not reached her office. Illa is expected to address why the officials who received those warnings did not pass them to schools administering the tests or to the minister.

Education council and unions meet on Tuesday

The Consell d’Educació de Catalunya, the statutory advisory council on education, is scheduled to hold a regular plenary meeting on Tuesday 22 September. It will be its first meeting since Illa asked its president, Joan Manuel del Pozo, to organise a broad public debate intended to rebuild confidence in Catalonia’s education system.

  • Saturday 19 September: the AEC meets in L’Hospitalet de l’Infant to consider further mobilisation.
  • Tuesday 22 September: the Consell d’Educació de Catalunya holds its plenary meeting; unions USTEC and ASPEPC have also called media briefings.
  • Wednesday 23 September, 09:00: Illa is due to address the Catalan Parliament on the PISA case.

USTEC, one of the main unions in Catalan public schools, is due to set out its assessment of Illa’s proposal and its planned course of action. ASPEPC, which represents secondary-school teachers, is due to announce legal action alleging that the Departament d’Educació breached transparency law over the PISA tests and the presentation of Catalunya’s results.

“Until an agreement is reached.”

That is the condition set by the AEC for ending the boycott of school trips and residential stays, according to L’Empordà. Schools, families and staff seeking practical information on planned activities should check directly with their individual school, which decides whether a trip or stay can proceed.

Primary Sources

No official statement or parliamentary document was supplied with the verified material. The reported dates, planned meetings and statements are attributed to L’Empordà’s reporting.

Reported by L'Empordà.