The 2026-2027 school year starts this Tuesday in Catalonia as the previous one ended: with a strike. Despite the request from the councilor Esther Niubó to make a pause in the protest for a normal return to classrooms, the major unions have decided to maintain the strike for the first day, acknowledging that it is a “particularly sensitive” day. Therefore, it is uncertain what the turnout for the protest will be. Some centers have decided not to join in order to prioritize the reunion of students and the educational community after the summer break. Others will resume the school year with protests from day one.
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Teachers are asking to consolidate the commitments from last spring’s negotiations, more investment in inclusive education, or to increase staff and reduce teaching loads. The heat in classrooms, the boycott by more than half of public centers of school trips, and the new guidelines on the use of AI are other aspects that will mark what is expected to be a turbulent school year. And on top of all this, the publication of the PISA report results must be added.
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For this first day of strike, minimum services have been decreed that include one person from the management team per center. In the infant, primary, and secondary stages, there must be one teacher for every three classrooms. In special education, 50% of the staff is established, and in nursery schools, 33%. The dining, kitchen, reception, extracurricular, and special educational needs student support services must also have half of the staff.
President Salvador Illa also talks about a pause and asked this Monday for “respect for the right to education.” And although he acknowledged that “surely” the Government could have done better to avoid the strike, he claimed the improvements presented by his Executive and offered to open a debate about the education Catalonia needs with administrations, families, teachers, and student representatives. In a message regarding possible traffic disruptions, he asked that today citizens’ right to mobility be respected.
Without giving in to political pleas, Ustec, CGT, Intersindical, CNT, and COS, within the framework of the Assemblea Educativa de Catalunya, have called for more than a dozen mobilizations on this first day of school in Barcelonès, Baix Llobregat, Girona, Catalunya Central, Maresme, Vallès Oriental and Occidental, Tarragona, Terres de l’Ebre, Lleida, and Alt Pirineu and Aran. All will have a “macro assembly” at 11 a.m. In Barcelona, the march is at 10 a.m. in Plaça Urquinaona and will end in Plaça de Sant Jaume, where an hour later the “macro assembly” of education workers is scheduled. The columns will start walking from different points of the city at 9 a.m. In Girona, a breakfast is called at 8:30 a.m. in Fontajau to continue with a demonstration an hour later and another “macro assembly” at 11 a.m. in Plaça de la Independència. In Lleida, the day will start at 7:30 a.m. with a popular breakfast in the President Josep Tarradellas parking lot of the fair, half an hour before starting gatherings in front of the bus and train stations.
In Tarragona, the pickets will start at 7:30 a.m. in the Francolí industrial estate and at 10 a.m. there will be a demonstration followed by the “macro assembly” in Plaça Imperial Tàrraco.
The previous school year was marked by negotiations, protests, and strikes (up to 23). The agreement signed in May foresees salary increases and 6,400 new positions until 2029, but the unions calling the strike continue to reject the pact – signed by Educació with Professors de Secundària (Aspepc), CC.OO., and UGT. Teachers ask to consolidate the commitments made and have added demands to raise educational investment to 6% of GDP, further reduce ratios, and increase staff. They also demand more investment in inclusive education, protect Catalan as the vehicular language, or apply a 35-hour workweek with reduced teaching hours.
Heat in classrooms and no excursions
Teachers’ demands do not end here. The heat in classrooms and lack of air conditioning are also reasons for protest. A bigger problem given that a quarter of schools were built before 1965 and have structural deficiencies, Illa acknowledged, announcing an air conditioning plan in collaboration with municipalities.
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Additionally, the new school year starts with more than half of public centers adhering to the boycott manifesto of school trips and excursions as a pressure measure.
More investment in inclusive education or applying a 35-hour workweek with reduced teaching hours are some demands
The PISA report that the OECD presents precisely this Tuesday coinciding with the first day of classes in Catalonia will also mark the start of the school year. The Catalan community has been excluded from the international comparison because educational centers excluded 23% of students from the test for believing they were not capable of taking it. The Generalitat has dismissed several officials for not applying the ministry’s warnings.
And AI also monopolizes the start after Educació announced a guidance document for schools. The use of AI is prohibited until age 14 and can be used from that age to 18 with parental permission. The guide, aimed at the entire educational community, including families, is accompanied by a training offer.
The Government faces the start of the school year with a reinforcement of the staff with 1,830 new positions, including 1,103 teachers, and an increase of 500 new reception classrooms for newly arrived students, which will total 2,141.
Thus, this year the public system will have 94,422 education professionals: 85,052 teachers, 4,564 places for educational support staff (PAE, with 531 reinforcements next year), and 4,806 administration and services staff (PAS, with 196 new positions). Economically, a Servei d’Educació improvement supplement has been consolidated, which will mean a salary increase of 700 euros annually per teacher (50 euros monthly).
