What does the Catalan Government Plan say on educational equity (and what does it not say)?

07/10/2021

Marc Garriga

Educational research has demonstrated for years that a high-quality education system is not achievable if it does not offer equal opportunities to all students. In other words, education in Catalonia will not take a leap forward unless it is through a clear and firm commitment to equity.

Last September, the Executive of the Government of Catalonia published the Government Plan for the 14th Term of Office, which outlines the foremost objectives and lines of action and, therefore, allows us to begin to see what the priorities of the Executive will (or will not) be.

Read the monograph 100 days for educational change

What role does educational equity have in the strategic document released by the Executive? Are there commitments to tackle the main educational challenges that we face with ambition and impetus?

On the occasion of the election on 14 February 2021, we at Fundació Bofill prepared the document How to transform the education system, a short publication that specifies the 6 main challenges faced by the education system and the 15 priority measures to secure equity and quality in the Catalan education system.

Drawing from this collection of challenges and specific measures, we have read the Catalan Government Plan to better understand what education policy proposals it takes into account and what educational challenges are not referred to or are not specified.

Related: Download the agenda of measures How to transform the education system

Educational equity in the Government Plan

The Government Plan is a road map that allows us to begin to establish what the main governmental lines of action will be in the field of education. Indeed, in the introductory text of the section Education and training policies (from page 34 of the document), it is specified that educational equity is on the agenda, with strategic national commitments: “Of the main objectives in the Government’s term of office, of particular note is the guarantee of free of charge 0-3 years education, the completion of the digital transformation of the education system and the strengthening of emotional care for children and young people. At the same time, vocational training (VT) should also be one of the main lines of action.”

Based on the foregoing, what does it say more specifically about the 6 main equity challenges faced by the Catalan education system? These are challenges such as reducing school segregation, the need to update our education system and eradicate absenteeism and school drop-out. Or there are also priority areas such as guaranteeing educational support so that no one is left behind, moving towards free universal high-quality 0-3 education and eliminating educational inequality also outside of school.

1. Achieving a nation without segregated schools

Catalonia currently has very high levels of school segregation, and in the last decade efforts to reduce it have not been successful. This worsens overall educational outcomes, gives rise to school drop-out and impairs school cohesion.

It remains to be seen whether the first brave and ambitious steps will be taken at the start of this term of office to reduce school segregation.

The “fight against segregation to achieve equivalence in quality in all schools” is specifically mentioned in the initial text of the section of the document relating to education policies. However, beyond detailing the challenge, it remains to be seen whether the first brave and ambitious steps will be taken at the start of this term of office. These are some of the actions listed:

Continuing with the implementation of the Act on Education in Catalonia, focussing on the establishment of the Catalan Education Service, taking into consideration schooling requirements and complexity levels, with decentralised independent management, as well as full free education with adequate finances for schools supported with public funds.
Progressively applying Decree 11/2021, of 16 February, on the programming of the education offer and the admission procedure in schools of the Catalan Education Service.
Increasing staff provision in order to: reduce the student-teacher ratios, meet complexity and inclusion needs, and solve structural shortcomings.
Implementing, promoting and monitoring the Pact Against School Segregation in Catalonia, incorporating this perspective into all programmes within the Ministry.

Related: Read the monograph School segregation: what is the problem and what municipal policies work?

2. Delivering educational support to leave no student behind

To ensure that all children and young people enjoy academic success and remain motivated, while benefitting from a connection with their education, it is necessary to offer a wide range of educational support. These include special guidance and tutoring activities to help students successfully choose their educational pathways, occasional reinforcement activities to attain key skills or inclusive education classes or services, among others.

It is a priority to focus these resources on the most complex schools, as it is at these specific settings that most students with support needs are taught and it is there that it is more essential for educational success to be underpinned. The agenda How to transform the education system specifies various measures in this regard, such as increasing the provision of guidance departments in secondary schools, starting with the high and top complexity schools, or guaranteeing that schools stay open until at least six in the evening, hosting educational support activities and assisted study classes.

The Government Plan includes:

Increasing staff provision to reduce student-teacher ratios, meeting needs in terms of complexity and inclusion, and solving structural shortcomings.
Continuing with the implementation of the Act on Education in Catalonia, focussing on the establishment of the Catalan Education Service, taking into consideration schooling requirements and complexity levels, with decentralised independent management, as well as full free education with adequate finances for schools supported with public funds.
Establishing an action plan to fight school failure.

3. Updating the education system

If schools are to generate skills for life in the 21st century, it is necessary to transcend the model of teaching based on conveyance and memorisation, and replace it with learning based on the practical experience of students, and cooperative and skills-oriented work.

To improve education policies and practices, research should be incorporated in decision-making and programmes should be set up which transpose evidence to educational practice. The Government Plan considers:

Development of the Agency for Assessment and Planning of Education.
Preparing the strategic plan for educational research.

In terms of updating the education system, among other points it details:

Preparing a new skills-based syllabus for higher secondary education.
Strengthening and adapting teacher training to tackle the new challenges in the education system:

Association of teacher training with school education projects, tied to the strategic planning of each school.
Creation of links with organisations, companies and teacher training associations to define the profile of individual training tied to the professional profile of skills-based work, to face the new challenges in the education system.

Implementing a support plan for school leadership in the context of 21st century schools, in order to enable empowered leadership in schools.

Another of the focal points dealt with by the document concerns the challenge of accelerating educational digitalisation and assuring the acquisition of digital skills and abilities for educational improvement:

Implementing the Digital Education Plan of Catalonia:

Consolidation of digital teaching skills and transformation of teaching-learning practices via the resource of digital mentors, while promoting training, online work and the design of open digital content.
Unfolding of the second phase of the Digital Education Plan of Catalonia, to guarantee the universal right to digital education from the 5th year of primary school through to post-compulsory education in order for students to gain digital skills, as well as ensuring the digital upgrading of schools.

Implementing the “Digital families” project in conjunction with the Digital Culture Department, with the preparation of resources and the development of an app for educational communication and support in digital environments.

4. Ending absenteeism and school drop-out

After a decade of continual decline, in recent years the school drop-out rate has increased: standing at 17.4% in 2020, among the highest rates in the European Union (the average is 10.2%). This rate is twice as high among young people from overseas and for children from families with a low level of education.

It is striking that the terms absenteeism and school drop-out do not appear in the Government Plan document.

For this reason, it is striking that the terms absenteeism and school drop-out do not appear in the Government Plan document, nor is there consideration for an action plan to combat early school drop-out.

However, some actions are considered with the goal of eradicating absenteeism and school drop-out:

Enabling flexible schooling pathways, reinforcing educational guidance and promoting a personalised educational pathway to ensure support is provided to students.

Delivery of the new opportunities model of programmes.

Establishing an action plan to fight school failure.

The Covid-19 crisis and the new drop in employment may afford an opportunity to bring early school drop-out figures to the levels recommended by the EU. If we wish to capitalise on this situation, it is necessary to strengthen training pathways such as vocational training which keep young people engaged with education.

The Government Plan considers it a prominent line of action and, among others, highlights:

Completing the implementation of Act 10/2015, on vocational training and qualification, and providing the Agency for Vocational Training and Qualification of Catalonia with the necessary resources.
Fostering, promoting and adapting public vocational training through: investment and an expansion of the offer of places; dialogue; and agreement regarding the potential transformation and the needs of this offer at a local and sectoral level.
Promoting and incorporating the gender perspective in VT.
Raising the proportion of students following dual vocational training to 40%.
Implementing dual vocational training for employment: with a training and apprenticeship contract and a certificate of professionalism.

The main measure that is absent from the document which should be considered is the implementation of a system of salary grants for young people between 16 and 18 from disadvantaged households who do not drop out of the education system to compensate the opportunity cost of staying in education. This is a model that exists in most of our neighbouring countries.

5. Eliminating educational inequalities also outside of school

What is learnt outside of school through extracurricular or leisure activities is increasingly important for academic success. However, taking part in these activities largely depends on family income and local opportunities. This leads to considerable learning inequalities that the school alone cannot make up for.

It is necessary to promote policies that guarantee access to rich educational experiences in and out of school. This is a commitment that is not viewed as a priority area in the Government Plan.

Consequently, it is necessary to promote policies that guarantee access to rich educational experiences in and out of school. This is a commitment that carries scant importance in the Government Plan and is not viewed as a priority area. No reference is made to education policies aimed at ensuring all children and young people have access to educational opportunities outside of school and during the school holidays in the summer months.

The document does consider measures to support and assist families in order to empower them:

Promoting the participation of families in the education system:

Design of tools and resources to promote the participation of families, the fostering of co-responsibility, and emotional and educational support for children.
Design of a communication strategy to improve the participation of families, and the dissemination of information on resources, training and materials aimed at families.

Implementing the STEMcat Plan with the objective of promoting scientific, technological, engineering and mathematical vocations of students in Catalonia, with particular emphasis on the gender perspective and students in vulnerable situations.
Promoting the “Digital families” programme to bridge the digital divide in the educational community, particularly in vulnerable settings, and improving school-family communication.
Promoting inclusion during non-class education hours, especially during midday and lunchtime, outings, camps and extracurricular activities.

6. Ensuring quality 0-3 education for all

Moving towards universal access to the 0-3 stage is a key strategy to reduce social and educational inequalities. To enable this, some of the most noteworthy proposals in the agenda How to transform the education system were to extend provision of public nursery schools in municipalities with lower coverage, to establish a pricing system with social pricing that covers 100% of the direct and indirect schooling costs for families with fewer financial resources, and to promote campaigns to raise awareness and encourage demand to appeal to the most vulnerable groups so that they take their children to nursery school.

0-3 education is a proposal that is included extensively in the Government Plan and the first details have now been announced in Parliament:

Moving towards progressive free 0-3 education via different lines of subsidies and funding to offset family contributions, in particular those families in situations of poverty or vulnerability.
Granting recognition to existing nursery schools and promoting the public and private schools that need to be authorised to respond to the current circumstances of this type of school.

Guarantee of funding for nursery schools.
Promotion of the take-up of existing first cycle early childhood education places and progression towards a quality education model that integrates public – mainly municipal – and social initiatives.

Updating Decree 282/2006, on the requirements of first cycle early childhood education schools.

Related: For quality and equitable 0-3 education

Over the past 15 years, there has been continual educational improvement in Catalonia thanks to the efforts of teaching teams and the reforms that have been brought in. However, strategic proposals to truly ensure that no students lag behind in educational progress are needed, regardless of their socioeconomic status.

It will be vital to provide resources for the strategic commitments in this term of office and to begin to take bold steps to tackle the main educational challenges in Catalonia.

As noted by Francesc Colomé in the paper From management to reform to take a leap forward in equity, “4 years is little time to be able to soundly deliver major reforms in the system, but it is enough time to set the machinery in motion and take the first firm steps”. It will therefore be vital to provide resources for the strategic commitments in this term of office and to begin to take bold steps to tackle the main educational challenges in Catalonia. There is no time to lose.

08/02/2021