The driving group of experts who will advise the Government on educational matters to reverse the poor results of the latest PISA Report met yesterday for the first time after the Government announced on Tuesday the 18 names that make it up. To them, one more member has been added, decided at the last minute, but which is included in the Official Gazette of the Generalitat of Catalonia (DOGC). This is the secretary of the group of experts, appointed by the Department of Education, which did not report her name. She will have a voice like the others, but not the right to vote.
In yesterday's meeting, which was attended in the first minutes by Minister Anna Simó and her management team, it lasted about two hours, the priority issues that this group will discuss and the calendar, which will be intense since they have until February, were established. to define their proposals. For this reason, Educació will release them from their work in educational centers by appointing substitutes. The experts' work will not be paid.
“The objective is to specify prioritized and viable proposals that can have an impact on reading and mathematics results and are applicable in the 2024-2025 academic year,” explained Jesús Vinyes, technical coordinator. “There may be others,” he added, “but these surely have to be there.” In addition, they will prepare a report on measures to be developed in the medium and long term, with monitoring mechanisms for the proposed measures. “Educational policy is determined by the Government,” Vinyes wanted to clarify, “we will propose viable measures, based on consensus and with a desire for continuity.” Some of which, he said, are probably already being implemented. “Not all of them will be exclusively methodological or curricular,” he clarified, “PISA says that social class is a determining factor in the results.”
These proposals will contemplate, as explained by the president of the Consell d'Educació, the commitment to increase the budget planned by the administration for this year. The Government plans to increase the education budget by 9% in 2024 in response to the social alarm created after the PISA report.
“It is a very plural group, made up of people who have experience and the ability to reflect on practice,” considered Vinyes. Regarding the methodology, he did not define anything. “Perhaps subgroups will be formed and then it will be put together and perhaps a general vote will not be necessary.”
At the beginning of February, the first conclusions will be communicated to the parliamentary groups and, at the end of the month, a report will be issued with measures for the next course and to be applied in the medium term. The report will be submitted to the parliamentary groups and the Consell d'Educació.
On the other hand, Trustee Esther Giménez-Salinas presented yesterday in Parliament the monitoring report of the pact against school segregation. Segregation has decreased by 20%, but there are still 250 “very ghettoized” centers, which is why, in her opinion, a shock plan is necessary and the implementation of a maximum limit of vulnerable students per center is necessary. The Ombudsman also stressed the need to reflect on the system of reception and inclusion of immigrant students to combat the “structural racism” they suffer: groupings by level, referral to curricular diversification programs, orientation to professionalizing itineraries... She proposed a refocusing of policies from a non-racist perspective.
