The 2026-27 school year begins this Tuesday in Catalonia in many centers as the previous one ended: with a strike. Despite Councilor Esther Niubó's request to take a break in the protest to return to the classrooms after the summer break, the unions have decided to maintain the strike, recognizing that it is an "especially sensitive" day. Precisely for this reason it is unknown what the follow-up of the protest will be. There are centers that have decided not to join the protest to prioritize the reunion of students and the educational community after the summer break. Others, however, will resume the course with a strike. Teachers ask to consolidate the commitments from last spring's negotiation, more investment in inclusive education or to increase teaching staff. The heat in the classrooms, the boycott of more than half of public centers to the colònies or the new guidelines on the use of AI are other aspects that will mark a course that is expected to be turbulent.
For this first day of strike of the 2026/27 academic year, minimum services have been decreed that include one person from the management team per center and, in preschool, primary and secondary schools, one teacher for every three units or classrooms. In special education, 50% of the staff is established and in nursery schools, 33%. The dining room, kitchen, reception, extracurricular services and attention to students with special educational needs must have half the staff.
Regarding the strike scheduled for the first day, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, has asked the educational unions for a parenthesis and for "respect for the right to education" to be maintained. Illa acknowledged in an interview on 3Cat that “surely” the Government could have done things better to prevent the course from starting with a strike, but he has vindicated the improvements that his Executive has presented in the educational field. Illa has said that they continue to extend their hand to the unions and has made an appeal: "Families in Catalonia have the right for their children to be educated, and in this sense I ask that this right to mobility be respected, but above all the right to education." The top leader of the Catalan government does not consider that teachers abuse the right to strike, but believes that it must be “compatible” with the right to education and mobility, and has shown himself willing to open a debate about the education that Catalonia needs with administrations, families, teachers and student representatives. Regarding the inclusive school, Illa has recognized that “some adjustments” are necessary.
Called by the Educational Assembly of Catalonia (AEC), for this first day of the strike course, mobilizations are planned in Barcelona, Baix Llobregat, Girona, Catalunya Central, Maresme, Vallès Oriental and Occidental, Tarragona, Terres de l'Ebre, Lleida and Alt Pirineu i Aran. Thus, up to 11 marches spread throughout Catalonia will kick off the first day of the course.
In Barcelona, the march will begin at 10 a.m. in Plaza Urquinaona and will end in Plaza Sant Jaume, where an hour later a “macro assembly” of education workers is planned. In the Catalan capital, three chocolate parties have been held starting at 7 in the morning, including one in Can Batlló. The columns will begin to walk from different points of the city at 9 a.m., including Plaça España.
There will be a breakfast at 8:30 a.m. in Fontajau to continue with a demonstration an hour later and another “macro-assembly” at 11 a.m. in the Plaza de la Independència.
In Lleida the day will begin at 7:30 a.m. with a popular breakfast in the President Josep Tarradellas parking lot of the Fira de Lleida, half an hour before starting concentrations in front of the bus and train stations, followed by a protest and a “macro-assembly” at 11 a.m.
In Tarragona the pickets will begin at 7:30 a.m. in the Francolí industrial estate and at 10 a.m. a demonstration and a “macro-assembly” will be held in the Imperial Tàrraco square.
Despite the fact that the previous year was marked by negotiations, protests and strikes, the agreement signed in May that provides for salary increases and 6,400 new salaries until 2029, the unions calling for the strike showed their rejection of the pact (signed by Educació with Professors de Secundària (Aspepc), CC.OO. and UGT) and proposed a tense start to the year. Teachers ask to consolidate the commitments made and have added to raising educational investment to 6% of GDP, further reducing ratios and further increasing staff. They also demand more investment in inclusive education, shielding Catalan as a vehicular language or applying a 35-hour day with reduced classes.
The teaching demands do not end here. The heat in the classrooms, with the beginning of September with very high temperatures, and the lack of air conditioning are also a reason for protest by the teaching community. The new academic year also begins with the refusal of more than half of the Catalan public centers adhering to the manifesto of boycott of camps and school excursions.
The PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) report that the OECD presents on the first day of school will also mark the course. Catalonia has been left out of the international comparison because educational centers excluded 23% of the students from the test because they believed that they were not qualified to take it. The Generalitat has dismissed several officials for not applying the warnings of the Ministry of Education.
The course that begins this Tuesday will also be marked by new developments in the use of AI in classrooms. It is prohibited up to 14 years of age and can be used from that age up to 18 with parental permission.
