high-school

Catalan schools to provide part of their curriculum in English and to teach a second foreign language

July 16, 2013 09:17 PM | ACN

Plans have been made by the Catalan Ministry of Education that will adjust the curricula of primary, secondary and vocational training schools to provide part of them in English. In addition, pupils will be taught a second foreign language, prioritising the mother tongues of new-comers. The changes will prioritise the improvement and expanding of foreign language learning by Catalan pupils. A pilot program will be run by 50 schools starting next September and by 2018 all Catalan schools should follow the plan. The new model will ensure that by the end of their studies students will have mastered both Catalan and Spanish, be proficient in English, and 75% of them will understand a second foreign language.

The Spanish Supreme Court validates the Catalan school model based on the principle of linguistic immersion

February 26, 2013 10:15 PM | CNA

The Spanish Supreme Court has rejected an appeal presented by one family against the Catalan Supreme Court’s decision adopted in March last year that validated the current public school model of linguistic immersion. The Spanish Supreme Court has stated that the Catalan Government does not have to change the entire Catalan school model, which has been in place since the early 1980s. However, it does have to consider individual petitions from families wanting to school their children in Spanish and make Spanish the language of instruction “in the proportion that the Catalan Government considers to be convenient” in “the school and class in which the offspring of the petitioner is being taught”.

Demonstrations throughout Catalonia against the Spanish Government’s Education Reform relegating the Catalan language

December 10, 2012 11:35 PM | CNA

More than 60 demonstrations have taken place to protest against the new law announced by the Spanish Education Minister, José Ignacio Wert. The demonstrators consider it to be “an attack” against the Catalan language, as it would no longer be a ‘core subject’ and pupils could end their schooling period without taking a single Catalan language exam. Furthermore, it would end the current linguistic immersion model, which has been in place for the last 30 years and ensures that all children end their studies knowing both Spanish and Catalan. Almost the entire Catalan political class and civil society is against Wert’s reform, as well as public figures in the rest of Spain, such as the Rector of the Madrid Complutense University. The current model guarantees social cohesion and equal opportunities. It has been praised by international organisations and has been validated twice by the Spanish Constitutional Court.

The Spanish Education Minister: “Our interest is to ‘Spanishise’ Catalan students”

October 11, 2012 12:03 AM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

José Ignacio Wert, the Education Minister, made this statement at the Spanish Parliament, while defending the recentralisation measures he is trying to implement. Wert’s words have provoked major outrage in Catalonia. The Catalan Government, all the non-Spanish nationalist parties, trade unions and civil society organisations have qualified Wert’s statements as being “totalitarian”, “a barbarity”, and “pre-Constitutional”, reminding them of Franco times. Furthermore, many citizens channelled their outrage for Wert’s words through Twitter, making the related hashtag Spain’s main trending topic. Besides, results show Catalan students have better results in Spanish than Spain’s average.

The Spanish Government proposes funding private schools using Spanish as teaching language in Catalonia

October 4, 2012 12:30 AM | CNA

The Catalan Education Minister reminds her Spanish peer that such measures are not legal and do not correspond to the current legislation. The Spanish Education Minister, José Ignacio Wert, is considering giving public funds to privately-owned schools teaching in Spanish, which would set up a de facto parallel public school system in Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. Wert stated earlier this week that he would work to end the current Catalan school model, which is based on the linguistic immersion principle and guarantees the knowledge of both Spanish and Catalan by all pupils, as results show.

The Spanish Government links the support for independence with the Catalan school system

October 3, 2012 12:19 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The Spanish Education Minister, José Ignacio Wert, continues to target the Catalan school system. He is trying to pass a recentralising education reform “to eliminate the 17 school systems” in place in each Autonomous Community. In addition, he is “firmly decided” on making Spanish a school teaching language in Catalonia, going against the current legislation and two declarations of the Spanish Constitutional Court. The Catalan Government has reminded people that Catalan students have better results in Spanish language than the average throughout Spain, perfectly guaranteeing the knowledge of both Spanish and Catalan. The civil society organisation defending Catalan language accused Wert of “adding demagogical political tensions”.

The Spanish Government now wants to recentralise the school system

September 22, 2012 01:06 PM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

In the middle of the political storm referring to the relations between Catalonia and Spain, the Spanish Government announced an education reform that recentralises the school curriculum and evaluation system. The Catalan Education Ministry qualified the reform as a “total recentralisation” and a “total attack” against Catalonia’s Statute of Autonomy. In the reform, the Spanish Government would impose 65% of the school curriculum and would run evaluations at the end of school and high school.

The Spanish Government plans to reduce Catalonia’s say in defining school curriculum

September 15, 2012 03:00 PM | CNA

Three days after the 1.5 million strong demonstration for Catalonia’s independence, partially fuelled by the Spanish nationalism’s recentralisation attempts and the lack of respect to Catalonia’s self-government, language and culture, the Spanish Government is about to approve a reduction in Catalonia’s share in the definition of the school curriculum. Furthermore, the Spanish Education Minister wants to establish “homogenous evaluations” throughout Spain, although the Catalan Government exclusively manages such evaluations, as well as the school facilities and staff.

Massive demonstration in Barcelona in defence of public education

May 22, 2012 08:31 PM | CNA / Lara Hitos

Teachers, administrative staff, students and parents have protested against budget cuts by the Spanish and Catalan Governments affecting primary, secondary and university education. The protest was organised throughout Spain. In Barcelona, 25,000 people according to the police and 150,000 people according to the organisers demonstrated through the city centre. Protests were also organised in other Catalan cities, such as Girona, Lleida and Tarragona.

The Spanish Government imposes a €3 billion budget cut in education

April 17, 2012 01:59 AM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The Spanish Minister for Education met with his counterparts from the Autonomous Communities and imposed 6 measures that must be adopted to save €3 billion. The Catalan Minister considers that three of the measures might invade powers managed by the Autonomies, and therefore the Spanish Government might be ruling beyond its jurisdiction. The Catalan Government will study them and does not rule out bringing the Spanish Government to the Constitutional Court. Nonetheless, the Spanish Minister reminded that, before a judge says the contrary, the measures are still obligatory. Besides, the Catalan Minister also emphasised the previous austerity efforts made by the Catalan Government also in Education, and the Spanish Ministry’s “lack of knowledge” about them.

Catalonia’s Supreme Court validates the current linguistic immersion public school model

March 9, 2012 12:02 AM | CNA / Gaspar Pericay Coll

The highest Catalan court has clarified how to execute the sentence of the Spanish Supreme Court that had recognised the right of 3 families to school their children in Spanish and not in Catalan. These families will have their individual rights respected, but the current school model will not be changed. Catalonia’s education model has been validated twice by the Spanish Constitutional Court and has been in place over the last 30 years, guaranteeing full knowledge of both official languages –Catalan and Spanish– by all its pupils. Experts advise that the current school model prioritises the weakest official language –Catalan- following the principles of equal opportunities and social cohesion. The model has been praised by UNESCO, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

The British School of Catalunya to be opened in 2012

July 5, 2011 09:06 PM | CNA / Marc Navarro

The private school will follow the British curriculum so, that when the students finish high school, they will be able to attend any public or private university either in Spain or in the United Kingdom. It is the latest addition to a series of international schools in Catalonia, which infuse an international and intercultural perspective into their teaching programmes, or they directly follow a curriculum from another country.