Teacher unrest is palpable in much of Spain, as surveys published by teaching unions regularly reflect. In a country with a very decentralized educational system, this anger is almost always channeled into regional protests. . And the strikes and demonstrations are now turning the end of the course upside down, and, to a lesser extent, Aragon and.
Although there are particularities, the common thread that connects the mobilizations is fatigue with the situation of public education. “We are saying enough. We are tired of them ignoring, ignoring and doing nothing for public education while benefiting private education,” says Tàfol Nebot, a secondary school teacher in Castellón and coordinator of one of the teacher assemblies that have arisen in Valencian educational centers, in which an indefinite strike began on Monday, whose high level of follow-up, which the Generalitat estimated at 50% on the first day (the unions, at 90%) and by 27% on its third day, it has surprised almost everyone.
In Catalonia, and includes almost daily strikes between May and June called at the regional level and three strikes at the regional level. The main trigger for the strikes in Aragon, scheduled for May 19 and 20, is the decision of the regional Executive to arrange the baccalaureate.
And in Madrid, whose capital was the scene of public education, the mobilization is now focused on the first cycle of Infant School, which has been experiencing an indefinite strike for more than a month. Their follow-up is low at this point, according to union sources, but the educators, organized around the Labor Platform of Nursery Schools, maintain, however, a strong pace of protests in the street.
The pressure of protests is forcing administrations to move. The Catalan and Valencian governments have called the unions this Thursday to negotiate, and, . And the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Rodríguez-Almeida, of the PP, will receive the nursery school workers (many of whom work in privately managed municipal schools).
The protests contain, although not only, wage demands. Catalonia and the Valencian Community are among the territories that pay their teachers the worst. The gross monthly salary of a teacher in Catalonia at the beginning of their career is 2,400 euros and in the Valencian Community, 2,431, according to a report published by UGT with data from 2025, compared to the 2,628 they earn in Cantabria and the 2,858 in Euskadi.
In secondary school, Catalan teachers earn 2,727 euros per month and Valencian teachers earn 2,747, compared to 2,947 for Cantabrians and 3,309 for Basques. The salary of a good part of the educators in private education in the first cycle of Early Childhood Education, 0-3, is, for its part, around the minimum interprofessional salary, 1,200 gross euros per month. That level, which makes them by far the worst paid within the general education system, .
Pressure on public education
There are other common reasons for the educational protests in the four territories: the , the state of the school facilities, many of which are old, damaged or not air-conditioned, and, in general, the pressure experienced by public education, which is disproportionately absorbing the rapid increase in the diversity of students in Spain without sufficient reinforcements to do so, .
“We cannot do more with what we have in the classrooms. I have 32 students, of which 20 have needs. I can do my part as a teacher, but I am not a psychologist and I cannot give them the attention they need,” says Majo, a teacher at an institute in Salt (Girona). “The subsidized centers should have the same type of students as us, because they also receive public money, but they are allowed practices of expulsion and non-incorporation of students with educational needs, who are directed to the public,” adds Nebot. “And we don’t want to get rid of them. We want to serve all students, but to do it as they deserve we need more resources.”
The extension of educational concerts in Aragon to the Baccalaureate stage, which is not mandatory, has generated widespread rejection among teaching unions and educational organizations linked to public education, which have filed an appeal before the courts arguing that the Executive chaired by the popular Jorge Azcón approved it while he was in office. “The Aragonese public school has a series of deficits and shortcomings that are not addressed with the argument that there is no money. How is it possible that they tell us that many things cannot be done and now approve something that will cost, as they have said, seven million euros per course in the initial agreement alone,” asks Miguel Ángel Sanz, president of the federation of family associations Fapar.
Requirements
The Government headed by the socialist Salvador Illa tried to defuse the educational unrest in Catalonia, which in February was the scene of a massive strike, ―a minority in the Catalan educational sector― to invest 2,000 million in five years and which contemplates a 30% increase in the regional salary supplement within five years, a reduction of ratios in certain highly complex institutes or an increase in staff for the inclusive school.
The Government, however, miscalculated and the agreement was rejected by the majority unions and a large part of the teachers – through a consultation -, which caused the Executive to interrupt the negotiations they were holding to hastily sign an agreement with these organizations with little representation (CC OO obtained 15% of the votes and UGT, 6%).
The majority unions responded by calling a 17-day strike. On Tuesday, in Barcelona, . And the Government has agreed to meet again this Thursday with the four unions calling the strikes – USTEC, Secondary Teachers, CGT and the Intersindical – to try to resolve the conflict. Education has not revealed whether it will bring a proposal to the negotiating table, while the unions demand a greater salary increase (50% of that salary supplement), the general reduction of ratios and more educational support staff.
The Valencian teaching unions STEPV, CC OO, UGT, CSIF and ANPE in three years that the Generalitat offered them to avoid the strike. In this week’s demonstrations in Valencia, teachers could be seen tearing up some fake 75 euro bills with the face of the Valencian president, the popular Juanfran Pérez Llorca.
These include the repeal of the so-called Rovira Law, which reduced the weight of the Valencian in the educational system, the reduction in the number of students per class, the reinforcement of staff, the simplification of the paperwork that teachers are forced to fill out, the recovery of educational infrastructure that was planned and was suppressed, and urgent action in the centers that need it most, such as some of those that suffered the damage.
