Simó defends that the differences in grades between native and immigrant students in Catalonia are smaller than in other communities

2023-12-18 14:36:34

Barcelona The Minister of Education, Anna Simó, appeared this Monday in committee at the Parliament to present the educational results of Catalan students. Although, in principle, the incumbent had to intervene to give explanations for the poor results of last year’s basic skills tests, the educational crisis revealed by the results of the latest PISA report has monopolized the intervention. After the controversy over the first reaction of the department attributing the results to an “overrepresentation of immigrant students” in the test (a thesis that he denied the next day), the discourse of Education has taken a new turn of the script: Simó has taken heart from the fact that in Catalonia the difference in marks between immigrant and native students is lower than that of other communities.

The Head of Education has stated that, while in communities with better results in the PISA tests, such as Asturias, the Basque Country, Castile and Leon or Aragon, the difference in results between native students and those of immigrant origin is between 47 and 70 points, in Catalonia, the difference is 43 points, a figure that is almost at the same level as the European average (42). Simó has assured that this demonstrates an improvement in the objective of having an “equitable” system and has emphasized that this smaller difference has been achieved despite the fact that in Catalonia there has been a significant increase in first and second generation immigrant students in the last years

The minister has insisted that, according to data from the department, in the last two years 30% of immigrant students had entered the Catalan education system less than two years ago and, therefore, had had “less exposure” to the model of school in the country. “I am convinced that in the next results these will be students who will already be more incorporated in the dynamics of a system that is very different from the system they came from,” insisted Simó.

After defending the educational performance of immigrant students, Simó pointed out that “the family’s socioeconomic situation has a much greater impact than origin” on the differences between performances. The minister has taken the study that Save the Children and Esade made public last week and that showed how, if the socio-economic factor was neutralized, the differences of more than 30 points that could be given depending on the origin of the students were reduced to 5 points. “We are the fourth community with the most child poverty”, recalled the minister.

First “evidence of improvement” in 2023

Simó has also referred to the difference of almost 40 points that exists between the results of students in public schools and those in private and charter schools, and assures that it is due, in part, to the school segregation index that existed when the test was carried out in 2022. “The index had not yet been modified by the brave plan against school segregation” which began in 2021, the minister justified, stating that today Catalonia has already achieved improvements in this aspect.

As for the concern about educational results, Simó has again insisted on the “green shoots” already shown by the 2023 basic skills tests, which were carried out later than the PISA tests. “We have seen the beginning of a reversal of the downward trend in average scores. The results of 2023 provide evidence of recovery,” he assured. In the results of these tests, which all 6th grade and 4th grade ESO students pass, it was observed that in Catalan and Spanish the level continued to drop for the third year in a row, and they achieved the worst results of the last ten years. On the other hand, in mathematics there is a slight upswing with an increase of just over one point compared to the 2022 tests. An evolution that, despite placing the level still far below the pre-pandemic results, gives Simó reasons to argue that, if the trend continues, there will be room to improve “quickly enough”.

Finally, the minister, who has only been in office for six months, has admitted that perhaps “in many aspects measures have been taken that were not necessary”, but that, “despite everything, we will get by because we have good bases”.