Improving Learning Outcomes in Catalonia, Spain

1. Assessment, recommendations and suggested next steps

Abstract

This chapter summarises the OECD’s diagnostic assessment, policy recommendations and proposed next steps under the first phase of a multi-year collaboration with Catalonia to strengthen learning outcomes. It reviews key strengths and challenges and identifies relevant recommendations across four policy areas: equity and inclusion; teachers and school leadership; evaluation and assessment; and governance and funding. Building on this analysis, the chapter outlines a set of strategic priorities that could guide the next phase of collaboration between Catalonia and the OECD to support coherent implementation, strengthen system capacity and improve the quality and equity of learning outcomes.

The education system of the Spanish Autonomous Community of Catalonia combines a number of strong enabling conditions, including high levels of participation, sustained improvements in attainment and a relatively favourable economic and institutional context. The system also operates in an increasingly diverse demographic, social and linguistic environment, which reflects broader societal changes and creates new opportunities and demands for schools. However, persistent socio-economic inequalities and recent evidence of declining learning outcomes and widening disparities suggest the importance of continuing efforts to strengthen both the quality and equity of learning across the system.

In this context, the collaboration between Catalonia and the OECD provides a structured framework for system assessment, international comparison and policy dialogue. This report builds on that collaboration to analyse key system aspects and identify priority areas for improvement, which are further developed through a set of policy recommendations in the subsequent chapters.

The decline in learning outcomes is unlikely to be attributable to a single factor. Changes in student composition, socio-economic disadvantage and rising diversity form part of the context in which schools operate, but they do not by themselves explain the full pattern of declining performance. For this reason, the report adopts a system-capacity lens. It focusses on four policy levers that shape the conditions for learning improvement: the capacity to support diverse learners; the quality and sustainability of teaching and school leadership; the coherence and use of evaluation and assessment; and the governance and funding arrangements that determine whether reforms are implemented consistently. The recommendations should therefore be read as a medium-term improvement strategy, rather than as a narrow causal attribution of recent performance trends.

At the same time, new agreements and underpinning funding commitments undertaken in 2026, including multi-year investments in staffing, inclusion and vocational education reflect both the pressures facing the system and ongoing efforts to address them. These developments have taken place in the context of sustained social mobilisation and may create conditions to support progress in areas such as workforce sustainability, inclusion and system capacity. Their impact, however, will depend on effective implementation, strong professional capacity, the systematic use of evidence and continued alignment across stakeholders.

The following sections summarise the key features and challenges identified across the main dimensions of the Catalan education system covered in this report. They provide a structured synthesis of the assessment that underpins the analysis and recommendations developed in subsequent chapters. They also identify a set of strategic priorities that could guide the next phase of collaboration between Catalonia and the OECD, building on the diagnosis to support implementation and sustained improvement across the education system.

Equity and inclusion

Key strengths

Catalonia has established a comprehensive policy framework for equity and inclusion, supported by a strong legal foundation and sustained system-level efforts, including the Pact against School Segregation. The system is explicitly oriented towards providing inclusive education within mainstream settings, with a well-defined tiered model of support that offers a coherent structure for responding to diverse student needs. There has also been progress in strengthening identification processes and broadening the recognition of educational needs, reflecting increased awareness of student diversity. Investments in support staff, specialised services and targeted programmes have further reinforced the system’s capacity to respond to these needs. In addition, local innovation and collaboration with families, where effectively developed, contribute to more responsive and context-sensitive practices. These elements provide a solid foundation for advancing more equitable and inclusive learning conditions across the system. They also suggest a sustained commitment to inclusion over time, creating favourable conditions for further strengthening equity across the Education Service.

Key challenges

Despite these foundations, the implementation of inclusive education continues to vary across schools and territories. Variation in students’ mastery of the language of instruction adds to the implementation challenges associated with increasingly diverse student populations, requiring consistent support strategies to ensure equitable access to learning across schools and territories. Similarly, differences in capacity, resources and interpretation of inclusion lead to uneven practices, with the model not always fully translated into classroom-level provision. Access to emotional and psychological support remains uneven across contexts, limiting the system’s ability to address well-being alongside learning. Identification of needs is not yet fully consistent across student groups, and disparities in enrolment patterns persist, particularly at transition points and across sectors, contributing to continued school segregation. At the same time, resource allocation could more consistently reflect differences in need or school context, and co-ordination across services remains uneven. These challenges point to the importance of strengthening implementation capacity and coherence across the system. Addressing them will be key to ensure that the strong policy foundations already in place are translated more consistently into equitable learning conditions and outcomes for all students.

Policy recommendations

1. Build a coherent support system to ensure the effective implementation of inclusive education. Catalonia should strengthen the coherence and effectiveness of its support system by improving co-ordination, capacity and clarity across the inclusion framework. This includes ensuring consistent access to emotional and psychological support within schools, reinforcing early and equitable identification of needs, and strengthening the role of the Inspectorate in supporting schools through feedback and dissemination of effective practices. Clearer guidance on how the tiered support model should operate in practice would help ensure more consistent implementation across contexts.

2. Strengthen measures to tackle school segregation. Further efforts are needed to address persistent patterns of segregation, particularly at key transition points and across sectors. This includes reinforcing the application of planning and admissions policies, improving the effectiveness of reserved places, and strengthening monitoring of enrolment patterns. Enhancing co-ordination across the publicly funded network and supporting local actors in implementation will be critical to achieving more balanced school composition.

3. Reinforce capacity building to embed inclusion in everyday teaching. Catalonia should strengthen teachers’ and school leaders’ capacity to implement inclusive practices in the classroom. This includes expanding practical, school-based professional learning focussed on differentiated instruction, classroom management and support for diverse learners. Greater emphasis should be placed on translating policy expectations into concrete teaching practices.

4. Align resourcing and utilisation of support services to better respond to student needs. Resource allocation should more closely reflect the concentration and complexity of student needs across schools and territories. This includes strengthening the link between allocation mechanisms and school context, while improving co-ordination and clarity in the use of existing support services to maximise impact and reduce fragmentation. Ensuring greater consistency in how support is deployed across schools will be important to better meet diverse learning needs.

5. Consolidate a shared vision of inclusion through collaboration and coherence. Catalonia should strengthen system-wide ownership of inclusion by fostering collaboration between schools, families and support services. Targeted efforts will be needed to engage disadvantaged and immigrant communities, ensure effective communication and build trust. Clarifying the role of specialised resources, including special schools, within the inclusive system will also be important to ensure coherence and strengthen confidence in a shared model.

Teachers and school leadership

Key strengths

Catalonia benefits from a strong professional commitment among teachers to equity and inclusion, with a clear focus on addressing diverse student needs. Teachers enjoy a degree of pedagogical autonomy that supports adaptation of instruction to different classroom contexts, which can enable more responsive and inclusive practices. Schools often maintain strong links with their communities, which can reinforce engagement and responsiveness to local needs. At system level, there are emerging efforts to strengthen the use of evidence in teacher policy, alongside recent measures to improve working conditions, stabilise the workforce and enhance professional recognition. These developments provide a basis for strengthening teaching quality and instructional capacity. Evidence gathered during the review also points to a strong commitment among many teachers and school leaders to supporting students, equity and inclusion, which represents an important asset for future improvement efforts.

Key challenges

Despite these strengths, several structural and operational challenges continue to affect the system’s capacity to support teaching quality consistently across schools. Preparation, induction, career development and professional learning arrangements do not always appear fully aligned with the evolving demands placed on teachers and school leaders, particularly in increasingly diverse and complex learning environments. Workforce stability, instructional leadership capacity and the effective use of professional support structures also vary across contexts. These factors may limit the extent to which professional commitment is translated into sustained improvements in teaching quality, student learning and school improvement.

Policy recommendations

1. Define common professional standards to guide the teaching profession. Catalonia should establish a clear and shared set of professional standards defining expectations for teaching practice across career stages. These standards should align initial teacher education, appraisal and professional learning, and provide a consistent reference for teachers and school leaders in increasingly complex classrooms.

2. Develop a more attractive and rewarding teacher career structure that aligns with system priorities. The career structure should offer clearer progression pathways and recognise different forms of expertise, including in teaching, mentoring and leadership. This could include expanding specialist roles (e.g. in inclusion or pedagogy), introducing a “senior teacher” tier linked to voluntary appraisal, and aligning incentives with priorities such as improving foundational skills and supporting diverse learners.

3. Strengthen the role of school principals in teacher allocation processes to build greater stability in schools and the system. Greater involvement of school leaders in staffing decisions would help align teacher profiles with school needs, particularly in high-complexity contexts. Providing schools with a more active role in selecting or retaining staff, within a transparent framework, would improve stability, support team cohesion and strengthen schools’ capacity to plan improvement strategies.

4. Strengthen initial teacher education and induction to improve alignment with classroom realities. Initial teacher education should be strengthened by improving the relevance of its content, reinforcing practical training and ensuring consistent quality. Structured induction processes should support new teachers in adapting to classroom realities and developing effective practices from the outset.

5. Improve instructional leadership in schools. School leaders should be supported to focus more strongly on teaching and learning, including through training in providing feedback, leading pedagogical improvement and supporting teacher collaboration. Creating space and time for instructional leadership within school organisation will be key to making this role effective.

6. Improve the quality and relevance of centrally-provisioned professional learning opportunities. Professional learning opportunities should be strengthened to ensure greater coherence, alignment with classroom needs and focus on practical application. Greater emphasis should be placed on sustained and collaborative approaches that support continuous development in teaching practice.

7. Reduce administrative workload for teachers and leaders to reorientate their time to more impactful, pedagogy-focussed tasks. Streamlining administrative processes and clarifying responsibilities across roles will be essential to reduce unnecessary workload. Ensuring that non-pedagogical tasks are appropriately distributed can help free up teachers’ and leaders’ time for instruction, collaboration and engagement with students.

8. Leverage the current infrastructure to create a stronger professional learning ecosystem. Catalonia should more effectively mobilise existing school networks, professional communities and support structures to facilitate the sharing of effective practices. Providing clearer objectives, co-ordination and support for these networks can help build a more coherent professional learning system and improve coherence across initiatives.

Evaluation and assessment

Key strengths

Catalonia has established important foundations for a more coherent and improvement-oriented evaluation and assessment system. The creation of an independent Evaluation Agency creates an important opportunity to strengthen evaluation quality, credibility and long-term system learning. The system also benefits from substantial data availability across administrative, assessment and school-level sources, offering strong potential to support evidence-informed decision making. Recent developments indicate a gradual shift towards more formative approaches. Emerging models such as the Comprehensive Evaluation for Improvement (AVIM) and changes in school evaluation practices suggest movement away from compliance-driven accountability towards supporting school improvement. Growing alignment between key actors, including the Inspectorate and the Department of Education and Vocational Training, further supports this transition. These developments suggest that many of the institutional and technical conditions required to develop a more coherent and improvement-oriented evaluation system are increasingly in place. The recent activation of the Evaluation Agency also creates an important opportunity to strengthen evidence-informed improvement across the education system.

Key challenges

Despite these foundations, fragmentation and limited coherence across the evaluation and foresight ecosystem persist, hindering system improvement. Connections between student assessment, school evaluation, system monitoring and inspection could be further strengthened. While considerable data are available, their translation into actionable insights and systematic use in policy and practice is limited and could be further strengthened. Student assessment frameworks do not always provide sufficiently relevant or timely feedback to support teaching and learning, and school evaluation can still be perceived as compliance-oriented in practice. Capacity constraints persist across the system, with uneven technical and analytical capabilities affecting both the production and use of evaluation. Knowledge mobilisation remains at a relatively early stage of development in some areas, limiting the connection between evidence and practice. Foresight functions remain at an early stage of development, creating opportunities to strengthen the system’s capacity to anticipate and respond proactively to emerging challenges.

Policy recommendations

1. Build a coherent evaluation and assessment system. Catalonia should strengthen coherence across its evaluation system by articulating a clear shared vision that aligns key components of the system – student assessment, school evaluation, system monitoring and inspection – around improvement, equity and system learning. This vision should clarify the distinct purposes of each component while ensuring complementarity across levels. To support implementation, stronger ownership across actors is needed, embedding evaluation in regular professional practice through leadership, collaboration and dedicated time for reflection. Improving the accessibility and communication of evaluation findings will also be important to ensure that evidence can inform both policy and practice. Finally, roles across the system should be clarified, positioning the Evaluation Agency as the technical reference point, strengthening the Inspectorate’s synthesis and feedback role, and supporting the Department in integrating evidence more systematically into policy steering and resource allocation.

2. Prioritise a focussed set of immediate actions for the Agency to drive system-wide impact. In its initial phase, the Evaluation Agency should focus on a limited number of high-impact priorities to build credibility and demonstrate value. A key priority is to strengthen the role of student assessment in improving teaching and learning, including enhancing its methodological quality, reporting and pedagogical use. This should be complemented by stronger analytical use of assessment data, including linking it with contextual and administrative information to support policy decisions and monitor system performance. At the same time, greater alignment between student assessment, school evaluation and other system components will be important to reduce fragmentation. The Agency should also begin to develop its foresight function, gradually introducing forward-looking analysis and linking it to strategic planning.

3. Build on the Agency’s emerging internal capability for independence, quality and system reach. The Evaluation Agency should progressively strengthen its technical and analytical capacity, particularly in evaluation design, assessment methodology and data analysis, to ensure credibility and independence. In parallel, resources should be used efficiently by maintaining a clear focus on core functions while drawing on external expertise where appropriate. Over time, structured collaboration with higher education institutions, research organisations and schools should help extend analytical reach and strengthen relevance. Developing knowledge mobilisation as a system function will be essential to translate evaluation findings into actionable insights, guidance and professional learning. This will require close collaboration with the Department and the Inspectorate, as well as clearer articulation of roles across the knowledge ecosystem.

4. Safeguard the Agency’s independence and sustainability over the long term. To ensure sustained impact, Catalonia should establish the conditions for the Agency’s independence, credibility and continuity over time. This includes securing stable financial and human resources aligned with its mandate, while addressing potential recruitment challenges and maintaining internal expertise. A clear multi-year strategy with defined priorities and early milestones will help guide implementation and build trust. At the same time, expectations regarding the pace of impact should remain realistic, recognising that changes in evaluation systems take time. Finally, appropriate governance arrangements and safeguards should be put in place to protect the Agency’s independence across political cycles, including transparent work programmes and clear protocols governing its interaction with other actors.

Governance and funding

Key strengths

Catalonia benefits from a well-established governance and funding framework, supported by a strong legal and regulatory basis that enables system-wide steering across a complex education system. Structured planning and admissions mechanisms provide a basis for co-ordinating provision and supporting equity objectives within a mixed network of providers. The system is also underpinned by a substantial information base, including administrative data and emerging evaluation tools, which offers strong potential for more evidence-informed decision making. Recent developments, including the 2026 education agreements and associated multi-year investment commitments in staffing, inclusion and organisational reform, indicate progress towards more structured governance routines linking policy priorities, implementation and resource allocation. Increased investment and more predictable funding further support system planning. In addition, Catalonia has shown capacity to mobilise resources across staffing, targeted programmes and infrastructure, which provides flexibility to respond to diverse needs. These developments provide a strong platform for strengthening implementation and aligning resources more closely with the system’s strategic priorities over the coming years.

Key challenges

Despite these foundations, challenges remain in ensuring that governance and funding arrangements translate into consistent implementation across territories and schools. Variation in local capacity and co-ordination can affect the coherence and predictability of policy delivery, while opportunities remain to strengthen the systematic use of evidence in planning and resource allocation decisions. Funding and support mechanisms could be more consistently aligned with differences in student need, school complexity and emerging system demands, including those associated with the continued expansion of vocational education and training. Strengthening long-term planning and foresight will also be important to support adaptation to demographic, economic and technological change.

Policy recommendations

1. Strengthen territorial co-ordination and implementation capacity. Catalonia should reinforce implementation consistency by establishing clear governance routines connecting system priorities, resource allocation and delivery at territorial level. In practice, this could be operationalised through a recurring annual governance cycle aligned with planning and budgeting processes. This cycle should translate system priorities into a limited set of operational parameters, including staffing allocation rules, programme targeting criteria and territorial planning guidance.

2. Embed evidence more systematically in planning and resource allocations. Complementing these governance routines, the system should also strengthen the use of evidence in decision-making processes. This includes introducing structured evidence-to-decision cycles, ensuring that data inform staffing rules, programme design and funding allocation, and clarifying responsibilities across actors. Strengthening knowledge mobilisation will be essential to translate evidence into actionable guidance for policy and practice.

3. Align funding and compensatory mechanisms more closely with student need. Catalonia should improve the alignment between resources and student needs by strengthening the link between school complexity indicators, staffing allocations and support measures. Allocation mechanisms should be more transparent and consistent across the publicly funded network, while compensatory measures should function as predictable entitlements that reduce disparities in participation costs and access to services. The ongoing deployment of additional staffing and support resources under the 2026 agreements provides an opportunity to progressively refine this alignment in practice.

4. Make resource trade-offs more explicit through a structured resource-use review. A more deliberate approach to resource allocation is needed to ensure that investment translates into improved outcomes. This includes systematically reviewing trade-offs between class size, staffing levels and support services, and ensuring that these decisions are transparent and informed by evidence within planning and budgeting processes.

5. Strengthen anticipatory planning and VET co-ordination. Catalonia should embed forward-looking analysis more systematically in governance and investment decisions. This includes strengthening co-ordination in vocational education and training to better align provision with labour market demand, improving information on workplace learning capacity, and ensuring that demographic, economic and technological trends are integrated into strategic planning.

Reform and implementation considerations

Catalonia enters the next phase of reform with important foundations already in place, including increased investment, renewed policy momentum and a shared commitment to improving outcomes. Realising the full benefits of these reforms will depend on establishing clear governance routines, sequencing reforms realistically and ensuring alignment between investment and implementation capacity. Early priorities could include strengthening co-ordination between central, territorial and provider levels, embedding evidence more systematically into decision-making cycles and reducing administrative burden to support effective delivery at school level.

The analysis suggests that Catalonia has many of the policy, institutional and professional foundations needed to support further improvement. The central challenge for the coming years will be to strengthen coherence, sustained implementation capacity, and evidence-informed decision making so that these foundations translate into sustained gains in learning outcomes, equity and student well-being across the education system.

Next steps of collaboration with the OECD

The diagnosis presented in this report identifies a broad range of strengths and challenges across the Catalan education system. While many areas warrant continued attention, the next steps of collaboration between the OECD and Catalonia could focus on six priorities with strong potential to strengthen implementation capacity and improve learning outcomes over time. These priorities do not represent isolated policy issues. Rather, they form a coherent agenda aimed at ensuring that professional capacity, the use of evidence and resources are aligned to support schools in increasingly diverse and complex contexts.

Professional capacity

1. Strengthening the preparation and role of school leaders. The diagnosis in this report identifies the central role of school leadership in translating policy into practice. At the same time, it also identifies opportunities to reinforce instructional leadership and pedagogical support. Future work could focus on identifying options to strengthen leadership preparation and professional development. This could include aspects such as clarifying expectations for school leaders, and enhancing their capacity to lead teacher learning, as well as using evidence for improvement and managing increasingly complex school environments.

2. Developing teacher career structures and professional learning. This review suggests that preparation, induction, career progression and continuing professional development are not yet fully aligned with the evolving demands placed on teachers. The next phase could therefore explore how professional standards, career pathways, induction and ongoing learning can be better integrated to create a coherent professional continuum that recognises expertise, supports retention and equips teachers to respond effectively to diverse learner needs.

Use of evidence

3. Building a more coherent evaluation system. Catalonia has established important foundations for evidence-informed improvement, including the creation of the Education Evaluation and Foresight Agency, but greater coherence is needed between student assessment, school evaluation and system monitoring. Building on these developments, the next phase could support the strengthening of coherence in evaluation arrangements so that evidence is more timely, relevant and useful for policy makers, school leaders and teachers, while strengthening the capacity of the system to monitor progress and guide improvement.

4. Embedding evidence-informed improvement across the system. The diagnosis suggests that evaluation processes are not yet consistently experienced as tools for learning and improvement, and that the capacity to generate, interpret and apply evidence varies across different levels of the system. Beyond building a more coherent evaluation system, the next phase could therefore explore how to strengthen evaluative capacity among policy makers, school leaders and teachers by embedding the routine use of evidence into planning, professional dialogue and school improvement processes. This could include exploring ways to strengthen feedback loops between system evaluation and classroom practice, building capacity to interpret and use data effectively, and fostering a culture in which evaluation is seen not primarily as a compliance exercise but as a driver of continuous improvement.

Resources

5. Clarifying criteria to characterise schools and identify their needs. The review finds that Catalonia has developed an ambitious inclusive education framework but that implementation remains uneven, with differences in resources, support and capacity across schools. The next phase could therefore look further into how school complexity is defined and measured, and how these criteria can better inform staffing, funding and support arrangements. Along with strengthening the identification of need, it could also consider developing approaches to resource distribution that systematically take into account the specific needs and contexts of each school. A clearer and more transparent approach to identifying need and allocating resources accordingly could support equity efforts while providing a stronger foundation for targeted interventions.

6. Evaluating the implementation of inclusive education. Rather than revisiting the principles of inclusion, the next phase could focus on how the model is being implemented in practice across schools and territories. Particular attention could be given to the consistency of support, the deployment of resources, the operation of the tiered model and the extent to which inclusive policies translate into effective classroom practice and improved outcomes for learners with diverse needs.

These six priorities form a mutually reinforcing programme of work. Stronger school leaders and a more coherent teacher career structure build the professional capacity needed to implement change effectively in schools. A more coherent evaluation system, underpinned by a stronger culture of evidence use, provides the information needed to guide and refine those responses. Clearer approaches to identifying need and monitoring implementation help ensure that resources are deployed where they can have the greatest impact.

These priorities reflect the main implementation challenges identified in this report and the current stage of reform in Catalonia. They provide a framework for exploring how existing policies and future reforms can be better aligned so that professional capacity, evidence and resources work more effectively in support of schools and learners.