Catalonia’s school year opens with a strike, protests and demands from teachers

Catalonia’s 2026-27 school year will begin much as the previous one ended, with a teachers’ strike. Unions rejected Education Minister Esther Niubó’s request to suspend the protest for the return to classrooms after the summer break, although they acknowledged that the first day is an “especially sensitive” moment.

The scale of the walkout remains uncertain. Some schools have decided not to join, putting the reunion of pupils and the education community after the summer break first. Others will reopen with strike action. Teachers are demanding that the commitments reached in negotiations last spring be consolidated, along with more investment in inclusive education and larger teaching staffs.

The dispute will unfold against a broader set of tensions expected to shape the school year. These include classroom heat, a boycott of summer camps by more than half of public schools and new guidelines on the use of artificial intelligence.

The government has ordered minimum staffing for the first strike day. Each school must have one member of its management team. Infant, primary and secondary schools must provide one teacher for every three classes. Special-education centers must retain 50% of their staff, while nursery schools must retain 33%. Dining, kitchen, reception, extracurricular and special-needs support services must operate with half their usual staff.

The Educational Assembly of Catalonia has called demonstrations in the Barcelonès, Baix Llobregat, Girona, Central Catalonia, Maresme, the eastern and western Vallès, Tarragona, Terres de l’Ebre, Lleida and Alt Pirineu and Aran. In Barcelona, the march will leave Urquinaona Square at 10 a.m. for Sant Jaume Square, followed by a large education workers’ assembly. Other activities include early-morning breakfasts and gatherings in Girona and Lleida, while pickets in Tarragona are scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m.

“

especially sensitive