Catalan society as judge: will it recognise the Fuenteovejuna cry rising from its classrooms?

Lope de Vega: Vzpoura lásky (Fuente Ovejuna), režie Pavel Khek, fotografie Petr Chodura, inscenace Divadla na Vinohradech, 2023. / Petr Chodura_Wikipedia

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Alba Urban

The working conditions of teachers in Catalonia have reached a critical juncture that calls not merely for reflection but for a firm and collective response. Far from the institutional rhetoric extolling the virtues of innovative pedagogies and the emotional well-being of pupils —never of teachers, who, in the administration’s eyes, appear neither to feel nor to suffer— the daily reality of the profession is defined by a systematic erosion of working conditions. Salary cuts that were never restored, the absence of pay rises in line with the cost of living [1], the relentless growth of bureaucratic burdens, and a persistent lack of transparency and democratic governance in schools together create an environment that violates not only basic labour rights but also the very quality of the education the system claims to uphold.

To this we must add a structural problem that no administration has yet confronted with any semblance of courage: escalating indiscipline in classrooms and the proliferation of verbal —and even physical— aggression against teachers and among pupils. These dynamics are not isolated incidents; they have been normalised as symptoms of the institutional fragility of schools. Meanwhile, lower- and upper-secondary curricula, hollowed out and subject to improvised reforms, make it increasingly difficult to consolidate meaningful learning. In short, ever more is demanded of teachers, yet ever less is offered: fewer resources, less time, scant recognition and, all too often, inadequate protection.

From an academic standpoint, this is not merely a labour dispute; it is a political problem in the fullest sense of the term. For the structural weakening of the teaching profession entails the weakening of one of the pillars of democracy itself: the state school. Without stability, authority, training and professional well-being, no education system can credibly aspire to equity or to excellence.

It is against this backdrop that Fuenteovejuna, Lope de Vega’s masterpiece, acquires a singular resonance. The play depicts a village subjugated by the systematic abuses of the Comendador, an embodiment of arbitrary, despotic power wholly estranged from the common good. The villagers’ collective response —the famous “Fuenteovejuna, señor”— is not merely an act of resistance: it is a political affirmation by a community that recognises that its very survival depends on unity.

Yet the most significant moment arrives at the end of the play, when the Catholic Monarchs must judge the villagers. Rather than condemning them, the monarchs choose to pardon Fuenteovejuna, understanding that the rebellion did not spring from chaos or barbarism but from justice. They grasp that an entire people cannot conspire to commit an unjustifiable crime, and they sense that their own legitimacy as rulers depends on listening to, protecting and supporting those who have suffered tyranny. In Lope’s world, justice does not lie in punishing the rebel but in understanding what compelled the rebellion in the first place.

Read in this light, the contemporary metaphor is unmistakable. Today, teachers in Catalonia are that village: pushed into resistance by a system that exploits their patience, their time and their professionalism. Society, meanwhile, inhabits the role of the monarchs, for it is ultimately the citizenry who must decide whether to listen or to condemn, to understand or to ignore, to validate teachers’ claims or to delegitimise them. Catalan society must recognise —as Lope’s monarchs recognised— that the rebellion of teachers is no whim but an act of responsibility in the face of an education system that is coming apart at the seams.

This interpretation is all the more compelling when we consider recent examples of successful mobilisation, particularly in the Basque Country. There, teachers have shown how unity can achieve what once seemed unattainable. In 2023, educational strikes secured improvements in staffing ratios and resourcing. And this year, the parallel with Fuenteovejuna has become even more striking: after nine days of strike action and sustained pressure, teachers won a historic agreement —reduced teaching loads, the hiring of hundreds of new professionals, cumulative pay improvements, stabilisation of temporary staff, and genuine commitments to reducing bureaucracy. None of this would have been possible had the teaching community not acted —quite literally— as a single body, voicing in unison a contemporary “Fuenteovejuna, señor”.

The contrast is particularly relevant for Catalonia, where teachers cannot wage this struggle alone. In Lope’s play, the villagers prevail because they act together, but also because the monarchs choose to listen. Without that final act of recognition, justice would not have been possible. Today, that regal role is played by society itself. Families, citizens, institutions and the media must decide whether to endorse the ongoing degradation of teachers’ working conditions or to stand alongside those who uphold the right to a high-quality public education.

Silent sympathy is not enough. What is needed is a clear declaration, explicit support, a collective pressure that prevents administrations from continuing to ignore what is self-evident. For, as in Fuenteovejuna, justice will not arrive of its own accord. It will arrive only when the entire community —teachers, pupils and society at large— recognises that defending teachers is defending the country’s future. And when that day comes, administrations will have no choice but to acknowledge the legitimacy of the rebellion and work to dignify the profession of those who sustain public education and, with it, the democratic quality of the country.

The time has come for Catalan society to speak. The time has come for us to stand together and say clearly, unambiguously and with one voice: “Fuenteovejuna, señor”.

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[1] See the recent study Retribucions dels professors de secundària a Catalunya: una situació insostenible

Source: educational EVIDENCE

Rights: Creative Commons