{"id":32261,"date":"2025-12-12T08:52:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T07:52:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/educationalevidence.com\/?p=32261"},"modified":"2025-12-12T08:53:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T07:53:12","slug":"when-teaching-becomes-precarity-the-state-of-catalonias-teaching-profession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/educationalevidence.com\/en\/when-teaching-becomes-precarity-the-state-of-catalonias-teaching-profession\/","title":{"rendered":"When teaching becomes precarity: the state of Catalonia\u2019s teaching profession"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mohamed Hassan<\/a> –\u00a0Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n

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License Creative Commons <\/a><\/p>\n

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Aurora Trigo Catalina<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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Over the past fifteen years, and almost without public notice, teachers in Catalonia have seen their purchasing power ebb away and their professional dignity steadily eroded. What began as an ostensibly temporary pay freeze has hardened into a deep-rooted, long-term decline \u2014 one that affects not only teachers\u2019 quality of life but the future of state education itself.<\/p>\n

A recent study<\/a><\/span> makes the point bluntly: this is no collection of isolated decisions but a sequence of interlocking cuts that have left the teaching pay structure looking like a shattered mirror (Trigo and Gasc\u00f3, 2025). This situation carries not only individual economic consequences. They corrode the dignity of the profession and place at risk the very core of educational quality. Aristotle long ago observed that \u201cwhat we do day in, day out becomes what we are\u201d; when teaching takes place under sustained pressure and growing precarity, it is society as a whole that ultimately pays the price.<\/p>\n

In what follows, I sketch the study\u2019s key findings \u2014 the wage erosion, the stalled sexenni<\/em> system, the shrinking of extra payments, the absence of competitive examinations for catedr\u00e0tic1<\/sup><\/em> posts \u2014 and explain why, once Purchasing Power Parity is factored in, Catalonia emerges as the second worst-remunerated region in Spain for secondary teachers.<\/p>\n

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A structural loss of purchasing power<\/strong><\/p>\n

In recent years, the economic situation in Catalonia and Spain has been marked by high inflation, which has eroded the purchasing power of all workers, including secondary teachers. The result is unequivocal: between 2010 and 2024, secondary teachers lost more than a fifth of their purchasing power (\u201321.64%).<\/p>\n

As shown in Table 1, the underlying reason is straightforward: prices have risen faster than salaries. Over this period, cumulative inflation in Catalonia reached 35.69%, while salary increases for teachers amounted to only 14.05%. In real terms, this means that a newly appointed teacher ends up with around \u20ac7,757 less in real gross annual income \u2014 the equivalent of working more than two months a year without pay\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Table 1. Inflation, pay rise and purchasing-power loss among teachers in Catalonia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/td>\nInflation rate % (Spain) <\/strong><\/td>\nInflation rate % (Catalonia) <\/strong><\/td>\nPay rise % <\/strong><\/td>\n\u00a0Purchasing-power loss (annual)<\/strong><\/p>\n

% <\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

2010<\/td>\n3,00<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n-5<\/td>\n-8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2011<\/td>\n2,40<\/td>\n2,5<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n-2,5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2012<\/td>\n2,90<\/td>\n3,6<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n-3,6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2013<\/td>\n0,30<\/td>\n0,2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n-0,2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2014<\/td>\n-1,00<\/td>\n-0,7<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n0,7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2015<\/td>\n0,00<\/td>\n0,3<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n-0,3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2016<\/td>\n1,60<\/td>\n1,9<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n-0,9<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2017<\/td>\n1,10<\/td>\n1,2<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n-0,2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2018<\/td>\n1,20<\/td>\n1,4<\/td>\n1,6<\/td>\n0,2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2019<\/td>\n0,80<\/td>\n0,9<\/td>\n2,5<\/td>\n1,6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2020<\/td>\n-0,50<\/td>\n-0,6<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n2,6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2021<\/td>\n6,50<\/td>\n6,1<\/td>\n0,9<\/td>\n-5,2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2022<\/td>\n5,70<\/td>\n5,2<\/td>\n3,5<\/td>\n-1,7<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2023<\/td>\n3,10<\/td>\n3,2<\/td>\n3,5<\/td>\n0,3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2024<\/td>\n2,80<\/td>\n2,9<\/td>\n2,5<\/td>\n-0,4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cumulative variation,
\n2010-2024<\/td>\n		34,05<\/td>\n35,69<\/td>\n14,05<\/td>\n-21,64<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

SOURCE: INE (2025),\u00a0\u00cdndices por comunidades aut\u00f3nomas: general y de grupos ECOICOP<\/em>.\u00a0http:\/\/www.ine.es<\/a><\/span>. Ministeri de Pol\u00edtica Territorial i Funci\u00f3 P\u00fablica (2025),\u00a0Retribuciones del personal funcionario.<\/em>\u00a0https:\/\/www.sepg.pap.hacienda.gob.es<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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Cuts that exceed the payslip: a web of accumulated losses<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to the loss of purchasing power, Catalonia\u2019s secondary teachers have faced a wider network of cuts that have altered their living standards and working conditions. Among the most significant are:<\/p>\n