EPIC has met with the Director-General for State-Subsidized and Private Schools with the aim of continuing to advance the recognition of and attention to the specific needs of private education in Catalonia.
During the meeting, we presented the role played by member schools within the Catalan education system, highlighting their contribution to educational excellence, pedagogical innovation, and the diversity of educational offerings.
One of the main issues addressed was the request for an administrative role exclusively dedicated to private education, capable of providing direct and specialized communication with the sector and offering agile responses to the specific needs of schools.
At EPIC, we believe this measure is key to ensuring better institutional support for a sector that forms an essential part of the Catalan education system and requires relationship mechanisms adapted to its reality.
During the meeting, we raised concerns about the situation of certain state-subsidized schools which, despite receiving public funding, charge very high fees to families, in some cases even higher than those charged by certain non-subsidized private schools.
We conveyed the sector’s concern regarding this situation, which creates a clear competitive imbalance and blurs the distinction between educational models, especially when these fees coexist with resources provided by the public administration.
According to what was discussed during the meeting, the Director-General expressed willingness to review the previously drafted decree proposal on state-subsidized schools and to explore possible courses of action in this area.
Likewise, during the meeting we also addressed issues related to the simplification of administrative procedures, the difficulties arising from current bureaucratic processes, and incidents related to the recognition of qualifications, particularly relevant both for international students and for teachers’ credentials.
In this regard, we requested that the qualification recognition system become more flexible and efficient, allowing teachers to teach provisionally while their recognition applications are being processed, thus avoiding disruptions to the normal functioning of schools.
The Director-General acknowledged the requests raised and expressed his willingness to analyze them in order to explore possible avenues for joint work.
EPIC positively values this meeting and reaffirms its commitment to continue working so that the voice of private schools is heard and taken into account in the definition of the country’s educational policies.