Overview
- The Departamento de Educación released a regional diagnostic on Thursday, Sept. 3 that was completed in about four months and presented results to the public days before the OCDE’s PISA release.
- Critics say the regional study used a large local sample while the government sent a much smaller sample to PISA, a choice that lowers the ability to compare local and international results.
- The diagnostic flags an overall insufficient academic level and finds roughly three in four students finish compulsory secondary education without the Basque (euskera) level required by the December 2023 law.
- The report shows students who take assessments in their mother tongue, whether Basque or Spanish, score better, a finding that could affect grading on the Prueba de Acceso a la Universidad as correction criteria tighten.
- Public schools bear most integration work and absorb about 7,000 students who join after term starts, a pressure that the articles link to classroom composition, equity challenges, and the need for urgent policy fixes.