The Assemblea de Docents de les Illes Balears has announced a new programme of mobilisations for the 2026-2027 school year, accusing the Balearic Government of weakening public education and pursuing what the organisation describes as an ideological campaign against Catalan in schools.

The teachers' collective made the criticism as the new academic year begins, calling for greater investment in the public education system, better working conditions and changes to several policies introduced by the current Balearic Government.

Among its strongest objections is the Government's pilot programme allowing families to choose between Catalan and Spanish as the language of first teaching in participating schools.

The Assemblea de Docents argues that the language-choice policy is not based on an educational need and risks fragmenting the school community. It is demanding strict compliance with the Balearic education legislation governing minimum Catalan-language requirements and respect for the language projects approved by individual schools.

Teachers accuse the Government of targeting Catalan

The Assemblea de Docents has accused the Balearic Government of pursuing what it calls a "denialist and obsessive" policy towards Catalan.

That wording comes from the teachers' organisation itself and represents its political assessment of the Government's language policies.

The collective's central concern is the pilot system under which families can choose the language of first teaching for children entering publicly funded schools.

The Government, by contrast, says the language-choice system is based on the right of families to choose the language of first teaching and has now operated for a third consecutive school year.

The disagreement therefore reflects a broader political and educational debate in the Balearic Islands over the role of Catalan and Spanish within the public school system.

The Government's language-choice data show a divided picture on Ibiza

The latest official figures provide an important context for the dispute.

For the 2026-2027 school year, 78.57% of families across the Balearic Islands who registered children for the relevant first-education stage selected Catalan as the language of first teaching, while 21.42% selected Spanish.

There were 7,618 registrations included in the figures.

The island breakdown was notably different.

In Mallorca, 81.85% selected Catalan and 18.14% Spanish.

In Menorca, 89.70% chose Catalan and 10.29% Spanish.

In Ibiza, the split was much closer: 53.28% selected Catalan and 46.71% selected Spanish.

Formentera recorded 82.45% choosing Catalan and 17.54% Spanish.

The figures are relevant because they show that the language-choice policy is producing substantially different patterns between the islands, particularly on Ibiza.

The teachers reject the pilot programme

The Assemblea de Docents says the free-choice language programme is fundamentally an ideological measure rather than a response to an educational requirement.

According to the organisation, it contributes to the fragmentation of the educational community and can weaken the role of Catalan as a language of social cohesion.

The teachers are demanding that schools continue to respect their officially approved linguistic projects and that the minimum-language requirements established under Balearic education legislation be fully respected.

The organisation's position is therefore not simply about the proportion of classes taught in one language or another. It is also about who should determine the linguistic model of each school.

The Government says families have the right to choose

The Balearic Government's position is different.

In July, the Education Ministry announced that families had been able to exercise the right to choose Catalan or Spanish as the language of first teaching for the third consecutive academic year.

The Government cited the Balearic Education Law as the legal basis for the process.

It reported that nearly four in five families across the islands chose Catalan in the latest registration process.

This provides an important distinction in the current political debate.

The Assemblea de Docents argues that the policy damages the cohesion and linguistic model of the public system.

The Government presents it as the implementation of a legally established choice available to families.

The conflict extends beyond language

Although Catalan is one of the central issues in the teachers' statement, the Assemblea de Docents' complaints cover a much wider range of concerns.

The organisation says public education has been weakened by years of underfunding, cuts and policies that it considers to favour private and publicly subsidised schools.

It has also criticised the introduction of a single school-admission zone, known as the zona única escolar.

According to the teachers, both the language-choice programme and the single-zone system could contribute to greater segregation and commercialisation of education.

Teachers report overcrowded classrooms

The organisation says overcrowding remains one of the main problems facing schools in the Balearic Islands.

It is calling for a reduction in the number of pupils per classroom as part of a broader improvement in working and learning conditions.

The teachers argue that reducing class sizes would benefit both educators and students and would allow schools to respond more effectively to individual educational needs.

The demand comes alongside calls for reduced teaching hours and less administrative work.

Staff shortages remain a concern

The Assemblea de Docents is also highlighting a shortage of staff across the education system.

It says schools are dealing with insufficient personnel, delays in replacing staff who are absent and instability among teaching teams.

These problems can be particularly pronounced in Ibiza and Formentera, where recruiting and retaining teachers is complicated by the high cost of housing and living expenses.

The teachers' organisation connects these recruitment problems with the wider economic structure of the Balearic Islands, arguing that the heavy dependence on tourism increases the cost of living and makes public-sector recruitment more difficult.

Administrative workload is another major complaint

The union is also calling for a reduction in bureaucratic demands placed on teachers.

It describes the administrative workload as excessive and argues that time spent completing paperwork reduces the time available for educational work.

Simplifying administration is consequently one of the organisation's main demands for the new school year.

The Assemblea de Docents is calling for changes that would allow teachers to spend more time directly on teaching and supporting students.

Teachers want faster replacement of absent staff

Another demand concerns the replacement of teachers who are absent because of illness or other approved leave.

The organisation says delays in filling these positions create additional pressure on teachers who remain in schools.

It is therefore calling for immediate replacement of staff on medical leave.

The objective is to avoid leaving classrooms understaffed and to maintain continuity for students.

The group wants more stable teaching teams

Staff stability is also a central part of the teachers' demands.

The Assemblea de Docents says instability in teaching teams can undermine the functioning of schools and make long-term educational planning more difficult.

It is calling for greater stability for temporary and interim teachers and for measures that make the profession more attractive.

The issue overlaps with the Government's recent efforts to identify difficult-to-fill teaching specialities and introduce additional financial incentives in places such as Ibiza and Formentera.

Housing has become an education issue

The teachers' organisation directly links the recruitment problem with housing costs.

Ibiza is one of the most expensive places in Spain in which to live, and accommodation availability becomes particularly difficult during the tourism season.

For teachers arriving from outside the islands, the cost and availability of housing can influence whether they accept a position and whether they remain there.

The Assemblea de Docents argues that this cannot be solved solely through temporary recruitment measures.

It wants broader improvements in salaries and working conditions alongside structural action on housing.

Teachers are also demanding better salaries

Improving pay is another central demand.

The organisation says teachers have experienced a loss of purchasing power and is calling for better salary conditions.

It also wants improved professional career progression.

The issue connects with the current debate over difficult-to-fill positions, where the Balearic Government has introduced additional monthly supplements for certain teaching posts.

Alternativa Docent, another teachers' union, has separately argued that these supplements should apply to all teachers in difficult locations rather than only selected specialities.

Together, the disputes reflect growing pressure on the Government over teacher recruitment and retention.

Education infrastructure is also being criticised

The Assemblea de Docents says some schools continue to face deficiencies in their physical infrastructure.

The organisation is calling for greater investment to improve educational facilities.

It places this issue within the wider argument that the public school system has not received sufficient funding over a sustained period.

The teachers say investment is needed not only for staffing but also for buildings, equipment and the physical environment in which students learn.

The teachers are calling for more investment in public education

At the centre of the organisation's demands is a call for increased public investment.

The Assemblea de Docents says years of underfunding have contributed to overcrowding, staff shortages, administrative pressure and infrastructure problems.

It wants the Balearic Government to make public education a higher political priority.

The organisation also wants the Government to reverse what it describes as policies favouring private and publicly subsidised education.

Opposition to the single school-zone system

The teachers are also criticising the introduction of the zona única escolar.

The system changes how families select schools by creating a broader geographical admission framework.

The Government has presented the policy as a way of increasing freedom of choice.

The Assemblea de Docents takes the opposite view, arguing that it can encourage segregation and contribute to a more market-oriented education system.

Again, this is a political and educational disagreement rather than an established finding that the policy has definitively produced segregation.

The teachers defend Catalan as a language of cohesion

The organisation describes Catalan as an important tool for social cohesion in the islands.

It argues that maintaining Catalan within the public education system is essential for ensuring a common language of education and social integration.

This is why the teachers are demanding respect for existing school language projects and the relevant minimum requirements.

The organisation views the language debate as part of the broader defence of public education rather than as an isolated linguistic policy question.

A political dispute over the future of Balearic education

The disagreement over language is now part of a much broader political dispute about the direction of education policy.

The Assemblea de Docents wants greater investment, fewer pupils per classroom, lower teaching hours, more stable staff, less bureaucracy and stronger protection for Catalan.

The Government is simultaneously preparing negotiations for a new Educational Commitment covering 2027-2031.

That process is expected to address working conditions, salaries, recruitment, teacher wellbeing and school organisation.

The Government is preparing a new education agreement

On September 3, the Balearic Education Ministry announced the first lines of work for a future Compromís Educatiu 2027-2031.

The proposed negotiations include working and professional conditions for teachers, remuneration, filling vacancies, teacher wellbeing and the organisation of schools.

The Government says the process will involve unions and the wider educational community.

This means there is already an institutional mechanism through which some of the concerns raised by the Assemblea de Docents could potentially be discussed.

The coming school year will see more mobilisation

The Assemblea de Docents has announced that it intends to intensify mobilisation throughout the 2026-2027 academic year.

The organisation wants teachers, education workers, families and the wider public to participate.

It says the objective is to turn dissatisfaction within schools into organised collective action.

The group has indicated that additional actions will be announced during the school year.

Yellow day planned for September 10

The first specific action announced is a call for schools to "dress in yellow" on Thursday, September 10.

The action is intended to show support for the demands of teachers working in the 0-3 early-childhood education stage.

The Assemblea de Docents is asking school communities to participate by wearing yellow.

The action is intended as the first visible mobilisation of what the organisation says will be a broader programme of activity during the new school year.

The 0-3 stage is a particular focus

The first mobilisation is specifically connected with teachers working in the 0-3 education stage.

The Assemblea de Docents says that this part of the education system faces its own challenges and deserves greater support.

The September 10 action is intended to draw attention to their demands while also launching the organisation's wider mobilisation campaign.

It is therefore both a specific protest and a symbolic opening event for the year ahead.

Ibiza has a particularly important role in the debate

The language issue has a particularly distinctive profile on Ibiza.

The Government's latest data show that the island had almost an even split between families choosing Catalan and Spanish as the language of first teaching.

That was significantly different from Mallorca, Menorca and Formentera.

The 53.28% Catalan and 46.71% Spanish split on Ibiza means that language policy has the potential to be especially politically visible on the island.

For teachers, however, language is only one part of a broader set of concerns about working conditions and recruitment.

Teacher recruitment is especially difficult on Ibiza and Formentera

The Assemblea de Docents' complaints about recruitment also coincide with separate figures showing significant difficulty filling teaching vacancies in Ibiza and Formentera.

For the 2026-2027 academic year, 75 teaching specialities in Ibiza and 25 in Formentera were classified as difficult to fill.

Together, the two Pityusic Islands accounted for more than half of the 191 difficult-to-fill specialities identified across the Balearic Islands.

The overlap between the two issues is significant because the teachers argue that recruitment difficulties cannot be separated from housing costs, wages and broader working conditions.

The wider disagreement is likely to continue

The language dispute is unlikely to be settled quickly.

The Government says it is implementing a family choice system within the framework of existing law.

The teachers' organisation believes the model undermines the role of Catalan and fragments the educational community.

At the same time, both sides face the practical issues of staffing, classroom capacity, infrastructure and teacher retention.

The new academic year therefore begins with significant disagreement between the Government and a section of the teaching community.

What the teachers are demanding

The Assemblea de Docents' main demands include:

Reduced pupil-to-teacher ratios

Fewer teaching hours

Less administrative bureaucracy

Immediate replacement of teachers on medical leave

Greater stability for temporary and interim teaching staff

Improved salaries

Better professional career progression

More investment in public education

Improved school infrastructure

Respect for school language projects

Strict compliance with minimum-language requirements

Reversal of policies the organisation considers to promote privatisation and segregation

The organisation has also called for greater protection of Catalan in the public education system.

What is confirmed about the language policy?

The Balearic Government has operated the family language-choice process for a third consecutive school year.

For 2026-2027, 78.57% of families across the islands selected Catalan as the language of first teaching and 21.42% selected Spanish.

On Ibiza, the split was 53.28% Catalan and 46.71% Spanish.

The Government says the process operates under the Balearic Education Law.

The Assemblea de Docents opposes the policy and says it should be replaced by an approach centred on the legally established school language projects and minimum requirements.

What happens next?

The first planned action is the yellow day on September 10.

Further mobilisations are expected during the academic year.

Meanwhile, the Government is preparing negotiations for the 2027-2031 educational agreement, which will address several of the wider issues raised by teachers, including working conditions, salaries, staffing and recruitment.

The language issue will remain one of the most politically sensitive areas.

Whether the Government changes the pilot programme or the teachers intensify their campaign will become clearer as the school year progresses.

Balearic teachers begin the new school year in protest

The Assemblea de Docents has entered the 2026-2027 academic year with a broad set of demands covering both language policy and the wider condition of public education.

Its criticism of the Balearic Government's policies on Catalan is particularly strong, with the organisation describing the approach as ideological and warning that the family language-choice programme could weaken cohesion within schools.

The Government maintains that families are exercising a legal right to choose the language of first teaching, with the latest official figures showing that Catalan remains the choice of a clear majority across the islands.

At the same time, the teachers' organisation is pointing to issues that extend far beyond language: overcrowded classrooms, staff shortages, delayed substitutions, bureaucracy, unstable teaching teams, salaries and infrastructure.

The first public action will come on September 10, when the group is calling on schools to wear yellow in support of the 0-3 education sector.

With further mobilisations planned and a new 2027-2031 education agreement being prepared by the Government, the coming school year is likely to see continued debate over both Catalan in the classroom and the broader future of public education in the Balearic Islands.

Key Facts

Organisation: Assemblea de Docents de les Illes Balears

School year: 2026-2027

Main criticism: Balearic Government education and language policies

Language policy disputed: Pilot programme allowing families to choose Catalan or Spanish as the language of first teaching

Official Balearic result: 78.57% Catalan, 21.42% Spanish

Ibiza result: 53.28% Catalan, 46.71% Spanish

Formentera result: 82.45% Catalan, 17.54% Spanish

Main teacher concerns: Class sizes, staff shortages, bureaucracy, delayed replacements, staff instability, salaries and school infrastructure

Main language demand: Respect existing school language projects and minimum Catalan-language requirements

First planned mobilisation: Yellow day on September 10, 2026

Specific focus of first action: Teachers in the 0-3 education stage

Government education process: Negotiation of the future Compromís Educatiu 2027-2031