The Catalan Department of Education has confirmed impressive errors in the merit calculations for candidates on the provisional list for 400 Personal de Atención Educativa (PAE) positions. Led by Esther Niubó, the department plans to publish a corrected list this Thursday after internal checks and discussions with unions. Nació Digital first reported the issue, which departmental sources later confirmed.
This summer, the Education Department ran two separate processes for PAE staff. A transfer competition, completed on July 24, reassigned existing staff to new roles. Afterward, 400 positions remained vacant and were offered through a separate competitive process. The provisional results, published on July 30, contained errors in merit scores that affected candidates’ rankings.
Official sources said the department informed unions about the mistakes. It described the correction as a procedural matter and said the current situation is unrelated to last year’s incident, when thousands of people were mistakenly assigned positions, forcing many to reorganize their lives. This time, the department said, the process concerns the 400 vacant posts, and the timetable for finalizing appointments remains unchanged.
Merit rankings are based on candidates’ documented qualifications and experience, assessed against the criteria in the relevant call. Spain’s public-education system is decentralized: the national structure sets broad rules, while autonomous communities publish vacancy notices and schedules with their own detailed scoring criteria. Royal Decree 276/2007 governs teacher-entry procedures, which separate an examination phase from merit assessment. Specific criteria and documentation requirements depend on the applicable call.
The episode has drawn sharp criticism from Junts. The party’s secretary general, Jordi Turull, described it as part of a recurring pattern of mismanagement in the education sector. He also pointed to the controversy over the PISA assessment, saying Catalonia was excluded after 23% of students were omitted from the sample, above the permitted 5%. The government was informed of the exclusion in March but did not make it public until the end of July. President Salvador Illa later said the delay was due to an ongoing investigation into the circumstances.
Errors in public-sector recruitment can undermine confidence in the process and leave candidates uncertain. Incorrect provisional scores can change rankings, and corrections must follow the rules and timetable set for the competition. The episode adds to scrutiny of the Catalan Education Department’s administration and transparency as schools prepare for the new academic year.
