The Catalan Education Department has dismissed its secretary general, Teresa Sambola, and initiated disciplinary proceedings against three unnamed officials after a impressive error compromised the region’s PISA test results. The decision, announced by Education Minister Esther Niubó just days before the official publication of the data, means Catalonia’s results have been invalidated because of procedural failures.
Niubó said certain individuals had not fulfilled their assigned responsibilities, prompting the disciplinary measures. She said Sambola’s removal was not directly linked to the PISA controversy, while acknowledging the need to strengthen the department and address operational weaknesses exposed by the incident. The minister did not disclose the identities of the three officials facing disciplinary action.
The issue centers on the selection of students for the PISA assessment. Of the nearly 2,500 fifteen-year-olds scheduled to participate in Catalonia during the April to May 2025 testing period, 23.2% were exempted for reasons that included recent arrival in Spain and insufficient language proficiency; exemptions also covered learning disorders. This far exceeds the 5% exemption threshold recommended by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which oversees the PISA program. So, only 1,909 students took part, undermining the statistical validity of the results and prompting the OECD to question the representativeness of the Catalan sample.
The controversy first emerged in late July, after schools had closed for summer and most staff were on holiday. But, the Education Department had known about the problem since March, and it became public nearly three weeks after officials met with OECD representatives to discuss the evaluation process. Despite the time that had elapsed, the department initially said it was unclear at which stage the error had occurred and launched an internal review.
The incident has drawn attention to broader challenges in educational oversight and data integrity in Spain. Similar concerns about transparency and procedural rigor have arisen in other regions, including after the Valencian Antifraude Agency concluded its investigation into recruitment practices in the Diputación de Valencia, raising questions about urgency and process in a related case.
PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment, is a triennial international survey that evaluates education systems worldwide by testing the skills and knowledge of 15-year-old students. The OECD’s guidelines are designed to ensure comparability and reliability across countries and regions. In Spain, PISA results draw close attention from policymakers and the public, shaping debates among educators about educational quality and reform. The invalidation of Catalonia’s results is likely to fuel further scrutiny of regional education management and may prompt calls for tighter controls on test administration.
