Catalan and Spanish literature to become optional in high schools

Catalan and Spanish literature will become optional subjects for high school students from the 2025-2026 school year.

Until now, Catalan and Spanish literature have been core subjects in the second year of high school. While students could still choose to take them or not, the subjects were often required for those pursuing degrees in related fields, as they carried extra weight in university entrance exams.  

Now, both subjects will be optional in the first year of high school, which means they will have fewer hours of instruction and will no longer count toward university entrance exams. This change is likely to significantly reduce the number of students choosing these subjects. 

In the last university entrance exams, around 1,400 students took Catalan literature, while around 1,100 chose Spanish literature. 

Although the relatively small number of students taking these courses may make the change seem insignificant in the larger context, critics argue that the reform will effectively eliminate both subjects.

Pro-independence party Junts has called on the government to "reverse" the decision, calling it "intolerable," according to the party's spokesperson in parliament, Mònica Sales.

"Bringing literature to young people is essential for personal growth, for learning and for discovering new challenges, contexts and situations," she added.

Similarly, the pro-independence Esquerra party has "rejected" this attempt to "relegate and undermine" Catalan literature in the educational curriculum.

The party has tabled an amendment in parliament calling for the decree to be "stopped", describing it as "an imposition by the state that will relegate Catalan literature to the background as an optional subject".

Another change set to take effect is the merger of science subjects in the Scientific track. Specifically, Biology, Geology, and Environmental Science will be combined into a single subject (these were previously separate subjects), and Physics and Chemistry will also be merged in the first year of high school.

These changes will affect students who enter high school in the 2025-26 school year, not those who entered this school year.