Catalan and Spanish literature will not be downgraded to optional subjects in high school

Catalonia's eduction minister, Esther Niubó, said she will guarantee that Catalan and Spanish literature do not become optional in high school.

The Catalan government has set literature as a "red line," when applying the new Spanish education law (LOMLOE), Niubó said on Tuesday.

This decision is in keeping with Catalonia's "linguistic and cultural singularity" in Catalonia, she said.

The department's aim is to preserve literature, both Catalan and Spanish, as a core subject and prevent it from being just an optional one.

According to Niubó, the Spanish education ministry is receptive to the idea.

Niubó's comments come just one day after the education department communicated changes to schools to apply from the 2025-2026 academic year, including downgrading literature to an optional subject in the second year of high school.

The minister denied there was a U-turn by her department, saying the text sent to schools is a "live" working document.

"It is not a rectification; it is simply informing them that when we modify the high school curricula we will do so in accordance with and respecting this red line that we set ourselves," she said.

Proposed changes

The main change announced on Monday was for Catalan and Spanish literature to 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.  

With the proposed changes, both subjects would be optional in the first year of high school, which means they would have fewer hours of instruction and would no longer count toward university entrance exams.The change would likely 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 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 "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 for those students studying 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.