Spain's PP drops Valencian requirement in 73% of teacher exams
Valencian is no longer mandatory for 73% of 2027 teaching specializations, though it remains required for 1,855 secondary school teachers.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
Valencian no longer a requirement for three out of four teaching posts
Candidates for Vocational Training positions in the Valencian Community will no longer need to certify their knowledge of Valencian to compete for a post. Secondary school teachers, however, still do. The new 2027 civil service exam call for teachers, presented by the Conselleria de Educación (Regional Department of Education), breaks the unwritten rule that required all applicants to prove proficiency in the regional language. The result is an internal divide: the requirement disappears in 73% of the called-for specializations, but remains for the 1,855 secondary education teachers, who represent the majority of the 2,052 vacancies.
The measure comes amid an increase in vacancies —445 more than in 2025—, extended appeal periods, and fully electronic processing that retires the physical notice boards used by examination panels. However, it is the linguistic fine print that has sparked debate.
Who needs Valencian and who doesn't in the 2027 exams
The distribution is precise. Posts at Language Schools, Fine Arts, and Vocational Training are exempt from the requirement. Those in Secondary Education, the bulk of the total, retain it. The Regional Department cites the application of the Ley de Libertad Educativa (Education Freedom Law) and states it can "do nothing other than comply with current legislation," according to its response to unions during the Sectoral Table meeting.
The largest union, STEPV, did not buy this argument. It described the move as a sign of "linguistic hostility towards Valencian" and warned that the measure "puts the continuity of interim teachers at risk." CC OO added its own complaint: the practical part of the exam is reduced from 3 to 2.5 hours. Two fronts of discontent in a single meeting.
The barrier argument versus the native language argument
Some argue that the Valencian requirement acted as an access filter and that removing it opens the door to candidates from outside the region. Antiestéticar that the posts could become a free-for-all runs through many interventions, focusing on how any recent high school graduate previously had the regional certification and would now compete at a disadvantage against applicants without that training.
On the opposite side, the argument is one of professional utility. A surgeon, for example, does not need to master a local language to operate; they need to certify their specialty. Linguistic obligation is seen here as an artificial obstacle that expels talent and makes generational replacement more expensive in sectors like healthcare or technical education.
The discussion quickly moved to rougher ground: the hierarchy between languages. Against those who claim Valencian is a dialect of Catalan or a variant of Spanish, others counter that it meets the linguistic criteria of a language and that its protection is a cultural, not political, issue. Irony regarding the silbo gomero (Canary Islands whistled language) and regional certifications as merit for operating in a hospital summarizes the tone of this section.
The lobby of regional certifications
One of the most repeated currents points to economic interests behind the requirement. The number of people living from teaching and certifying co-official languages is described as an established business, and the PP's measure is read as a blow to this network rather than as an educational reform. The figure cited is the 73% of specializations freed from the requirement; the complete calculation of how many posts and indirect jobs depend on such certification is not closed anywhere.
To the criticism is added political suspicion: that the measure is Vox's doing and that the PP executes it reluctantly, citing the marginalization of Spanish in Galicia as ammunition against Feijóo. Meanwhile, the institutional response is limited to legal justification.
What about Castilian and English?
The thread branches into a larger dispute: why Castilian is the only official state language and not Valencian or Galician. The constitutional answer is cited: Article 3.1 declares Castilian the official language of the State. From there, the discussion divides between those who see Spanish as a global language —the second most spoken in the world, useful in dozens of countries— and those who remind us that co-official languages are also languages with grammar and literature, not folklore.
English enters as a maximalist proposal: if competitiveness is the goal, then more English and less dialect. This idea does not solve the underlying problem, but leaves an uncomfortable question: if the argument is job utility, why is the required language the regional one and not the global one?
One disorienting fact remains. The call grows by 445 posts, processing is digitized, and deadlines are stretched. Everything sounds like modernization. But the requirement that unified access to the teaching profession for years is split into two regimes depending on the specialization, and no one has yet explained what pedagogical criterion separates a Secondary Education teacher from a Vocational Training one.
Candidates for Vocational Training positions in the Valencian Community will no longer need to certify their knowledge of Valencian to compete for a post. Secondary school teachers, however, still do. The new 2027 civil service exam call for teachers, presented by the Conselleria de Educación (Regional Department of Education), breaks the unwritten rule that required all applicants to prove proficiency in the regional language. The result is an internal divide: the requirement disappears in 73% of the called-for specializations, but remains for the 1,855 secondary education teachers, who represent the majority of the 2,052 vacancies.
The measure comes amid an increase in vacancies —445 more than in 2025—, extended appeal periods, and fully electronic processing that retires the physical notice boards used by examination panels. However, it is the linguistic fine print that has sparked debate.
Who needs Valencian and who doesn't in the 2027 exams
The distribution is precise. Posts at Language Schools, Fine Arts, and Vocational Training are exempt from the requirement. Those in Secondary Education, the bulk of the total, retain it. The Regional Department cites the application of the Ley de Libertad Educativa (Education Freedom Law) and states it can "do nothing other than comply with current legislation," according to its response to unions during the Sectoral Table meeting.
The largest union, STEPV, did not buy this argument. It described the move as a sign of "linguistic hostility towards Valencian" and warned that the measure "puts the continuity of interim teachers at risk." CC OO added its own complaint: the practical part of the exam is reduced from 3 to 2.5 hours. Two fronts of discontent in a single meeting.
The barrier argument versus the native language argument
Some argue that the Valencian requirement acted as an access filter and that removing it opens the door to candidates from outside the region. Antiestéticar that the posts could become a free-for-all runs through many interventions, focusing on how any recent high school graduate previously had the regional certification and would now compete at a disadvantage against applicants without that training.
On the opposite side, the argument is one of professional utility. A surgeon, for example, does not need to master a local language to operate; they need to certify their specialty. Linguistic obligation is seen here as an artificial obstacle that expels talent and makes generational replacement more expensive in sectors like healthcare or technical education.
The discussion quickly moved to rougher ground: the hierarchy between languages. Against those who claim Valencian is a dialect of Catalan or a variant of Spanish, others counter that it meets the linguistic criteria of a language and that its protection is a cultural, not political, issue. Irony regarding the silbo gomero (Canary Islands whistled language) and regional certifications as merit for operating in a hospital summarizes the tone of this section.
The lobby of regional certifications
One of the most repeated currents points to economic interests behind the requirement. The number of people living from teaching and certifying co-official languages is described as an established business, and the PP's measure is read as a blow to this network rather than as an educational reform. The figure cited is the 73% of specializations freed from the requirement; the complete calculation of how many posts and indirect jobs depend on such certification is not closed anywhere.
To the criticism is added political suspicion: that the measure is Vox's doing and that the PP executes it reluctantly, citing the marginalization of Spanish in Galicia as ammunition against Feijóo. Meanwhile, the institutional response is limited to legal justification.
What about Castilian and English?
The thread branches into a larger dispute: why Castilian is the only official state language and not Valencian or Galician. The constitutional answer is cited: Article 3.1 declares Castilian the official language of the State. From there, the discussion divides between those who see Spanish as a global language —the second most spoken in the world, useful in dozens of countries— and those who remind us that co-official languages are also languages with grammar and literature, not folklore.
English enters as a maximalist proposal: if competitiveness is the goal, then more English and less dialect. This idea does not solve the underlying problem, but leaves an uncomfortable question: if the argument is job utility, why is the required language the regional one and not the global one?
One disorienting fact remains. The call grows by 445 posts, processing is digitized, and deadlines are stretched. Everything sounds like modernization. But the requirement that unified access to the teaching profession for years is split into two regimes depending on the specialization, and no one has yet explained what pedagogical criterion separates a Secondary Education teacher from a Vocational Training one.
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Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (170 replies).
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