Asturian Teachers: 300+ Await a Non-Existent Exam 2026

In Asturias, Spain, more than 300 teachers of the Asturian language are trapped in a cycle of temporary contracts because the public exam (oposición) required to earn a permanent position does not exist. This situation has persisted for decades, leaving educators in a precarious state despite a growing demand for their subject.

The roots of the problem lie in the absence of a dedicated teaching specialty for Asturian, which prevents the regional government from holding standardized exams to award stable jobs. As a result, teachers have been hired on temporary contracts year after year, some for as long as 40 years, without ever having the chance to compete for a permanent role.

Why Asturian Teachers Have No Permanent Positions

The Asturian language was introduced as an optional subject in a handful of schools in 1984. A 1998 law mandated that all schools offer it, but it never established a formal teaching specialty. Without a specialty, the government cannot create a pool of permanent positions or hold the competitive exams that typically lead to tenure.

This legal gap means that interim teachers fill a permanent need with temporary contracts. Even the text of a recent reform acknowledges this reality. The teachers' unions, including CCOO and SUATEA, have been demanding a solution for 42 years, but progress has been slow.

In a symbolic protest, a group of teachers and union members slept in a school gym in Gijón in March to highlight their plight. They left the next morning without any new offers of permanent employment, underscoring the stagnation.

The Numbers Behind the Demand for Asturian

During the last school year, there were 318 teachers of Asturian and Eonaviego, the variant spoken in western Asturias that the 1998 law calls Galician-Asturian. Another count in March put the figure at 332. Regardless of the exact number, enrollment has surged: over 30,000 students are now taking the subject, a 34% increase from the previous year, partly driven by early childhood education.

This growth contrasts sharply with the lack of stable jobs for teachers. The increasing student interest suggests that the subject is valued, yet the educators who make it possible remain in limbo.

• No specialty: Asturian lacks a dedicated teaching specialty, so no public exams are held.
• Temporary contracts: Many teachers have been on temporary contracts for decades.
• Growing demand: Student enrollment increased by 34% last year, surpassing 30,000.
• Legal hurdle: The national decree for secondary education only allows specialties for co-official languages, which Asturian is not.
• Union pressure: Unions have been advocating for a solution for over four decades.

Legal Barriers to Creating a Teaching Specialty

The main obstacle is the national decree that regulates teaching specialties for secondary education. It only provides for a specialty in languages that are co-official in their regions, such as Catalan, Basque, and Galician. Asturian does not have co-official status, so it cannot be granted a specialty under current rules.

To change this, the government would need to amend not only the secondary education decree but also the decrees for primary teachers and official language schools. The proposed reform opens the list to other languages, but it remains to be seen whether it will include Asturian.

Even if the reform passes, it would take time to implement and for the first exams to be held. Teachers are cautiously optimistic but wary of further delays.

Comparison of Language Teaching Specialties in Spain

The table below shows how Asturian compares to other regional languages in terms of teaching specialty and co-official status. Context on how this played out before sits in Asturian Teachers: 300+ Await a Non-Existent Exam.

What's Next for Asturian Language Teachers?

The future hinges on legislative changes. The regional government of Asturias has expressed support for creating a specialty, but it needs the national government to modify the relevant decrees. Discussions are ongoing, but no timeline has been set. The background to this story is set out in Trending: latest articles. A related thread runs through Sareb Layoffs 274 as Public Housing Firm Casa 47 Launches.

In the meantime, teachers continue to work on temporary contracts, some with decades of experience but no job security. The situation is particularly frustrating for those who have dedicated their careers to teaching Asturian, only to find themselves ineligible for permanent positions. Earlier coverage in Spain's Secret Billionaire: Jesús Núñez and His $1.5B Education Empire shows how the argument developed. A closer look at the same subject appears in Spain's IGN Releases Free High-Resolution Maps for Download.

Union representatives argue that the lack of a specialty perpetuates inequality and undermines the subject's stability. They point out that without permanent staff, it is difficult to develop curriculum and resources consistently. Anyone following the wider picture can start with AI in Spain: Why It's Boosting Jobs, Not Destroying Them. The same theme surfaces in COVID-19 Cases Surge in Spain as Positivity Rate Hits 27%, which takes a different angle.

FAQ

The situation of Asturian language teachers is a clear example of how administrative gaps can leave dedicated professionals in limbo for decades. As the demand for the subject grows, the pressure to resolve this issue will only intensify.