During their visit, the students had the opportunity to talk to some of the Ministry’s representatives, who provided an overview of the main functions of this area of government. Their first session was with Dr. Joan Mateo, the Ministry’s General Secretary for Education Policy and President of the Senior Board for Assessment of the Educational System, who gave a presentation on the recently published initial scores obtained for the PISA report (Program for International Student Assessment). “We are where we should be, but there is much we need to improve”, Dr. Mateo told the students.

He was followed by Teresa Pijoan, Managing Director for Secondary Education; Pol Xart, Head of the Ministry’s Office for Institutional Relations; Alberto del Pozo, Managing Director of Human Resources; Manel Busom, Assistant Managing Director for Inspections; Miquel Garcia, Managing Director for State-Subsidized and Private Schools; and Alba Espot, Managing Director for Preschool, Primary School and Special Needs Education. Each official gave a talk to the students on the functions of their office.