# Our week 4 answer: a radical-centre programme for social mobility in Spain, set against the parties' plans

> A radical-centre programme for social mobility in Spain follows the child from a low-income home at every stage: an automatic early-years place, reading checks and tutoring in place of repetition, reserved places in every publicly funded school, a paid grant at 16, grants sized to real costs and paid on time, degrees and vocational routes with published outcomes, a guaranteed job offer and a starting stake at 18. It takes funding where need is greatest from the left, high standards and evaluation from the right, and adds a published mobility target and pilots with control groups, judged by what each young person is able to do and become.

- URL: https://www.radicalcentre.eu/en/articles/week-4-answer-radical-centre-social-mobility-programme
- Language: en
- Publisher: radical centre / centro radical
- Published: 2026-11-06
- Topic: Public services
- Author: radical centre
- Licence: CC BY 4.0

## Key points

- The government's flagship education bill caps classes at 22 pupils in primary and 25 in ESO and limits teaching hours, phased in from 2027-28 to 2031-32.
- The PP's Contract with Spain promises a more demanding education with better results, curriculum content drafted by the Royal Academies and the largest aid in history for young people to leave home, without published figures.
- Frente Amplio proposes a wealth tax to raise about €10 billion a year for education, health and other services; Vox's campaign coverage centres housing on 'national priority', with no education proposal reported.
- Democracia 21 makes social mobility its number-one priority and proposes more flexible degrees, more practical training and a housing cost target for young people.
- Our programme joins the pieces into one ladder from birth to 30, with a published mobility target and every new programme piloted against a control group.

Week 4 of our radical-centre programme was about social mobility, education and young people, and it started from the first problem in Miriam González's launch speech for [Democracia 21](/en/articles/democracia-21-miriam-gonzalez-proposals-radical-centre) on 10 October: Spain has lost social mobility, and restoring it is the country's number-one priority. Over seven days we read Amartya Sen, Anthony Giddens, Raghuram Rajan, Halstead and Lind, Yascha Mounk, Albert Hirschman, Karl Popper and Jennifer Pahlka, gave every problem in the speech at least one answer, and followed one child from a low-income home [from birth to 16](/en/articles/exercise-mobility-ladder-birth-to-16) and [from 16 to 30](/en/articles/exercise-mobility-ladder-16-to-30). Today we put those answers into one programme and set it beside what the parties are offering for the election of 29 November.

The week kept one tension in view. We are suspicious of "more money, same system", and equally suspicious of "choice will fix it". Equality of opportunity and excellence pull together when the system is designed for both.

## What the parties propose

The PSOE-led government's flagship education measure this year is a law on class sizes and teaching hours, amending Law 4/2019. It sets a maximum of 22 pupils per class in primary and 25 in ESO, caps teachers' teaching hours at 23 a week in infant and primary education and 18 in other stages, and phases the change in from 2027-28 to 2031-32. Congress rejected the amendments to the whole bill on 18 June 2026, so it carries on through Parliament. The education minister, Milagros Tolón, argued that smaller classes make pupils take part more.

The PP's Contract with Spain, presented by Alberto Núñez Feijóo on 19 October, has fifteen commitments. Number ten reads, in its own words: "Elevar el nivel educativo. Una mejor educación, más exigente y con mejores resultados." The detail reported by Moncloa.com adds higher academic demands and rewarded effort, more authority for teachers, curriculum content drafted by the Royal Academies following countries with good results, a fight against what it calls indoctrination, Spanish taught everywhere with co-official languages learned in their regions, and more protection for minors on social media. For young people it promises priority in renting and buying a home and the largest aid in history to help them leave home. No amounts are published.

On the left, Sumar has given way to Frente Amplio, with Ada Colau as candidate. The proposal reported this week is fiscal: a 2% annual tax on net wealth above €1 million and 3% above €50 million, plus a levy on the fourth and later homes, to raise about €10 billion a year for education, health and other public services. The coverage we read sets out no specific measure on schools or grants.

Vox's campaign launch in Estepona, as reported by Europa Press, promised young people housing whatever it takes and tied it to "national priority" and what Santiago Abascal calls remigration. We found no education proposal in that coverage.

Democracia 21 makes social mobility its first priority. At its launch it proposed an update of education with more flexible degrees and more practical training, a sustainable policy of wage rises, no housing taxes for under-35s and a target that a young person earning €1,300 should not spend more than €350 on housing.

Read side by side, the government is betting on inputs: smaller classes and lighter timetables. The PP is betting on standards and effort, which is a good instinct with no figures behind it. Frente Amplio has the money question and no design. Democracia 21 has the clearest diagnosis and the fewest specifics on schools. None of the proposals we read sets a target for mobility itself.

## Our programme

Start before school. Every child in a household on the minimum income or the child supplement gets a free [early-years place](/en/articles/early-years-education-0-3-spain-proposal) automatically, at any accredited centre, with a lottery wherever places run short, which is also a clean evaluation.

Catch children early and stretch them too. A reading and maths check in the first years of primary, small-group tutoring the moment a child falls behind, and room to go further for those who can, all [inside the same classroom](/en/articles/support-and-stretch-in-the-classroom-tutoring-spain). The money comes from cutting [grade repetition](/en/articles/does-repeating-a-year-work-evidence-spain). On class sizes we would phase the government's caps in first where pilots show they pay off and where disadvantaged pupils are concentrated.

Mix the schools. Reserved places for vulnerable pupils in every publicly funded school, allocated before the ordinary round, and a yearly segregation index for every town, as in our piece on [Madrid and Catalonia](/en/articles/school-segregation-madrid-catalonia-data-solutions). Newcomers learn the language inside the ordinary class, which is [Mounk's common school](/en/articles/mounk-common-school-integration-without-uniformity).

Look after the people who do the work. A [teacher residency](/en/articles/teacher-residency-teaching-career-spain-proposal) and a career that rewards good teaching, with the PP's authority for teachers turned into time, training and a voice.

Pay young people to stay on. An [earnings-replacement grant at 16](/en/articles/earnings-replacement-grants-at-16-spain-proposal), then university and FP grants sized to the real cost of the city and [paid on time](/en/articles/pahlka-education-ministry-why-student-grants-arrive-late). Publish the employment record of [every degree](/en/articles/university-and-jobs-which-spanish-degrees-lead-to-work) on its admission page, and build [bridges between FP and university](/en/articles/flexible-degrees-micro-credentials-vet-university-bridges-spain), which is Democracia 21's flexible degrees made concrete.

Open the doors to work. Every vacancy in public companies and foundations advertised with its criteria, internships paid and published, as in [getting on through effort](/en/articles/getting-on-through-effort-merit-public-private-jobs), and a guaranteed job offer within four months for young people out of work. At 18, every young person receives the [starting stake](/en/articles/capital-at-birth-spain-proposal) opened at birth.

Measure it all. Census assessments with [open data for every school](/en/articles/measure-to-correct-school-assessments-open-data-spain), and every new programme [piloted against a control group](/en/articles/popper-in-the-classroom-education-pilots-control-group) before it scales.

## The synthesis

The left gives this programme its core commitment: public money goes where need is greatest, and grants and places reach poor families automatically. The right and the market-liberal tradition give it high expectations, rewarded effort, choice among plural schools and money judged by results. What fits neither is the yardstick. We would make [social mobility](/en/articles/what-is-social-mobility-spain-social-elevator-data) a published national target, reported every year like the deficit, and judge each policy, with Sen, by what it lets a young person do and become, and, with [Rajan and Giddens](/en/articles/rajan-vs-giddens-community-or-social-investment-state), by whether the poorest families use it as much as the richest. Next week the programme turns to productivity and an agile state, where the jobs at the top of this ladder have to come from.

## FAQ

### What is the radical-centre programme for social mobility in Spain?

It follows a child from a low-income home from birth to 30: an automatic early-years place, reading checks and tutoring in place of repetition, reserved places in every publicly funded school, a paid grant at 16, grants sized to real costs and paid on time, published outcomes for every degree, a guaranteed job offer and a starting stake at 18. Mobility becomes a published national target and new programmes are tested against control groups.

### What do Spain's parties propose on education for the 29 November 2026 election?

The PSOE-led government is pushing a law to cap class sizes and teaching hours. The PP's Contract with Spain promises more demanding education, curricula drafted by the Royal Academies and a guaranteed place for Spanish across the country. Frente Amplio proposes a wealth tax to fund public services. Democracia 21 proposes more flexible degrees and practical training. We found no education proposal in the coverage of Vox's campaign launch.

### What is Democracia 21's position on social mobility?

Democracia 21, Miriam González's party, calls restoring social mobility Spain's number-one priority. At its launch on 10 October 2026 it proposed an update of education with more flexible degrees and more practical training, a sustainable policy of wage rises, and removing housing taxes for under-35s.

## Sources

- [Feijóo promete en su contrato con España «garantizar las pensiones, bajar los impuestos y subir el salario medio»](https://www.elespanol.com/espana/politica/20261019/compromisos-feijoo-contrato-espana-garantizar-pensiones-ordenar-inmigracion/1003744426020_0.html), El Español (2026)
- [Feijóo presenta su contrato con España: un millón de viviendas, menos impuestos y control migratorio](https://www.moncloa.com/2026/10/19/feijoo-espana-3451414/), Moncloa.com (2026)
- [El proyecto de ley que baja las ratios y fija un tope legal a la jornada lectiva de los docentes continúa su tramitación parlamentaria](https://www.lamoncloa.gob.es/serviciosdeprensa/notasprensa/educacion-fp-deportes/paginas/2026/180626-tolon-congreso-ley-ratios-jornada.aspx), La Moncloa (2026)
- [Los ultrarricos y las grandes empresas pagarían más con el plan fiscal de Colau](https://www.mundiario.com/politica/ultrarricos-grandes-empresas-pagarian-mas-plan-fiscal-colau/20261105125434451142.html), Mundiario (2026)
- [Abascal dice que con Vox las pensiones se pagarán y habrá vivienda «como sea» y sigue llamando al voto presencial](https://www.diariosigloxxi.com/texto-ep/mostrar/20261011195906/abascal-dice-vox-pensiones-pagaran-habra-vivienda-como-sea-sigue-llamando-voto-presencial), Diario Siglo XXI / Europa Press (2026)
- [Miriam González, la abogada vallisoletana mujer de Nick Clegg, se presenta a las elecciones con Democracia 21](https://www.diariodeleon.es/nacional/261010/2099881/elecciones-generales-leon-2026-miriam-gonzalez-abogada-vallisoletana-mujer-nick-clegg-presenta-elecciones-democracia-21.html), Diario de León / Europa Press (2026)