VIDEO | Innovamat, one of those responsible for the educational disaster in Catalonia

What is Innovamat, one of those responsible for the decline of the Catalan educational system?

Since 2017, many educational centers in Catalonia have left the teaching of mathematics for their preschool, elementary, and secondary students in the hands of this Catalan company created in 2017. 

Innovamat is implemented in at least one third of schools and high schools in Catalonia. It is characterized by its way of teaching mathematics: less memorization, more games, children having fun, learning mathematics in an enjoyable way, etc.

Another characteristic feature of Innovamat is the use not only of books, but also of computer materials. That is, children as young as 3 years old (3 años) are already using screens. What could go wrong, right? 

Families can end up paying almost €60 per student and school year to this company. Of course, Innovamat, in less than 10 years of existence, has skyrocketed its revenue. In 2023, it billed more than €16 million. Meanwhile, part of that money, as usually happens in these cases, comes from your taxes. As L"Alternatiu published, between 2021 and 2024, Innovamat received almost €3.5 million in public aid and more than €700,000 in contracts with Generalitat de Catalunya. Not bad.

Despite all that money Innovamat has billed to teach our children, the mathematics level of Catalan students is in free fall. We have seen it in the latest basic skills tests but also in the latest International Mathematics Trends Study or in the latest PISA report. 

In short, we have people who are getting richer while our children are getting more ignorant. Yes, they are more ignorant, but there's no problem because they're having fun doing mathematics!

However, is Innovamat to blame for all the disaster in mathematics our students are experiencing? Unfortunately, no. The problem is widespread and Innovamat is just one more piece of a much larger mechanism that has sunk the Catalan educational system. A mechanism whose main piece is the Department of Education, that is, Generalitat; also other more or less small pieces like Fundació Bofill, a bunch of pedagogical collectives, and, not to mention, a part of the teachers and also a part of the parents who buy anything labeled as innovation, no matter how faulty the merchandise is.

In the video you can find at the top of the news, I talk to you about Innovamat, its revenue, its ties with Fundació Bofill, and more.