La Rioja regulates the student welfare and protection team

The Department of Education and Employment of La Rioja has regulated the organization and operation of the Specialized Team for Student Well-being and Protection, the educational support resource for publicly funded educational centers in the community. Resolution 37/2026, of 11 August, of the Directorate General for Educational Innovation and Planning, was published in the Official Gazette of La Rioja (No. 154) on Thursday, 13 August 2026, and will take effect from the start of the 2026-2027 school year.

The regulation, signed by the Director General Fabián Martín Herce, consolidates a resource in operation since the 2024-2025 school year, when it was created by Resolution 42/2025, of 19 August, which is now repealed. It is based on Organic Law 2/2006, of 3 May, on Education, and on Organic Law 8/2021, of 4 June, on the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents against violence, and it is adapted to the Territorial Cooperation Programme for Well-being and Protection in Educational Centers approved by the Sectoral Conference on Education on 3 June 2026.

Scope and nature of the team

The team will carry out its actions in publicly funded centers that enroll students in Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, Compulsory Secondary Education, and Baccalaureate, with specialization in emotional well-being, mental health, and severe behavioral disorders. It will work from a preventive, inclusive, and interprofessional coordination approach, complementing educational guidance services and the coordinators for coexistence, well-being, and student protection.

Functions of the team

The functions attributed to the specialized team by the resolution include:

Advise schools on promoting emotional well-being and student protection.
Advise on prevention, early detection, and educational action in situations affecting emotional well-being or mental health.
Follow up on the Protocol for the prevention, detection and intervention of suicidal behavior in the educational centers of La Rioja.
Collaborate in the prevention and detection of violence, bullying, cyberbullying, and other forms of violence.
Advise on methodological and educational strategies for supporting students with severe behavioral disorders.
Promote training, information, and awareness-raising, disseminate good practices, and facilitate coordination with health, social, and community resources.

Composition, action plan, and evaluation

The team shall be composed of two civil servants from the corps of Secondary Education Teachers in the speciality of Educational Guidance with training and experience in the areas of intervention; exceptionally, professionals from other teaching specialities may be incorporated. The working calendar shall be the one corresponding to the city of Logroño.

At the beginning of each academic year, the team shall draft an action plan to be submitted before 30 September to the Diversity Support Service for its information and, where appropriate, approval. Before 15 July of each year, it shall present a report on the actions carried out, and its operation shall be evaluated by the General Directorate of Innovation and Educational Planning with the collaboration of the Educational Inspection.

Funding, Data Protection and Effects

The actions may be financed from the budget appropriations allocated to La Rioja within the framework of the Territorial Cooperation Programme for Wellbeing and Protection in Educational Centres, funded by the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports. The processing of personal data shall comply with the regulations in force, respecting the principles of confidentiality, proportionality, necessity and minimization.

The new regulation strengthens the educational response to violence, bullying and the mental health problems of students in La Rioja, with a direct impact on families and the educational community. Since it is published before the start of the 2026-2027 academic year, schools will be able to count, from September, on a consolidated framework of specialised support in wellbeing and protection.

Source: Official Gazette of La Rioja, No. 154, of 13 August 2026, Section III. Other Provisions and Acts, pp. 14234-14237 (official reference: BOR-A-20260813-III–3187).