Until a few years ago, the mathematics graduates They were almost always predestined to teach this subject in class. But this scenario has changed in recent times. Technology, algorithms and logarithms dominate and job offers are raining down on them. So these professionals … they make their “accounts” and their figures and They mainly bet on entering private companieswith “more attractive” conditions and being able to devote themselves to “purer mathematics”. The result is that only those who have a teaching vocation decide to stay in the secondary and baccalaureate classes – in primary school, those who have a teaching diploma do so.
The main consequence is that There is a shortage of teachers with this qualification and those with a background in architecture or engineering began teaching classes. Of course, all have a master’s degree in pedagogy which brings them closer to “the pedagogy of the subject”, so in the educational field they call for calm: the level of content does not decrease because they are “equally prepared”. This lack of educational vocation among mathematicians themselves also has another direct effect on competitions to obtain a place in secondary education: permanent positions announced by public administrations are not filled.
During the tests organized this year, 135 places out of the 170 offered were deserted; 127 were not permanently staffed in the previous year. Exactly the opposite happened in 2023, when the almost 200 requested positions were filled, but taking into account that they were through stabilization – the process used in public administrations to comply with the mandate to reduce the interim position to 8 percent – and that there was no practical examination for these candidates. In 2021, nearly a hundred positions out of more than 200 announced were vacant again.
The explanation is, according to the Castilian and Leonese Association for Teaching Mathematics, that graduates of this discipline now have “more attractive career and salary opportunities”. The private company linked to Big Data or Artificial Intelligence “values training in mathematics and statistics” and has “more work and economic incentives”, he summarizes.
Another reason is, they say, in the “progressive discredit” of teaching. “Socially little recognized”, “with an increasing bureaucratic burden” which makes a large part of the teaching staff “suffer from stress” and without “expectations of professional or salary improvements” are aspects that do not help either.
A “difficult” opposition
The opposition model is another of the obstacles, detailed both by the association and in the teaching section of the CSIF union. This is an “obsolete” system – dating from 1993 –they both regret, and has not “adapted” to changes in the education system. From the independent trade union centre, Mariano González reports that “the problem is the examination model”. And that the practical part is “very difficult”, one of the “hardest in Spain”, also recognized by those responsible for training professionals in the sector. master’s degree in mathematics education to follow all professionals who wish to become a teacher of this subject. This is precisely where a large proportion of candidates find themselves – many of whom do not have a pure mathematical background.
Therefore, González proposes to “give an overview” of the selection process, in particular the practical part, so that it is “more educational” and adapted to “what is done in class”. “Without forgetting mathematics, of course, but more adapted to current events” to perhaps be able to fill more permanent positions and with fewer temporary workers. What they detected was a “change of profile” among the adversaryalso says the Mathematics Education Association. They no longer come directly from this degree or from physics, as was the most common case before. “Most of them come from different engineers,” they emphasize.
They insist that the standard of content has not suffered. “Even if teachers do not have adequate initial training to teach mathematics, whether they are good or bad professionals It does not depend on your origin, but on your vocation as a teacher.», They explain to the association. In addition, they emphasize that there are teachers without qualifications in the specialty who “compensate for the shortcomings through continuing education, through their great interest and through teamwork within the center.”
Even if they are temporary, they “must have accreditation to be able to teach the content”, also explains Mariano González, from the CSIF, in addition to taking the obligatory master’s degree in teaching. However, there will be difficulties in finding replacements, they predict. The temporary pool to deal with absences or sick leave is “rare”. At the beginning of December, there were 70 people for public centers in a subject which has a “fundamental and important weight” in the calendar, he indicates, while demanding “more incentives” to retain mathematicians in teaching.
But also concerted education encounters problems when it comes to securing teaching staff in a key area across all academic programs. Bruno Castillo, director of the La Visitación de Nuestra Señora de Burgos School, recognizes that the difficulties in finding teachers in this field, including for physics, have increased in recent years. “We last year It took us a month to find a replacement “Mathematics is a very, very important subject. It is a science that is in everything and it is a shame that the people trained do not have a vocation to teach,” laments the director, who describes the situation as a “major problem”.
It is for this reason that he suggests that there be “more facilities” for hiring. In the concerted frameworkor a replacement is allowed up to ten days later leave, unless it is maternity leave, consider. In fact, some autonomous communities have already turned to the Ministry of Education to demand measures. Madrid recently launched what it called the Mathematics Rescue Plan and among the proposed actions are that the subject could be taught exceptionally by university students from the third year of their Mathematics and Engineering degree, teachers without a teaching master’s degree or teachers already retired.
Made at university
An approach that the Mathematical Association of Castilla y León categorically rejects as being, it says, a “discredit” to the profession. “A mathematics teacher needs solid training, not only in the subject itself, but also in didactics and this requires time and resources” achieve “quality education”, they emphasize.
While, The university degree is experiencing a golden age in recent times with a significant increase in registrations which has already taken all its places. But it was not always like this, in the 2010-2011 academic year 20 people entered, while in 2024-2025 there were 53 students, to which are added the nine of the double degree with computer science and the fifteen of the one studied jointly with physics. In all, 77 people will leave with mathematical training classrooms of the academic institution of Valladolid and many others are left behind. These three diplomas are among those which have the highest entry thresholds, with more than 9. This is why another measure proposed by the association which brings together teachers is to “expand the places”.
The scenario has changed, says Cesáreo Jesús González, professor of mathematics degree at the University of Valladolid, because before it was thought that the degree “had no exit”, but now “They find work at full speed” and in the most diverse sectors. Data analysis, artificial intelligence, consulting, research, banking and automobiles are some of the sectors that are “winning” mathematicians. The implementation of double degrees has contributed to this, he adds. “We had detected that many students were going to other cities to take them and it was a request that also attracted a lot of people,” he comments. As job opportunities multiply a degree taught in Castilla y León only in Valladolid and Salamanca The number of graduates registering for the teaching master’s degree is decreasing – from 25 in 2020 to ten in 2025. “Those who register do so because they have a clear vision of their vocation,” he concludes.
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