Mathematics teachers concerns regarding public access examination in Spain. Opinions of the examinees

 

Lidon Moliner¹*, Gil Lorenzo-Valentin² , Francisco Alegre³

¹Dr. Lidon Moliner, Universitat Jaume I, SPAIN, mmoliner@uji.es

²Dr. Gil Lorenzo-Valentin, Universitat Jaume I, SPAIN, valentin@uji.es

³Dr. Francisco Aegre, Universitat Jaume I, SPAIN, falegre@uji.es

*Corresponding Author

Abstract

The low success rate in the public access examination for secondary mathematics teachers during the year 2021 has been a relevant topic in Spain. Hardly 20% of the teachers that took the exam could pass the first part of it in many regions and a big percentage of full-time jobs went uncovered. Hence, an analysis of this phenomenon is necessary. To this purpose, the opinions of 8 teachers that took the exam in the Valencian Community were analysed. Two semi-structured interviews were conducted with two of them and two discussion groups were carried out in groups of three with the remaining six. The qualitative information obtained was analysed using qualitative content methods. Results suggests that examinees have serious concerns regarding the way the exam is settled. They state that the practical part of the exam (mathematics problems) is extremely hard and that the required level to pass it is extremely unrealistic for the secondary education level. Almost all examinees coincide that this part is the key that explains the low success rate as almost no examinees are able to pass this subpart of the exam. Their concerns also refer to the examination system. They argue that the practical part does not measure who is a better teacher, just who can solve extremely difficult mathematics problems. Many of them think that the didactic part of the exam (only the second part) is just a mere procedure and that more punctuation should be given to this part. In this sense, they consider this is the most important part and the one that is regarded as the least important. The main conclusion is that mathematics teachers that take the public access examination in Spain has serious concerns regarding the examination system. The fact that not the best teacher but the most proficient in mathematics problem solving are selected is one of the major concerns regarding this issue.

Keywords: Mathematics teachers, public exam, Spain