The upcoming teaching exams bring some good news and some worrying news. On the one hand, the teaching vocation shows muscle in the early stages of education (nursery and primary school teachers), contrary to what happens in other countries where a drop in the vocation is observed. Five applicants are presented for each advertised position, which allows the best candidates to be selected.
In secondary school it is the opposite in some specialties. Mathematics, technology and Catalan teachers continue to be lacking. And you already know, having just published the list of admitted people, because there are more places than interested teachers. It is not new, just the realization that young mathematicians and computer scientists do not have a vocation as teachers, and that there are not enough graduates in philology or literary studies to be teachers of Catalan.
In this situation, the great interest of psychologists and psychopedagogues to be educational counselors is also noteworthy, a figure much claimed by the centers. In this sense, the need detected by institute management collides with the desire of a significant number of professionals to participate in this call, with 1,420 candidates for 519 places.
On April 26, the ordinary examinations for teaching staff begin, with the call for 9,344 places for which 17,764 people will apply, double the number of candidates needed. This is the third major call in the last twelve months (together with the merit competition and the extraordinary one), which has the European objective of stabilizing the workforce at less than 8% before December 2024. Overall, they will have stabilized nearly 40,000 places.
One of the most difficult places to get will be that of children's teacher because 2,444 candidates are applying for 404 places. In the extraordinary call held in the summer there was also an excess of candidates. In fact, they were left without a place, despite the fact that they passed, 1,390 people who will now be recognized as a merit.
In primary education, 705 places are offered for which 2,913 teachers will compete. They had already passed in the summer but 1,265 were left without a place.
The situation at secondary school is the reverse in certain specialties. Mathematics graduates, a situation that repeats itself in most countries, have such attractive and well-paid job offers that they are not interested in working at school. In this call, it is already known that, even if they all apply and pass, the places will not be filled. In mathematics, 539 applications have been registered for 720 civil servant positions. No person was left with a pass and without a place in the last competition.
In technology, 150 will remain unassigned, as 359 people apply for 509 places. The same thing happens in vocational IT: there are 86 candidates for 126 positions.
In Catalan, it also happens with 23 places that may or may not be left unallocated and this on the assumption that all those admitted show up and pass. There are 532 applications for 555 places. This deepens the problem of Catalan at school and the difficulty of finding philology graduates to teach secondary and high school students.
In Spanish it is also fair, although the balance is still positive. There are more candidates than places: 463 for 399 places. In English, the difference is 150 people.
The call for this April was, initially, for just over two thousand places, but the Generalitat raised it to 9,363 due to the entry of more teachers in January 2023 (to appease the unions enraged by the advancement of the school calendar), retakes, the incorporation of new specialties, planned retirements and vacancies in the extraordinary competition.
