Spain is one of the countries where the fewest teachers consider leaving the profession

Spain is among the countries where the fewest teachers plan to leave the teaching profession in the next five years. This is according to the International Study of Teaching and Learning (Talis), the largest survey of teaching work in the world, carried out every five years by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This is a very positive figure because it shows satisfaction with the work of Spanish teachers and because it will facilitate the generational changeover in the classroom, where the average age is 45.

The conclusions of Talis, in which teachers and principals from 55 countries participated, including 1,013 Spanish secondary and primary schools, indicate that the Spanish education system has notable strengths, but also some important deficiencies that generate stress and dissatisfaction among a high percentage of teachers.

Despite the positives, one in five (19%) secondary and 16% of primary teachers, are thinking of leaving the profession. However, this is still between five and eight points lower than in the rest of the EU and between eight and eleven points lower than the OECD average. More positively, just 1% of primary and 4 of secondary teachers under the age of 30 plan to quit. This is three to five times less than international averages, where they are the age group most likely to change jobs.

The factors that weigh most heavily when deciding to leave the profession are bullying and insults from pupils, being a school welfare coordinator, the hard work to keep up with excessive changes in the curriculum, the stress of dealing with parents and work overload, as well as other more personal factors including not trusting their effectiveness in teaching or dissatisfaction with working conditions.

To prevent teachers from leaving their jobs, the OECD advises having competitive salaries, offering professional development opportunities, a positive working environment, measures to increase the social recognition of the profession and improving support and mentoring programmes.

Among the strengths of the Spanish education system is also the fact that it is one of the systems with the most satisfied teachers in the world. This is according to 95% of secondary school teachers and 97% of primary school teachers, between six and ten points above international averages. In primary education, they are the most satisfied teachers in the world and in secondary education, the fourth most satisfied. The good data is reflected both in urban and rural schools and in public and private education.

Two other positives in Spain, according to Talis, are the positive climate in most schools and a high degree of teacher autonomy in teaching. Ninety per cent of teachers have a good relationship with the management team and 94% with students. 65% of families rate their work positively, as do 67% of students. A final strength is that two out of three teachers feel able to adapt to the difficulties of teaching in classrooms with more and more immigrant pupils (other mother tongues) and with more students with additional educational needs.

But teachers also highlight in Talis a number of aspects that are going wrong in Spain. The first is that one in six teachers say they suffer a lot of stress at work (16%). Although this figure is three points below the OECD average, it represents a rise of six points in just six years in Spain, which means an increase of 60% in the number of stressed teachers. Those who suffer most from this problem are female and young teachers (both up six points).

The main causes of high stress are excessive bureaucratic workload, the increasing difficulty in maintaining discipline in the classroom (80% must intervene to ask for respect and attention), the constant adaptations of curricula due to legislative changes, the increased hours for marking and assessment and class preparation and the fact that there are more and more pupils with educational needs.

The second major complaint is the training deficits of Spanish teachers at all stages. Teachers who believe that the quality of initial (university) training is high account for 60%, 15 points below the OECD average. They think it lacks in learning and tools for dealing with multicultural classes and with support needs and fostering students' emotional development. Spain is also far behind in providing support and tutoring programmes for newly qualified teachers and in continuing professional development.

The third major problem is the job insecurity of Spanish teachers. Only 69% have permanent contracts or, in other words, 31% are supply teachers without any stability whatsoever. The percentage is no less than twelve points higher than the OECD average and the situation has not improved in the last six years.

The fourth major demand is for measures to enhance the prestige of the profession, to which they believe the best teachers should be attracted. Only 16% of teachers believe that they are well valued by society and only 10% think that education policy makers take them into account. For more than half of those starting to teach, teaching was not their first choice of studies (ten points above the OECD).

In the current debate about the benefits or risks of using new technologies for learning in schools and colleges, Spanish teachers are quite critical, especially those in secondary education.

Some 62% believe that mobiles, tablets or computers distract from learning, 60% that they limit face-to-face communication between students and are detrimental to their well-being and eight out of ten believe that, especially now with artificial intelligence, they encourage plagiarism of content on the internet. Primary school teachers are also critical of the risks, but in percentages between ten and twenty points lower.

Just over a third of Spanish teachers (35%) say they use AI in their classroom work. Most of them use it to generate activities and, to a lesser extent, to summarise topics or to help in the creation of exercises linked to real life. Only 22% use it to mark exams or assess student performance. Two thirds of those who do not yet use AI do so either because they do not have the knowledge to do so or because schools lack the means or structure to do so.

Just over a third of Spanish teachers (35%) say they use AI in their classroom work. Most of them use it to generate activities and, to a lesser extent, to summarise topics or to help in the creation of exercises linked to real life. Only 22% use it to mark exams or assess student performance.