86% of Madrid teacher candidates fail primary-level test

86% of teacher candidates fail a test designed for 12-year-olds

The data is alarming: in the latest primary school teacher recruitment exams in Madrid, 86% of candidates did not pass a test whose questions, according to the administration itself, correspond to the level of a sixth-grader. The filter is not pedagogy or child psychology; it is spelling and reading comprehension. Those aspiring to teach children how to read and write largely cannot do so themselves.

A long-standing failure rate
The debate over candidate levels is not new. The LOGSE (1990) is often cited as the turning point where the education system began prioritizing automatic promotion over mastery of basic competencies. Three decades later, the result is a pool of applicants who, according to testimony from examination board members, make writing errors that would be unacceptable for a student in the old EGB system: confusing «ahí», «hay», and «ay», writing «iba» as «iva», and demonstrating what correctors describe as «non-existent» reading comprehension.

Spelling rigor as a double-edged sword
In secondary school recruitment exams, the regulations are clear: five spelling mistakes miccionan an automatic fail, and each additional error deducts one point. For years, this criterion has been a barrier against functional illiteracy. However, application is not always uniform. One case documented involved a candidate penalized four points for writing «historia» in lowercase —the board required uppercase— and for three accents that, according to the RAE, were not mandatory. The line between reasonable demand and capricious arbitrariness is too thin.

Pressure from above to pass candidates
Consulted board members admit there is explicit pressure from higher authorities to avoid leaving positions vacant. In specialties like Technology, lists remain open in Madrid from October onwards: any graduate —without a master's degree, without experience, and without having taken a competitive exam— can fill a vacancy. The result is that entry standards suffer, and those who deserve the position compete in a system that lowers the bar rather than raising it to fill classrooms.

Less reading, less critical thinking
Underlying the spelling errors is a deeper problem: the inability to write coherent text. Disordered writing reflects disordered thinking. When reading is scarce, comprehension atrophies, along with the ability to structure ideas. The official figure of 172 school days per year —with July and August at zero— helps explain why exposure to written language is decreasing.

With these elements, the paradox is complete: students who write worse than their grandparents will be judged by boards applying criteria as rigid as they are debatable. If 86% of aspiring teachers do not pass a sixth-grade exam, the question is not who fails, but what we are willing to tolerate as a society.

86% of teacher candidates fail a 12-year-old's test