Spain

Training for secondary education teachers has taken place historically at the university level. Secondary education teachers majored in various disciplines at traditional university faculties without receiving any specific teacher training. All that was needed was a university degree. This changed with the General Education Law of 1970 when future teachers were required to do specific pedagogical course work for teaching. Thus, in addition to university degrees (Licenciado, Engineer, Architect, or Diplomas for Technical or Vocational Training), secondary teachers also needed a special certificate, "Aptitude Certificate" or CAP, which indicated that they had completed coursework in pedagogical training. These certificates could be obtained at Educational Science Institutes.

The LOGSE of 1990 brought further changes to teacher training for those in the area of secondary education. This law called for the establishment of two different groups of secondary teachers: secondary teachers, or those teaching ESO (secondary education and bachillerato), and technical teachers of vocational training.

The foundations and regulation of training primary school teachers dates back to the eighteenth century, but the most significant efforts for the development of teacher training centers are from the nineteenth century. It seems that the first teachers college (Escuela Normal de Maestros) was founded in 1839. It served as a model for primary teacher training until the Law of General Education in 1970.

According to the 1970 law, university schools for teacher training were established to prepare teachers for teaching basic general education (EGB). During the 1970s, teachers received specialized training in their areas of curricular interest: preschool, humanities, philology, and special education. The next significant reforms to primary education teacher training were those indicated by the LOGSE Law of 1990. According to this law, training was to be in the first cycle of university study and the degree of Maestro would be awarded upon completion of the course of study. The law required all teachers at the preschool and primary school level to have the Maestro degree.

In 1992, salaries for Spanish teachers, primary and lower secondary, were as follows: for starting primary teachers, $22,964 with a maximum of $35,394; for lower secondary teachers, $22,964 with a maximum of $30,632. The two most important teachers unions in Spain are the Federation of Teachers (Federación de Enseñanza), which belongs to Comisión Obreara (Workers Group) and the Federation of Workers in Education, which is associated with the Socialist General Union of Workers (UGT). While these unions periodically hold demonstrations throughout Spain, they do not represent the majority of Spanish teachers.