Spain's IMU Adhering Organization is the Spanish Committee for Mathematics (CEMat). The Chair of CEMat's Commission on Education serves, by virtue of this position, as Spain's ICMI Country Representative. The Commission provides the institutional link between the Spanish mathematics education community and ICMI.
The CEMat Commission on Education is the national forum for matters concerning mathematics education at all educational levels. It brings together representatives of mathematical societies, mathematics education researchers, teachers' organizations, university faculties and the national education administration, and coordinates Spain's relationship with ICMI.
The Spanish Society for Research in Mathematics Education (SEIEM) is the main scientific society devoted specifically to mathematics education research. Founded in 1996, it promotes research and scholarly exchange through an annual symposium, thematic working groups and publications. The Spanish Federation of Mathematics Teachers' Associations (FESPM) federates regional teacher associations across Spain and supports professional development, conferences, classroom initiatives and dissemination. The Societat Catalana de Matemàtiques (SCM), affiliated with the Institut d'Estudis Catalans, promotes the mathematical sciences and fosters both their teaching and theoretical and applied research. Other mathematical societies represented within CEMat, including the Royal Spanish Mathematical Society (RSME), also contribute to educational initiatives.
Mathematics education research in Spain is decentralized and mainly university-based. Researchers work in departments and research groups commonly located in faculties of education, although some are based in mathematics or science-education structures. Several universities offer master's and doctoral programmes in mathematics education or in education with a mathematics education research line. SEIEM connects this national community through its thematic working groups, which cover major areas such as teacher knowledge and professional development, numerical and algebraic thinking, geometry, statistics and probability, mathematical analysis, technology, history, diversity and inclusion, and the scientific foundations of mathematics education. Doctoral research completed in Spanish universities can be consulted through the national TESEO database.
The principal specialist research journals published in Spain include Avances de Investigación en Educación Matemática (AIEM), the diamond open-access journal of SEIEM; PNA, published by the University of Granada and focused on research in mathematics education; and REDIMAT - Journal of Research in Mathematics Education. Mathematics education research is also published in broader Spanish journals of science education, notably Enseñanza de las Ciencias. For dissemination and teachers' professional learning, SUMA is the long-established journal of FESPM.
Initial teacher education is provided by universities. Teachers in early childhood and primary education complete four-year bachelor's degrees (240 ECTS) leading to regulated teaching qualifications. They are prepared as generalist teachers, and their programmes include mathematical and mathematics education components. Secondary mathematics teachers normally complete a relevant bachelor's degree followed by a one-year professional master's degree (60 ECTS) in secondary education, with a mathematics specialization. The national requirements for these regulated qualifications are summarized by the Ministry of Education.
Entry into public-sector teaching is generally through competitive recruitment procedures organized by the education authorities. Continuing professional development is decentralized: it is offered by the autonomous communities and their teacher-development centres, universities, professional associations and other institutions. Mathematics teacher associations and university research groups play an important role in connecting research, curriculum development and classroom practice.
Spain has a decentralized education system. Under the current education law (LOMLOE), the national government establishes the basic curriculum and minimum teaching requirements, while the autonomous communities develop their own curricula and schools contextualize them. The curriculum is competency-based and is organized around stage objectives, key competences, subject-specific competences, assessment criteria and core knowledge. In mathematics, strong emphasis is placed on problem solving, reasoning and proof, connections, communication and representation, and socio-affective skills.
Mathematical learning in early childhood education is integrated mainly within the area concerned with discovery and exploration of the environment. Mathematics is a distinct area in primary education and a subject throughout compulsory secondary education; upper-secondary education offers different mathematics subjects according to the chosen pathway. The Ministry's national curriculum portal provides the basic curricula for all stages, and its autonomous-community curriculum directory links to the official regulations for every region.