From the classrooms of CIFP Virgen de Gracia in Puertollano, Ciudad Real, Ángel Luis González Serrano has become one of Spain’s most internationally recognised teachers. In 2025, this vocational education lecturer was selected among the 50 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize, awarded annually by the Varkey Foundation and widely referred to as the “Nobel Prize for Teaching”. In 2026, his name returned to the global stage in a different competition, the Muallem Prize, where he finished second after a selection process involving thousands of candidates worldwide. Two consecutive distinctions that point to his work in the classroom and to a teaching approach capable of rebuilding the confidence of students who often arrive unsure of their own potential. That thread explains how, from a public college in Puertollano, his name has entered the international teaching elite.
In this interview for the We Love Learning blog, we asked Ángel Luis González what he believes juries have recognised in his work. In his view, a pattern repeats itself. “They tend to highlight the motivational aspect of my students, particularly in rural areas or small towns like Puertollano”. His context, Intermediate Vocational Training, places him in front of young people who “generally feel too young to start working” and who enrol in vocational studies “to do something, almost as a Plan B”. His aim as a teacher is to reverse that starting point by designing a pathway built on expectations and opportunities that reflect the reality of the young people he teaches.
Beyond grades
Turning motivation into something tangible requires knowing each student and working on attitudes, not just content. “I really enjoy getting to know my students in depth. I’m interested in what they do outside school, what they like and what they don’t. I always take a life-centred approach,” he explains. His teaching goes beyond the mark book because grades do not always reflect the real potential and capabilities of the young people in his classroom. “Marks matter, but their skills are just as valuable and they don’t appear on a report”, he says.
He argues that a culture centred solely on grades fails to reflect a student’s true abilities. “Creativity cannot be a consolation prize. Creativity is something wonderful”. He believes assessment should place greater emphasis on competencies rather than subject-based scores, with a clear focus on soft skills. “Given how the world is changing, especially in business and employment, marks are sometimes less important”, he reflects.
“Sometimes you have a student who cannot sit still, but whenever something needs organising, they volunteer. They speak to the group, persuade them and everyone follows. That student is showing extraordinary leadership”, he explains. A potential that students themselves often fail to recognise and may even reject. “They think they are failing because they are not quiet or still. My job is to help them see that their classmates follow them because they can adapt their message so everyone understands and because they help others complete the task”. He consistently reinforces that such skills are highly valued by employers. “Most companies tell us they look more for attitude than aptitude”, he notes.
Pressure and entrenched bias
As a teacher, Ángel Luis González is concerned about the psychological impact of pressure from an early age and the biases it reinforces. “If your marks are good, the pressure is enormous. And if they are bad, from a very early stage you are made to feel you are not good at anything, which is simply not true”. From that perspective, he presents vocational training to his students as a realistic and forward-looking path rather than a fallback option. “It is deeply frustrating that skilled trades are still undervalued in Spai”. This is particularly striking at a time when AI has begun to automate tasks across industries. “I believe artificial intelligence should help us revalue skilled professions and encourage young people to look in new direction”, he says.
Bridging business and the classroom
His approach to connecting education and employment is based on dialogue and exposing students to the realities of the labour market, where demand for technical profiles continues to grow. “For education to be useful, it has to prepare you for the real worl”, he summarises. He promotes conversations at different levels with businesses and the Chamber of Commerce of Ciudad Real, gathering direct feedback from employers and translating it into classroom actions that narrow the gap between curriculum and job roles. “I regularly meet companies that need to hire but face very specific requirements that complicate the process. They ask what we, as a college, can do to help”. That exchange between business and education allows both sides to align expectations. “It is remarkable. In the end, we sit around the same table. We are people, we understand each other and we reach agreements”.
Projects that support generational renewal in SMEs
This bridge materialises in projects that deliver immediate value, particularly for SMEs needing to digitalise. “We recently worked with an eco-fuel company that had no digital systems in place. Our intermediate-level students began scanning invoices, sharing documents and tracking data in spreadsheets, initiating a digitalisation process that has since enabled the company to take more ambitious steps”, he explains. Beyond technical gains, there is also a cultural shift that benefits both sides. “The company told us it had been a fantastic experience to have 16-year-olds working with them. They saw young people bringing new ideas, and the owner realised that generational renewal can strengthen the business”.
For this reason, Ángel Luis González also calls on companies to move beyond occasional work placements towards sustained collaboration. “A partnership cannot mean ignoring each other all year and then signing a placement agreement when internships begin. It needs to be ongoing dialogue through talks and regular meetings”. Only then, he argues, can the transition from education to employment become a system that works for everyone.
Teaching as its own reward
He follows with interest company–school models that prioritise real-life scenarios. “I value corporate training schemes because they aim to show young people the realities of business”, he acknowledges. Yet he returns to his own role as a teacher, guiding students to recognise and strengthen their abilities while developing new skills to integrate into the workplace. It is work that has earned him international recognition, though for him the true reward lies elsewhere. “Teaching came into my life almost by chance, and it is what matters most. These awards are enjoyable because they bring visibility and make the people who care about me happy. But the thrill I get from being in the classroom never fades. For me, the real prize is being a teacher”.
