Problem-based learning is one of the promising innovative technologies for the educational process in the school. The study is based on system-activity and technological approaches. The study was based on the survey, which was attended by 185 teachers of physics, mathematics and computer science at general education schools of Mordovia. This article presents the materials of research devoted to determining the rating and status of problem education in secondary school. Based on the analysis of the results of the conducted experiment, the main difficulties of teachers in the organisation of problem education and the reasons for its low rating in secondary school are revealed. The developed recommendations are presented, the implementation of which, in our opinion, would improve the status of problem education in secondary educational institutions.