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The Spanish education system is divided into two branches: general education and special education (see table below). In this guide, we will focus on general education, which is the most common one and is related to the different age groups listed in the table below. For information on special education, or details on the Spanish education system, please visit the web page of the Ministry of Education and Science (www.mec.es) or visit the Ministry in C/Alcalá 36, 28071-MADRID. Central telephone number: 91 701 80 00. Telephone inquiries: 902 21 85 00. Opening hours: from 9:00 to 14:30h.
Education in Spain is free and obligatory between the ages of 6 and 16, which is the legal minimum age to work, though this can be prolonged until the age of 18 years within Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) for numerous circumstances: repetition or loss of a course, adaptation of students from abroad, etc…
Infant education (until 6 years) is not compulsory in Spain. The new Organic Education Bill (LOE) supports the voluntary nature of infant education but also believes in its educational value during this early stage of life. The majority of children start school between the ages of three and six, which is becoming standard practice and is highly recommended. This second cycle of infant education is offered for free and is integrated in the Public Education Centres. The Organic Education Bill allows for the establishment of agreements in this cycle, which is being increasingly adopted by the Autonomous Regions. Education in Spain is decentralised and the responsibility for its management has been transferred to the Autonomous Regions. This has led to some considerable differences within the common general education concept. In the Autonomous Regions with a second official language, study of the second language is determined by the different modalities of obligatory education.
School year, seats and registration.
Given the fact that the responsibility for providing education no longer resides with the central government, you will have to contact the local Ministry of Education in your current or future place of residence, or personally visit the schools of your interest, for more information on how to obtain a seat in a public school or when to register for one (see chapter “Useful addresses”). Registration is normally done in the month of March or April before the start of the school year. The school year starts in September and ends in June the following year. Parents are required to pay for the schoolbooks and other educational material. The free distribution of textbooks is becoming increasingly more common, though this varies depending on the Autonomous Region, the education grade, the family income, as well as other circumstances.
Education centres.
There are three different types of education centres: public, private and state-funded.
Public schools belong to the State and provide free education. Schooling is provided to the majority of the population, although percentages vary by Autonomous Region and education stage. Most primary education schools include the second cycle of Infant Education, and some of them – though only a very limited number – also include the first cycle of Infant education. The first cycle is primarily taught in Kindergarten and Infant Education centres, but even at this early stage of education, the conditions vary depending on whether the centres are private schools or whether they are – within the category of public schools – managed by municipal, autonomous or other types of institutions. In general, all children between the ages of 3 and 12 years attend school. After completing primary education, they transfer to secondary schools, which provide Compulsory Secondary Education (“ESO”) and afterwards Higher Secondary Education (“Bachillerato”) and in many cases also intermediate and higher levels of Vocational Training (“FP”). This means that a pupil can stay at one and the same education centre between the age of 12 and 20 years, though the Higher Grade Training Cycles are organised separately or in the afternoon. This wide array of possibilities, together with a broad range of training options, subjects and educational support are the most important attributes of the public education system, to which we can add the already widespread use of new technologies, and the recently introduced programmes of bilingual education.
Public and state-funded (private schools with partial State subsidies) centres have very similar admission criteria. The most important ones – as there are some slight differences between the different Autonomous Regions – are the proximity of the family residence, the attendance of brothers and sisters, the family income, as well as other circumstances. To know which public schools are closest to your home, you can visit the web page of the Ministry of Education and Science (http://centros.mec.es/centros/jsp/Entradajsp.jsp), or contact the local Ministry of Education in your Autonomous Region or the Department of Education or Municipal Boards of your Town Council.
State-funded schools are, as we have previously explained, private schools that have entered into an agreement with the Government, which pays for the teaching staff and funds their daily functioning. They must follow the same laws, calendars, programmes and rules of organisation as public schools. The subsidised – and therefore compulsory – stages should, in theory, be free of charge. However, in actual practice, they usually charge a monthly fee for additional activities, extra-curricular classes or other concepts. What distinguishes these schools from others is the fact that they have their own ideology, which is usually of a religious nature as the majority of them are catholic, though there are also centres without religious affiliation that have their own philosophy of education. Apart from their own ideology, state-funded schools have a few other characteristics in common with exclusively private schools: the widespread use of the uniform, excellent school facilities, and a wide variety of extra-curricular activities.
Private schools do not receive state subsidies. Therefore, the main
difference with state-funded schools is their price: while state-funded schools
have an average monthly cost of 100€, private schools can cost more than
1,000€ per year, though the majority of them charge between 300 and 400€
per month. Private schools are free to choose their own rules of organisation
and functioning: registration, calendars, timetables, teaching staff…
They usually focus on one particular aspect of education: language learning
(many are bilingual), religious – many of them are bilingual –,
religion, education differentiated by gender, new technologies, etc… There
are several listings aimed at establishing a ranking of private schools in Spain,
but most of them are highly subjective and quite arguable, such as, for example,
the ranking of the national newspaper El Mundo of the best 100 private schools
in Spain (classified by Autonomous Region), which can be viewed at the web page:
http://aula.elmundo.es/aula/especiales/2003/100colegios/index.html.
Foreign education centres.
Most foreign education centres are relatively small (no more than 600 students). The majority offer a mixed education system that combines the Spanish model with that of the country they represent. This allows students to obtain knowledge of both cultures, gain access to Spanish and foreign universities or receive academic recognition of their studies. Most of them are recognised by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and use the Spanish language to teach those subjects required by law. Many of these centres offer additional cultural and sporting activities. They are often expensive and have long waiting lists. The majority of the foreign centres are British, French, German and Italian.
For more information on foreign education centres and the 100 best centres in Spain, please visit the website of El Mundo: http://aula.elmundo.es/aula/especiales/2005/100colegios/extranjeros.html or contact your embassy for a list of the most recommended schools that provide education in your native language.
Special education centres.
In addition to the schools for general education, there are also several specialised centres (public, private or state-funded) for physically or mentally disabled children. Many of them are subsidised by the Government. Recently, integration programmes have been developed to facilitate the integration of physically disabled children in regular schools. For more information on these programmes, please contact your City Council or the Ministry of Education of your Autonomous Region (see chapter “Useful addresses” for contact details of the local ministries).
There are 50 public and 20 private universities in Spain. There are also numerous foreign university centres that provide university studies based on the education models of their respective home countries. Universities can offer official degrees (valid within the entire national territory) as well as their own degrees. All official degrees, as well as the minimum contents, are established by the Government. Each university has its own study programme, made up of – apart from the official contents stipulated by the Government – its own compulsory subjects, optional subjects and others chosen by the student. Non-official degrees are not recognised by the Administration, but they are often highly appreciated on the labour market, which is particularly the case of Master’s degrees.
For more information on the Spanish university system, please visit: www.mec.es/mecd/universidades/index.html
University degrees
There are three types of university degrees in Spain:
| Degree | Length | Credits |
|
3 years | Minimum 180 hours |
|
4-5 years | Minimun 300 hours |
|
2 years + thesis |
University entrance
Students who have passed COU (University Orientation Course), Experimental
Higher Secondary Education or the second course of Higher Secondary Education,
can progress to university. However, all students must also pass a university
entrance exam (“Selectividad”). This also applies to students who
have completed secondary education abroad. (For more information, see the following
UNED web page:
http://www.uned.es/infomatricula/acceso_2_paau_extra.htm).
Students from abroad, who want to sit the university entrance exam, must demonstrate
that the education they received abroad is equally valid in Spain. For more
information on the recognition of foreign studies, please visit the web page
of the Ministry of Education and Science (www.mec.es) or go to: www.mec.es/mecd/jsp/plantilla.jsp?id=34&area=titulos.
You can also find more information in chapter 9 of this guide: “Validation
and recognition of foreign university degrees”.
Students normally attend the university to which their centre of secondary education or professional training is attached, unless that university does not offer the degree you are interested in. Students who have completed their secondary education abroad are free to choose the university they wish to attend. These restrictions do not apply to students who want to attend a private university. It should also be taken into account that some universities have a very limited number of seats (numerus clauses) in certain disciplines of high demand. Admission to these universities is therefore subject to special entrance exams.
Each university has its own procedures, registration deadlines and application forms. The pre-registration period generally starts at the beginning of July. The lists of accepted students are posted in the second half of the same month and registration starts at the end of the month. Private universities have their own admission and registration deadlines.
You can find a list of public universities on the web page of the Ministry of Education and Science (www.mec.es) or http://www.mec.es/mecd/universidades/index.html.
Both Spanish universities and post-graduate institutes offer a rich variety of Master’s degrees in all disciplines. As it is difficult to decide without any kind of reference, it might be a good idea to contact former students.
The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) is aimed at guaranteeing the academic recognition of studies and establishing an adequate system of equivalences in order to facilitate the mobility of university students within the EU and their integration into the labour market. The European Ministries of Education have signed various declarations (Sorbonne, Bologna, Prague, Berlin) to support the creation of the European Space of Higher Education. The Declaration of Bologna, signed by 30 European countries (see map) is aimed at achieving full harmonisation of the national degree systems, providing the basis for the creation of a European Space of Higher Education, which is scheduled to be completed in 2010. In addition to the corresponding university degree, students at Spanish universities (Spain is also signatory to the abovementioned declarations) will also receive the new European Diploma Supplement (EDS). The EDS is an official document, valid throughout national territory, with personalised information regarding studies completed, results obtained, professional knowledge acquired and the degree level within the national higher education system. It is aimed at ensuring that the diploma obtained in Spain, which may not have a direct equivalent abroad, is more easily comparable with those of other European countries thanks to the homogenisation of the standards with the rest of European countries.
More information on the European Economic Area (EEA) can be found on the website
of the Ministry of Education and Science:
http://wwwn.mec.es/univ/jsp/plantilla.jsp?id=3501.
