EDUCATION

SYSTEM

EVA MARIE P. RAQUEL

•The Spanish government sets out a national curriculum for all
schools to follow. There are three key stages: Primary Education,
Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate curricula. 
•Spanish is the language of instruction and the medium for the
delivery of the curriculum.
In Spain, only primary and secondary education is
mandatory. So compulsory education starts at the age
of 6 and lasts until 16. After 16, it’s up to students if they
want to pursue higher education or not.
The mandatory stage of education is free for everyone
at public schools. There’re also many private and
international schools in Spain. But most private schools
are costly. Expect to pay as high as €10,000 annually.
Documents required to enroll at schools in S
pain
•Almost all schools in Spain require the same
paperwork for enrollment. As the
bureaucratic processes can be pretty
uncertain in Spain, translate all the
documents to Spanish even if they weren't
requested.
•These are the required documents for
school admissions:
•The student’s birth certificate or passport
(copy and original)
•Parents’ passports (original and copy)
•Health certificate of the child (including
vaccinations)
•A residence registration certificate (
certificado de empadronamiento) or rental
contract
•Three passport size photos
•Filled enrollment form
If your child is enrolling for secondary
education, you need to obtain validation
(homologación or convalidación) for the
previous education level from the
Ministry of Education. For convalidación,
you’ll need the student's record book
and birth certificate.

If you’re not yet in Spain, you can get

the validation document at the Spanish
embassy in your country. If you’re
already in Spain, you can do this at the 
registry offices of the Ministry of Educati
on
 or the registry offices of the local
autonomous community you live in.

If you decide to send your child to

an international school, your child may
be required to take a language
exam depending on which language the
school’s curriculum is in.
Education in Spain begins on September
and ends at the end of June.
Children go on vacation twice at
Christmas and in summer. School day
lasts from 9:00 am to 2:00 pm.
Parents bring their children then all gates
closed and until the end classes children
cannot go outside the school, such an
approach is high security.
From 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM held additional classes-they are voluntarily and paid
separately.
Every year class teacher changes for no bias attitude toward certain students and
addictive.
Parents doesn’t have the opportunity to go inside the school.
The main value of the school is the
psychological comfort of children.
There are no pressure and race for grades.
Children are not adjusted to one pace to make
everyone study in the same way. The teacher
writes a task on the board, explains but each
child goes at own pace.
No homework. There is mobile application
and the class teacher gives to parents entrance
code, and access. They send classroom task to
finish at home.
Teachers communicate with parents through a diary. Once
in a trimester held a meeting to discuss general topics.
During meetings teachers never talk about specific
students. Through the diary can be requested a meeting
with the teacher, and only in this case, the teacher face to
face discusses problems or issues related to the child.
During the trimester two tours organized for children. For
example theatre and cheese factory.
In Spain, repeating the same grade is often practiced.
About 70% of the students remained to repeat the year.
This didn’t consider shameful, no one will laugh or point
fingers. From students to teachers and parents everyone
refers to this normally.
 PRESCHOOL EDUCATION IN SPAIN
The first stage of education is preschool. Children may
attend them from as early as a few months old to 6
years old, but it’s not mandatory.
Nonetheless, preschool attendance in Spain is very
high as parents return to work after 16 weeks of
maternity and paternity leave. Besides, sending
children to preschool not only helps their social and
motor skills but also prepares them for primary
education.
  .
Primary education in Spain (elementary school)
In Spain, mandatory education starts with primary education (educación
primaria or colegio ). Children attend primary schools from age 6 to 12.
Primary education consists of 3 cycles, with each lasting 2 years. At the
end of the 2nd cycle, students take assessment exams.
Students learn core subjects such as mathematics, science, and social
subjects, alongside physical education, artistic education, and a secondary
language. The new laws passed in 2020 made the religion classes voluntary
and introduced a civic and ethical education course into the curriculum.
To pass to the next stage, students receive an evaluation of their progress in
each subject. If students fail, they’re only allowed to repeat the school
year once.
 SECONDARY EDUCATION IN SPAIN

From the age of 12 to 16, students start their last phase of

compulsory education – ESO (Educación Secundaria
Obligatorio). During these 4 years, they take many elective
courses (music, technology, art, additional languages)
alongside their core subjects. During the 2nd year of ESO,
students take exams to assess their learnings.
In their last year of ESO, students can form their own curriculum
to specialize in certain subjects. After they successfully finish
this stage, they receive certification for the compilation of their
secondary education.
NON-COMPULSORY HIGHER EDUCATION PREPARATION IN SPAIN
Compulsory education ends at 16 and students get to decide if they want to
proceed to higher education. After this, they can attend a baccalaureate to go to
a university or vocational school.

SPANISH BACCALAUREATE
The Spanish baccalaureate (baccalaurete or bachillerato ) is an optional 2-
year program for students who want to pursue a university degree.
The baccalaureate curriculum is designed to prepare students for their future
university degrees. As of 2022, there’re 4 baccalaureate curriculums:
1.Arts
2.Social science
3.Science and humanities
4.General curriculum
After finishing the baccalaureate, students may
take university entrance exams (selectividad).
To gain university admission, universities will
look at both your baccalaureate scores and
the selectividad scores – these account for 60%
and 40%, respectively.
Vocational schools
Vocational schools (formación professional ) give more
job-specific training and prepare students for the
workforce.
There’re 3 types of vocational schools in Spain:
1.Basic-level (formación profesional básica)
2.Medium-level (ciclo formativo de grado medio)
3.Higher level (ciclo formativo de grado superior) -
students must finish baccalaureate to attend the higher
vocational schools.
Although compulsory public education is free,
students still have to pay for school materials such
as school uniforms and books.

Even though all public schools are in Spanish, they

also teach English as a secondary language from
age 6.
 TOP UNIVERSITIES IN SPAIN
University of Barcelona
Autonomous University of Barcelona
Pompeu Fabra University
University of Navarra
Autonomous University of Madrid
Complutense University of Madrid
Open University of Catalonia
Universitat Ramon Llull
University of Valencia
University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia
The Spanish school has a ten-
point grading system. Only exams
are grading. Examinations held
five times during the semester and
at the end of each quarter. The
child repeats the grade if has three
grades below five at the end of
the year.
Reference:
https://housinganywhere.com/Spain/s
panish-education-system#Secondary
%20Education%20in%20Spain
THANK YOU!