Spain

Information about current national educational system

The Spanish education system has adopted a decentralized model. This means that the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports establishes the basis of the education system and the Autonomous Communities and local authorities can adapt some of these criteria to their particularities as far as they do not interfere with the national regulations.

The central Administration (Ministry) is in charge of the following tasks (Martínez Usarralde, 2015): promulgation of the basic norms, the ordering and arranging of the education system, the decision of the minimal requirements of teaching centres, the general program of teaching, the minimal teaching contents and the regulation of academic and professional titles which apply in Spain.  To sum up, its main function is to assure a globally coherent education system and to guarantee the equity of all Spanish citizens in the educational field (Aragón, 2013).  The autonomous administrations can develop these national regulations in their territory. Local authorities are responsible for the provision, repair and maintenance of buildings and to assure the compulsory school attendance.

Current trends in educational policy and practice (e.g. relevant curricular reform cycles) & regional differences

The Spanish Education system has suffered several reforms in the last decades. These transformations were intended to give our system a new direction. The global changes in the economy, society and the politics required a modernization of the Spanish system to make it more efficient and equivalent to other European education systems. The most relevant acts to understand its essence and main principles are:

• Ley General de Educación (L.G.E.)/General Act of Education  in 1970
• Ley Orgánica del Derecho a la Educación (L.O.D.E.) / Right to Education Act in 1985
• Ley de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo (L.O.G.S.E.)/ General Organization of the Education System Act  in 1990
• Ley Orgánica de Participación, Evaluación y Gobierno de los Centros Educativos (L.O.P.E.G.C.E.)/ Participation, Evaluation and Governance of Educational Centers Act in 1995
• Ley Orgánica de Calidad de la Educación (L.O.C.E.)/Quality of Education Act  in 2002
• Ley Orgánica de Educación (L.O.E.)/ Education Act in 2006
• Ley Orgánica para la Mejora de la Calidad Educativa (L.O.M.C.E.)/ Improvement of the Quality of Education Act in 2013
• Ley Orgánica por la que se modifica la Ley Orgánica 2/2003 de Educación (L.O.M.L.O.E.)/Modification of Education Act 2/2006 in 2020

The actual structure of the Spanish Education system is based on the structure proposed by the Ley de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo which established in 1990 an structure of 10 years of Compulsory Education which included Primary Education (6 – 12 years old) and Lower Secondary Education (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, E.S.O. for students from 12 to 16 years old)[1]. Figure 3.15.1 shows these two stages and the other not compulsory ones: Preschool Education (Educación Infantil 3 – 6 years), Upper Secondary Education (Bachillerato 16 to 18 years), Vocational Education and Training (Ciclos Formativos de Formación Profesional de Grado Medio/Grado Superior) and Higher Education.

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L.O.M.L.O.E. has removed the dual option (academic versus vocational established by L.O.M.C.E.) in the final year of compulsory education, the final external exams, and has added a new branch of upper secondary education combining science and humanities. Education in civics and ethics has been given a growing role, focusing on human rights, sustainability and equity. It has also established the minimum timetable for the compulsory subjects in Primary Education, Junior Secondary Education and Upper Secondary Education cannot be less than 50% in the Autonomous Communities which do have co-official language and 60% in the cases of the Communities which do not have a co-official language. Nevertheless, on this occasion, as on previous occasions, cross-party agreement about education has not been once again possible.

Current international examinations (PISA, TIMSS)

Based on current results of popular international testing studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD] , student performance in Spain in Mathematics (M = 481) and Science  (M = 483) was below the OECD (M _mathematics = 489; M _science = 489) and European Union average (M _mathematics = 494; M _science = 490) (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte de España, 2019). Therefore, Spanish results in international evaluations, have not always been as good as hoped for, particularly in mathematics area (M = 481) in which the ratings were similar to Hungary and Lithuania ones (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte de España, 2019; OECD, 2018). Adopting a comparative perspective there are few participants in Spain with outstanding results, and the level in lower achievement students was similar to the OECD average. In mathematics, 75% of the students showed a level 2/higher than 2 (OCDE average 76%); 7% obtained level 5/higher than 5 (OECD average 11%). In sciences, 79% of the students achieved level 2/higher than 2  (OECD average 78%) and 4% os students achieved level 5/higher than 5 (OECD average 7%).

Furthermore, there are substantial internal differences between Spanish regions, with generally better results in Castilla-León (M = 502), Navarra (M = 497) and Rioja (M = 503) in Mathematics and Galicia (M = 510) and Castilla y León (M = 501) in Science (Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte de España, 2019). Ceuta  (M _mathematics = 411; M _science = 415) , Melilla  (M _mathematics = 432; M _science = 439) , Canary Islands  (M _mathematics = 460; M _science = 470)  and Andalucía  (M _mathematics = 467; M _science = 471) achieved the lowest results both in Mathematics and Science.  It should be noted that although Spain has a central Department of Education that is responsible for coordination, educational responsibilities have been transferred to autonomous communities, who are responsible for the design of curricula, language policies and other organizational issues concerning public schools, particularly in those regions which have their own language in addition to Spanish (Martínez Usarralde, 2015).

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) develops every four years the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) with students in their fourth and eighth grade. In the case of Spain, only students in their fourth year (Primary Education) have participated in the study. In the 2015 edition, Spain has obtained 505 points in Mathematics so these students are situated over the 49 participants average (M = 500) but below the OECD (M = 525) and European Union (M = 519) average. The best results have been obtained by Singapur (M = 618), South Korea (M = 608), Japon (M= 593), Northern Ireland (M= 570) and Russia (M = 564) (Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte de España, 2016). 

On the other hand, Spain has obtained 518 points in Science and therefore Spain results are over the 500 points of average obtained by all the participant countries, but below the OECD (M = 528) and European Union (M = 521) average. The countries which show the most outstanding performance are Singapur (M = 590) , South Korea (M = 589) , Russia (M = 567) and Finland (M = 554) (Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte de España, 2016).

Spain is the European Union country with the highest improvement in mathematics when comparing 2011 and 2015 results (23 points), followed by Ireland (20), Czech Republic (17) and Sweden (15).

Spain is the fourth country when considering the improvement in Science, 13 points. Netherlands (10 and 14 points) and Finland (10 and 16 points).