A short description of the educational system in Spain, in order to be compared to other countries

1. Educational system in Spain
1. Different schools for different ages
What types of schools? Age Range?
Primary school
Secondary school
Back-to-school date: End of year:
When does mandatory education start / end ?
2. Secondary school
A lesson lasts minutes. A school week lasts days and pupils work hours per week (
lessons). A school year lasts weeks and there are weeks of holidays: (describe when the holidays
are and how long): summer holidays (2 months), Christmas (2 weeks and half), Easter (10 days) and some other bank
holidays distributed along the year
3. Subjects studied at school:
• Mandatory : Spanish, English, Maths, Science, Social Studies, Technology, Music, Arts, Physical Education,
Physics and Chemistry (not all them in all the years).
• Optional: Ethics/Religion (mainly Catholic), 2nd
Foreign language (mainly French), and some of the previous
subjects in the 4th
year.
Special programs offered in certain schools: Bilingual program, Integration of Special Needs Students, Physical
Education, Technology
4. Grading system:
The best mark a pupil can have: The worst:
Do all subjects use the same system? (if no, why?) yes
How are marks shown to parents? How often? Three times a year in physical report cards
One school for Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (mandatory, from 13 to 16 years old) and
Bachillerato (optional, from 16 to 18 years old).
Other schools offer vocational studies (optional), which can be chosen by students after Educacion
Secundaria Obligatoria or Bachillerato
1st, 2
nd
, 3rd and 4th year of Educación Secundaria Obligatoria ; 1st and 2
nd
year of Bachillerato
Name of classes : kindergarten (year 0, 1 and 2), Infantil (year 3, 4 and 5), Primaria (1st , 2nd… 6th)
One school for Kindergarten (from 0 to 3 years old) (optional)
Another school for Infantil (from 3 to 6) (optional) and Primaria (from 6 to 12) (mandatory)
Teachers: September 1st
Students: September 10th
Teachers: June 30th
Students: June 25th
From 6 to 16 years old
50
36 16
25-275 30-32
10 0

2. What happens at the end of the year if a student : - has poor results? Retake exams
- fails exams? Repeat the year
5. National exams :
Name When do students take it? What do they consist in? Necessary in
order to go
further?
Revalida ESO End of 4th
year of Secondary
Education (not applicable yet)
Written. 200 questions on common
subjects + 150 questions on optional
subjects
Yes
Selectividad End of 2nd
year of Bachillerato
(some changes will apply soon)
Written. 3 exams of mandatory
subjects (Spanish, English and
History or Phylosophy) and up to 3 of
optional subjects
Yes
6. Management and Teachers
On what level are schools managed? Regional
To become a teacher you need to study at least years and pass a certification called
As a teacher, you teach at least and at most subjects. You teach around hours
a week.
To get a position in a school, teachers must: pass the certification
7. Special needs
Are special needs children integrated into regular classes? Yes
Are trained teachers in charge of SNT? Generally yes
Do special programs exist for SNT? Yes
5 Oposición
1 (it depends ) 20