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, 2nd

, 3rd and 4th year of Educación Secundaria Obligatoria ; 1st and 2nd

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

25-27 5 30-32

10 0

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