The Education System in Spain

1. International Programme: CopingwithInclusion in PrimarySchools April 16-27, 2007 The Education System in Spain

2. Summary 1. SpanishEducationSystem 1.1.Principles and Legislation of theEducationalSystem 1. 2. Structure of theEducationalSystem 1.3. Calendars and SchoolSchedules 1.4. General Teaching

3. 1.1.EducationalSystem : Principles and Legislation 1.1. Legislative framework of Education: The legislative framework that governs the Spanish educational system is formed by the Spanish Constitution (1978) and four constitutional laws that develop the principles and rights established in it: • The Organic Act 11/1983 of the University Reform (LRU) • The Organic Act 8/1985 regulating of the Right of Education (LODE) • The Organic Act 1/1990 of General Ordering of the Educational System (LOGSE) and • The Organic Act 9/1995 of the Participation, Evaluation and Government of the educational institutions (LOPEG) • The Organic Act 2002 on the Quality of Education (LOCE) (this law didn’t get implanted in all the Spanish territories because of political reasons, only in some regions it began to be done; in the orders the law continued to be the LOGSE (1990) that was the precedent referent. • The Organic Act 2/2006 (LOE) This law is actually being evaluated by the different communities to adequate the different items to the identity of the regional folklore in each area of the country in this way the law can be finally implanted.

4. 1.2. EducationalSystem: Structure Compulsory Education: • Children Education, The LOGSE establishes it as the first level of the educational system. It is a voluntary phase. This level begins whith the birth and finishes at the age of 6 years old, There are two parts: the first one till the age of 3 and the second one till the age of 6. With respect to the methodology, the regulation that develops the law marks some principles based on the elaborate constructivists learning theories of Piaget, Vigotsky and Ausubel, among others, but it establishes no specific method, since the educational team of each centre must decide what strategies and what pedagogical methods are the most adequate. The evaluation in the children education should be global, continuous and formative.

5. 1.2. Educational System: StructureCompulsory Education • Primary educationis the first level of the obligatory teaching and it is, therefore, free, with a global and integrative character. It comprises six school years, from the age of six to the age of 12. There are three levels or cycles, each cycle comprises two school years.  The evaluation of the learning processes should be global, continuous and formative. The promotion from a cycle to another will be done provided that the students must have reached the corresponding objectives. Religion subjet matter is elective for the students in all the school centres. For those that, by decision of their parents, don’t choose that subject, other activities should be organized about analysis and reflection of different aspects of the cultural and social life.

6. 1.2. Educational System: StructureCompulsory Education Secondary education • The complete obligatory secondary education Comprises four academic school years, from 12 to 16 years old. The students that reach all the objectives of this phase receive the title of Graduate in Secondary Education that authorizes the development of a degree or to the specific vocational training of medium level. For those students who don’t achieve the aim, specific programs of social guarantee can be organized, in order to provide them a professional and basic formation that allows them to be incorporated to the active life or to continue their studies.

7. 1.2. Educational System: StructureCompulsory Education • Bachillerato • has a duration of two years (16-18 years old). The students that obtain a positive evaluation in all the matters of any of the modalities, receive the title of secondary graduate, with which they can get to university or so specific superior levels. The teachings in secondary education are structured in modalities, some more professional than others, so that each student can elect his own formative itinerary in function of his capacities and professional and academic interests. There are four modalities: arts, natural and health sciences, liberal arts and social sciences, and technology. The methodological orientation of the processes of teaching and learning in the degree tries to favour the capacity of the student to learn by himself, to work in group and to apply the appropriate methods of investigation. The evaluation is continuous. It is carried out by subjects and in relation to the educational objectives and the criteria of evaluation established in the own curriculum of each educational administration.

8. 1.2. Educational System: StructureCompulsory Education Vocational training • provides the assembly of teachings that qualify for the qualified performance of the different professions. The specific vocational training constitutes the strictly professional formation. There are two degrees: the vocational training of medium degree and the vocational training of upper degree. The first one of them is inserted immediately after the obligatory secondary education and it is necessary to be in possession of the title of Graduate in Secondary Education. The students that go though the teachings of specific vocational training of medium degree and of degree will receive, respectively, the title of Technician and of Upper Technician of the corresponding profession.

9. 1.2. Educational System: StructureCompulsory Education Special Education: The concept of special educational needs is related to the idea of diversity of the students and it is defined as the assembly of supports and adaptations that the student will bearly carried out his processes of development and learning in the educational system in ordinary centres. The schooling differentiated in units or central specific of special education only will be carry out when the needs of the student cannot be attended in an ordinary educational centre. This situation will be revised periodically, so that the access of the students to a state of greater integration can be favoured, provided it is possible.

10. 1.2. Educational System: StructureCompulsory Education Attention to the students with special educational needs The new law (LOE) establishes the concept of ‘pupils with specific educational needs’, which comprises diferent types of pupils. Pupils who require compensatory education. Pupils Whit difficulties in education.. Highly-gifted pupils. Pupils with special educational needs: pupils with physical, psychical, sensorial disabilities or with serious personality or conduct disorders. Specials needs in education must be detected as soon as posible and provide the earlier atenttion to make possible the bests possibilities of inclusion. The centres of children education, are suitable places to make students with special educational needs develop their maximum possibilities. With respect to the objectives these students should obtain are the same as for the remainder of their companions, nevertheless, the goals should be more specific and the method more individualized according to the development and capacity of each student.

11. 1.3. SCHOOL SCHEDULES

13. Teaching Methods and Materials Both in mainstream and in the specific Special Education schools, the methodological assistance lent to these pupils must comply with the educational principles established for the school-age population in general: • Take the pupil's level of development as a point of departure. This means accommodating each pupil's intellectual, communicational-linguistic, social-affective and motor characteristics. • Guarantee significant learning. More than anyone else, pupils with special educational needs require learning to be applicable to their daily life skills and to serve as a basis to gain access to subsequent learning. • Enable pupils to undertake significant learning on their own (learning to learn). In order to achieve this, pupils with special educational needs must be provided with the necessary skills and procedures to be able to learn on an independent basis. • Promote both physical and intellectual activity. Such pupils must be active elements in their learning process in order to be able to assimilate and fully comprehend the activities and operations they are undertaking. This may be achieved with the aid of their teacher or their peers although they will admittedly need more help and/or a different kind of help in order to do so.

14. 1.2. Educational System: Structure Teachings of Special State: • Dance and Music • Drama Studies • Art Studies • Conservation and restauration of Cultural Goods • Language Studies

15. University Education: The system isadapting to the Bologna Process Model (undergraduate/postgraduate training) Universities offer undergraduate training at: • First and Second level (Diplomatura / Licenciatura) • Third Level (Phd studies/ doctorado)   Universities also offer Postgraduate Training Programmes in different areas of expertise (courses of professional specialization; continuous education, etc) at Postgraduate and Master Level.

16. Students of Cádiz University, Spain Antonia de la Torre Rísquez Mª Soledad Ruiz Pérez Manuela Fernández Gómez Carolina Angela Muñoz Lepe Aurora Arrebola Macías Coordinator: Patricia Sabbatella

17. ThankYou!