Spain Plus More

Education in Spain

We all want the best for our children and their education is of paramount importance.

Spain’s state-funded school system (escuelas públicas) is supported by a comprehensive network of private schools (escuelas privadas), including many foreign and international schools. Around one-third of Spain’s schoolchildren attend private schools, most of which are co-educational day schools.

Education in Spain is almost exclusively co-educational and is entirely free, from nursery school through to university (and includes the children of foreign residents). Over 90 per cent of children aged four or five attend nursery school and over 55 percent of students remain in full-time education until they’re 18, with around 25 percent going on to vocational training and 30 per cent to university.
Education standards at Spain’s finest universities are comparable with the best in Europe.

Many foreign parents prefer to educate younger children in Spanish nursery and primary schools, where they quickly learn Spanish, and to send children of secondary school age to a private school.
Generally, the younger a child is when he enters the Spanish system, the easier he will cope.
For many children, the experience of schooling and living in a foreign land is a stimulating change and a challenge they relish, and it offers invaluable cultural and educational experiences. Children become ‘world’ citizens and are less likely to be prejudiced against foreigners and foreign ideas. This is particularly true when they attend an international school with pupils from different countries, although many state schools also have students from a number of countries and backgrounds, particularly in Barcelona, Madrid and resort towns on the costas.

Information about Spanish schools, both state and private, can be obtained from Spanish embassies and consulates abroad, and from foreign embassies, educational organisations and government departments in Spain. Information about local schools can be obtained from town halls (ayuntamientos).

Types of schools
For most Spanish children, school starts with nursery or pre-school (preescolar) at the age of three to five. Compulsory education (escolaridad obligatoria), termed the basic general education (Educación General Básica/EGB), begins at six years of age in a primary school (escuela primaria) and lasts for six years.
At the age of 12 (equivalent to sixth grade) pupils move on to secondary education (educación secundaria obligatoria/ESO) for the next four years.
When they’re 16, and if they’ve completed the four years, students are awarded a graduado en educación secundaria certificate and may attend a higher secondary school (or the same school in some cases) to study for their baccalaureate (bachillerato) leading to university entrance.