By Beatriz Alonso:)

Education in Spain!

Below Higher Education the system can be seen as consisting of four levels:

· Pre-school (Educación Infantil, segundo ciclo) - 3 to 6 years of age

· Primary School (Educación Primaria) six years of schooling - 6 to 12 years of age

· Compulsory Secondary Education (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) four years of schooling - 12 to 16 years of age

· Post-Compulsory Schooling (Bachillerato) two years of schooling - 16 to 18 years of age

Primary school is structured as three 2 year cycles:

1. First Cycle (6 to 8 years of age)

2. Second Cycle (8 to 10 years of age)

Spanish Baccalaureate (Bachillerato)

There are two parts, a core curriculum with the compulsory subjects, and a specialist part with a few pre-selected branches to choose from. The core curriculum is as follows:

1. Spanish Language and Literature: 1st and 2nd years

2. Co-official language (in case of Catalan, Basque and Galician): 1st and 2nd years

3. First foreign language (English, French, German or Italian; mostly English): 1st and 2nd years

4. Philosophy: 1st and 2nd years

5. Physical Education: Only 1st year

6. Spanish History: Only 2nd year

7. Science to the contemporary world: Only 1st year

8. Optional subject (2nd foreign language, psychology, information technology...): 1st and 2nd year

9. Catholic Religion/All World Religions Studies: Only 1st year (Optional)

Arts:

1. Volume (sculpture) (optional on the 2nd year)

2. Artistic drawing

3. Technical drawing (optional on the 2nd year)

4. Audiovisual communication.(first year)

5. History of art (second year)

6. Design (second year and optional)

7. Plastic Graphic Expression Techniques (second year and optional)

8. Information and communication technologies. (Optional)

Nature and Health Sciences:

1. Biology

2. Chemistry

3. Physics or Earth Sciences

4. Mathematics

5. Sciences & Engineering:

6. Physics,

7. Maths,

8. Chemistry,

9. Technical Drawing

Social Sciences:

1. Applied Maths,

2. Economics,

3. Geography,

4. History of the Contemporany World (only 1st year)

Humanities:

1. Latin,

2. Greek,

3. History of Art/World Literature

4. History of the Contemporany World (only 1st year)

At undergraduate level, some degrees have their own branch requirements (such as medicine, engineering degrees, law...) and some courses accept students from any branch, such as Language studies, Social Work, Educational Sciences or Tourism.