LEGAL SYSTEM
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The legislative framework governing and guiding the Spanish education system comprises the Spanish Constitution (1978), the Organic Act on the Right to Education (LODE, 1978) and the Organic Act on the Quality in Education (LOCE, 2002), which develops the principles and rights established in it.
The Spanish Constitution recognises the right to education as one of the essential rights that the public powers must guarantee to every citizen.
The Organic Act on Quality in Education, offers (at national level) the legal framework to provide and assure the right to education (The Autonomous communities will be able to regulate the adaptation of this Act to their territories) and structures the education system in General Regime Teaching and Special Teaching Regime. The teaching of pupils with special educational needs is included within the General Regime of Teaching, addressed to those with physical, intellectual or sensory disabilities or emotional and behavioural difficulties.
The State is responsible for education and for offering all pupils cost-free and compulsory education until 16 years of age. The Ministry of Education and Science has the responsibility for central administration.
Provision for pupils with special educational needs is governed by the principles of mainstreaming and educational integration. Royal Decree 696/1995, of 28 April, arranges the education of pupils with special educational needs and establishes the conditions for educational provision for this population. These pupils are educated at mainstream schools and under mainstream curricula; only when it is objectively established that the needs of the above pupils cannot be properly met at a mainstream school, is a proposal made for them to be educated at special schools.
The basic, compulsory, and free of charge education comprises Primary Education and Compulsory Secondary Education, from 6 to 16 years. The different stages constituting the Spanish education system are:
- Preschool education (0-3 years): on a voluntary basis for families where the purpose is to give educational assistance and attention to early childhood education.
- Infant education (3-6 years): has a voluntary, cost-free and constitutes the first level of School Education. It is organised into a single three-year cycle.
- Primary education (6-12 years): comprises six academic years and is organised into three, two-year cycles. It is compulsory and cost-free.
- Secondary education comprises Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO), - - Baccalaureate and Intermediate Specific Vocational Training.
- Compulsory Secondary Education (12-16 years): covers ages 12 to 16 and comprises four academic years organised into two, two-year cycles. When passing these two cycles, the pupils get the Compulsory Secondary Education certificate. It is compulsory and cost free.
- Baccalaureate: is a two-year non-compulsory education level, which complements Compulsory Secondary Education. The Secondary Education Certificate is a prerequisite for entering Baccalaureate. The theoretical ages for commencement and completion are 16 and 18, respectively.
- Specific Vocational Training: is a non-compulsory education level and its purpose is to prepare pupils to work in a specific professional field by providing them with a well-rounded and practical education that enables them to adapt to the changes affecting their trade, which may take place during their working lives.
