COMPLETE NATIONAL OVERVIEW

Legal System

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.

Financing

The total budget allocated to education in Spain comes from: public funds, which are provided by State, autonomous and local authorities; private funds, which are provided by families; and to a lesser extent, from private institutions. The public or private nature of the ultimate funding agent, rather than the recipient of the services, is what determines whether spending on education is considered to be public or private. 80% of education expenditure in Spain is financed through public funds, while the remaining 20% comes from private funds. Thus, in 2003 Spain devoted 5.5% of its gross domestic product to education.

Public funds earmarked to finance Spanish education are provided mainly by the Ministry of Education and Culture as well as the Education Authorities of the corresponding Autonomous communities. Other ministries as well as other Local and Regional Authorities also provide funding.
 
Regardless of the Authority providing funding, public spending is not earmarked for public education only, but is also allocated to subsidise private establishments and finance student scholarships and grants.
 
Education funding comes from the following sources:
- National Budget
- Autonomous Communities
- Ministry budget

The Budget for Special Education which covers the following spending lines:
- Staff expenses
- Operational expenses
- Furniture and inventoried equipment expenses
- Expenses for alterations
- Grants to NGOs
- Grants to private schools with an educational co-operation with the Ministry.
- School Canteens
- Hostels located inside the schools
- Financial support for mainstream schools with integration of pupils with SEN
- School transportation
- New building improvement
- Removing architectural, physical barriers

The Autonomous Communities finance special education in a similar way.
 

Identification of Special Educational Needs

The 2002 Organic Act on the Quality of Education (LOCE) stipulates that, in the case of pupils with special educational needs, the identification and evaluation of their needs will be carried out by teams of professionals with different qualifications. These professionals will establish performance plans with regard to each pupil’s educational needs, taking into account both parents’ and teachers’ opinions, as well as the management team of the corresponding establishment. At the end of each year, the evaluation team will assess the extent to which the objectives set out in the plan have been achieved. This will facilitate the introduction of the necessary adaptations, including the most suitable type of schooling according to pupil’s educational needs. If necessary, this decision can be made during the school year.

The educational system will arrange the necessary resources in order for pupils with temporary or permanent special educational needs to achieve the objectives established within the general programme for all pupils.
 
The public administrations give pupils the necessary support from the beginning of their schooling or as soon as they are diagnosed as having special needs. School teaching is adapted to these pupils’ needs.
 
The schools develop the curriculum through didactic plans, which have to take into account the pupils’ needs and characteristics. They also develop an Educational Project, where the objectives and the educational priorities are fixed along with the implementation procedures. In order to prepare this project, they consider the school characteristics, its environment, and the pupils’ educational needs.

Special Education within the Education System

Pupils with special needs education are those who require, during a school period or alongside it, and in particular which refers to assessment, certain supports and educational specific attentions, due to their physic, psychic, sensory disabilities or to personality or behavioural disorders.

The 1990 Organic Act on the General Organisation of the Education System (LOGSE) regulates and governs Special Education within General Education and asserts the incorporation of Special Education into the mainstream system. It also introduces the concept of special educational needs. Pupils with special educational needs can attend mainstream or special education establishments. This Act also establishes that pupils with special educational needs should attend mainstream establishments and programmes, by adapting such programmes to the individual capacities of each pupil. Their schooling in special education units or establishments, or a combined schooling, will only take place when pupils’ needs cannot be met in mainstream establishments. This situation will be periodically revised in order to promote, if possible, better integration of the pupils.

According to the 1990 Organic Act on the General Organisation of the Education System (LOGSE), Special Education is no longer conceived as education for a different kind of pupil, but begins to be conceived as a combination of material and personnel resources available to the education system in order to be able to meet the needs (either transitory or permanent) that pupils may have. In this sense, the education system must have the necessary resources so that pupils with special educational needs may achieve the general goals set for all pupils. The latter term covers anything from the most common and interim of needs to those of a more severe and permanent nature. All educational possibilities should be attended to within the framework of a comprehensive education system that is open to diversity. The principle of normalisation, with the aim of promoting school integration, underlies this Act.

Recently, the 2002 Organic Act on the Quality of Education (LOCE) established a new framework, which focuses attention on those students with ‘specific educational needs’. This new concept covers highly-gifted pupils, pupils with special educational needs, foreign pupils, and those who require educational compensation. The above Act establishes that pupils with special educational needs can attend mainstream establishments, with specialised classrooms, special education establishments or combined schooling, according to their and in ordinary groups. 

The 2002 organic act on the quality of education (LOCE) establishes the concept of ‘pupils with specific educational needs’, which comprises four types of pupils.

1. Pupils who require compensatory education: An education policy of a compensatory and inclusive nature is necessary to face the inequity of opportunities existing in education for certain groups or individuals due to social, economic, cultural, geographical, and ethnic or any other kind of factors. Thus, compensatory education appears as the necessary guarantee for the achievement of a nation-wide minimum level of education and the reduction of the inequities already mentioned.

Compensatory education implies the implementation of additional activities; to those already under way in educational establishments, in order to reduce the conditions of inequality of access to education for certain groups of pupils. Therefore, and due to the preventive nature of these activities they should be developed in the first years of schooling
 
Among these compensatory programmes put into effect by the Autonomous Communities for pupils from socially and culturally underprivileged environments are programmes to combat absenteeism and the granting of aid for cost-free complementary services of school.
 
Another area for compensation is facilitating the incorporation into the education system of pupils from a foreign country, especially of those under compulsory school age. For those pupils who do not know the Spanish language and culture, or who present a serious lack of basic knowledge, the education authorities should provide specific learning programmes to facilitate their inclusion in the corresponding level. These programmes may be provided at specific classrooms in mainstream centres.

2. Foreign pupils (pupils coming from foreign countries): learning programmes in order to facilitate the incorporation of these foreign pupils to the educational system.

Education authorities must promote the integration of pupils coming from foreign countries, especially those pupils at the compulsory education levels. Education authorities must also develop specific programmes in order to facilitate the integration of those who do not have the knowledge of the Spanish language or culture or lack basic general knowledge in the corresponding level. The integration of foreign pupils into Primary Education will take into account their age and curricular competence, following the corresponding procedure established by the education authorities.

Those specific programmes can be provided - in accordance with the education authorities’ planning- in mainstream education classrooms. The development of these programmes will be simultaneous with the schooling of pupils in ordinary groups, depending on their level and development.

Foreign pupils generally have the same rights and duties as Spanish pupils. Their integration into the education system implies the acceptance of the stipulated general regulations and coexistence rules of educational establishments. Article 22 of the LOCE has an express reference to cross-culturality and defines it as one of the capacities to be developed by ESO pupils to ''be familiar with the diversity of cultures and societies in order to be able to assess them critically and to foster respect for one's own and others’ culture''.

Education Authorities must take the necessary measures for parents of foreign pupils to receive the necessary counselling on rights, duties and opportunities of the Spanish education system.

Taking the objective of full schooling as a starting point, other aspects, such as the following, are observed with foreign pupils:
- language;
- the overcoming of school failure; and
- a supportive and harmonious coexistence.

There is additional support, both inside and outside the classroom, to study the Spanish language and to reinforce instrumental subjects (language and mathematics). This support is both human and material.

There are also ''Bridge'' classrooms for immigrants who do not know the Spanish language, where they study the language before attending the actual ordinary classroom. Likewise, there are external permanent classrooms, that immigrant pupils attend a certain number of hours every week, both during and outside of the usual school day timetable. Many establishments also try to include cross-culturality in their educational project. Many educational establishments have external establishments giving advice and and/or providing both human and material resources, organising out-of-school activities, preparing materials, training teachers, etc.

3. Highly-gifted pupils: these pupils require identification and early assessment of their needs in order to give them the most adequate educational response. They are eligible to take advantage of the flexibility between the different levels, duration and stages of the education system as well as the possibility of attending intensive learning programmes.

4. The term special educational needs refers precisely to the pupils described below. The Law specifies pupils with special educational needs as those who at some time in their schooling, or over the entire course, and in particular during assessment, need certain support measures and specific educational attention either because they have physical, psychological or sensory disabilities, serious behavioural disorders, or are in unfavourable social or cultural situations.

These pupils require specialized support in accordance with non discrimination and educational normalization principles, and with the purpose of achieving their integration. These pupils are schooled in accordance with their characteristics, either integrating them in mainstream groups, in specialized classrooms within mainstream schools, or in special education schools, depending on the form determined by the professional teams, taking into account their parents’ and teachers’ opinions.
 
Thanks to the successive developments by each educational establishment and group, the curriculum foresees many possibilities for adjusting to these differences so that pupils may overcome any difficulties encountered. However, all through the school period, and perhaps to a greater extent at stages in which studies become progressively more complex, there will be certain pupils who for very different reasons find it more difficult to reach the objectives and contents laid down for everyone in the common curriculum for all. These pupils will consequently be in need of another type of more specific adjustments. 
 
Among the ordinary measures (offered to all pupils) contemplated by the educational system for attending to diversity, the following are to be mentioned: successive levels of curricular formulation, involving the progressive adaptation of the official curriculum and optional areas and subjects, which constitutes a resource in the hands of the pupil to enhance and develop his or her personal preferences; the organisation of reinforcement and support activities in educational establishments, a very generalised measure of attention to diversity which is usually aimed at the instrumental areas (mathematics and language) and specific grouping.
 
Once ordinary measures of attention to diversity have been applied and have proved to be insufficient to respond to the educational needs of an individual pupil, the education system considers a series of extraordinary measures. These are: repeating a cycle or school year, significant curricular adaptations, support measures for pupils with special educational needs, curricular diversification and, as a last resort, Social Guarantee Programmes.

Curricular adaptations signify adaptations to the curriculum made for one specific pupil. When the student body shows itself to have educational needs which in view of their permanent nature, source or the type require modification of central features of the curriculum to be followed by the majority of the pupils of that age, significant curricular adaptations may be carried out. The application of these extraordinary measures signifies the modification of content, objectives and assessment criteria of the ordinary curriculum. The necessary point of departure for such a measure is a previous psycho-pedagogical assessment (performed by the specialised guidance services) and an ongoing follow-up that allows the pupil to access the standardised curriculum whenever possible.

The 51/2003 Act on equal opportunities, non-discrimination and universal accessibility for disabled people, considers people disabled who have a degree of disability of 33% or higher.

Pupils with special educational needs can attend both special education and mainstream establishments. Schooling should preferably be provided in mainstream establishments, adapting such programmes to each pupil’s capacities.

Thus, in ordinary infant education, primary education and secondary education establishments, these pupils are enrolled as part of the mainstream pupil body. These establishments, in addition to adapting the physical and material conditions to the needs of the pupils enrolled there, should have the necessary resources available (teachers with corresponding specialisms, qualified professionals, etc.) and must likewise take the pedagogical, organisational and operational measures for accommodating pupils with special educational needs within their programmes. Furthermore, all the Autonomous Communities consider the possibility of appointing preferred centres for the enrolment of pupils with specific special educational needs, who may require a particular type of environment or a professional specialisation difficult to find in many places. In this fashion, suitable educational attention may be guaranteed for such pupils.

The schooling of pupils with special educational needs in non-compulsory education stages, if the requirements are met, will be one form of inclusion with the necessary curricular adaptations or the total or partial exemption of subjects. The establishments providing such education must possess the necessary physical and material adaptations in order to guarantee the principle of equal opportunities.

Specific support measures
1.  Alterations to school building facilities
All educational establishments must meet the hygienic, acoustic, habitability and security conditions stipulated in the legislation in effect. The places devoted to instruction must have ventilation and natural lighting. They will also have to possess the necessary architectural conditions to facilitate access, movement and communication, in accordance with what is laid down in the legislation with regard to promotion of accessibility and elimination of barriers.

2. Special adaptations to the curriculum
Schooling at the various levels and stages of the system for pupils with special educational needs linked to personal disabilities will begin and end at the ages set down by the education regulations, with the exceptions listed below. The necessary adaptations or modifications within the established curriculum are carried out so that pupils with special educational needs may achieve the objectives and contents generally laid down. These adaptations may take two different forms: curriculum access adaptations (modifications or predictions related to spatial resources, introduction of new materials and use of additional communication systems) and curricular adaptations as such (modifications in the objectives, contents, methodology, activities and assessment criteria and procedures, which are carried out within the classroom planning). Curricular adaptations may, in turn, be grouped into two large sections: significant and non-significant adaptations. The first ones do not affect the basic teachings, whereas the second ones imply the elimination of certain basic teachings included in the official curriculum (objectives, contents and assessment criteria). Some of the latter adaptations require additional human and material resources to carry out adaptations which entail changes in the organisation of educational establishments and methodology, substitution or introduction of new areas or subjects, contents and objectives.

On the other hand, the possibility of making the length of compulsory schooling in Primary Education and in Compulsory Secondary Education for highly-gifted pupils more flexible, under exceptional circumstances, is also present.

The link-up and co-ordination between mainstream schools integrating pupils with special educational needs and in specific special education establishments is one of the principles guiding school integration. The aim is for special educational establishments to progressively become open educational resource centres for the professionals working in the district’s mainstream establishments.

3. Additional support provided by specialist teachers
The decision to enrol pupils in a mainstream or special educational establishment, as well as the guidelines on the most suitable educational treatment to offer (types of schooling, curricular adaptations, etc.) is made subsequent to a diagnosis and is the responsibility of the services established by each Autonomous Community in order to respond to the educational and psycho-pedagogical counselling demands of establishments, pupils and teachers.

Most Autonomous Communities have regulated and organised these services through Sector Educational and Psycho-pedagogical Interdisciplinary Guidance Teams and through the Guidance Departments of Secondary Education establishments.

Apart from the Guidance Teams working for the educational establishments of a district or area (zone or sector teams), Specialised Specific Teams and Early Intervention Teams, with a different geographical sphere, have been set up in some Autonomous Communities. Regardless of the Education Authority to whom they report, Guidance Teams have among their functions the detection, assessment and diagnosis of special educational needs as well as counselling, collaborating and participating in the educational process of pupils with special educational needs.

In the majority of Autonomous Communities, Guidance Teams are still part of an external support network for schools and continue to maintain their sectorial nature. It is frequent for the members of the Teams to be part of the school staff (either through the Teachers’ Assembly, the Guidance Department –when it exists-, the Pedagogical Co-ordination Commission, etc.).

In almost all Autonomous Communities, Guidance Departments have been set up in Secondary Education establishments and, in some Communities, in Infant and in Primary Education schools. The result has been a closer bonding between specialised support services and schools, which has improved the response to special educational needs.

For pupils who have serious developmental disorders and cannot attend school to receive their education, for pupils who are hospitalised, or for pupils who must be absent from school for long or repetitive periods of time for medical reasons, the Autonomous Communities have formulated and implemented various organisational alternatives, among which should be mentioned: peripatetic Special Education Teachers who go to pupils’ homes, so that they may receive their educational attention; itinerant attention on the part of Special Education centres for under school-age pupils with special educational needs or those who are enrolled in mainstream centres; the setting up of itinerant school support units and school support units in hospitals.

4. Special teaching methods and materials
There are more specific guidelines according to the type of special educational need of the pupil. Thus, in the case of those having sensorial alterations (visual, auditory), strategies aiming at fostering and promoting alternative ways to the altered ones, strategies which enable to relate, in a explicit way, learning experiences, space organisations, pupils grouping, in order to take advantage of their visual and auditory possibilities, and the teacher-pupil and pupil-pupil interaction, have to be prioritised.

The reading-writing teaching methods for pupils with visual alterations should be mentioned. Those pupils who cannot have access to the ink reading-writing method will have to use Braille. In this case, tact sensorial stimulation and space-time orientation will have to be fostered.

Pupils with auditory alterations have to learn to communicate by alternative means: sign language, bimodal system, etc., which have their own methodological guidelines and that can be combined, in certain occasions, with oral re-education.

Pupils with motor problems have to be assisted in the specific alterations of mobility and the manipulation of those objects required, favouring the mobility in the classroom and the access to didactic resources, as well as prioritising oral and visual explanations in order to favour the understanding of messages.

In the cases of pupils with serious development disorders, it is necessary to resort to specific methodologies aiming at the development of oral communication or alternative systems. Imitation learning, modelling and mediation (physical, oral aids, etc.) techniques, incidental methodology, and reinforcement are some of the most specific guidelines.

On the other hand, space must be arranged according to their needs and adapted to the instruments, equipment and technical aids required by these pupils, favouring the possibility of creating different layouts and functional arrangements in order to promote the interaction and communication with adults and among themselves. The 2002 Organic Act on the Quality of Education (LOCE) states that new publicly financed establishments are to observe the regulations in effect as regards the development of accessibility and the elimination of barriers of all types.

Likewise, the activity carried out by the Spanish National Organisation of the Blind (ONCE) is worth mentioning. This associative and social Public Corporation includes a Support Service for Integrated Education in mainstream establishments. This Support Service collaborates with the National or Regional Authorities through thirty-three educational teams with nation-wide distribution. It comprises support teachers, rehabilitation technicians, tiflo-technical and Braille instructors, psychologists or pedagogues, social workers, etc. The four basic strategies used are: counselling for the establishment and classroom teacher; direct learning experiences in specific areas facilitated to pupils; guidance and family counsellors; and provision of adapted resources (Braille transcriptions, textbook adaptations, etc.). A Deaf-Blindness Technical Unit is also included, which provides highly specialised services regarding educational support for integrated education in mainstream establishments as well as in the specific establishments of the ONCE.

5. Reduced class sizes
The number of pupils integrated in mainstream classrooms depends on the homogeneity and severity of their deficiency or maladjustment, their psychological problems and the required educational support. If they require  continuous pedagogical reinforcement and specific treatments, the maximum number of pupils per classroom is two. In mainstream classrooms, where pupils are enrolled under an integrative framework, the maximum number or pupils per classroom is 25, subsequent to obtaining the authorisation of the Education Administration.

In special education classrooms, either in specific special education or mainstream establishments, the number of pupils will be reduced. The ratio is 10-12 pupils per teacher when there are pupils with psychical or auditory disabilities or pupils showing serious auditory disabilities. 8-12 when there are pupils with physical disabilities, 6-8 in the case of pupils showing several disabilities, and 3-5 when having autistic pupils and/or pupils with severe personality problems. 

Apart from the ordinary teaching staff, there are also specialist teachers in charge of carrying out different tasks, as well as other professionals. In mainstream establishments, there is a specialist teacher providing pedagogical reinforcement for every 15-20 pupils. In this type of establishment, there is also a speech therapist for every 35-40 psychic and motor disabled pupils and for every 20 auditory disabled pupils. There is also a physiotherapist for every 35-40 pupils with motor disabilities and a caretaker for every 15-20 motor disabled pupils.

There is also support staff in charge of correction, rehabilitation, and personal attention treatments. Both in special education establishments and special education classrooms in mainstream establishments, there is a psychologist for every 20 autistic pupils or pupils with severe personality disorders. There is also a psychologist in those establishments having at least 100 physical, motor or sensorial disabled pupils. There is a speech therapist for every 35-40 psychic or motor disabled pupils, every 20 pupils showing severe auditory problems or every 15-20 autistic pupils or pupils with severe personality disorders. There is a caretaker for every 35-40 pupils with behavioural problems; every 15-20 motor disabled pupils, autistic pupils or pupils with personality problems.

6. Special arrangements for evaluation or progress through education
The reply to the question as to exactly what is to be assessed is determined by the mandatory assessment criteria established by the Autonomous Communities. In the case of pupils with special educational needs, such criteria must be amended in conjunction with the amendments to objectives and curricular content made through curricular adaptations.

To assess entails determining the most suitable tools and procedures on one hand, and the possible adaptations of these commonly used tools on the other hand. The use of varied and diverse assessment tools and procedures is recommended, since a single procedure, such as written or oral tests, entails serious difficulties for some pupils with motor functional difficulties or with problems in expressing themselves. Moreover, the exclusive use of this kind of testing to assess any pupil provides only limited information on his/her comprehension of curricular content. Consequently, it is necessary to use other kinds of tools that furnish information on various aspects that are difficult to assess by oral or written means, and which include observation, questionnaires, interviews, analysis of class work, etc. The use of testing and tools adapted to classroom realities is likewise recommended, for example pedagogical tests, observation records, and follow-up sheets.

Furthermore, the educational context should be evaluated in terms of pupils with special educational needs, and common criteria should be established to provide and receive information from parents and pupils, given the diversity of professionals that on occasion work with them.

The issue of when to assess entails considering the various key moments in the development of a given teaching/learning process. Three such moments can be defined: initial assessment; formative assessment; and aggregate assessment.

The 2002 Organic Act on the Quality of Education states that at the end of the school year, the assessment teams are to evaluate the degree of achievement of the targets, which were established at the beginning of the school year for those pupils with special educational needs. The assessment results are to allow the introduction of the necessary adaptations, including the most suitable modality of schooling depending on the pupil’s needs. This decision, if necessary, could even be adopted during the school year.

In relation to the process of promotion of pupils with special educational needs, the general regulation for Infant, Primary and Compulsory Secondary Education is applied nation-wide. Thus, a pupil may remain one more year in the second cycle of Infant Education when the Counselling Department deems that such a measure will allow the pupil to meet the objectives of that cycle or will be beneficial for his or her socialisation process. A pupil may remain one more year in Primary Education, and one more in each cycle or in any of the years of the second cycle of Compulsory Secondary Education, only when the previous circumstances have not taken place. This implies that basic schooling be prolonged up to the age of 18.

In post-compulsory secondary education there is also the possibility of prolonging schooling by two years in Baccalaureate. In Specific Vocational Training, pupils with special educational needs related to disabilities can take the programmed activities for the same module up to four times.

Decisions regarding promotion or repeating will always be made on the basis of the information obtained during the assessment process and in relation to pupils' progress as compared to the programmed objectives for him/her. The decision will be accompanied, as appropriate, by complementary educational measures, intended to help pupils reach programme objectives. There is, however, no direct or automatic correlation between a pupil's failure to reach objectives and non-promotion to the following cycle.

Pupils with special educational needs, upon finishing the Compulsory Secondary Education and reaching the objectives planned, are awarded the Secondary Education Certificate, which enables them to gain access to Baccalaureate and Intermediate Specific Vocational Training. In any case, all pupils receive a certificate including the (number of) years of study and the grades they have received in the different areas, together with non-prescriptive and confidential guidance regarding their academic and professional future.

The LOGSE establishes that those pupils who do not achieve the objectives of Compulsory Secondary Education, and who are, therefore, lacking a certificate and are thus unable to continue their education, are entitled to enrol in specific Social Guarantee Programmes. The aim of these programmes is to provide basic and vocational training, which will enable these pupils to take part in the working world. Pupils with special educational needs may enrol either in the general Social Guarantee Programmes under the integrative framework, or in Social Guarantee Programmes specifically designed for pupils with special educational needs.

Furthermore, pupils with special educational needs who have successfully completed any of the post-compulsory stages of the system will receive the corresponding certificate. Furthermore, pupils who have studied Baccalaureate and Specific Vocational Training with significant adaptations in some of their subjects may be proposed for the issuing of the Baccalaureate, Technician or Technical Superior certificate.

The Spanish National Organisation of the Blind (ONCE) has a University Students and Adults Educational Support Service where specialised technical devices are offered, such as Braille adaptations and sound in computer screens and keyboards, Braille and talking calculators, Windows navigation adapted programmes, tele-magnifiers, optical and electronic low-vision aids, etc.

Separate Special Provision
Special Education schools are intended for pupils who are unable to be integrated in mainstream schools but who follow compulsory teaching. When there are no Special Education centres in the zone, these pupils receive their schooling in units for special education within mainstream centres. Pupils are enrolled in separate Special Education units or schools only when there is sound reason to believe that their needs cannot be suitably met in a mainstream establishment. There are also specific special education establishments that enrol pupils with special educational needs associated with a very specific type of handicap.

These establishments provide basic compulsory education: Primary Education, which comprises 6-12 years of age and Compulsory Secondary Education, which comprises 12-16 years of age. These centres can also provide Social Guarantee Programmes. Once basic education is over, they can also provide programmes intended to facilitate transition to adult and working life. These programmes last two years, with the possibility of lasting one more; therefore, they comprise 16-18/19 years of age.

Teachers engaging in basic education in specific Special Education schools are generally teachers specialising in special education and/or hearing and speech. In Complementary Vocational Training or Programmes for Transition to Adult Life, pupils receive instruction from technical teachers of vocational training, who teach technical-practical courses, as well as from the aforementioned ''Maestros''.

Moreover, the Autonomous Communities have endowed Special Education schools with additional support and guidance staff members. The number and specialisation of these professionals vary according to the Autonomous Community in question. The professional/pupils ratio varies depending on the number of pupils and the kind of curricular adaptations they may need.

General Objectives
According to the 1990 Organic Act on the General Organisation of the Education System (LOGSE), the objectives set for pupils of Special Education establishments are the same as those for all pupils. Besides, establishments must have the necessary school organisation and carry out the necessary curricular diversifications in order to facilitate pupils the achievement of such objectives. Therefore, the general objectives of the different educational stages constitute the reference for individual programmes or curricular adaptations of pupils with special educational needs, studying either in mainstream or Special Education establishments.

Given the specific nature of Special Education centres, compulsory education objectives will undergo more significant adaptations and the Programmes for Transition to Adult Life or of Complementary Vocational Training will be fundamentally aimed at developing abilities linked to professional occupations, personal independence and social integration.

The Organic Act on the Quality of Education states that the general objectives for pupils with special educational needs must be those generally established for all pupils, with the necessary curricular adaptations. For those unable to achieve the objectives, public administrations are to promote training programmes adapted to the pupils’ specific needs, aiming at facilitating their social and labour inclusion.

Age Levels and Grouping of Pupils
In the case of specific centres for Special Education that provide education for pupils who cannot enter an inclusive framework, only two educational levels are carried out: Basic Compulsory Education (6 to 16 years of age) and Complementary Vocational Training or Programmes for Transition to Adult Life (16 to 19 years of age). Pupils at these centres may be enrolled up to the maximum age of 20. Notwithstanding, on an exceptional basis, and subsequent to obtaining the agreement of the pupil’s parents or legal guardians, the maximum age may be raised, allowing for enrolment up to age 21 and taking into account the specially grave circumstances that pupils affected by certain type of disabilities may suffer.

The Organic Act on the Quality of Education stipulates that the schooling for pupils with special educational needs is to start and finalise at the ages generally established for the corresponding level and stage. Conditions and procedures for exceptionally flexibilising compulsory schooling for pupils with special educational needs are to be authorized. In any case, the age limit for schooling in a Special Education establishment is 21.

Curriculum, Subjects
The programmes for general studies in special education schools are those corresponding to the compulsory basic areas included in levels of Primary Education and Compulsory Secondary Education. In order to organise them, the curriculum established for these stages is taken into account, particularly the Primary curriculum with any necessary adjustments or adaptations made. Once pupils reach the age of 12, they are also taught subjects corresponding to Secondary Education, which are primarily related to pre-occupational activities. The Spanish National Organisation of the Blind (ONCE), for example, has three Specific Establishments providing Compulsory Education (Primary Education and Compulsory Secondary Education) and some of them provide Social Guarantee Programmes and non-formal Vocational Training, where members are professionally trained.

The educational needs of pupils enrolled in such schools, as well as those related to their health and personal well-being, are often so complex and variable that it is indispensable to adopt an extreme flexibility regarding curricular organisation and the necessary human and material resources for implementation. This organisation must necessarily be very different from the general arrangements prevailing in mainstream schools.

Reference should also be made of both Vocational Training, which includes both the specific category of Social Guarantee Programmes for pupils with special educational needs and Official Vocational Training Programmes, which may be included within the training Programmes for Transition to Adult Life in Special Education Schools.

Thus, provision has been made for pupils with special educational needs who finish basic education without having reached the objectives of Compulsory Secondary Education to continue their schooling under three different Vocational Training-related options:

Social Guarantee Programmes: the general educational option provided for under the Organic Act on the General Organisation of the Education System (LOGSE) for all pupils in this situation. Some pupils with special educational needs may be able to enrol on an integrative basis in Social Guarantee Programmes that adapt to their personal circumstances as well as to their level of skills and development. Such programmes are available under integrative conditions. The LOCE has decided that these programmes will now be called vocational initiation programmes.

Special Social Guarantee Programmes: specifically designed for pupils with special educational needs wishing to continue schooling beyond Compulsory Secondary Education. This does not prevent these pupils from participating in mainstream Social Guarantee Programmes. The special programmes are adjusted to their personal characteristics, their degree of development and skills, as well as to their subsequent employment aspirations. They have the same structure as the Social Guarantee Programmes run for the pupil population at large and are organised around the following areas: Basic Training, Training and Career Guidance, Vocational Training, Complementary Activities and Educational Guidance. Vocational training is particularly important, taking into account the special needs shown by this group. It should address both the acquisition of skills and abilities of a general nature and training for practising a specific trade.

These programmes are provided in Secondary Education establishments, in  special Education schools designated for this purpose and, when such is the case, wherever may be determined, pursuant to agreements signed between the Autonomous Communities and other Authorities, Town Councils or non-profit organisations.

Programmes for the Transition to Adult Life, designed for pupils with special educational needs associated with more severe and permanent handicaps that, in light of the low degree of development and skill achieved after Basic Education, are unable to take advantage of the two training alternatives discussed above. These programmes are intended to last two years, but they may be extended to three, and are generally provided in Special Education schools. The priority objectives are to help these pupils to develop the necessary conduct and habits to lead an adult life as independently as possible, enable them to use the services that society makes available to all citizens and, wherever possible, to train them to undertake occupational activities related to  very specific and clearly defined jobs.

Teaching Methods and Materials
Both in mainstream and in the specific Special Education schools, the methodological assistance lent (given)? 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 starting point. This means accommodating each pupil's intellectual, communicational-linguistic, social-affective, and motor characteristics, since here diversity prevails.
- Guarantee significant learning. More than anyone else, pupils with special educational needs require learning to be applicable to their daily living 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.
The implementation of the corresponding technical aids will be available when pupils’ special needs require them.

Progression of Pupils
The principles for assessing the progress made by pupils with special educational needs should be the same as those employed for the rest of the school age population.

The reply to the question, as to exactly what is to be assessed, is determined by the mandatory assessment criteria established by the Autonomous Communities. In the case of pupils with special educational needs, such criteria must be amended in conjunction with the amendments to objectives and curricular content made through curricular adaptations.

The assessment criteria for pupils with special educational needs must meet the principles generally established for the rest of the school population (see sections.

In specific Special Education schools, assessment of pupil progress as provided in the corresponding programmes or curricular adaptations is incumbent on the form teacher (Special Education teacher) in conjunction with the rest of the professionals involved in each pupil's programme. Such professionals include: the Hearing and Language teacher (speech therapist), the Physiotherapist, the Psychologist, the Pedagogue, etc.

Teaching teams act independently to establish the most relevant criteria guiding decision-making as regards pupil promotion. Criteria should be of a different nature, so that decisions are made in accordance with the different variables which may prove decisive for pupils.

The decision of promotion or continuance must be individual, without being an obstacle for the establishment of general measures to facilitate the attainment of individualised decisions. The methodology and organisation of the establishment, as well as important variables in pupil promotion decisions, are related to them.

Teacher Training - Basic and Specialist Teacher Training

Initial Training of Teachers
The academic qualifications required to teach are uniform throughout the entire nation, although they do vary according to the various levels of the education system.

Three principal types of teachers can be distinguished, depending on the education level which they teach: the teaching staff of infant Education and Primary, that of secondary education, and that of higher education.

Pre-Primary and Primary Education teaching staff
In order to teach in Infant Education and in Primary Education, the 1990 Organic Act on the General Organisation of the Education System (LOGSE) and the 2002 Organic Act on the Quality of Education (LOCE) require a teacher certificate on the corresponding speciality, which is attained after following first cycle university studies.

Both the LOGSE and the LOCE state that ''Maestros'' teaching in Primary Education are allowed to teach in all areas of knowledge of this educational stage and at students’ tutorials. However, they can get a speciality among seven: Infant Education, Primary Education, Music, Physical Education, Foreign Language, Special Education, and Speech Therapy.

Likewise allowed to participate in the first cycle of Infant Education, in addition to Maestro degree holders, are other professionals trained in the Nursery School or the Infant Education specialities of Vocational Training.

The initial training in order to get the Maestro Diploma comprises three academic courses. The study programme is focused on both academic and theoretical aspects and on pedagogical practice. The basic training on special education for all students is one core subject and the specific training for the specialist is much wider.

For the care of pupils with special needs education, the educational system offers teachers help through teacher’s specialists in Special Education, Speech Therapy and qualified professionals

Secondary Education teaching staff
Teaching in Secondary Education requires a degree as a Licenciado, Engineer, Architect or equivalent for teaching effects, obtained after taking dual cycle university studies. In addition, it is necessary to have a professional certificate of pedagogical specialisation obtained after doing a course of pedagogical qualification.

Higher Education teaching staff
Initial training for higher education teaching staff takes place primarily in university establishments or institutions for first, second or third cycle studies alike.

Development of Integration/Inclusion

Since school inclusion began in Spain in 1985 some things have been achieved although some of them still need to be worked on.

The 1990 Organic Act on the General Organisation of the Education System (LOGSE) regulates and governs Special Education within General Plan Education, asserts the incorporation of Special Education into the mainstream system and also introduces the concept of special educational needs. Pupils with special educational needs can attend mainstream or Special Education establishments. This Act also establishes that pupils with special educational needs should attend mainstream establishments and programmes, by adapting such programmes to the individual capacities of each pupil. Their schooling in Special Education units or establishments, or a combined schooling, will only take place when pupils’ needs cannot be met in mainstream establishments. This situation will be periodically revised in order to promote, if possible, the better inclusion of pupils.

Recently, the 2002 Organic Act on the Quality of Education (LOCE) established a new framework, which gives attention to those pupils with ‘specific educational needs’. This new concept covers highly-gifted pupils, pupils with special educational needs, foreign pupils and those who require educational compensation. The above Act establishes that pupils with special educational needs can attend mainstream establishments with specialised classrooms, or ordinary groups in Special Education establishments or combined schooling, according to their abilities. Education Authorities in turn anticipate the existence of specialised mainstream establishments in order to meet the needs of this last type of schooling. As regards the other groups which constitute the concept of ''pupils with special educational needs'', the Act stipulates that the schooling of foreign pupils will be facilitated, by arranging specialized classrooms in mainstream establishments for those who do not have knowledge of the Spanish language and culture or lack basic knowledge.

Education Authorities will take the necessary measures to facilitate the schooling of highly-gifted pupils in establishments where the adequate attention can be provided. Coinciding with the European Year of People with Disabilities, the 2 December 2003 the Act on Equal Opportunities, Non-Discrimination and Universal Accessibility for Disabled people has been passed. This Act complements the 1982 Act on Social Integration of Disabled People (LISMI)

Historical Overview
Initial experiments in Special Education in Spain can be traced back to the sixteenth century and were intended for children with sensory handicaps. The same line of thought was followed over the next two centuries, although there were occasional experiments unrelated to general education with the deaf, blind, etc.

During the nineteenth century, schools and institutions of a purely charitable and aid-providing nature were set up for the education of children with sensory disorders and for the attention to the mentally ill and misfits. The segregation of the handicapped in institutions providing fundamental aid and medical care went on well into the twentieth century. The focus on rehabilitation and education was only slowly introduced. After the civil war, the development of Special Education was left in private hands, which fostered the setting up of specific centres.

The questionable results obtained by segregated institutions, international normalisation trends, as well as a growing social awareness all led to a change in the concept of the educational treatment to be received by social maladjusted and the handicapped. The change was embodied in the 1970 General Act on Education and Financing of Educational Reform (LGE), which for the first time organised and formulated Special Education in Spain and stated its goal as the training through appropriate educational treatment of all social maladjusted and handicapped for their inclusion into as full a social life as possible. Special Education was to be provided in special centres, while at the same time the establishment of special educational units in mainstream schools was fostered whenever possible for those who were only slightly handicapped. The creation of the National Institute for Special Education (INEE) in 1975 should be emphasized within the development of the LGE as regards Special Education.

The 1978 Spanish Constitution guarantees all citizens’ right to education and urges public authorities to implement a policy of planning, treatment, rehabilitation and integration of people with physical, sensorial, and psychical disabilities in all social areas and, therefore, in education. The same year, the INEE drew up the National Plan on Special Education where the standardization, sectorization of services, educational integration and individual attention principles are formulated for the first time.

The principles set down are embraced and legally embodied with the enactment in 1982 of the Law for the Social Integration of the Handicapped (LISMI). The Law sets down a series of measures concerning personal, social and labour attention to handicapped people. Among these measures are basic guidelines for the educational framework, with the aim of guaranteeing that these pupils may reach as far as possible the established general objectives of education.

According to the 1990 Organic Act on the General Organisation of the Education System (LOGSE), Special Education is no longer conceived as education for a different kind of pupil and begins to be conceived as the set of material and personal resources available in the education system in order to be able to meet the needs, either transitory or permanent, that part of the pupils may have. In this sense, the education system must have the necessary resources so that pupils with special educational needs may achieve the general goals set for all pupils. This Act lays down the inclusion of Special Education within the mainstream system and introduces the concept of ‘special educational needs’. The latter term covers anything from the most common and interim of needs to those of a more severe and permanent nature. All educational necessities should be attended to within the framework of a comprehensive education system that is open to diversity. The principle of normalisation, with the aim of promoting school integration, underlies this Act.

Ongoing Debates
The 2002 Organic Act on The Quality of Education (LOCE) is presently being implemented. It proposes a series of measures aimed at compensating for the gaps and deficiencies to be found in the present education system, and achieving a quality education for everybody.

To be precise, aspects related to Special Education are the product of constant reflection, which can be seen in the growing attention to pupils with high abilities. Thus, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (MECD) organised, in December 2002, the National Conference on Educational Attention to Pupils with High Abilities, with the participation of members of the Educational Community and representatives from the different Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Society of Pedagogy has also devoted to the issue of their specialised magazine to Attention to Diversity: Education of the Most Capable Pupils.

The State School Council in turn stresses the existing imbalance between available data and performances carried out among pupils with special educational needs arising from physical, psychological or social deficiencies, and those with high abilities. The Council considers that, both from the personal and family, as well as the social and national perspective, it is essential to carefully pay attention to the early identification of specially gifted children in all areas, to develop specific performance plans, and contribute to their full personal fulfillment. It urges, for that purpose, Education Authorities to dedicate the necessary attention to the awareness of the problem, the specific training of teachers and the counseling, support and help for families with highly-gifted children.

It also considers that the higher percentage of pupils with special educational needs and the average of pupils per school unit in private special education establishments must be an incentive for Education Authorities, in the sense of providing those establishments with the necessary aids to offer quality education.

The Council urges the MECD and Education Authorities, if not done yet, to reduce the maximum number of pupils per classroom, if they integrate pupils with special educational needs, as some Autonomous Communities have already carried out. It also aims at establishing the necessary measures to achieve equal opportunities for everybody. The aim is to ensure parents the actual possibility of choosing educational establishments other than those created by public authorities, and to guarantee all pupils the guidance and necessary resources to make progress in accordance with their aptitudes and abilities.

On the other hand, due to the growing presence of immigrant pupils in the education system, the School Council encourages the different Education Authorities to provide educational establishments with the necessary human and material resources to assign these pupils in a rational manner among all the establishments financed with public funds.

Finally, the State School Council reaffirms the considerations taken in the 2000/2001 academic year Report regarding the increase in the appointment of social workers and educators to deal with the difficult subject of pupils with special educational needs arising from their socio-economic condition, gypsy people or immigrants. It also stresses, once again, the necessity of having counselors and enough Compensatory Education teachers in Pre-Primary and Primary Education establishments in order to meet pupils’ needs.

Quality Indicators for SNE

The National Institute for Quality and Evaluation (INCE) is the state entity responsible for general evaluation of the education system at the non-university level education. Its fundamental purpose is to provide relevant information to the Education Authorities and to citizens as to the degree to which the education system reaches stated goals at a specific moment of its endeavour.

The duties of this body are to:  assess the degree to which the core curricula are mastered at the various levels, cycles and grades of the education system; carry out research, studies and evaluations regarding the system; assess the general reforms of the system, as well as the structure, effectiveness and efficiency of the system; draw up a state system of indicators which will allow for evaluating the degree of effectiveness and efficiency of the system; draw up assessment systems for the different types of education and their corresponding establishments; provide and interchange information with the Education Authorities to facilitate decision-making; inform the various sectors of society as to the functioning and outcomes of the education system; and publish and disseminate the results of assessments carried out, as well as of innovations occurring in the field of assessment. The INCE is likewise responsible for proposing initiatives and suggestions that may contribute to quality and improvement in education and state co-ordination in international studies.

The assessment units of the various Autonomous Communities collaborate with the INCE in the different assessment activities of the education system, and are responsible for carrying out an assessment of the education system within their territory.

Assessment of educational establishments is of a dual nature: internal assessment carried out by the education community itself; and external assessment which is carried out by specialists in assessment, normally by the Education Technical Inspection. In any case, the Autonomous Communities are responsible for drawing up and implementing assessment plans in territories under their management. All of these plans are found to have the same objective and basic characteristics.

Quality principles

The quality principles within the education system are:

- Equity, which guarantees the quality of equal opportunities for a learner’s complete personality development throughout education, within democratic principles respect, and fundamental rights and liberties.

-  The capacity of transmitting values which foster personal freedom, the social responsibility, cohesion and the improvement of society and equal rights between sexes, which help to overcome any type of discrimination, and also the practice of solidarity, to support the civic participation of pupils in voluntary activities.

-  The capacity of acting as a personal and social compensative element

-  The participation of the various actors of the education community, in the field of its corresponding competences and responsibilities, in the development of the school activity in the schools, fostering, especially, the necessary environment of live together and study.(??)

- The conception of education as a permanent process, which is important throughout life.

- The consideration of the responsibility and effort as essential elements of the educational process.

-  The flexibility in order to adapt its structure and organization to the changes, needs and society demands, and to the different abilities, interests, expectations and personality in the pupils.

- The recognition of the teaching function as an essential factor of the quality of the education, stated in the attention given to the teachers’ training, actualisation, and to their professional promotion.

- The pupils’ capacity to trust in their own abilities and knowledge, developing creativity, personal initiative, enterprising spirit, and basic principles and values.

- The fostering and promotions of the investigation, the experimentation and the educational innovation.

- The assessment and the educational system inspection as a whole, both in its design and organization, and in the teaching and learning processes.

- The schools efficiency, through their autonomy reinforcement and the school management fostering.

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