The Education system in Spain is called as Ley Orgánica de Educación or simply fundamental law of education. In Spain education is a mandatory one, for children in the age group of between 6 to 16 years.

The education system comprises of four levels.

Pre-school (called as Educación Infantil, segundo ciclo in Spanish) in the age group of 3 to 6 years. This is non-mandatory and it is free of cost for all students.

Primary School (called as Educación Primaria in Spanish) it is a six years schooling period from 6 to 12 years of age

Compulsory Secondary Education (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria) is a four years schooling period from 12 to 16 years of age

Post-Compulsory Schooling (Bachillerato) is two years schooling period from 16 to 18 years of age

The primary school is prepared in the form of 3 two year cycles.

First Cycle (from 6 to 8 years of age)

Second Cycle (from 8to 10 years of age)

Third Cycle (from 10 to 12 years of age)

Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO)

Compulsory Secondary Education (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria or ESO) is prepared in the form of 2 cycles of 2 academic years each (overall 4 years):

First Cycle (from 12 to 14 years of age)

Second Cycle (from14 to 16 years of age)

Once finishing the ESO, the students has variety of choices. Such as,

Post-compulsory diploma or Spanish Baccalaureate

Vocational Training.

Work: A student will be allowed to go for job, only when he has attained the age of 16 years.

Spanish Baccalaureate (Bachillerato)

This is a post 16 stage of education, that is akin to France’s International Baccalaureate or French Baccalaureate and UK’s A levels.

This stage consists of two parts, a nucleus curriculum comprising o f the compulsory subject and a professional part that consists of elective subjects which the students can opt for.

The core curriculum comprises of the following subjects.

Spanish Language and Literature: for the first and second years

In case of Catalan, Basque and Galician, a Co-official language for the first and second years

A First foreign language mostly English or any one foreign language French, German or Italian for the first and second years
Philosophy for the first and second years

Physical Education is only for the first year

Spanish History is only for the second year

An Optional subject as second foreign language, psychology, information technology for first and second year

Catholic Religion/All World Religions Studies: This is an optional subject only for the first year.

Based on the branch taken, the specialist part comprises of four subjects such as

Arts:

History of art

Sculpture (volume)

Colors (painting)

Nature and Health Sciences:

Mathematics, Earth Sciences or Physics

Chemistry

Biology

Some of the other branches are science and engineering, social sciences & humanities.

University

Other then medicine and some other course, the university course in Spain normally consists of four years. Some of the well known universities in Spain are

University of Alfonso X El Sabio
University of Barcelona
University of the Basque Country
University of Seville
University of DeustoComillas Pontifical University
University of Granada
Complutense University of Madrid
Autonomous University of Barcelona
Technical University of Madrid
Autonomous University of Madrid
Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona
University of Valencia
Carlos III University of Madrid
Polytechnic University of Catalonia