History of adult education

Adult education (AE) in Spain dates back to the nineteenth century, with initiatives such as popular universities, cultural associations, ateneos, workers’ associations and municipal schools, which laid the foundations for literacy and cultural education of the adult population. During the twentieth century, significant progress was made: literacy and industrial vocational training campaigns up to 1970; Law 14/1970 on Education , which for the first time regulated these forms of provision; and the Organic Law 1/1990 on the General Organisation of the Education System (LOGSE), which explicitly incorporated the principle of lifelong learning into the education system (Article 2.1).

Since then, adult education has continued evolving within a well-established tradition of public support, aimed at improving the qualifications and educational participation of the adult population.

Current Policy Priorities

Current policies in adult education and training are focused on enhancing quality, accessibility and employability among the adult population. The main strategic and legislative initiatives include:

• Royal Decree 659/2023 on the organisation of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) System, which regulates the functioning of the system in order to ensure a sufficient, flexible provision aligned with labour market needs, both for employed and unemployed adults.
• Organic Law 3/2022 on the organisation of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) System, which regulates the functioning of the system in order to ensure a sufficient, flexible provision aligned with labour market needs, both for employed and unemployed adults.
• The updating of the National Catalogue of Professional Qualifications (CNECP), enabling training provision and accreditation to adapt to changes in the labour market and productive sectors.
• The National Youth Guarantee System (Sistema Nacional de Garantía Juvenil) which seeks to improve the employability of young people who are not in education, employment or training by offering employment, training or traineeships, providing a pathway back to education and learning for those who left school early.

Quantitative objectives

The European strategic framework for cooperation in education and training (2021–2030) sets, as a 2025 benchmark, that at least 47% of the population aged 25–64 should participate annually in learning activities and that at least 60% of recent VET graduates should benefit from work-based learning during their training pathway.

According to the latest available data (2024), participation of the adult population in learning activities in Spain continues to rise and remains above the EU-27 average, with higher participation rates among women than men.

Source: Drawn up by Eurydice España-rediE (INEE, MEFD) based on data from MEFD Statistics (Exploitation of educational variables from the Labour Force Survey / Indicators of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training [2021-2030]) [last accessed 26 December 2025].

In order to move towards these lifelong learning participation targets, priority attention is given to groups with lower levels of engagement in education and training, in particular:

• adult population who lacks the basic skills of compulsory education;
• active population whose professional qualifications have not been accredited;
• young people who have not obtained the Compulsory Secondary Education Certificate (ESO);
• early school leavers.