In January 2024, the State School Council unanimously approved the Spanish Government's proposal to regulate the use of mobile phones in educational institutions during the school year. This entails a series of recommendations and conclusions, such as zero mobile phone use in both Early Childhood and Primary Education. Additionally, these devices must remain turned off throughout the school hours in Secondary Education, and only allowed to be used if the teacher deems it necessary for a specific educational activity. However, exceptions are considered for reasons of health, safety, or special needs.

In January 2024, the Spanish Government launched the Mathematics and Reading Comprehension Reinforcement Plan, benefiting over five million students in Primary, Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO), Basic Vocational Training (FP Básica), and Baccalaureate (Bachillerato) in publicly funded schools. This plan includes teacher support to provide more personalized attention, more resources for schools, and extracurricular lessons. The programme will be implemented for reading comprehension reinforcement from the first year of Primary Education to Baccalaureate and, for mathematics, from the third year of Primary Education to Baccalaureate, including Basic Vocational Training.

As per the funding for this programme, specifics are yet to be finalised pending the negotiation of the State General Budgets. However, government sources have indicated that this educational measure will be supported by substantial funding. "The budget will be as ambitious as the goal," stated the Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports.

In December 2023, the Agreement of the Sectorial Conference on Education was published, approving the territorial distribution proposal and distribution criteria for the credits managed by autonomous communities, and destined for the Code School 4.0 Programme in the budgetary year 2023, totalling 1 600 000.00 euros.

The recipients of this programme are teachers who provide education in the second cycle of Early Childhood and Primary Education, as regulated by Law 2/2006 on Education (LOE), amended by Law 3/2020 (LOMLOE), and their students. Depending on the support needs expressed by the teaching staff, it may be extended to publicly funded schools that offer Secondary Education, provided the support needs of schools offering the second cycle of Early Childhood and Primary Education have been met.

The general goal is to implement the necessary mechanisms and processes to spread and facilitate the development of digital skills related to computational thinking and programming for both teachers and students in publicly funded schools.

The specific objectives of the Programme are:

• To improve the digital skills of students, especially those related to computational thinking and programming.
• To implement digital skills in the classroom, especially those related to computational thinking and programming, through teacher training, support, and the development of digital educational resources.
• To provide schools with the necessary equipment to develop students' digital skills, especially those related to computational thinking and programming.

2023

In July 2023, the project Combat antisemitism through education was issued. This Unesco project is part of the actions promoted by the European Strategy to combat antisemitism and promote Jewish life. The Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFD) has accepted the invitation to participate in this initiative led by Unesco, the European Commission and the OSCE, which will also be part of the recently approved National Plan for the Implementation of the EU Strategy for Combating Antisemitism (2023-2030).

This initiative is in line with Spanish education legislation (LOE-LOMLOE) that seeks to prevent any discrimination based on birth, racial or ethnic origin, sex, religion, opinion, disability, age, illness, sexual orientation or gender identity, or any other personal or social condition or circumstance. The law encourages the study and respect of other cultures, contributes to valuing cultural differences, as well as the recognition and dissemination of the history and culture of ethnic minorities in our country, to know them better and reduce stereotypes. In addition, it includes education on historical events that have seriously violated human rights, such as the case of the Jewish Holocaust.

In mid-June 2023, the Secretary of State for Education of Spain presented the report Proposals for an Action Plan to reduce Early School Leaving, prepared by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFD) and the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission. The document details 15 recommendations, broken down into 44 proposals and divided into five areas of action, to prevent young people from leaving the educational system prematurely. Despite improved data over the past decade, more work is needed to improve opportunities for all students. The main lines of action of the plan are:

• identification of vulnerable schools;
• teacher training;
• support for students;
• curricular flexibility and competency-based learning;
• promotion of collaboration between educational administrations;
• support programmes: Pogramme for Reinforcement, Guidance and Support (PROA+) and Guidance and Support Units.

Reform of the degree plan of the Bachelor's degree in Primary Education

The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities has published a draft ministerial orders with the changes it proposes for the curriculum of the Primary Education Bachelor's Degree. Among these modifications, the order includes the organisation of the courses and the distribution of the credits to pass it. The order proposed by Universities adds more credits to subjects such as Fundamentals of Educational Inclusion and Attention to Diversity. In addition, there are subjects that were not mandatory and now become so as the Attention to Diversity. Similarly, this reform focuses on general issues such as “the digitalisation of education, personal skills or sustainability”. As for the subject called Digitalisation, 12 university credits are dedicated.

Scholarships and study aids for the course 2023-2024

The budget of scholarships and study grants has reached its historical maximum for the next year. In particular, EUR 2 520 million will be allocated to scholarships and study grants. It is the fifth consecutive year that has increased its funding. Since 2018, the budget has increased by 70 %.

All information on requirements, deadlines, amounts and procedures to be eligible for these scholarships and grants are available on the scholarship website of the MEFD and the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. The goal is to centralise information and make it more accessible. The deadline to apply for general scholarships begins on March 27 and ends on May 17.

In addition, in this new call there is a universal aid of EUR 400 for students of non-university education levels who demonstrate a disability of at least 33 %, serious behavior, communication or language disorder or the autism spectrum, in order to cover the additional costs that their families must face. In this case, the minister has estimated that the aid will benefit more than 214 000 students.