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Eurydice

EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice
Organisational variations and alternative structures in ECEC
Spain

Spain

4.Early childhood education and care

4.5Organisational variations and alternative structures in ECEC

Last update: 27 February 2025
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Among the main organisational variations and alternative structures in early childhood education and care (ECEC), the following stand out:

  • ECEC in rural schools,
  • bilingual education;
  • penitentiary classrooms;
  • hospital teaching.

ECEC in rural schools

In some autonomous communities in Spain, there are rural schools located in municipalities with a reduced population. Their denomination is different depending on the autonomous community:

  • Gathered Rural Schools (CRA)
  • Rural School Zones (ZER)
  • Rural Public Centres (CPR)
  • Rural School Collectives (CER)

Article 82 of Organic Law 2/2006 on Education (LOE), amended by Organic Law 3/2020 (LOMLOE), establishes that the education authorities shall pay special attention to these centres, taking into account the peculiarities of their educational environment, providing them with the necessary means and organisational systems to meet their particular needs and guarantee equal opportunities. 

Characteristics of rural schools: 

  • purpose: provide educational services in geographical areas with low population;
  • target groups: second-cycle ECEC and primary education students living in geographical areas with low population;
  • organisation:
    • each CRA brings together several schools in neighbouring towns, forming a single school (comprising both the second cycle of ECEC and primary education;
    • this type of centres have a single management team and its teaching staff, a collegiate body which includes itinerant teachers who attend several;
    • the school development plan and the yearly general programme are the same for all the schools grouped together in the area;
    • each centre in the CRA may be structured in a small number of classrooms, so there might be students of different ages and grades in the same group. The teaching body will try to group pupils by cycles and, if this is not possible due to the small number of children, by educational stages;
    • municipal representation on the School Council of the institution shall be provided each school year by one of the local authorities to which the group extends its scope of application. The municipal representative is required to inform all the local councils within the group of the matters dealt with and the decisions adopted by the School Council.

In Cataluña, rural schools are grouped in Rural School Zones (Zonas Escolares Rurales - ZER) and in Andalucía in Rural Public Centres (Centros Públicos Rurales - CPR). Article 82 of the LOE, as amended by the LOMLOE, stipulates that the education authorities shall pay special attention to rural schools. To this end, children may be educated in a municipality close to their place of residence, thus guaranteeing the quality of education.  

Bilingual education

Types of provision::

  • Bilingual education programme) - Collaboration Agreement with the Spanish Delegation of the British Council Foundation
    • Purpose: training students so they will become fluent in different languages and familiar with different cultures in the context of a multicultural and multilingual Europe, providing them with a set of strategic, linguistic and sociolinguistic skills.
    • Target groups: pupils from the second cycle of pre-primary education to the 4th year of Compulsory Secondary Education at public schools.
    • Organisation:
  • Portuguese language and culture programme:
    • Purpose:
      • To ensure that the children of Portuguese workers and immigrants preserve their linguistic and cultural heritage.
      • To encourage interest and respect for the Portuguese culture among Spanish children.
    • Target groups: pupils from the second cycle of pre-primary education to the fourth year of compulsory secondary education, either of Portuguese or Portuguese-speaking origin, or Spanish, who attend publicly funded schools.
    • Organisation:
      • Portuguese teachers assigned to Spanish schools carry out activities included in the timetable, through `integrated classes´ (in which the Portuguese and Spanish teachers carry out joint activities with all the children in the classroom) or `simultaneous classes´ (in which the Portuguese teachers teach the group of children who have chosen to participate in the programme).
      • This programme is currently developed in partnership between the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sport, the Camões Institute and the seven Autonomous Communities that implement the programme: Principado de Asturias, Castilla y León, Cataluña, Extremadura, Galicia, Madrid and Navarra.
      • Promotion, exchanges, study visits and Portuguese clubs, among other activities, are also organised. 

Penitentiary classrooms

Spanish legislation sets out, in the General Penitentiary Law 1/1979, Article 38.2 modified by General Penitentiary Law 13/1995, the right of mothers to keep their children with them until they are 3 years old.

The aim of the penitentiary classroom programme is to ensure that children who are in jail with their mothers receive education and care relevant to their age. There are properly equipped ECEC settings within penitentiary institutions, with specialists in ECEC who are in charge of education and leisure programming for minors.

These ECEC settings have psychomotricity classrooms, education rooms, dining rooms and garden areas for outdoor games. They are managed by permanent staff who schedule activities as in any other ECEC setting.

Similarly, this programme responds to the principles of equity and compensation of inequalities in education established in Article 80 of the LOE, and in particular “to develop actions aimed at people, groups, social environments and territorial areas that are in a situation of socio-educational and cultural vulnerability with the aim of eliminating the barriers that limit their access, presence, participation or learning”.

Hospital teaching

Hospital teaching consists of educational compensation programmes, through the creation of school support units in hospital institutions, aimed at pupils who, due to long-term hospitalisation, are unable to normally attend school. Although in Spain, pre-primary education is voluntary, this service is usually provided from the second cycle of early childhood education (from the age of 3).

In addition to complying with Article 80 of the LOE, this measure contributes to guaranteeing the rights established in the European Charter on the Rights of Hospitalised Children (1986).