Early childhood education, primary education and secondary education have two different ways to perform the quality assessment: the educational evaluation and the educational inspection, as established in Titles VI and VII of the Organic Law 2/2006 on Education (LOE), modified by the Organic Law 3/2020 (LOMLOE). The evaluation of these stages is considered a fundamental element for the improvement of education and for increasing the transparency of the education system. In turn, the inspection of these stages also contributes to improvement, supporting key aspects to achieve this progress.

Evaluation in these stages extends to all educational areas regulated in the LOE and is applied to the teaching and learning processes and their results, to the educational context, with special reference to the schooling and admission of students, to educational resources, to the activity of the teaching staff, to the management function, to the functioning of educational institutions, to inspection and to the educational administrations themselves.

The LOMLOE repealed Organic Law 8/2013 for the improvement of the quality of education (LOMCE) in 2020 and partially modified the LOE from 2006. These have been the main new developments in quality evaluation:

• Evaluation is extended to the educational context, with particular reference to schooling and admission of pupils as well as resources.
• The results of the evaluations of the education system cannot be used for individual assessments of pupils or to establish school rankings. This situation was already in place in 2006, but was abolished in 2013 and has been reinstated in 2020.
• Two diagnostic assessments are established in the 4th year of primary education and in the 2nd year of compulsory secondary education, while in 2013 individualised assessments were proposed in the 3rd year of primary education and the possibility of establishing other assessments for diagnostic purposes was left to the education authorities.
• Two general evaluations of the education system are set for the 6th year of primary education and the 4th year of Compulsory Secondary Education. 

With regard to the quality inspection, the LOMLOE has incorporated new aspects, particularly the following:

• The principles that should govern its actions have been established: lawfulness, professionalism, independence, impartiality, efficiency and transparency.
• New functions and powers have been assigned to the education inspection:
  • evaluation of all schools, their services and programmes, and of the management function, which it will guide and advise;
  • participation in the meetings of collegiate or teaching co-ordination bodies.

Responsible bodies

The bodies responsible for the evaluation of the quality of the education system in pre-primary, primary and secondary education are the following:

• State Education Inspectorate;
• National Institute for Educational Evaluation (INEE), under the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFD);
• educational inspection bodies of the autonomous communities;
• bodies for the evaluation of the education system in the autonomous communities.

State Education Inspectorate

The State Education Inspectorate features the following particularities:

• it is carried out by the State through the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFD);
• It is in charge of ensuring compliance with the powers conferred on the State as well as observance of the constitutional principles and regulations and the different acts on education throughout the national;
• It is organized as a peripheral service of the General State Administration and is integrated in the Government delegations in each autonomous;
• the Government Delegations coordinate these services in the area of non-university education, submit the reports and minutes derived from the State Inspectorate's performance in this area to the MEFD, and also establish the corresponding collaboration with the autonomous communities.

Its powers are the following:

• check compliance with the requirements established by the State in the general organisation of the education system regarding branches, stages, cycles and specialities and the corresponding number of years in each case;
• check that the basic aspects of the curriculum have been included in the curricula established by the education authorities and that they comply with the relevant national organisation;
• check compliance with the conditions for the awarding, issuing and recognition of certificates, as well as their academic and professional validity;
• ensure compliance with basic conditions guaranteeing the equality of all Spaniards in the exercise of their rights and duties in education, as well as with their linguistic rights;
• verify that subsidies and grants are awarded financed from the General State Budget, in accordance with the general criteria established by national regulations.

National Institute for Educational Evaluation of the MEFD

The National Institute for Educational Evaluation is the body of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports responsible for the evaluation of the Spanish education system, in collaboration with the education authorities. 

This collaboration was established in 2004 with the creation of the Educational Evaluation Working Group (GTEE), coordinated by INEE, in which the Autonomous Communities participate by sending representatives to the annual meetings. Its goals are the following:

• to serve as an instrument of representation of the educational administrations in the area of educational evaluation, as well as to become a stable information and participation body for decision-making in these matters;
• to provide cohesion and consistency in the evaluation of the Spanish education system through the creation and coordination of working groups and committees dealing with specific technical aspects, such as the development of common diagnostic frameworks or the development of the national system of education indicators.

INEE's functions and responsibilities are set out in Organic Law 2/2006 on Education (LOE), as amended by Organic Law 3/2020 (LOMLOE) and in Royal Decree 274/2024 which develops the basic organic structure of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, and are as follows: 

• the implementation of the evaluations that make it possible to obtain representative data, both for students and schools in the autonomous communities and for the State as a whole. These evaluations focus on the competences established in the curriculum and they are carried out in Primary and Secondary education;
• the completion, in the last year of primary education and compulsory secondary education, of an assessment of the competences acquired by pupils. This assessment is carried out on a sample and multi-annual basis and is informative, instructional and orientative in nature for schools, teachers, pupils and their families and for the education community as a whole;
• the coordination of policies for the general evaluation of the education system;
• the establishment of methodological and scientific standards guaranteeing the quality, validity and reliability of educational evaluations;
• the development of a common evaluation framework to serve as a reference for diagnostic evaluations, together with the corresponding bodies of the education administrations;
• the implementation, in collaboration with the relevant bodies in the education administrations, of the evaluations assigned to the MEFD by the regulations in force;
• the development of the National System of Education Indicators, which will contribute to knowledge on the education system, as well as to inform decision-making by educational institutions and all the sectors involved in education. The education authorities of the Autonomous Communities will provide the MEFD with the relevant data required;
• the carrying out of research and evaluation studies of the education system, as well as the dissemination of the information and knowledge offered by these actions and by national and international evaluations;
• management of information and documentation networks on education systems (EURYDICE-Spain, REDIE and others).
• the coordination of Spain's participation in international assessments and participation in the development of international education indicators;
• monitoring and participation in the actions of the European Union and other international organisations, as well as in the international cooperation programmes developed within the scope of the Directorate General, in coordination with the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities and the Spanish Service for the Internationalisation of Education (SEPIE), within the scope of their competences.

The MEFD will periodically publish the conclusions of general interest of the evaluations carried out by the National Institute for Educational Evaluation in collaboration with the education authorities, and will share the information of the National System of Education Indicators.

Educational inspection of the Autonomous Communities

The educational inspection of the autonomous communities is carried out in relation to all the elements and aspects of the education system within their scope of management. It is the link between the administration and educational institutions, and plays a key role in external school evaluation processes.

Its main functions are the following:

• monitor, evaluate and control, from a pedagogical and organisational point of view, the functioning of educational institutions, as well as the projects and programmes they develop, in compliance with the framework of autonomy of the institutions themselves;
• supervise the teaching practice and the managerial function, and cooperate in their constant improvement;
• participate in the evaluation of the education system and all its elements;
• monitor compliance with the acts, regulations and other provisions on the education system that are in force in educational institutions;
• ensure compliance and implementation of the principles and values of the Education Act, including those aimed at promoting real equality between men and women;
• provide counselling, guidance and information to the various sectors of the educational community in exercising their rights fulfilling their obligations;
• submit the reports required by the relevant education authorities, or those arising from the understanding of reality inherent to educational inspection, through the established;
• guide management teams in the adoption and monitoring of measures that favour coexistence, participation of the educational community and resolution of conflicts, promoting and participating, when necessary, in mediation processes.

The Autonomous Communities have regulated and passed regulations on the organisation and functioning of their educational inspection services. In the case of the Autonomous Communities which have defined and approved their own School Evaluation Plan, the Inspectorate carries out the corresponding external evaluation, which occasionally implies collaborating with other regional evaluation institutions.

The educational inspection is carried out by the Inspectorate civil servants. In undertaking their tasks, they are to be considered a public authority and their responsibilities include the following:

• be familiar with, supervise and observe all the activities carried out in the institutions, both public and private, to which they will have free access;
• examine and check any academic, pedagogical and administrative documentation of schools;
• receive the necessary collaboration from other civil servants and those responsible for public and private educational institutions and services in order to carry out their activities;
• participate in the meetings of the collegiate or teaching coordination bodies of the institutions, respecting the exercise of autonomy granted to them by law, as well as taking part in commissions, boards and tribunals, when so determined;
• submit reports and make requests when there is a breach in the application of the regulations, and draw up minutes, either on their own initiative or at the request of the corresponding administrative authority;
• any other duties attributed to them by the educational administrations, within the scope of its competences.

Bodies for the evaluation of the education system in the Autonomous Communities

Some Autonomous Communities have set up specific institutions for the evaluation of the education system. In some others, this type of evaluation is carried out by units of the education administration which are not exclusively devoted to this activity.

The main functions of these bodies in the non-university area in all the Autonomous Communities are the following:

• the implementation of the general assessments of the education system and the development and monitoring of diagnostic assessments in the fourth year of primary education and in the second year of Compulsory Secondary Education;
• cooperation in the implementation of the National System of Education Indicators.

Furthermore, the educational authorities entrust these other functions to these bodies:

• the evaluation of educational centres;
• the drafting of reports;
• the dissemination and promotion of the results of educational evaluation;
• any processes that can contribute to the quality and improvement of teaching and education;
• educational innovation and research;
• the elaboration of educational indicators for each autonomous community.

Both the characteristics and the functions of these bodies are different in each autonomous community.

Approaches and methods for quality assurance

The Council of the European Union, in its 2024 conclusions on promoting evidence-informed education and training policies and practices in view of the achievement of the European Education Area, states that evidence from research or data should play a key role in defining education and training policies and practices. This approach is one of the driving guidelines for the evaluation of the quality of the Spanish education system.

Quality evaluation in pre-primary, primary and secondary education is carried out at three different levels: state, regional and local (school).

State level

Evaluation of the education system as a whole

At a State level, the evaluation of the education system as a whole at these stages is the responsibility of the National Institute for Educational Evaluation (INEE), in collaboration with the education authorities of the autonomous communities. This evaluation is conducted through different mechanisms:

• the National System of Education Indicators (SEIE);
• external end-of-stage evaluations in primary education and compulsory secondary education;
• participation in international evaluation studies.

National System of Education Indicators

The SEIE  is a compilation of educational data in Spain dawn up by the National Institute for Educational Evaluation, together with the Subdirectorate General for Statistics and Studies of the MEFD, with the aim of providing an overview of education in Spain. It has these characteristics:

• it contributes to knowledge on the education system, as well as to inform decision-making by educational authorities and all the sectors involved in education;
• it presents the results of the main educational statistics, both at national level and broken down into Autonomous Communities;
• it provides international data placing the country in the framework of the OECD and the European Union.

Its first version was published in 2000 and, since then, twenty editions have been released, the latest in 2024.

At present, the National System of Education Indicators comprises 19 indicators, which are in turn divided into sub-indicators corresponding to 3 dimensions. Their update is variable and depends on the availability of new data:

1. Schooling and educational environment:

• schooling and population;
• schooling rates in the notional ages of non-compulsory levels;
• foreign students;
• vocational training;
• participation in lifelong learning;
• foreign language learning;
• students with academic support specific needs;
• students per group and teacher;
• teaching staff of the education system;
• information and communication technologies in education and training.

2. Educational funding:

• total expenditure on education;
• expenditure on education per student.

3. Educational outcomes:

• basic kills in the 2nd year of Compulsory Secondary Education;
• minimum level of achievement in reading and mathematics;
• students' age suitability;
• early drop-out in education and training;
• graduation rates;
• level of training of adult population;
• employment and unemployment rates according to level of training;
• income according to level of training.

External end-of-stage evaluations in Primary Education and Compulsory Secondary Education 

The National Institute for Educational Assessment, in collaboration with the Education Administrations, within the framework of the general evaluation of the education system, is entrusted with the task of carrying out the evaluations that make it possible to obtain representative data, both of the student body and of the institutions in the Autonomous Communities and at State level. These assessments must deal with the competences established in the curriculum and are carried out on a sample and multi-annual basis. These assessments will also take into account pupils with special educational needs arising from disability, including, in the conditions for carrying out such assessments, the adaptations and resources they may have had.

It is planned that the General System Assessment (EGS - Evaluación General del Sistema) will be carried out every three academic years, alternating the assessment of Primary and Compulsory Secondary Education.

Given that the process of implementing a project on the scale of a nationwide competency-based sample assessment is very extensive and complex, it is essential to carry out initial or pilot assessments to test and validate both the instruments and the procedures. Thus, in May 2023, a pilot assessment for the EGS was carried out in digital format. A 6th grade primary school class from 243 schools in the Autonomous Communities and in Ceuta and Melilla took part in the assessment and the competences in Linguistic Communication (reading comprehension and listening comprehension) and STEM were evaluated. Operational conclusions will be drawn from this test, focusing mainly on issues such as the assessment of the evaluation instruments, the testing of the digital platform on which the application will be carried out, the establishment of benchmarks and the fine-tuning of the procedures to be used.

In the 2024-2025 academic year, a pilot test will be carried out again for the 6th grade EGS, this time assessing digital competence and multilingual competence.

Participation in international evaluation studies

Spain participates in several international evaluation surveys, which include the following:

• INES (International Indicators of Education Systems), of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OCDE), ein which Spain participates since it was established in 1992 and which has since enabled the annual publication of educational indicators under the name of Panorama de la Educación (Education at a Glance).
• PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), of the OECD. Spain has participated in all the cycles of the PISA Project and has drawn up national reports based on the Spanish results in this assessment programme. Its latest edition has been conducted in 2022.  In turn, PISA 2025 will focus mainly on science, as well as assessing mathematics and reading skills, and will include an international foreign language assessment (in this first cycle it will be English).
• TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study), of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Under a common theoretical framework, progress in Mathematics and Science in the 4th year of Primary Education and in the 2nd year of Compulsory Secondary Education is evaluated since1995. Spain participated in that edition and has done so again in the 4th year of Primary Education in years 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023. The next edition of this study is scheduled for 2027.
• PISA for Schools of the OCDE. It is an external evaluation aimed at improvement. It is a student assessment tool intended to be used by schools and school clusters to support research, benchmarking and improvement efforts. It also provides information on how different factors, both internal and external to schools, are related to school performance. Spain took part in the pilot test in 2013. Participants include schools and groups of schools from all the autonomous communities, and to the management scope of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports.
• PIRLS (Progress in International Reading Literacy Study), of the IEA. Spain has participated in the 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021  assessments conducted in the 4th year of Primary Education. The next edition of this study is scheduled for 2026.
• TALIS (Teaching and Learning International Survey), of the OECD. It analyses the learning environment and working conditions of teachers and school heads in the first three years of ESO (2008 and 2013)  and in ESO and Primary Education (2018). In addition, the 2024 edition also included the second cycle of Early Childhood Education. The next edition of this study is scheduled for 2030.
• ICCS (International Civic and Citizenship Study) of the IEA. This study investigates the ways in which young people are prepared to play their role as members of citizenship in society. Spain participated in this study in its first edition in 2009, did not participate in 2016 and participated again in the  2022 edition. The next edition of this study is scheduled for 2027.
• SSES (Social and Emotional Skills Survey), by the OECD. This international study, promoted by the OECD, analyses the social and emotional skills developed by students aged 10 and 15. Although it was carried out for the first time internationally in 2018, Spain began to participate in 2023  and only with 15-year-old students.
• ICILS (International Digital Literacy Study, of the IEA). It is an international study promoted to assess the digital competence of students in the 2nd year of ESO. Although it was carried out for the first time in 2013, with a periodicity of 5 years, Spain has begun to participate in the 2023 edition, which corresponds to the third cycle of the study. This edition includes an optional module to assess computational thinking and programming.

INEE coordinates the participation of Spain in international evaluations with the relevant international bodies.

Regional level

At a regional level, the education authorities of each autonomous community carry out the evaluation of the part of the education system corresponding to their scope of management. In addition, each education administration, within its sphere of action, exercises certain competences, the most important of which are as follows:

• support and facilitate school self-evaluation;
• draw up and carry out plans for the evaluation of educational institutions, which must take into account the socio-economic and cultural situations of families and pupils, the environment of the school and its resources;
• draw up plans for the assessment of the management function in order to improve the functioning of schools;
• encourage schools to draw up proposals for action that will help pupils achieve the established skills, enable them to adopt measures to improve the quality and equity of education and guide teaching practice.

Evaluation of the education system within its management scope

Each autonomous community carries out the evaluation of the part of the education system corresponding to its area of management by means of different mechanisms:

• a System of Education Indicators;
• diagnostic evaluations (external evaluations in primary education and Compulsory Secondary Education);
• participation in international evaluation studies.

System of Education Indicators

Several autonomous communities draw up reports in which they analyse and detail the State System of Education Indicators in their territorial context. This is the case, for example, in Andalusia, Aragon, the Balearic Islands or the Basque Country.

Some have also developed their own indicators regarding the context, resources, processes and results of the education system. To do so, they use statistics and other information from different sources, such as the educational administration itself, the National Statistics Institute, the autonomous statistical institutes, Eurostat, international studies or diagnostic evaluations.

Diagnostic assessments (external evaluations in primary and Compulsory Secondary Education

The INEE and the corresponding bodies of the education administrations cooperate in the development of a common assessment framework to serve as a reference for diagnostic assessments.

Schools must carry out an annual assessment of all pupils in the 4th year of Primary Education and in the 2nd year of Compulsory Secondary Education, as provided for by the education authorities. The purpose of this assessment is to provide a diagnosis and to check, at least, the mastery degree of linguistic communication and mathematical competence. These assessments are informative, instructional and orientative in nature for schools, teachers, pupils and their families or and for the education community as a whole. Schools must take the results of these assessments into account in the design of their improvement plans. All pupils will participate in this assessment, which means that it constitutes a census.

It is the responsibility of the education administrations to develop and control the diagnostic assessments in which their schools participate and to provide the relevant models and support so that all schools can adequately carry out these assessments, which must be formative and internal in nature.

In no case may the results of these evaluations be used for establishing school rankings.

Participation in international evaluation studies

With regard to international studies, most Autonomous Communities have extended the PISA sample in order to obtain representative data for their territory. They also participate in other international evaluation studies where they also boraden the sample.

However, coordination with the relevant international bodies for the participation of the different autonomous communities is the responsibility of the INEE, an agency of the MEFD.

Evaluation of educational institutions

The education administrations of the autonomous communities may, within the framework of their competences, draw up and implement plans for the evaluation of schools. These plans must take into account the socio-economic and cultural situations of families and pupils, the environment of the school and its resources. They must also support and facilitate school self-evaluation.

External evaluation of educational institutions

Each Autonomous Community is responsible for the design and implementation of the mechanisms for the external evaluation of the schools within its territory and, in addition, can establish its own self-evaluation or internal evaluation model. Because of their complementarity, they are jointly regulated in several regions. This is the case of, for example, Extremadura.

In addition, some of them draw up external evaluation plans including other mechanisms. Although they differ between the education authorities, their most characteristic features are the following:

• their frequency varies, but often coincides with the period covered by the school management period;
• the responsible body, which is normally the Inspectorate, in some cases in collaboration with the bodies for evaluation and educational quality of the Autonomous Communities, defines the areas to be evaluated and normally establishes;
• contextual aspects, resources, processes and educational outcomes are evaluated. In some cases, other aspects, such as equity conditions, are;
• the procedures used normally include the analysis of school documents, interviews and questionnaires from different sectors of the educational community, as well as the direct observation of teaching and learning situations.
• the results of the evaluation are included in a report which is made available to the education administration and the school for them to introduce improvement measures.

Spain's recent participation in PISA for Schools provides an additional method. 

Internal evaluation of educational institutions

Several Autonomous Communities, normally through their bodies for evaluation and educational quality, have developed guidelines and orientations to support self-evaluation or internal school evaluation. They address different aspects such as evaluation areas, indicators, procedures, or instruments or advice for the drawing up of an improvement plan. An example is Castilla La Mancha.

This type of evaluation is normally annual although, in some cases, it is specified that it is continuous and its results are included in external assessments, depending on the stipulated time frame for the latter. In general, the school management is responsible for the coordination of the internal evaluation process and the Inspectorate undertakes advisory or supervisory tasks.

In addition, some Autonomous Communities, Comunitat Valenciana, being one of them, have established quality programmes or procedures for the implementation of quality management systems, which are voluntary for schools.

Evaluation of the teaching and managerial functions

The education administrations may, within the framework of their competences, draw up plans for the evaluation of the public teaching function, with the aim of improving the quality of teaching and the professional practice of the teaching staff. They may also draw up plans for the assessment of the managerial function.

Plans for the evaluation of the teaching staff in the civil service must include the following characteristics:

• be drawn up with the participation of teachers and be public;
• include the aims and assessment criteria, as well as the way in which teachers, the educational community and the administration participate in the evaluation process;
• encourage voluntary teacher evaluation.

Local (school) level

At a school level, institutions themselves can design and carry out their own internal or external evaluations. It is up to the management team to lead this process of promoting a culture of institutional evaluation which is, at the same time, a collective learning process. Self-evaluation requires the participation and collaboration of all sectors in the educational community according to their competences and responsibilities.

The LOE establishes in articles 127, 129 and 132  (some of them modified by the LOMCE), the responsibilities and competences in the self-evaluation of schools. At the end of each academic year, the School Council, the Teachers’ Assembly and the management team will evaluate the degree of compliance with the annual general programme (annual specifications of the School Development Plan  and its elements). The most relevant conclusions will be set out in a report, which will be sent to the provincial or territorial delegations or directorates.