Strictly private schools recognised by the Community are almost non-existent. Unrecognised private education is mainly organised at higher level.

Grant-aided private education is called grant-aided independent education (the independent network). Amongst the institutions in the independent network, Catholic education has the most important place by a wide margin.

These schools are organised by dioceses, congregations, parishes, and Christian associations. The Community also subsidises Jewish, Islamic, and Protestant denominational schools, mostly at the primary level. There are also a few non-denominational private grant-aided schools, such as Decroly schools.

The rules governing grant-aided independent education are virtually identical to those governing grant-aided public education. The main difference between the two types of grant-aided education lies in the requirement to which public education is subject to respect the philosophical and religious views of all parents and to offer a choice between a course in one of the recognised religions (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Islam, or Orthodox) and the ethics it inspires, or a non-denominational ethics course.