Planning policy

At the State and regional level, there is a planning policy for decision-making regarding teaching staff. 

Parameters to implement it:

• inclusion of education reforms;
• evolution of the number of students by education level;
• general demographic evolution;
• migratory movements;
• evolution of the number of teachers by educational level and by subject and unemployment rate. Others can be added.

Objectives of this policy:

• meet the emerging needs;
• assure enough flexibility to adapt teachers to the new specialities required by the education system, in relation with the constant and growing demand for new university or professional degrees;
• make sure that the adaptation required by the above mentioned issues be made by guaranteeing the employment stability of the sector.

Measures in order to meet the objectives described:

• restriction of the number of new positions for public employment;
• internal promotion for career civil servants;
• acquisition of new specialities by teachers.

Issues that are subject to negotiation in the respective sphere of competence:

• implementation of salary increases for the staff working for the Public Authorities established in the Spanish Budget Act and the Autonomous Communities;
• establishment and application of the civil servants' additional salary;
• regulations setting the general criteria for access, career, provision, systems for posts classification, and plans and instruments for planning human resources;
• rules establishing the general criteria and mechanisms regarding the evaluation of the professional activity;
• general criteria of plans and funds for internal training and promotion;
• proposals on union and participation rights;
• issues established in the regulations for occupational risk prevention;
• general criteria related to public employment offers;
• aspects regarding labour calendars, schedules, working days, holidays, permissions, functional and geographical mobility;
• general criteria regarding the strategic planning of human resources, in those aspects affecting public civil servants' work conditions.

The pacts and agreements reached in the corresponding Negotiating Tables on general working matters and conditions are applicable as provided in:

• The Law on the Basic Statute of Public Worker's Rights, in the case of civil servants.
• The Statute of Workers' Rights, in the case of staff on a contract basis.

If there is no disagreement, these pacts and agreements are extended every year.

Based on the pacts and agreements reached and the information obtained on the needs of teachers of every public educational institution in their jurisdiction, Education Authorities prepare and approve:

• processes for accessing the teaching public civil service;
• processes for competitive transfer of the teaching staff within their jurisdiction.

Media outlets and access to the information on policy planning: the official newsletters and journals of the Public Authorities, specialised publications and web pages.

Entry to the profession

It varies in relation to the ownership of the educational institution, with very different processes for public and private educational institutions.

Access to the teaching profession in public educational institutions

Access to the teaching profession in public schools is subject to the passing a competitive examination established for each of the teaching bodies, in accordance with the provisions of the Regulation on entry, access and acquisition of new specialisations to teaching bodies; and to a merit-based competition in cases where it is necessary to consolidate positions occupied by temporary staff for a long period of time.

The competitive examination is the selective procedure for entry into public employment that includes a competitive examination phase (theoretical and practical exams) and a merit-based competition phase in which the candidates' academic merits, training and previous experience are assessed and scored.

The exams aim at evaluating the applicants' suitability and they are different per teaching specialities. They cover a list of topics previously established so that applicants can prepare them.

Royal Decree 276/2007 and the amendments introduced by Royal Decree 270/2022 establish the phases of the competitive examination:

COMPETITIVE EXAMINATION PHASE

During the processes for admission to the civil servant teaching bodies, the competitive examination phase will consist of two exams:

1. An exam structured in two parts which shall not be eliminatory in nature:

• Part A: the purpose of this exam is to provide evidence of the necessary specific knowledge of the teaching speciality for which the candidate is applying. 
• Part B: the purpose of this exam is to verify the applicant's pedagogical aptitude and their mastery of the techniques necessary for teaching, and will consist of a presentation of a teaching module. In those specialities that include applied content, or instrumental or technical skills, this second part may include a practical exercise.
  • B1:  Design and oral presentation/defence of a teaching module
  • B2: Practical exercise

This exam will be assessed globally from zero to ten points, and the candidate must achieve, in order to pass, a score equal to or higher than five points.

MERIT-BASED COMPETITION PHASE

Candidates’ prior teaching experience, academic background and other merits are evaluated in accordance with the scales established in the different processes to gain access to the body of school teachers (per autonomous community), secondary education teachers (per autonomous community) and technical teachers of vocational training.

The mark on this phase is only applied if applicants have passed the competitive examination phase.

Traineeship

It aims at checking the aptitude for teaching of the selected applicants.

Applicants are selected as long as they have passed all the exams comprising the competitive examination phase. The number of selected applicants never exceeds the number of positions published for each process.

Access to the teaching profession in publicly-funded private educational institutions

The selection criteria for teachers have a public nature and are established by the School Board, the school head and the owner of the school. The selection process is carried out by the owner of the school together with the school head, according to the established selection criteria, as indicated in article 60 of Organic Law 8/1985 on the Right to Education (LODE). Each education administration verifies that this procedure complies with the established criteria, and is entitled to elaborate on the conditions for its implementation.

Access to the teaching profession in non publicly-funded private educational institutions

The selection process is carried out by the owner of the school and their recruitment must follow the provisions of the Statute of Workers' Rights.

Induction

Applicants take and must pass a traineeship period which differs according to the ownership of the educational institution where they are teaching.

Traineeship period in public educational institutions

Article 30 of  Royal Decree 276/2007, regulates the traineeships that are part of the process for accessing the public service, previous to being appointed career civil servant teachers.

Characteristics

• it is a paid and supervised period during the first school-year after passing the competitive examination phases;
• each autonomous community regulates it in their jurisdiction and sets the length, which can range between three months and a school year;
• trainee teachers elaborate a final report assessing the difficulties found and the support received. 

Tutor of the traineeship period

• experienced teachers, with whom the trainee teacher shares the responsibility for planning and teaching;
• teachers belonging to the same body and speciality as the applicant and, preferably, to the body of senior professors;
• functions: to assess the trainee teacher in every relevant aspect for the right development of the teaching activity, to monitor and evaluate this period.

Activities carried out by trainee teachers in addition to teaching

• regular meetings for discussing progression or problems with the tutor;
• monitored activities regarding classroom programming, student teaching and assessment;
• participation in the drafting of the institution documents;
• meeting with the families.

Training aimed at trainee teachers

The autonomous communities establish the mandatory or non-mandatory nature and the contents of these training courses. The duration varies from one educational administration to another and they can be provided in different modalities:

• classroom-based, at the educational institution;
• blended or distance;
• at Teachers and Resources Centres;
• the trainee teacher can participate through observations in other teachers' classrooms and, mainly, in the classroom of the teacher-tutor.

Evaluation of the traineeship period

• it is carried out at the end of the traineeship period;
• applicants are evaluated in terms of 'pass' or 'non-pass':
  • Positive evaluation, 'pass': the trainee is appointed as a career civil servant. This assessment is carried out by the traineeship tutor, the school head and the assigned inspector.
  • Negative evaluation ('non-pass'): the education authority can allow the repetition of this phase only once. Those who do not incorporate or do not pass it for the second time lose all rights to be appointed career civil servant teachers.

Exemption from the traineeship period

The education administration can grant exemption from the traineeship period to those candidates who have passed the phase of competitive examination based on merits and who prove that they have taught, at least, for a school year.

Traineeship period in private educational institutions

• Publicly-funded private schools: there is a probation period of four months for all the new teaching staff, as set out in the 7th Collective Bargaining Agreement for private education providers fully or partially supported by public funds, as amended by the Resolution of 30 May 2022;
• Private schools: there is a probation period of three months, in accordance with the 11^th National Collective Bargaining Agreement for general regime private institutions or formal educational institutions without any educational agreement or public financial support. 

Professional status

According to the Basic Statute of Public Workers' Rights, civil servants are classified as follows: 

• civil servants;
• interim civil servants;
• hired personnel, whether permanent, indefinite or temporary.

Professional status in public educational institutions

Civil servants

A civil servant is a public employee with the following specifics:

• they have an indefinite contractual relationship with the education authority;
• their working conditions are regulated by the specific regulations that apply to them, as well as by the basic legislation applicable to the civil servants of every public authority;
• the education authorities adopt the appropriate measures for assuring the coverage of civil responsibility derived from their professional exercise. 

Interim civil servants

Interim civil servants are those who, for expressly justified reasons of necessity and urgency, are appointed as such on a temporary basis to perform the duties of full career civil servants, when any of the following circumstances apply:

• existence of vacant positions, when it is not possible to be occupied by civil servants;
• temporary replacement of permanent civil servants, for the strictly necessary period of time;
• implementation of temporary programmes;
• excess or accumulation of tasks.

Hired teaching staff

Schools can hire this type of personnel exceptionally. Hired teaching staff:

• are paid by the public authorities through any modality of recruitment foreseen in the work legislation;
• the contract of employment can be fixed-term, indefinite or temporary;
• recruitment depends on the needs of the education system. 

This work category includes:

• religion teachers, according to article 1 of  Royal Decree 696/2007;
• specialist teaching staff for the teaching of vocational training, in accordance with the provisions of article 95.2 of Organic Law 2/2006 on Education (LOE) as amended by Organic Law 3/2020 (LOMLOE);
• specialist teaching staff for the teaching of artistic education in accordance with the provisions of articles 96.3 and 96.4 of  the LOE as amended by the LOMLOE;
• specialist teaching staff for the teaching of foreign languages, in accordance with the provisions of article 97.2 of the LOE as amended by the LOMLOE ;
• specialist teaching staff for the teaching of sports education in accordance with the provisions of article 98.2 of  the LOE as amended by the LOMLOE.

Professional status in private educational institutions

The teaching staff members of private schools are regarded as employees.

Working conditions

They are subject to the provisions of:

• the collective agreements of the sector;
• the stipulations in each employment contract.

Code of ethics for the teaching profession (2010)

The code of ethics for the teaching profession was passed by the General Council of the State Schools of Doctors and Bachelors in Philosophy, Literature and Sciences.

It contains the teachers' fundamental rights when exercising their functions with students, families and tutors, the educational institutions, colleagues, the profession itself and society.

Replacement measures

The temporary replacement of teachers is different depending on the ownership of the educational institution.

Replacement in public educational institutions

Law 4/2019, which regulates teaching performance and the teaching activity in the field of non-university education, establishes that the appointment of interim civil servants for temporary replacement of tenured teachers shall only take place when ten school days have elapsed since the permanent teacher has been on leave. Regional education authorities regulate the participation, composition, organisation and extension of the lists of candidates to exercise as temporary teachers, as well as their appointment and termination of employment.

Replacement in private educational institutions

Publicly-funded private schools

According to article 24 of the 7th Collective Bargaining Agreement for private education providers fully or partially supported by public funds, as amended by the Resolution of 30 May 2022:

• vacancies are filled by staff belonging to the same group, based on the criteria of ability, qualification, aptitude and seniority;
• in case there is no staff meeting these suitability requirements in view of the owner, they are filled in accordance with the legislation in force at any given time;
• in the publicly-funded levels, the filling of vacancies is carried out in accordance with current educational legislation. In this case, it may be considered, as a priority factor, to be included in the relocation list of schools affected by the suppression of publicly-funded units.

Private schools

Article 16 of the 11th National Collective Bargaining Agreement for general regime private institutions or formal educational institutions without any educational agreement or public financial support, establishes that vacancies of teaching staff with higher functions should be filled, preferably and if possible, by lower-level staff of the same group, according to ability, qualifications and seniority in the institution.

In turn, part-time workers who have served in the company for three or more years, have preference to fill vacant full-time positions, or extend their working hours to the maximum established in their category if, in the opinion of the owner of the school, they are skilled, qualified and suitable to develop the job.

Publicly-funded private schools and private schools

In case of new hiring or vacancy occurrence, and as long as the permanent staff could not access this position, preference for access is given to:

• publicly-funded private schools: staff on temporary or part-time contracts and those recruited as temporary workers;
• private institutions: staff on temporary or part-time contracts, always taking into account the capacity, aptitude and qualifications of the worker, as well as the needs and organisational capacity of the.

Supporting measures for teachers

This section focuses on support measures for teachers in public schools.

The education authorities must ensure that the teaching staff enjoy the consideration, treatment and respect befitting the social importance of their task.

Social recognition and support measures for teachers differ according to the time elapsed since the teacher entered the civil service.

General supporting measures

The education authorities ensure the proper protection, legal assistance and liability coverage in connection with the professional activity.

The education authorities are also responsible for favouring the recognition of:

• tutorial activity, through personal or economic incentives;
• teachers' work, taking into account their involvement with the educational institution and the implementation of educational innovation plans: through economic and professional incentives;
• teachers who work in bilingual schools and teach their subject in a foreign language;
• the development of paid leave, with the purpose of promoting activities for training and educational research and innovation;
• the reduction of the teaching time for those teachers older than 55 who so require, or the partial substitution of teaching time for other kind of activities.

They are targeted at all the teachers, including trainee teachers.

Plans to assess public teaching function

The autonomous communities prepare these plans ensuring that the results are taken into account to improve teachers' working conditions.

These plans, which must be public, include:

• the assessment purposes and criteria;
• how teachers, the education community and the administration participate in the assessment process.

They are aimed at promoting teachers' evaluation on a voluntary basis.

Consideration as public authority and enactment of criminal sanctions for acts against education officials

Members of the management team and teachers are considered public authority, which implies:

• Tegarding the procedures for the adoption of corrective measures, the facts witnessed by teachers and members of the management team have probative value and enjoy rebuttable presumption of veracity "iuris tantum", unless proven otherwise, without prejudice to evidence produced by students themselves in defence of their rights or interests.
• Teachers in public educational institutions, by virtue of their status as public officials, may seek protection under the latest reform of the Criminal Code. The reform introduces changes in the areas of acts of resistance, disobedience and attacks against public authorities, their agents and public officials. This reform considers as an attack any attack, assault or resistance, with serious intimidation or violence, against the authority of education officials, in the course of or in connection with the performance of their duties. These attacks can be sanctioned with prison sentences ranging from 1 to 4 years and penalised with fines from 3 to 6 months if it is an attack against authority, and with prison sentences from 3 to 6 months in the rest of cases. A more severe penalty may be imposed in the event that:
  • weapons or other dangerous objects are used;
  • the act of violence is potentially dangerous to people’s lives or may cause serious injury. More specifically, the throwing of hard objects or flammable liquids and fire, among others;
  • a motor vehicle is used to attack the authority, agent or public official.

Salaries

Teachers' salaries are different depending on the ownership of the educational institution.

Salaries in public educational institutions

The salaries of career civil servants are classified as basic and supplementary, according to the Law on the Basic Statute of Public Workers' Rights.

• Basic salary: common for the entire State within each of the groups of civil servants (group A1 and A2).
  1. Basic amount: standard amount set at national level for every civil servant belonging to a specific professional classification group or subgroup in the entire country.
  2. Bonus for every 3-year period in service: amount established at national level for all civil servants belonging to a specific professional classification group or subgroup in the country.
  3. Extraordinary bonus: additional bonuses received in June and December. They consists of:
     • the monthly allowance of basic payment corresponding to the specific professional classification group or subgroup;
     • supplementary remuneration: the allowance applicable to the specific post and certain components of the specific additional remuneration.
• Additional payment:
  1. Additional remuneration attached to a post: Depending on the autonomous community and associated with the level to which the civil servant belongs.
     • Secondary education and official language school senior professor: level 26.
     • Teacher of secondary education, official languages school, plastic arts and design, and music and performing arts teacher: level 24.
     • Vocational training technician teacher: level 24.
     • Pre-primary and primary school teacher: level 21.
  2. Specific additional remuneration:
     • General component (based on the above-mentioned levels);
     • Individual component (based on the post):
       • Professional performance of single government bodies or singular teaching posts (school head, head of studies and secretary);
       • Exercise of education inspectorate posts;
       • Tutorial activity: this remuneration includes two components that vary in each autonomous community: a general component for every teacher depending on the teaching bodies and scales to which they belong, and a singular component related to the specific conditions of each position.
  3. Continuing professional development component: amount allocated for every five or six years in service. It varies by education authority.

Interim civil servants receive the basic remuneration and extra payments corresponding to their assigned body, as well as most of the additional remuneration earned by career civil servants. 

Minimum salary of career civil servant teachers established for the entire State

The General State Budget only influences the common salaries for all teachers in Spain. This remuneration includes the basic salary, the 3-year periods bonuses, the additional remuneration attached to the post, the extraordinary bonuses and the extraordinary bonus attached to the  3-year periods. (see Teachers' and school heads' salaries and allowances in Europe for more detailed information).

These are the monthly figures in euros provided for in the 2022 State Budget.

CONCEPT			GROUP A		GROUP B
			Subgroup A1		Subgroup A2
			Senior professors body (Level 26)	Teachers Body of Secondary Education, Official Languages School, Plastic Arts and Design, and Music and Performing Arts (Level 24)	Technic teachers body of Vocational Training (Level 24)	Senior professors body (Level 21)
BASIC PAYMENT
Salary			1288,31 €		1113,98 €
Bonus payments for three-year periods in service			49,59 €		40,44 €
Extra pays		Extra pay salary	795,00 €		812,45 €
		Extra pay bonus payments for three-year periods in service	30,61 €		29,98 €
ADDITIONAL PAYMENT
Additional remuneration attached to a post			811,08 €	677,15 €		549,88€
Specific additional remuneration	General Remuneration		Autonomous communities
	Singular Remuneration		Autonomous communities
			Autonomous communities
	Continuing professional development component

Source: Drawn up by Eurydice Spain-Spanish Network for Information on Education (INEE, MEFD) on the basis of State current regulations.

Teaching staff on a contract basis

It is established in line with national labour laws, the applicable group agreement and the employment contract.

Salaries in private educational institutions

The payment system is regulated by the different collective agreements and labour agreements.

Publicly-funded private schools

The minimum salary for the staff within the scope of these collective agreements is set in their salary tables and it is constituted by:

• base salary;
• bonus payments for three-year periods in service;
• bonus payments for six-year periods in service;
• Specific additional remuneration:
  • supplement by role, for those workers entrusted with a management category;
  • baccalaureate supplement for staff teaching at this educational stage;
• other supplements:
  • regional salary supplement;
  • temporary incapacity supplement;
  • residence allowance for those workers whose job is located in Ceuta, Melilla, or the Balearic and Canary Islands;
• two extraordinary payments, each equivalent to one month's salary, seniority and specific supplements

These payments are different depending on the autonomous community and they are paid by the corresponding education authority as delegated payment and on behalf of the owner of the institution.

Private schools

The payments for the staff within the scope of the collective agreement on private education without grant-aided or subsidised levels comprise:

• base salary;
• teaching productivity bonus, aimed at encouraging and compensating for the quality of teaching dedication and the constant updating of knowledge required by the job, which is perceived for eleven monthly payments;
• supplement for professional development and improvement (CPP), which they receive for the training and knowledge acquired in each period of five years, having to prove a minimum of 100 hours of training during that period of time;
• dedication supplement, to be paid in full to teachers with a working day of 60% or more; teachers with a working day of less than 60% receive it in proportion to their working day;
• temporary supplement to governing bodies, to be received by teachers who hold the post of School Head, Deputy School Head, Head of Studies, and Head of Department;
• insularity bonus, for those workers whose jobs are based in Ceuta, Melilla, or the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands;
• supplement for the completion of the Baccalaureate, equivalent to 14% of the basic salary, received by teachers serving in the last year of the Baccalaureate;
• three extraordinary payments, each equivalent to one month's basic salary, professional development supplement, baccalaureate completion supplement and government temporary supplement, when applicable.

Working time and holidays

Both the working time and holidays are different depending on the Autonomous Community and the ownership of the educational institution.

Working time

Working time in public educational institutions

Weekly working time

In general, it is 37.5 hours per week, of which:

Number of hours	Pre-primary education		Primary education		Secondary Education
	Per week	Per year	Per week	Per year	Per week	Per year
Teaching time1	25	875	252	875	202	700
Hours to be spent at school 3	30	1140	30	1140	30	1140
Global working day3	37.5	1425	37.5	1425	37.5	1425

¹  The estimate of teaching time is calculated with the minimum number of school days as set in the LOMLOE, 175 school days, although in the calendars established by the education authorities this number might be increased

² The maximum teaching hours have been modified by Law 4/2019, on the improvement of the conditions for the performance of teaching and teaching in the field of non-university education.

³ The hours to be spent at school and the global working day are estimated taking into account the 190 days between September 1st and June 30th, without including Christmas, Easter and bank holidays.

Source: Drawn up by Eurydice Spain-Spanish Network for Information on Education (INEE, MEFD) on the basis of State current regulations.