These are defined as the references that indicate the level of student performance in the learning situations or activities to which the specific competences of each area, field or subject refer at a given moment in the learning process.

Basic education includes ten years of schooling between the ages of six and sixteen. However, students will have the right to remain studying basic education until they reach the age of eighteen, in the year in which the course ends. 

Primary Education, Compulsory Secondary Education and Basic Training Cycles constitute the basic education.

Knowledge, skills and attitudes that constitute the contents of an area or field and whose learning is necessary for the acquisition of specific competences.

Certificate officially accrediting vocational competences, that is, the set of knowledge and skills that enables to pursue a professional activity in accordance with production and employment requirements.  These competences refer to ‘competence units’ of vocational qualifications from the National Catalogue of Vocational Qualifications, so each ‘certificate of professional experience’ can comprise one or more of these units.

The minimum element of a vocational competence that can be partially recognised and accredited.

Selective process for entry into public employment as civil servants that integrates a competitive examination phase (theoretical and practical examinations by which applicants demonstrate the specific knowledge necessary for the teaching speciality they are applying for, as well as their pedagogical aptitude) and a merit-based competition, where the academic merits, training and previous experience of the applicants are assessed and scored.

Process by which career civil servant teachers change their job destination. Every two years, a state-wide transfer competitive process is held in which civil servant teachers can change their work destination from one autonomous community to another. In the intervening years, the communities can hold regional transfer processes. 

In these competitive relocation processes, seniority, membership in the body of senior teachers, academic merits, training and improvement courses and other merits such as publications or regional, national or international awards are valued.

Assessment that schools carry out for their pupils in the fourth year of Primary Education and in the second year of Compulsory Secondary Education. The purpose is to provide a diagnosis and to check, at least, the mastery degree of linguistic communication and mathematical competence. Schools will take the results of these assessments into account in their improvement plans. The National Institute for Educational Evaluation and the corresponding bodies in the education administrations collaborate in the implementation of a common assessment framework.

The Public Administration distributes authority over education between:

• the General State Administration (Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports);
• the autonomous communities (Ministries or Departments of Education);  in the cities of Ceuta and Melilla, it is assumed by the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports;
• local administrations, whose functions focus on educational management through the Departments of Education or the Municipal Institutes of Education;
• Educational centres also participate through the autonomy they have both in pedagogy and with regard to the economic management of resources.

In this model, the educational powers exercised by the autonomous communities are basically the same as those exercised by the State. Educational administration is the term used to refer to the bodies in charge of education in the autonomous communities

Civil servants from the Educational Inspection Service supervise, evaluate and control, from a pedagogical and organisational point of view, the functioning of educational institutions, as well as the projects and programmes they may develop. Among other functions, they also supervise the teaching practice and the managerial function, and cooperate in their constant improvement.

Students' Exit Profile at the end of basic education is the tool that identifies and defines, in connection with the challenges of the 21st century, the key competences that students are expected to have developed on completing this stage within their educational itinerary. The Exit Profile is unique and the same one for the whole national territory. The baseline reference for defining the competences included in the Exit Profile is the European Union Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on key competences for lifelong learning.

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. They are carried out by the National Institute for Educational Evaluation, in collaboration with the education authorities. They deal with the competences established in the curriculum and are carried out in Primary and Secondary education.

Document incorporated into the school's Educational Project, in which, based on the analysis of the different assessment processes of the pupils and the school itself, the strategies and actions necessary to improve educational results and the procedures for coordination and relations with families and the environment are proposed.

It is carried out on all elements and aspects of the education system, in order to ensure compliance with the law, guarantee the rights and observe the duties of all those involved in the teaching and learning process, improve the education system and ensure the quality and equity of education. The relevant public administrations are responsible for organising, regulating and carrying out this educational inspection within their respective territorial scope.

Skills that are considered essential for students to be able to progress with guaranteed success in their educational itinerary, and to face the main global and local challenges.

They are the adaptation to the Spanish education system of the key competences established in the European Union Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 on key competences for lifelong learning.

This adaptation aims to link the competences to the 21st century challenges and to the principles and purposes of the Spanish education system according to LOE 2/2006 as amended by LOMLOE 3/2020. They are also adapted to the school context, as the key competences included in the recommendation refer to lifelong learning throughout life, not to the basic education stage.

The key competences that are listed in the pupils' exit profile at the end of compulsory education are:

• Literacy competence;
• Multilingual competence;
• Mathematical competence and competence in science, technology and engineering;
• Digital competence;
• Personal, social and learning to learn competence;
• Citizenship competence;
• Entrepreneurship competence;
• Cultural awareness and expression competence.

The key competences have a cross-cutting nature and the acquisition of each of them contributes to the acquisition of the others.

Situations and activities in which students perform actions related to key competences and specific competences. Learning situations help students learn and develop them.

They constitute, together with the stage objectives, the reference framework for determining the specific competences in each area, field or subject.

For each of the key competences, a set of operational descriptors has been defined. They are included in the Exit Profile. The link between operational descriptors and specific competences allows for the assessment of the degree of acquisition of the key competences based on the assessment of those specific competences.

Since the key competences are acquired in a sequential and progressive manner, the Exit Profile also includes operational descriptors that provide guidance on the expected performance upon completion of Primary Education.

School document included in its educational project in which schools develop and complete, where appropriate, the curriculum established by the educational Administrations.

Private schools offering free education under a system based on educational agreements. Private schools providing services to populations with unfavourable economic conditions, those carrying out experiments of pedagogical interest for the education system, those favouring local schooling and those constituted and operating under a cooperative system, shall have priority in order to benefit from the system of educational agreements.

Students who, because they come from other countries or due to any other reason, are incorporated late in the Spanish education system. This incorporation will be guaranteed, under all circumstances, within compulsory school attendance age ranges.

In public schools, it is made up of the head of the institution, who acts as President, the head of studies, a councillor or representative of the Town Council, a number of teacher representatives who may not be less than one third of the total number of members of the Council, a number of parents or guardians and pupils who may not be less than one third of the total number of members of the Council, a representative of the administration and services staff of the institution and the secretary of the institution, who will act as secretary of the Council, with the right to speak but not to vote.

It lists the values, goals and priorities for action of an educational institution within the framework of the characteristics of the social, economic, natural and cultural environment of the school's pupils, as well as the relations with educational, social, economic and cultural actors in the surrounding area. It includes the specification of the curricula established by the corresponding educational administration and promotes and develops the institution's own principles, objectives and methodology. It also covers, among other plans, the school's digital strategy, the approach adopted to respond to student diversity, measures for tutorial action, the coexistence and reading plans, and the improvement plan.

The Sectoral Committee for Education  is a meeting and deliberation body whose main purpose is to achieve maximum coherence and integration in terms of the application of the decisions that the State Administration and the Autonomous Communities make in the field of education policy, within the scope of their respective competences, through the exchange of points of view and the joint examination of the problems that may arise and the actions planned to address and resolve them. It is constituted by the Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, who will chair it, and by the Regional Counsellor or Counsellors with competence in the matter in each Autonomous Community. The Director General for Territorial Cooperation and State Education Inspectorate acts as Secretary, with the right to speak but not to vote.

Body of teachers belonging to the civil service with the highest academic rank. ‘Senior teachers’ in non-university education can be: ‘Senior teachers’ of secondary education; ‘Senior teachers’ of  Music and Performing Arts; ‘Senior teachers’ of Language Education; and ‘Senior teachers’ of Plastic Arts and Design. They are doctors or graduates with at least eight years seniority in the corresponding teaching body as public official and have passed a selection process. University ‘Senior professors’ comprise Senior lecturers, Permanent professors or doctors who are not part of those bodies but have at least eight years seniority and a positive teaching and research report.

Pupils who face barriers that limit their access, presence, participation or learning in education, due to a disability or serious behavioural, communication or language disorders for a certain period or throughout their entire time attending school. They require certain support and specific educational attention in order to achieve the learning objectives according to their development.

It includes Artistic Education, Language Education and Sports Education. Artistic Education includes Music, Dance, Drama, Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage, and Plastic Arts and Design.

Performance levels that pupils must be able to display in learning situations. Their approach requires basic knowledge of each area, field or subject. They are a connecting element between the exit profile, the basic knowledge and the assessment criteria.

Achievements that students are expected to have attained by the end of an educational stage. The achievement of these objectives is linked to the acquisition of the key competences.

It guarantees the fulfilment of the powers assigned to it in matters of education in the Autonomous Communities, the observance of any constitutional principles and rules currently applicable and other basic rules that develop Article 27 of the Constitution. Its functions include compliance with the requirements for the general organisation of the education system, inclusion of the basic aspects of the curriculum, compliance with the conditions for obtaining qualifications and compliance with the basic conditions that guarantee equality in education

It is the body in which teachers participate in the school's governance and is responsible for planning, coordinating, informing and making decisions on all educational aspects of the school. It is chaired by the school head and it is made up of all the teachers of the school.

Vocational qualifications obtained after successful completion of vocational training and some types of ‘specialised education’ (professional Plastic Arts and Design studies and Sports education). Although their main objective is to qualify for the labour market, the holders of these qualifications can also pursue other studies.

Set of studies, modular and of varying duration, into which vocational training and some types of ‘specialised education’ (Plastic Arts and Design and Sports education) are organised.

Minimum unit of content that can be accredited in vocational training.  Its successful completion leads to the award of vocational training qualifications and ‘certificates of professional experience‘.