Article 148 of Organic Law 2/2006 on Education (LOE), as amended by Organic Law 3/2020 (LOMLOE), defines that, at non-university education levels, the mechanisms for control and administrative inspection fall within the responsibility of the respective Inspection Services of the autonomous communities. These duties are carried out by the Body of Education Inspectors.

Although their general responsibilities are defined at State level, the autonomous communities are the ones in charge of establishing their specific duties.

According to Article 151 of the LOE, as amended by the LOMLOE, education inspectors are entrusted with the following tasks:

• 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; supervise teaching practice, the management function and collaborate in its continuous improvement;
• participate in the evaluation of the education system and all its elements;
• ensure that the institutions comply with the laws, regulations and other provisions in force, and that the principles and values set out in the LOE, as amended by the LOMLOE, are observed and applied, including those aimed at fostering real equality between men and women;
• advise, guide and inform the educational community about their rights and duties;
• issue the reports requested by the respective educational authorities or which are derived from the knowledge of the reality of education inspection;
• 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.

In order to carry out these duties properly, Education Inspectors must have direct knowledge of the activities carried out at educational institutions, to which they have free access; assess and check the academic and administrative documentation thereof, and receive from the various members of the educational community the necessary collaboration to carry out their tasks.

Requirements for appointment

Education Inspectors are civil servant teachers, which means that their initial training is similar to that of the rest of civil servant teachers. The requirements for access to the Body of Inspectors are defined in the Tenth Additional Provision of the LOE, as amended by the LOMLOE.  

Candidates take a competitive examination in order to access the Body of Inspectors of the autonomous communities. Likewise, there is a practical period which is part of the selection process.

Furthermore, candidates must meet the following specific requirements to take part in the publicly announced competitive recruitment:

• belong to one of the bodies that make up the public teaching service with at least eight years' experience in these bodies;
• hold a PhD, a University Master's Degree, a Bachelor's Degree, or an Engineering, Architecture or equivalent qualification;
• go through the corresponding selection process;
• prove knowledge of the co-official language of the autonomous community of destination, in accordance with its regulations.

The selection process is regulated by articles 43-48 of Royal Decree 276/2007 and consists of three phases:

• the competitive examination phase will consist of a test to assess the knowledge in teaching, administration and educational legislation appropriate to the inspection role to be performed by the applicants, as well as the specific knowledge and skills required to undertake this responsibility. It consists of three parts:
  • written development of a relevant topic
  • oral presentation about a topic
  • analysis of a case study regarding appropriate techniques for education inspection activities
• the merit assessment phase, where the candidate's professional career and merits are evaluated. The final mark of this phase is only applicable if the candidate has passed this initial stage.
• a traineeship period lasting between three months to one school year, the organisation of which is the responsibility of the corresponding Education Authority The applicants who have passed the previous stages will go on to this phase. The evaluation of the internship must ensure that applicants are adequately prepared to carry out their duties. Successful trainees and those who have been exempted are appointed by the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports (MEFD) as career civil servants of the Education Inspectorate.

Once they are appointed, they are obliged to take part in the competitions for the provision of inspector positions that are announced, until they achieve a fixed post in their Autonomous Community.

The Education Authorities may reserve up to a third of the posts that are announced for those teachers meeting the above mentioned general requirements and, who have also held the post of school head for at least three terms of office with a positive evaluation. In this case, the access to the Body of Education Inspectors is done through a merits competition.

Conditions of service

Since education inspectors are career civil servants, they have an indefinite contractual relationship with the education administration and their working conditions are equivalent to those of other civil servants, with an additional specific allowance depending on the position held within the education inspectorate. 

Primary education teachers (group A2 and level 21) that access the Body of Inspectors are upgraded to a higher professional group and level (A1 and level 26). Teachers of secondary education (A1 and level 24) remain in the same professional group and access a higher professional level (level 26).

The education authorities in each autonomous community are responsible for the following tasks:

• regulate the organisation and functioning of the Education Inspection Service;
• assign the fields of action for inspectors according to criteria related to their previous training and  experience;
• value the merits of the participants in competitions for the provision of work posts;
• hold these competitions periodically in which civil servant inspectors may voluntarily participate, no matter which Education Authority they may depend on.

Articles 21-24 of the Basic Statute of Public Workers, establishes the salary of public employees, including education inspectors. It consists of the following:

• basic remuneration regulated in the General State Budget. These are common to all teachers in Spain and include a salary, a three-year period complement and extraordinary additional payments;
• complementary remuneration regulated by the autonomous communities. These complements include the destination complement, a six-year period/level complement and specific complements. In addition to a ‘general component’ and a ‘singular component’, Inspectors receive a Specific Complement, included in both their ordinary monthly payments and in those additional payments of June and December. The State establishes the minimum amount of these components and the education authorities of the Autonomous Communities set their own amount. As a result, the amounts established at State level are generally increased.

Complementary minimum retributions for Inspectors in education

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

The working hours for education inspectors in most of the autonomous communities are 37,5 hours per week. These work hours are carried out from Monday to Friday, depending on the timetables of the assigned institutions. Education Inspectors’ timetables are organised in such a way that they are able to carry out their duties. When Inspectors have to work away from their headquarters, the time spent in travelling is included within their working hours.

Article 25 of the Order of 29 February 1996 determines that, in order to assess the results of the duties entrusted to Education Inspectors, the Education Authority establishes an evaluation plan for the Education Inspection Service. The purpose of the evaluation plan is to assess the results of the implementation of the duties entrusted to the inspection service, particularly the priority actions established in the Action Plans for each academic year. This Order is applicable in the territorial area of management of the Ministry of Education. The different autonomous communities have developed their own regulations, which also include evaluation plans and action plans.

In turn, there are transfer competitions for the provision of vacant posts among civil servants belonging to the Body of Inspectors.

Order EFP/834/2022 establishing the procedural rules applicable to state-wide transfer competitions, called during the academic year 2022/2023, for civil servant teaching staff, establishes that, Every two years, the Education Authorities publicly announce State competitions for the provision of vacant posts within their territorial areas and also to guarantee the chance for their civil servant teachers to take part in the competitions providing posts under the management of other educational authorities. 

These competitions are open to all civil servants, regardless of the educational administration to which they belong or through which they have been admitted, provided that they meet the requirements established by the corresponding call.

In school years in which no State competitions are held, the Education Authorities may develop procedures for the provision of vacant posts within their territories.

These public announcements include at least, the types of posts, the necessary requirements to undertake each position and the scale of merits. In all cases, the allocation of vacancies is carried out taking into account the score that the candidates obtain once the scale has been applied. However, at any time the Education Authorities may carry out processes for the redistribution or repositioning of inspectors.

The improvement and updating of the professional practice is a right and a duty for all Education Inspectors, as it allows for a better exercise of their functions.
It is up to the Education Administrations to set up the necessary training plans, always linked to the exercise of the inspection tasks:

• postgraduate courses;
• study leaves;
• individual or group training projects proposed by the persons concerned

Article 24 of the Order of 29 February 1996 stipulates that further training and updating of education inspectors is a right and a duty.

In order to carry out some training projects, the Education Authority may establish collaborative agreements with other institutions, such as universities. However, inspectors, as in the case of any other career civil servant teacher, have access to continuous development programmes that are generally offered by all Education Authorities.

The dismissal of inspectors, as in the case of any of the rest of civil servant teachers, takes place whenever a serious offence has been committed, there is a loss of Spanish nationality or the fact of being banned from exercising any kind of professional activity. The management of such processes corresponds to a commission of administrative infractions and is dealt with through a common process for all public civil servants according to Article 96 of the Law on the Basic Statute of Public Workers.

Retirement conditions are the same as those corresponding to other civil servant teachers. The compulsory age for civil servant teachers to retire is 65 years of age. The amount of each pension varies depending on the years served.