Education in Spain, 1970‐80: the years of compulsory schooling

Abstract

Until the provisions of the 1970 General Education Act came into force, the education system of Spain had changed little in structure since the first Education Act, the 1857 Ley Moyano. Schooling was provided for children from the ages of six to fourteen: at the age of ten the abler children were channelled into the first stage of academic secondary education, the Bachillerato Elemental, a four year course, while the remainder continued in the lower prestige primary school. That is to say the system provided an academic education for a small proportion of the population which would go on, through the University, to occupy posts in government and the professions, while for the majority it provided a minimal basic education suitable for those going into the lower levels of employment. In that it was elitist, hierarchically organised, and monolithic, it was seen as inadequate for a society becoming in the 1960s more industrialised and more democratic. The case for change was based on arguments in favour of a system which should be more just, more democratic, and more responsive to the needs of society, and one which, incorporating modem ideas about education, should provide greater variety of content within a coherently planned set of institutions.