General Principles
Pupils at this stage are expected to acquire a higher level of knowledge and skills as well as human and intellectual maturity that allow them to advance in their personal development and to integrate into active adult life and/or enrol into postsecondary education.
The upper secondary education, known in Spain as “Bachillerato”, (roughly equivalent to the Sixth form in Britain or years 11 / 12 in the USA), is one of the post-obligatory study options and it consists of two academic courses. It is divided into different tracks so that the pupils can receive specific training according to their own interests and prospects.
To complete these two courses, pupils have a maximum of four years, either consecutively or not.
The two years of Bachillerato (upper secondary) consist of common subjects, track-specific subjects and optional subjects. Whatever the track chosen, the upper secondary is divided in two school years. The first year consists of 9 subjects:
For the school to offer specific subjects, it is necessary that at least 10 pupils apply for it. Optional subjects in upper secondary contribute to complete the pupils’ training with a non-obligatory subject connected to the chosen track or to a wider scope of learning.
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The regulations establish precedence between first year and second year subjects, if knowledge of contents from a subject taught in the first year is necessary to study a subject from the second year. This precedence is as follows:
Students may choose a subject from the second year without having passed the related first year subject if they also register for that first year subject. Exceptionally, the student might not need to pass the related first year subject if, before the course begins, he demonstrates having the necessary knowledge to properly follow the second year subject. |
Pupil assessment will be continuous and different for every subject from the syllabus. At the end of the school year, the teacher of each subject will decide if a pupil has fulfilled the aims of the subject, following the assessment criteria. In the month of September, pupils who have failed one or more subjects at the end of the school year will have another opportunity to re-sit the exams. At the end of the first year, the assessment board will decide if the pupil is prepared to go on to the second year, having into account that only pupils who have passed all first year subjects or those with a maximum of 2 failed subjects will go on to the next year. Students with 1 or 2 failed subjects must follow the remedial activities and exams organized by the school for those subjects. |
Those pupils who fail more than two subjects from the First Year, cannot go on to the Second Year. They must remain in the First Year and repeat the whole of it. Those pupils who fail some subjects at the end of the Second Year will have to repeat only those failed subjects, and won’t have to retake the rest of the subjects. |
The High School Diploma is issued to pupils who have completed all the subjects included in the two years of high school. |
Religion as a subject will be taught in the FIRST YEAR and will follow the regulations given in the Royal Decree 1467/2007, published 2 November 2007. Marks obtained in this subject will not be taken into account for the calculation of the average mark for Access to University. |
The new University Access Examination will be divided in two parts. In the first part, pupils will sit for common subject exams (Spanish Language and Literature, Foreign Language, History or History of Philosophy) plus one specific subject from the track studied by the pupil (Arts, Science and Technology or Humanities and Social Sciences). The exams will be graded 0 to 10; and the minimum average to gain access to University is 5. The second part of the Examination is conceived for those pupils who want to compete for a degree in high demand. To this end, they will have the option to improve their marks by sitting for a multiple choice test of other track-specific subjects not included in the first part of the examination. These other subjects must be related to the career the pupils want to pursue, and it is not necessary for the students to have studied them in their high school option. These subjects will be determined by universities at the beginning of the scholar year. It consists of four exams:
The pupil will have the option to sit for any number of track- specific subjects of his/her choice (not included in the General Stage) in order to improve his/her university access mark. Only the two best marks obtained will be taken into account. A pupil is considered to have passed the Access Examination if 1. He/she obtains at least a 4 (in 10) in the general stage and 2. the result of multiplying the Upper Secondary Average (USA) by 0.6 plus the General Stage Average (GSA) by 0.4 and the result equals or is higher than 5. M1, M2: are the two best marks obtained at the Specific Stage exams and, a and b : are the weighting coefficients applied to the specific stage subjects. Their value is 0.1, but some universities may raise them up to 0.2 for those subjects they consider more suitable to successfully follow a given course of study. |
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This is a new option for students completing the Compulsory Secondary Education that allows them to choose from a wider range of possibilities within the artistic field, now limited to the Plastic arts, image and design line taught at high schools and art schools.
