English Education

Education in Spain is mandatory for children between 6 and 16 years old; however, most of the children start their education at 3 years old. Spanish Education is divided into 4 cycles: preschool (0-3 and 3-6 years); primary education (6-12 years); secondary education (12-16 years) and college preparation (16-18 years). In public and private schools, children start English classes from three years old like optional class. However, it´s a mandatory class from six and older years old (Luján García).

In recent years, public and private schools have received the bilingual school certificate to teach different subjects in English. That sounds wonderful for children to learn more English and increase their knowledge of the language in the country. However, according to Kitson, “The sector has grown so quickly there are not enough trained professionals to meet the demand”. Her point is that many families want their children to go to bilingual schools to be socially prestigious and there are more children than teachers. For this reason, some teachers don´t have the right level of English and cannot teach the class´ knowledge correctly. Therefore, sometimes, if the English level is not adequate, it's better not to take bilingual classes.