EXAMINATION AND CERTIFICATION SYSTEM AT THE END OF THE UPPER SECONDARY GENERAL EDUCATION IN SPAIN

INTRODUCTION

A brief description of Upper Secondary General Education should be made so that the University entrance system can be easily understood.

The Spanish education system is nowadays undergoing a process of reform. In such a way that, at present, two systems co-exist in Upper Secondary Education: the schooling established by the Ley 14/1970, of 4th August 1970, General de Educación y Financiamiento de la Reforma Educativa (LGE), and that of the Ley Orgánica 1/1990, of 3rd October, de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo (LOGSE), which will be fully implemented in the school year 2001-2002. Therefore, the system established by the LGE will be described first, and then the one regulated by the LOGSE.

According to the LGE, Upper Secondary Education is made up, in its general branch, by the Bachillerato Unificado y Polivalente (BUP), followed by the Curso de Orientación Universitaria (COU).

BUP is structured in three academic years and aimed at students from 14 to 17 years of age. There are compulsory and optional subjects as well as technical and vocational learning in the curriculum. In the third year, students may choose from two options, one leading to Humanities or Social Sciences studies and another one leading to Scientific studies. If they pass all the subjects they are awarded the Bachiller diploma.

Once students have earned the above mentioned diploma, they have access to COU, which is a one-year course where they are offered four optional areas of learning: Scientific and Technological, Biology and Health, Social Sciences, and Humanities-Linguistics. All four areas have three commom compulsory subjects, two other compulsory subjects for each option, four optional subjects from which the student must choose two and two voluntary subjects. Choosing one area of learning or another entails a certain degree of preference for enrolling in related University disciplines. Nonetheless, such options are not necessarily requisite, since, provided there is sufficient number of places, students are free to pursue studies in the discipline of their choice. No specific diploma is earned after successfully finishing COU, but students wishing to take the University entrance examination must have passed it.

In accordance with the LOGSE, post compulsory secondary education, in its general branch, is made up by the Bachillerato, which is a two-year course aimed at students between 16 and 18 years of age. Students must choose from four different kinds of Bachillerato: Art, Humanities and Social Sciences, Natural and Health Sciences, and Technology. There are compulsory subjects commom to all of them, others which are compulsory for each of the four kinds and, finally, optional subjects. Students who pass all the subjects earn the Bachiller diploma.

Until the implementation process of the new system is completed by the school year 2001-02 there are also two different types of University entrance examinations, those corresponding to either the LGE or to the LOGSE. They are similar in their conception and organization, therefore, from now on, the information offered applies to both types, except in what concers the actual description of the examinations, which will be specified.