[3][4] The Spanish Constitution of 1978 establishes that the national government as well as the autonomous communities have competences in the Education.

[5] The national government has the power to decide the academic and professional certificates and the requirements for their acquisition.

The first cycle is often held in daycare centers or preschools, escuela infantil colloquially guardería, and most of the time it is not free for pupils, although some city councils offer scholarships for their public preschool centers with limited places.

The second cycle is free for all pupils enrolled in public schools that offer Educación Infantil (early childhood education), and is often held in Centro de Educación Infantil y Primaria, colloquially Colegio.

The documents required for public registration include proof of residence, passport or residence card, or child's birth certificate, and, in some areas, proof of the child's vaccinations and a medical certificate of health.

Once students have finished Bachillerato, they can take their University Entrance Exam, Pruebas de Acceso a la Universidad (PAU), popularly called Selectividad.

All non-university state education is free in Spain, but parents have to buy (or make a contribution towards) their children's books and materials.

(Subsidies, loans or second hand book sales are offered by Spain's Autonomous Regions (Comunidades), in some schools and by some local councils.)

[16] In some regions, the autonomous government is giving tokens to exchange them in bookshops for free.

The main admissions procedures for pupils wishing to join a school in the autumn are carried out in the spring of the year in question.

Primaria public schools (6–12 years old) are called centro de educación infantil y primaria (CEIP), colloquially colegio or cole, and secundaria public schools (12–16 years old) are called instituto de enseñanza secundaria (IES), colloquially instituto.

[18] Broadly similar to the British three-term system, but with slightly shorter holidays at Christmas (22 December – 7 January) and Easter (one week - 40 days after Ash Wednesday), and longer in the summer (normally from 23 June to 15 September).

Aranese (Aranés) is official in a small area of Catalonia and primary education is offered in this language.

[21] In addition, Navarre offers the G model, with education entirely in Spanish, without a Basque language subject option.

A law passed in 1983, "Llei de Normalització Lingüística", defined the language immersion system of Catalonia.

They allege that schools are used as indoctrination centres and that this imposes barriers which worsens academic performance.

In Galicia, Galician is used as tuition language in 50% of classes, except in preschool education which uses the majority mother tongue.

[32] However, whilst legally schools can choose to use Aragonese as the language of instruction, as of the 2013–2014 academic year, there are no recorded instances of this option being taken in primary or secondary education.

[32] The protection of Aranese, a dialect of Occitan, is guaranteed in Article 3.4 of Catalonia's 1979 Statute of Autonomy.

Aranese is taught on all levels of compulsory education and has been the medium of instruction in the Aran Valley since 1984.

[35] In 1977 the International Baccalaureate authorized the first school in Spain to teach the Diploma Programme.