OVERVIEW

In Spain, history is part of a compulsory multidisciplinary course throughout primary education, throughout lower secondary education, and for two years during basic professional education. In upper secondary education, one elective standalone history course is offered during the first year, while another standalone history course is compulsory for all students during the second, final year. There are no end-of-stage exams for history courses in Spain.

The history curriculum is organised thematically. It is developed by the state as well as the education authorities of the autonomous communities. Education authorities report that both civil society organisations and minority groups participate in this process. All private and semi-private schools follow the same history curricula as public schools, with additional languages other than Spanish used as languages of instruction in the various autonomous communities.

Assessment methods include oral presentations/exams, knowledge-based questions, source-based questions and multiple-choice questions. Schools select resources to use in their teaching, with the education authorities of the respective autonomous communities being responsible for the supervision of textbooks and other curricular materials. All history teachers must hold a bachelor’s degree or equivalent qualification: for the primary level, this must be a primary education teacher’s degree; for the secondary level, candidates must undergo additional postgraduate pedagogical training. In-service professional development programmes are optional.



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FURTHER INSIGHTS


The information in the sections above is an excerpt of the thematic and general data presented in the following OHTE publications:

 2022: Pandemics and natural disasters as reflected in history teaching​

 2023: OHTE General Report on the State of History Teaching in Europe