This chapter provides a thematic and chronological overview of the main national reforms and policy developments since 2020.

The introduction to the chapter describes the general educational strategy and key objectives throughout the education system. Likewise, it analyses how the educational reform process is organized and who the main actors in the decision-making process are.

The information it contains corresponds to non-university and university education, lifelong learning, and continuing professional development and employability.

Within each article of this chapter 14, the reforms are organized chronologically. The most recent reforms are described first.

Finally, the section on the European perspective provides links to European strategies in which education and training play a prominent role.

Overall national education strategy and key objectives

During the last 15 years, in coherence with the objectives set at the European level, attention has been paid to reducing early dropouts from education and training, to the full implementation of school autonomy, to the quality of education and to student competencies. This way, social inequalities have been addressed and the right to study and equal opportunities to education and training for all have been guaranteed.

The most recent reform of the education and training system has been carried out through Education Law 3/2020 (LOMLOE), which modifies Law 2/2006 on Education (LOE). This law is based on the search for quality and excellence in the education system and is based on 5 basic pillars:

• the rights of the child, as established in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), recognizing the best interests of children, their right to education and the obligation of the State to ensure the effective fulfilment of their rights;
• gender equality through coeducation. This law promotes, at all levels, effective equality between men and women, the prevention of gender violence and respect for affective-sexual diversity;
• the improvement of the results of all students with greater personalization of the learning process;
• the importance of addressing sustainable development as established in the 2030 Agenda;
• the development of the digital competence of students of all levels.

In Spain, the reform process in the field of education and training is developed in three main scenarios:

At a European level: the main guidelines and educational strategies that all the Member States of the European Union (EU) must follow are established. The Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2021 highlights the importance of member States taking measures to ensure equal opportunities, inclusive education, fair working conditions and adequate social protection. In said matter, the European Economic and Social Committee’s judgement about sustainable development for 2022 recommended the following:

• strengthen the efforts to ameliorate the learning results in every education and training system, and the access to permanent learning must be guaranteed;
• new investing to follow the transaction of the work market, for the digital transition and the education and training, among others, to reach the objectives of the agenda of the European Green Deal;
• increase productivity by reinforcing the people’s qualifications, intensifying education and training.

At a national level: the National Programmes of Reforms annually define medium-term national objectives as well as the economic policy measures to achieve.

• The NPR 2020 included the measures adopted to face the health, economic and social crisis due to COVID-19 outbreak. With the goal to further ensure the right to education and food for children in vulnerable situations, meal grants were increased, and measures to support education were put in place through digital tools. 
• The NPR 2021 includes the reforms and investments provided for in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, which has been developed in order to alleviate the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. These reforms are aligned with the specific recommendations of the European Union in the context of the 2021 European Semester

At a regional or autonomous level: territorial cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MEFP) and the Councils and Departments of Education of the Autonomous Communities is carried out through theEducation Sector Conference, constituted by the top officials of said administrations.

The design and the development and implementation of reforms depend on the education authority promoting them (and both administrative levels, national and regional, may be involved).

Overview of the education reform process and drivers

The reforms of the education system follow the same procedure as the rest of the national legislation established by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in the second chapter on Law-making Process of title III: General Courts, articles 81 to 92. The legislative initiative corresponds to the Government, the Congress and the Senate in accordance with the Constitution and the Rules of the Houses.

The draft laws are approved by the Council of Ministers and subsequently submitted to Congress, accompanied by a statement of reasons and the necessary background information to rule on them. Once a draft law is approved by the Congress of Deputies, its president immediately reports it to the president of the Senate, who submits it to the latter for deliberation. The Senate can veto or introduce amendments to it. Finally, the King sanctions the laws approved by the Cortes Generales within fifteen days, enacts them and orders their immediate publication.

In case of extraordinary and urgent need, the Government may issue provisional legislative provisions that take the form of Royal Decree-Laws. The MEFP is in charge of the normative development and implementation of the laws of education through the issuance of Royal Decrees and Ministerial Orders.

The next step of legislative concretion is carried out in the scope of the Autonomous Communities. In their area of competence, and based on education laws and royal ministerial decrees, the autonomous communities legislate their own decrees and orders.