Question 1: What country did you select and why?

I selected Spain as my country to research. I did this because my family is from Spain. I would
love to learn more about the country my family is from while also learning more about education
around the world to help broaden my worldview, and make myself a more well-rounded person.
Question 2: What are the PISA scores for your country? Is your country's PISA similar to
previous years?
(Ensure you select a country with PISA score as not all countries have them).
In 2018 Spain’s 15-year-olds scored an average of 481 on mathematics, and 483 in science.
Spain did not have a 2018 score for reading or a score for equity. Spain’s reading scores were
broken into sub-regional data because some of the data showed implausible student-response
behavior, and at the time of the report, the data could not be assured.
While Spain’s mathematics score did technically go down by 5 points from 2015 to 2018, it has
had a plateaued trend, varying from 480 to 486 throughout the 6 times the PISA test was
administered between 2003 and 2018.
This is not the case however with Span’s science scores. They have had an inversed parabola
trend, starting at 488 in 2006, peaking at 496 in 2012, and coming back down to 483 in 2018.
Question 3: What is your countries' culture like in terms of education? Do they value
education? Why or why not?
Education in Spain is compulsory through 10th grade in secondary education Upper Stage. From
there it splits for students. They can get a diploma of Compulsory secondary education,
vocational training-basic level diploma, or move on toward more higher-level studies in general
education, vocational training, or music and dance professional studies. This results in a General
upper secondary Diploma, a vocational training-intermediate level diploma, or a professional
diploma/language certificate at the completion of 12th grade. This means from age 6 to 15
education is compulsory. There are about 1054 hours spent in school per year for lower
secondary students in Spain.
Students in Spain on average felt more satisfied with their lives and schooling than in other
PISA-participating school systems.  However, students did report that the disciplinary climate
was far from ideal.
In 2017, Spain had one of the smallest percentages of capital expenditure spent on primary
education (3%). There is more spending per student in private schools versus public ones, and
more spending in upper secondary vocational programmes than upper secondary general ones.
Question 4: What is their economy like? Are they doing well? Are they poor? What is the
impact on the education system?
The Spain economy appears to be okay. The employment rate in 2019 for 25-34-year-olds
without upper secondary education was 61%. This is compared to 78% for those in the same age
range with upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education, and 85% for those with
tertiary education. It was also found that those 25-64-year-olds with a tertiary degree made 48%
more in full-time employment.
Question 5:  Does the government control the education system or is the education system
under local control? What is the impact on the education system?
Spain has a Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. This ensures that through the central
government the legal framework for education regulations is set for the country; otherwise, the
Spanish education system is considered to be relatively decentralized. Most of the decisions
around schooling in Spain are made by the regions or the central government, leaving about a
quarter to schools.
Question 6:  How do they train teachers at the primary (K-12) level? Is there a high quality
of teacher training?
According to the OECD Country note from 2004, to become a teacher in Spain, there are two
different paths one can take; training to become a maestros for primary education, and
“prfesores” for secondary. Primary teachers can go to a university and receive three years of
training in the education faculties, and upon completion receive a degree of diplomatura. For
secondary teachers, they must also go to university. There they will spend 4  years in the
faculties for the individual’s preferred discipline that they will be licensed to teach, then must
complete a teaching preparatory course that is a minimum of 150 hours, and the Curso de
Aptitud Pedagógica (Pedagogical Aptitude Course or CAP). At the time of the country note,
there was a movement to change the CAP to a different program called the Título de
Especialización Didáctica (Teacher Training Certificate, or TED). I am still trying to find
research that says if this has gone through or not.
Question 7:  Do they treat their teachers well? Are they paid well and respected?
In 2017 Spain spent 4.3% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on education. It is also noted that
in 2017, Spain had allocated 79% of its spending on overall education to staff compensation.
This can be broken down even further. For tertiary institutions, this percentage is 74% and 81%
for non-tertiary levels.
Question 8:  Is there anything else you can share so that we can better understand the
education system of your selected country?
Spain as a whole has many areas it can improve in but seems to want to do better for its schools
and students. This is based upon the reading I did that suggested the talks of change and wants
for reform from students in the PISA questionnaires.

References:

https://www.oecd.org/education/EDUCATION%20POLICY%20OUTLOOK%20SPAIN_EN.pdf
http://www.oecd.org/pisa/publications/PISA2018_CN_ESP.pdf
https://gpseducation.oecd.org/Content/EAGCountryNotes/EAG2020_CN_ESP.pdf
https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?primaryCountry=ESP
https://gpseducation.oecd.org/CountryProfile?plotter=h5&primaryCountry=ESP&treshold=5&topic=PI