Learning at least one foreign language is compulsory in Primary Education, Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate, although it has also been extended to the second cycle of Infant Education, specifically in the 2018-2019 academic year; 84.8% of students have a relationship with a foreign language. English is the first foreign language that almost all students learn.

In the Compulsory Secondary Education, Baccalaureate and Primary Education, the percentages of students learning a second optional foreign language are significant: 41.6%, 24.1% and 20.0%, respectively. In this case, French is the language that students learn the most as a second foreign language.

Compared to the situation ten years ago compared to the situation ten years ago, the number of pre-school students in contact with a foreign language has increased from 65.6% in 2008-2009 to 84.8% in 2018-2019. There has also been a significant increase in the number of foreign primary school students studying in a foreign language in recent years, from 5.8% in 2013-2014 to 20.0% in 2018-2019.

The opportunity to learn a second language in secondary education has remained unchanged in recent years. In Compulsory Secondary Education, 2018-2019 (41.6%), 2008-2009 (40.5%); it is very similar and in the Baccalaureate (24.1%), 2008-2009 (28), although slightly higher than in 2013-2014 (22.1%).

Autonomous Communities

According to the Autonomous Communities, there are some differences in the second cycle of Nursery School at the beginning of the foreign language study, as twelve communities have more than 90 per cent in the 2018-2019 academic year. In all of them, having a relationship with a foreign language can be considered almost general. The rest of the communities also have relatively high percentages; the lowest is 62.1%.

The teaching of a second foreign language in primary education has become very important in some communities, especially in Andalusia (66.9%), followed by the Canary Islands (36.4%), the region of Murcia (30.6%), Aragon (27.3%) and Cantabria (20.7%). The other four communities exceed 10%, with the rest below that number, some of which have significant or small percentages.
In Compulsory Secondary Education, in all the centers where the second foreign language is to be offered as an optional subject, the percentage of students who take it is 41.6%. According to the Autonomous Communities, significant differences can be seen. The two communities with the highest percentages of students learning a second foreign language are the Canary Islands (78.7%) and Galicia (69.3%), followed by the other four communities and an autonomous city with more than 50%.

In high school, the percentage of students learning a second foreign language presents a different situation between the Andalusian community (64.8%) and the rest of the communities, such as the Autonomous Community of Navarre with 22.1%. The lowest percentages are less than 10% in both the Autonomous Communities and the Autonomous City of Ceuta.

Foreign languages ​​as a language of instruction

In the 2018-2019 academic year, 1,609,141 students from the General Scheme outside the university participated in educational experiences that they use as a language to teach a foreign language. Of these, 1,338,664 students participated in content and foreign language learning programs, 177,698 in other less established experiences, and 92,779 students studied in centers teaching foreign education systems, where foreign languages ​​were used as the language of instruction.

By level of education, it is worth noting that 41.8% of primary school students take part in some of the experiences they have received and 35.6% take part in integrated content and foreign language learning programs. 4.8% are enrolled in other experiences and 1.4% are enrolled in foreign centers. In Compulsory Secondary Education, 31.0% of students participate in these experiences, and 26.4% participate in integrated content and foreign language learning programs. The Baccalaureate is a far cry from the previous two courses, where 9.7% of local students take part in these experiences, although the weight of those enrolled in foreign centers is quite high (1.3% of the total number of students).

Subsidized centers have the highest percentage of students in integrated content and foreign language learning programs in Primary Education, 46.8%, and 31.9% in public centers. In the case of Compulsory Secondary Education, public schools have a significantly higher figure of 30.0%, compared to 19.9% ​​in subsidized centers.

Regarding the centers that offer educational experiences that use foreign language as a language to teach in the 2018-2019 academic year, there are 5,204 centers in Primary Education (45.4%) and 2,805 in Compulsory Secondary Education (45.2%). Of these, integrated content and foreign language learning programs are taught in 4,188 (36.8%) Primary and 2,172 (35.3%) Compulsory Secondary Education centers. The figures for high school teaching are lower, with 645 centers for all experiences (16.4%), of which 445 offer integrated content and foreign language learning programs (11.7%).