Culebronchris

My wife looke into this and basically it's a non runner. The key thing in her case seemed to be the modules. The Spanish expect a degree in such and such a subject to include such and such competences. If you can't get a list of the modules (and my wife couldn't because nobody worried about competences when she did her degree) then you seem to be stuck.

Extrapolating from that, rather than knowing, I would think that the only problem with a three year degree would be that Spanish organisations would associate that with a lesser, technical, qualification. If you had the subjects/modules/competences that they expect from any particular qualification the length of the process probably isn't important.

Of course if you do manage to get a list of modules, send it all off to Madrid and wait for the usual one to two years what happens next is that they tell you what you are missing and then you have to study for those modules!

Bologna only applies to new qualifications, ones that are on the Bologna list. In my wife's case she has started looking into the possibility of re-doing her teaching qualification as a Bologna recognised one which would then, apparently, plus oposiciones get her onto the professional footing of a Spanish teacher. Lots of Britons do the oposiciones - particularly teachers.

Just on the point that somebody made about Spanish degrees being recognised in the UK I'm not so sure about that. Years ago, when the word ethnic was still politically correct, I used to attend a thing in Cambridge called the "Ethnic Minorities Forum" and one of the persistent complaints was that although the process for recognising overseas (including EU) qualifications was, on paper, supposedly clear and relatively straightforward in fact it was almost impossible unless the person was being head hunted.

Culebronchris

PS if you're thinking of teaching and trying to avoid private schools then chck out the british Council site. They have bilingual project all over Spain.

cricketman

My OH's Spanish qualifications and degree were all excepted by businesses in London. Ditto, my UK ones were accepted in Spain by Spanish businesses. The problem is when it comes to the public sector.

Chisty

The whole thing is extremely frustrating and unfair. After years (and a lot of money) trying to get my UK Degree homologated they finally this year homologated it - but as a DIPLOMA!! This completely blows my chances of being able to work in the public sector as a Secondary teacher. I have the Spanish equivalent of the PGCE - the CAP - and a certificate for the Level 5 exam in English to enable me to teach English (and not French, as my degree was in French), but I cannot sign up as a teacher as I don't, in their eyes, have a degree!!!!!!
I've thought about going back to the UK to do a PGCE (despite the horrendous cost of it all - I'd have to get a loan as I'd not be entitled to any LEA grants because I've been out of the country more than 3 years - and having to take my family there - I have a baby daughter and husband who wouldn't find work there easily), but the Ministery of Education in Madrid cannot tell me whether they will holomogate it or not if I do it!!!!!

Culebronchris

Chisty: if you did a current UK qualification wouldn't it be covered by the Bologna rules and, consequently, valid for work in Spain?

Chisty

No, unfortunately I did my degree back in 1992 (-1996).
It's VERY frustrating. And very unfair. Most of the Spanish teachers here I know have gone into teaching (in the public sector) because it's a secure, well-paid job with great timetable and holidays, not because of any vocaton for teaching. I've got a degree, a TEFL qualification, 12 years teaching experience at all levels, and I LOVE my job. But I just keep getting doors closed in my face.
It certainly makes the EU seem a joke.

Culebronchris

No, I mean if you were to go back to the UK now and retake the qualification

lynnxa

not necessarily


if the structure of the degree is different it wouldn't count


hypothetically - if for example your degree was a teaching degree with a major of Maths & a minor of history & that particular combination didn't exist here in Spain - it very probably wouldn't count as a degree at all!

jdr

Surely that is how it should be, it was like that in Canada, my plumbing papers were no good unless i went to night school and a day release to learn stuff that was no longer used in the UK even before I left school.

lynnxa

yes to an extent - & I would expect there to be a certain level of fluency in the language of the country you are moving to, as well


but the point is, it might not be recognised at all - you might have to do a whole new degree

it's not a case of it not being transportable with a few tweaks - it might as well not even exist in some cases!!

jdr

That is true, maybe that is why 1 in 40 girls with a degree are now lapdancers.
They should make the courses compliable with the whole of Europe, not just the UK as more people go to live in different countries now.