Spain's quality decree for private vocational training centres: what changes in attendance, ratios and authorisation

On 28 September 2026, Spain's Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sport, Milagros Tolón, presented the draft Royal Decree on quality assurance for private vocational training (FP) centres and opened it to public consultation. In October it was one of the most discussed texts in the sector: the Government wants to approve it before the general election on 29 November, and ACADE, the private education employers' association, warned on 15 October that the courts could end up annulling it.

For a private FP centre, or for an education group that offers vocational programmes alongside other stages, it is the most significant regulatory change since the 2022 Organic Law on the Organisation and Integration of Vocational Training. This article summarises what the text proposes, what is being debated and what is worth reviewing now.

What the draft proposes

According to the Ministry's presentation, the text sets basic requirements for all private FP centres:

• Sufficient resources: enough teaching staff, suitable facilities and resources, and a quality management system.
• Accreditation every four years: centres will have to prove periodically that they meet those requirements. If they do not, their authorisation may be revoked, and enrolled students will have to be relocated so that their training continues.
• A structured course offer: either a complete vertical pathway, with several levels in the same professional family, or a horizontal offer, with programmes from different families.
• Guaranteed work-based training: centres will have to show a "sufficient, stable and suitable" relationship with companies to meet the share of time in companies set by law, between 25% and 50% depending on the mode.

According to information released in advance by the EFE news agency, new centres will also need an applied technology classroom, a multipurpose classroom and a quality coordinator.

Online and blended vocational training: attendance and ratios

This is the part that most affects centres that have grown with online training:

• Compulsory in-person attendance: between 15% and 39% in online vocational training, on top of work-based training, and between 40% and 60% in blended training.
• Teaching hours: the teaching and tutoring hours assigned to staff in the online and blended modes may not be lower than in the in-person mode.
• Students per teacher in online training: a maximum of 80 in 2028-2029, 65 in 2029-2030 and 50 in 2030-2031, which is the final target.
• In-person activities: a maximum of 25 students per teacher.

Two new types of centre

The draft also develops two types of centre provided for in the 2022 law:

• Associated centres: designed for training and reskilling working people, they work with a main centre to deliver vocational programmes.
• Second-chance centres: for young people with particular learning difficulties or in vulnerable situations.

It also gives stability to the State Network of Centres of Excellence, with 75 centres, and to the National Reference Centres, with 42.

What is being debated

ACADE criticises the text for limiting the opening of private FP centres and introducing restrictions on online teaching. Its president called for regulation that respects centres' autonomy, the freedom to create centres and businesses, and families' right to choose, and recalled that Spain's Supreme Court annulled the decree that tightened the requirements for creating universities.

The Ministry, for its part, argues that the aim is to ensure that any centre offering vocational training does so "with sufficient standards, with rigour and with oversight".

Where it stands

A royal decree is approved by the Council of Ministers and does not need to go through Parliament, which has been dissolved since 5 October. That allows the Government to approve it before the election, although anything not published in the BOE, Spain's official gazette, before 29 November will be left to the next government. We review the other education rules affected by the election timetable in which rules lapse and which go ahead.

In the meantime, the figures in this article are those of the draft and may change in the final version.

What to review now

Even though the text has not been approved, several points need preparation in advance:

1. Your course map. Check whether your programmes form a vertical pathway in one family or a horizontal offer, and what you would need to add or reorganise.
2. Agreements with companies. Work out how many work-based training places you need per cohort and how many you have secured through stable agreements.
3. The ratio in online training. Count your current students per teacher and compare them with 80, 65 and 50 for 2028-2029 to 2030-2031.
4. In-person attendance. If you teach online or blended programmes, plan where and when the in-person sessions would take place and how attendance would be recorded.
5. Quality evidence. If requirements must be proven every four years, attendance, tutoring hours and the monitoring of work-based training will need to be documented, not scattered across spreadsheets.
6. Recruitment. If the mode or the in-person share of a programme changes, explain it clearly to prospective students during admissions. We cover it in the school CRM for enrolment.

Conclusion

The draft royal decree aims to raise the bar for private FP centres, especially in the online mode: more in-person attendance, fewer students per teacher, guaranteed work-based training and periodic accreditation that can end in the authorisation being revoked. Its approval depends on the election timetable and its content may change, but centres that have already measured their ratios, their in-person share and their agreements with companies will be able to adapt without rushing.

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