Over the past two decades, bilingual education programs have significantly expanded within the Spanish education system, with the aim of improving foreign language learning—primarily English—while making it more accessible for all. Although more and more schools are offering bilingual education, they are unevenly distributed across the country, generating inequalities among students. To shed light on this issue, a study by the University of Córdoba (UCO) analyzed the distribution of bilingual schools across Andalusia, revealing a gap between the most populous cities and municipalities, where the largest number of bilingual schools are concentrated, and rural areas, where they are still scarce.
Previous studies had already pointed to the inequalities in urban areas, which are closely tied to families' financial means and the neighborhoods where they live . Now, a new study broadens its scope to address inequalities between municipalities based on population size. As the authors explain, this line of research aims to assess whether bilingual education programs are ensuring equal opportunities for the entire population, in line with the democratizing purpose for which they were designed. To do this, the study analyzed the more than 2,500 primary schools and 1,600 compulsory secondary schools across Andalusia. The conclusion is clear: the larger the municipality, the more likely it is that schools will offer bilingual instruction.
The paper was published in the Journal of Education Policy by UCO researchers Alberto Álvarez Sotomayor (Department of Social Sciences, Philosophy, Geography, Translation, and Interpretation) and David Gutiérrez Rubio (Department of Mathematics), in collaboration with researcher Juan M. Gómez Espino (Department of Sociology, Pablo de Olavide University) and Carlos Lubián (Department of Political Science and Sociology, University of Santiago de Compostela). As the authors point out, the data from this study—part of the EQUIBIL project reveals a substantial difference in the bilingual resources available, which would support claims that these programs are elitist and “urban-focused.”
In terms of primary education, 41.8% of schools in Andalusia offer bilingual instruction. In municipalities with over 20,000 inhabitants, the percentage rises to 48.7%. However, as the focus shifts to smaller communities, the presence of bilingual schools decreases, falling below 20% in municipalities with fewer than 3,000 inhabitants. The same pattern holds true for secondary schools: 56.1% of Andalusian secondary schools are bilingual, but this percentage rises to 66.7% in municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants and drops to 25% in towns with fewer than 3,000.
The “blind spots” of bilingual education
Furthermore, the study reveals the existence of “blind spots” in school bilingualism—areas where the potentially democratizing policy of access to a foreign language fails to reach. And these aren't always small or isolated areas; actually, they can encompass entire regions. The researchers note that these “blind spots” typically coincide with rural inland areas: Los Vélez, in Almería;La Sierra de Cádiz; Los Pedroches, in Córdoba; the Lecrín Valley, in Granada;La Cuenca Minera, in Huelva; much of the Sierra de Segura and Sierra Mágina, in Jaén; La Serranía de Ronda, in Málaga; and the Sierra Norte, in Seville.
In their work, the researchers also seek to explain this gap, which they describe as “complex and multifaceted.” Among the hypotheses they have identified is the heightened competitive pressure faced by schools in larger municipalities with a larger potential student base, which leads them to seek differentiation by offering programs such as bilingual education to “attract” students. At the same time, the widespread presence of private, state-subsidized schools in urban areas and their limited presence in rural areas further widens the gap, as these schools tend to offer bilingual instruction more frequently than public schools.
The researchers note that all of this compounds other educational disadvantages existing in rural areas, further exacerbating these inequalities. The data indicates a need to rethink the model for bilingual education programs in Andalusia so that they can fulfill their true purpose: to democratize foreign language learning for all students, regardless of where they live.
Journal of Education Policy
Data/statistical analysis
People
'English for all? Examining the urban bias of a bilingual education program in Spain
2-Jun-2026