Fedele - Spain

The Spanish Federation of Associations of Spanish Schools for Foreigners (FEDELE) has a federal structure and is made up of eight Associations of Spanish Schools for Foreigners.  Each of these associations has its own legal characteristics, although there are common guidelines, a code of ethics for daily operations and monitored quality standards that apply to all.

There are currently 76 language schools under the FEDELE umbrella, whose primary task is teaching Spanish for foreigners. Nearly all the existing schools of quality in Spain are integrated in FEDELE.

The cultural diversity is another constant of our identity. It is possible to choose between schools of the Canary Islands, Andalusia, Castile and Leon, Catalonia, The Community of Valencia, The Community of Madrid and Basque Country.

Ever since the beginning, one of FEDELE’s main objectives has been to obtain quality standing in each of its schools.  Therefore these schools have had to pass the inspection of Quality that grants official stamp of CEELE or been awarded the denomination of “Centre Accredited by the Cervantes Instituteâ€�.

The possession of at least one of these two quality seals is an obligatory condition for a school to be admitted into its corresponding regional association and thus be a member of FEDELE.  The quality controls are a very serious and trustworthy guarantee for students as well as for the agents that work with our schools.  

Aligned with this concern for quality, FEDELE has drawn up internal guidelines which are described in the LETTER OF QUALITY.  This letter commits all schools to upholding certain standards in each of the services they offer (installations, teaching staff, programs, lodging, reception, activities, insurance, etc.).

Besides the aforementioned letter, FEDELE has approved a declaration of Students’ Rights and Duties and has set up the figure of the Student’s Ombudsman, an institution that is aware of the complaints that a student may have. This is a completely new system for language programs at a worldwide level and places FEDELE among the most serious and respectful organizations toward students and agents.

FEDELE also collaborates with all international organizations that work in this field. It is current in the normalization process for the teaching of mother tongues in Europe, actively participating in CEN (European Committee for Standardization) meetings, a founding member of ELITE, and participating with GAELA (Global Alliance of Education and Language Associations) and FELCA (Federation of Education and Language Consultant Associations). And at national level FEDELE is member of the Spanish Confederation of Teaching Centres (CECE).

The two Spanish organizations most intimately linked to the promotion of Spanish in the world and in the spreading of the Spanish language and culture, TURESPAÑA and the CERVANTES INSTITUTE, have signed since 2004 a collaboration agreement with FEDELE about global quality policy and international promotion of Spanish studies.

This agreement is developed through annual Plans of performance that spread the existence of our extensive  and competitive offer and reflects actions like the elaboration of a Catalogue of Centres with the existing offer, the accomplishment of specific publicity campaigns, the joint attendance to the main specialized world-wide fairs, programs of formation and bringing up to date  of knowledge of the teaching staff, and the accomplishment of studies that allow to know the evolution of the demand, the new markets, the activities and products that demand the students of Spanish and their degree of satisfaction.

Between these actions highlights the celebration of the Fedele Annual Meeting, professional workshop of idiomatic tourism, a meeting that annually brings together more than 100 linguistic agents of more than 25 different countries and more than 60 schools of Spanish. In 2008, the 10th edition of this event was celebrated in Madrid from 17th to 21st of October.

From 2005, as a result of the cooperation agreement signed with the Instituto Cervantes, FEDELE has become a cooperating institution for the organisation of the DELE exams (the official Diploma in Spanish as a Foreign Language) and has 8 registration centres in Spain: Sevilla, Málaga, Cádiz, Granada, Valencia, Barcelona, Madrid, y San Sebastián.

FEDELE has created recently its own blog (http://blog.fedele.org) which will work as a virtual press office where the initiatives of FEDELE, its member associations, and member schools will be introduced to the community of professionals of Spanish teaching.

Website: www.fedele.org