The definition of school guidance has changed over the last century and its organization varies greatly between countries. Mostly accepted, school guidance emerged in the twentieth century in response to students at risk due to increasing social challenges (industrialisation, immigration, illiteracy, etc.). School guidance was described as a process of assisting the pupil mainly in three aspects (vocational, educational, and personal-social) that was delivered by a school counsellor by means of a service model detached from the curriculum (Gysbers, 202, p.145). Ideally, this concept has moved towards a model where school guidance is understood as a comprehensive developmental program where not only the school counsellor but also teachers, parents, school leaders and the rest of the school community are involved (Álvarez & Bisquerra, 2005; ASCA, 2017; Carey & Dimmitt, 2012; Chen-Hayes, Ockerman & Mason, 2014; Lapan, 2012; Martínez, 2002). In this case, the school becomes an organization where diversity and inclusion should be addressed within the structures that comprise school guidance.

In the Spanish educational system, there have been enormous changes both in the concept of attention to diversity and in the organisation of school guidance:

Firstly, concerning the concept of attention to diversity, Spanish educational system has moved from segregation to total inclusion (Aguaded, 2010; Grañeras & Parras, 2009; Mariño, 2012; Ramos, Cuadrado & Fernández, 2007): from the General Act on Education in 1970, which established that disabled children should be enrolled in special institutions outside the general system, to the most important change that occurred 20 years later, with the Act on the General Organisation of the Education System in 1990, that established the integration of special education pupils in mainstream schools. Nowadays, under the Act on Education (enacted in 2006 and modified in 2013) the concept of attention to diversity based on disabilities has moved towards the concept of total inclusion and the principle of equality in the exercise of the right to education prevails. In this context, compensatory education policies have emerged in order to avoid inequalities resulting from social, economic, cultural, geographic, ethnic or other factors.

Secondly, concerning the organization of school guidance in public schools, it should be considered that, from the 80’s, Spain has moved towards a decentralized model where the Autonomous Communities (n=17) have powers in the area of education. In this sense, although a common structure for the organisation of school guidance was initially stablished by the State Administration, Autonomous Communities can introduce changes. In general, it can be said that the structure settled by the State Administration was organised in three levels for Primary Education: the classroom, the school and the sector (Eurydice, 2010; Grau & Fernández, 2008; Luque et al., 2014; Ramos et al., 2007). Regarding the first level, in the classroom, pupils’ guidance as a group is the direct responsibility of the class teacher (named as the tutor). In the second level, the school, there is a school counsellor that supports teachers and deals with personalised attention to pupils and families. The problem in this structure is that the school counsellor is not a full-time professional but it belongs to an External Educational Guidance Service (EOEP) and can be the counsellor of up to three or more schools. Finally, in the sector (province/local level) there are Specialised Guidance Services that take care of specific disabled pupils.

Within this context, in this paper the situation of school guidance in the Spanish educational system is addressed in order to determine whether there still prevails a service guidance model or if it has moved towards a comprehensive developmental program model where diversity is considered as inherent to schools as organizations. 

To approach this research, we have followed a qualitative methodology of documentary analysis based on the regulations that each of the 17 Autonomous Communities in Spain have developed. In the design of this study, the following procedure has been followed: 1. Identification and selection of documents. The material corpus of the research includes the current regulations about educational guidance in Primary Education of the 17 Autonomous Communities. The following search process has been carried out: -In order to identify and select the pertinent documents for the purpose of this research, the revision of the regulations available on the web pages of the regional government of each Autonomous Community. -Considering the several web pages were not updated, regulations available on the web pages was compared with that available in unions related to the public teaching function. -Later, it was found that in some Autonomous Communities the information was outdated, so it was contacted with each of regional governments in order to verify information by means of telephone calls, email and a certified letter in the case of Catalonia. -A total of 58 documents have been retrieved which correspond to the current regulations on educational guidance in the public Primary Education system in each of the Autonomous Communities. 2. Analysis units. For analysing the documents, a set of variables were obtained through the reading of the selected documents creating a database in the MAXQDA program to extract the elements of analysis identifying their existence in the normative. The information obtained by this method is grouped by type of structure or unit in charge of school guidance: External Educational Guidance Service (EOEP), Guidance Units, Specialised Guidance Services and a new category emerged that comprise a mix of different services that was coded under the name of other educational guidance services. 3. Analysis of information and elaboration of results. Based on the information encoded in the database, results have been based on a comprehensive synthesis and comparison of updated regulations regarding the structure of school guidance in each of the Spanish Autonomous Community.

School guidance in the Spanish Autonomous Communities (AC) is similar as the one proposed by the General Administration in the 80's: there are tutors, school counsellors and specialised services at the province level. However, several advances have been found: although still in 14 out of the 17 Autonomous Communities school counsellors come from External Educational Guidance Service (EOEP) on a part-time basis, in schools with more than 300 students EOEPs have been replaced by Guidance Units, which arise in 5 out of 17 AC, where the counsellor is a full-time professional. Concerning the situation of Specialised Guidance Services, 11 out of 17 AC have these structures as external services that attend upon demand of the school counsellor for students with sensory and physical disability, behavioural disorders, developmental disorders, namely. These services are responsible for diagnosis, designing of procedures and advising school counsellors, teachers and families of these students. Finally, other educational guidance services have been recently created in 8 out of 17 AC covering new demands: lifelong learning centers, research centers for the development of programs and diagnosis instruments, and coordinating units for guidance at regional level. To conclude, although there are differences between Autonomous Communities in Spain, still prevails a service guidance model at schools where attention to diversity is very much focused on students with special educational needs due to disabilities and disorders. However, we have seen a turn in the last decade with the introduction of Guidance Units in schools. In these cases, school counsellors can be much more involved in the school as a comprehensive organisation within a proactive developmental program model, rather than only acting upon demand on a reactive basis. Only upon a comprehensive model of guidance can inclusion become a reality, where all members of the school community are involved.

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