Do you know about the Dual Diploma? You may not know this but over 50 schools in Barcelona offer the possibility of gaining the American High School Diploma in addition to the Spanish Bachillerato. These are schools that follow the Spanish curriculum during ESO but, in addition to this, facilitate the completion of the American High School Diploma on top of their usual curriculum studies.
How is this possible? Due to the nature of the US educational system, credits are given for subjects like maths and science that are already studied as part of their usual bachillerato qualification. This means that certain subjects can be carried over to the American Diploma, and therefore need only be studied once. However, in addition to these subjects, students must also complete extra modules from the American curriculum. Obligatory subjects include English, English and Life Management Skills, US History plus US Government and Economics (all studied in English). In addition to these core subjects, they also need to also choose two electives from a list of possibilities.
Although schools offering the Dual Diploma facilitate access to the programme, students are responsible for completing these extra studies outside of the usual school day. Access to the curriculum is gained through online materials and support from the organisation in the U.S. that runs the programme, rather than the school itself. Students therefore need to be motivated, computer-savvy and of course, have an adequate level of English to access the materials.