Introduction to the Common Curriculum Framework for Upper Secondary Education (MCCEMS)
The Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) has published, in the Diario Oficial de la Federación (DOF), the Acuerdo 21/08/25 establishing and regulating the Marco Curricular Común de la Educación Media Superior (MCCEMS). This educational model guides and standardizes the delivery of upper secondary education across 17,798 institutions nationwide, serving as the academic foundation for the National Bachillerato System. The MCCEMS aims to create an academic base that ensures the transferability and recognition of studies, providing meaningful educational experiences for students’ holistic development with scientific, humanist, intercultural, and gender perspectives.
Mario Delgado Highlights the Purpose of MCCEMS
Mario Delgado Carrillo, the head of SEP, emphasized that the MCCEMS’s purpose is to cultivate a critical citizenry capable of engaging in their environment based on human rights and community needs. This model strengthens collective identity and encourages an educational practice that builds strong connections between schools and communities.
Development of MCCEMS
Delgado Carrillo explained that the MCCEMS was developed based on a national diagnostic collecting experiences, proposals, and reflections from educational communities across Mexico’s 32 entities. The model is a crucial part of the National Bachillerato System under the Nueva Escuela Mexicana (NEM) project, led by President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. This national transformation initiative identifies essential knowledge for life with scientific and humanist focuses, redefining the teacher’s role as a social transformation agent.
Student-Centered Approach
The subsecretary of Upper Secondary Education, Tania Rodríguez Mora, explained that the new educational model centers students in the learning process. It establishes inclusive and relevant formative paths considering regional heterogeneity, structural inequalities, and community realities to ensure students from vulnerable contexts have access to dignified and just education.
Key Features of MCCEMS
The new pedagogical framework guarantees academic, cultural, and socioemotional formation for lifelong learning, along with the transferability of studies within the National Bachillerato System (SEN). The fundamental curriculum organizes knowledge and experiences in areas such as Language and Communication, Mathematical Thinking, Natural and Social Sciences, History, Philosophy, Digital Culture, and English. The amplified curriculum promotes student retention in SEN and the creation of healthy, diverse, democratic, and gender-perspective school environments.
Implementation Timeline
According to the Acuerdo 21/08/25, SEP, through the Subsecretaría de Educación Media Superior, will establish the components of formation and curriculum structures for bachillerato or equivalent studies within 225 business days of the regulation’s entry into force. These components will define fundamental, amplified, and vocational curricula, which will be used to design preschool education (school-based) and dual modality (mixed) educational services’ plans and programs.
Key Questions and Answers
- What is the purpose of MCCEMS? The MCCEMS aims to form a critical citizenry capable of engaging in their environment based on human rights and community needs.
- What are the key features of MCCEMS? MCCEMS guarantees academic, cultural, and socioemotional formation for lifelong learning. It also ensures the transferability of studies within the National Bachillerato System (SEN) and promotes healthy, diverse, democratic, and gender-perspective school environments.
- When will MCCEMS be implemented? SEP must establish the components of formation and curriculum structures for bachillerato or equivalent studies within 225 business days of the regulation’s entry into force.
- How does MCCEMS benefit students? MCCEMS ensures meaningful educational experiences for students’ holistic development, with an academic base that guarantees the transferability and recognition of studies.
