In the last years, most of the educational systems in Europe and elsewhere have shifted to a competence-based approach. The aim of this paper is to present how the main Spanish educational reforms of 2006 and 2013 have incorporated the concept of competence, and how it has been used to structure the curriculum in Primary and Secondary Education. The paper defines the competences of compulsory education and their main features, and it also highlights how the shift in policy has affected in the typology of competences. The study is based on a document and content analysis methodology and is focused in Spanish educational laws, at both national and regional level. The paper ends with the implications the competence-based curriculum has on initial teacher training and showcases how the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona has implemented it in the degrees of the Faculty of Education.