For some time now, Vocational Training has ceased to be the ugly duckling of the education system: on the contrary, it gains supporters. The number of enrollments in Vocational Training in Euskadi has been gaining students during the last years and this has also been done in the 2017-2018 academic year.
Thus, according to the data provided by EUSTAT, in 2017-2018, in total, there were 14,520 students enrolled in intermediate vocational studies and 21,505 in the upper grade.
One of the reasons for this growth may be due to the degree of labor insertion offered by Basque VT. According to the data offered at the end of 2013 by Lanbide, the placement rate of VET students in the Basque Autonomous Community is around 70%. As expected, the crisis negatively affected the labor insertion that only 5 years ago was placed at 100%.
Vocational Training is the set of studies most related to labor occupations and the labor market, and today is interpreted as a process throughout the active life of the person, understanding as Professional Training both the “regulated training” itself of young people of school age, such as “training for employment” aimed at active workers or professional “recognition of competence”. Vocational Training offers around 170 different degrees aimed at people achieving professional competence and aspiring to qualified jobs. The various degrees are grouped into professional families and consist of subjects called “modules” with theoretical and practical content, including a stage of internship in business.
What does VT offer?
The teachings of the Vocational Training of the educational system are ordered in:
- The Basic Vocational Training cycles.
- The intermediate-level training cycles.
- Higher grade training cycles.
Basically, Vocational Training prepares students so that they can work in a qualified way in the profession they choose.
As a general rule, the duration of the studies is about 2000 hours, of which 25% are carried out in work centers, as professional practices. In some cases, depending on the family of studies, the duration could be 1400 or 1700 hours.
Students who pass the teaching receive the title of Technician of the corresponding profession, which gives access to the labor market and Vocational Training of Higher Degree, through a test of access, or any of the modalities of Baccalaureate.
In addition, Vocational Training, through the Lifelong Learning Program, offers the possibility of carrying out business practices totally subsidized in another country of the European Union through the Erasmus + program.
The VT, through the UrratsBat and Ikasenpresa programs, also offers support to those entrepreneurs who are launching to develop a business project.
Basic Vocational Training
With the LOMCE the Basic Vocational Training cycles are created within the Professional Training of the educational system, as a measure to facilitate the permanence of the students in the educational system and offer them greater possibilities for their personal and professional development. This format replaces the previous Initial Professional Qualification Programs (PCPI).
The Basic Vocational Training teachings are part of the Vocational Training education system and respond to a professional profile. Likewise, they are ordered in training cycles organized in professional modules of variable duration.
Each professional profile includes at least units of competence of a complete professional qualification level 1 of the Catalog of Professional Qualifications.
Students who pass a cycle of Basic Vocational Training will receive the Basic Professional Degree corresponding to the profession in which they have been trained.
This Basic Professional qualification allows access to the intermediate vocational training cycles of the education system. There is also some controversy about whether this degree must, automatically, also assume the title of Secondary Education.
Formative cycles
The training cycles are teachings that are distributed in modules (subjects). These studies allow obtaining a degree and have a professional value, since its content is established according to the needs of the working world.
The modules have a specific duration of hours, according to the cycle in question, and are taught in the school, except the module called Training in Work Center (FCT), which is mandatory for all cycles and is carried out in the company. Normally, the last months of the Formative Cycle are developed by practicing in a company and can even be carried out abroad through the Lifelong Learning Program (Leonardo da Vinci, Erasmus).
The duration of the training cycles is variable: from an academic year and a quarter to two academic years (which are the majority).
Students can choose between two-level training cycles: Vocational Training Cycles of Medium Degree and Vocational Training Cycles of Higher Degree.
The vocational training cycles of intermediate level are considered Post-Compulsory Secondary Education studies. Upon passing a Middle Grade Training Cycle, you will obtain the technical qualification in the completed Training Cycle.
On the other hand, the vocational training cycles of Higher grade are considered higher studies. With this type of studies you can obtain the title of Superior Technician in the Training Cycle completed.
To enter a Training Cycle there are two ways: direct access and access through test.
Direct access means that those who have passed ESO or equivalent studies can apply for a place in a Middle Grade Training Cycle, and whoever has passed the Bachillerato or equivalent, can apply for a Higher Level Training Cycle.
Before registering you must ask for a place, and when there are more applicants than places, you have preference to enroll in the Middle Grade who have the best grades in ESO; and in Higher Degree those who have studied the modality and subject of baccalaureate that give priority to each of the cycles, and if there are still more applicants than places, the best grade of Baccalaureate.
Once the ordinary enrollment period has passed, priority by grades, subject, baccalaureate modality, etc. disappears, and anyone can access the seats that are free.
Access by trial is reserved for those who have not passed the studies mentioned above. The test and the requirements to do it are different depending on whether you want to go to a Grade Level or Higher Level.
VT Dual
The dual vocational training program in alternating regime is aimed at public and private centers that have young people over 16 and under 30 enrolled in a Vocational Training cycle that enable students to complete their apprenticeship under the scheme of alternation between the center and a company.
The dual vocational training in alternance scheme is developed through the co-participation of training centers and companies, with the possibility that companies provide training centers with spaces, facilities or experts to impart all or part of certain professional modules or training modules. In the training center the training activity will be taught by professors of the specialties or degrees established in the corresponding regulations.
The work carried out by students in the company must be closely related to the professional profile of the training cycle and the specializations programmed, so that, in addition to obtaining the productive result, these achievements in the company enable learning and ultimately , the acquisition of the competences inherent to the degree, those of the specialization itself and others of a personal and social nature.
The duration of the training developed in the center must respect, at least, the hours assigned to each module in the Royal Decree of creation of the corresponding title and may not exceed the number of hours set for each module in the Decree by which it is established the curriculum in the CAPV.
The dual training programs under alternance will be based on the contract modality for training and learning.
