Primary school and high school. Later, high school and university. The hermetic scheme that has remained for decades in the social imaginary is collapsing. Since 2018, the vocational training (VET) is undergoing a mutation, managing to recover the academic and social prestige that the ‘EGB generation’ denied it, boys and girls obsessed with doing what their fathers and mothers did not do: go to university.
In 2022, however, faculties are no longer the only temples of knowledge. Higher FP – which is accessed after studying the two years of high school or taking an intermediate degree of FP – attracts more and more students. In the last five years, registrations have increased by 43%, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education. Higher VET is on a par with university academics and is an increasingly attractive option for high school graduates.
“In the social imaginary, the educational scheme is ESO, high school and university. But the models are becoming more flexible. Higher VET are specialized and intellectually demanding studies. It is an especially interesting educational path for people with a clear vocation and who are in a hurry to enter the world of work & rdquor ;, he explains Andreu Termes, researcher at the Institute of Regional and Metropolitan Studies of Barcelona (Autonomous University, UAB).
“Higher VET are intellectually demanding studies. It is an interesting path for people with a clear vocation and a hurry to enter the world of work”
Andreu Termes, researcher at the UAB
Technically, higher VET is considered as tertiary studies. Namely, with the same category as the universityremember Ainara Zubillaga, Director of Education and Training of the COTEC Foundation. The expert insists that higher vocational training and university is not a dichotomy. “We don’t have to compare both formations because they are of a different nature. The objective is not to face them but to make academic trajectories -including the gateways between the two- increasingly flexible and validations, simpler & rdquor ;.
A good job
The general secretary of VET of the Ministry of Education, Clara Sanz, adds that higher vocational training and university are two options that are becoming more and more equal. “Each one provides a different training depending on the professional interests of each person. Until now, the academic option of the university seemed the only way to get a good job. However, the current labor scenario, taking into account the new technological reality, has highlighted the need for companies to fill job positions. senior technicians and technicians. These are the ones that have currently become the profiles most in demand by the labor market and will constitute up to 60% of the job offer in the coming years”, he comments.
20% of students are 18 years old
20% of students entering higher vocational training have 18 years. As age advances, the percentage decreases, although it is very striking that 17.4% are over 30 years old. Among those under 20, men are the majority for a short distance (52% vs. 48% of women). Between the over 30 years oldHowever, women are the majority. The professional sector with the highest percentage of students under 23 years of age is Bachelor’s degrees. Physical and Sports Activities, Image and Sound and Graphic Arts.
In addition to the years of duration (four versus two), the main difference between university and vocational training is that the latter has a clear orientation to the world of work and practical learning is in its DNA. University education has a different nature. It is the only way, for example, to exercise a certain profession, such as medicine, law and architecture.
Vocational training is in fashion and it is evidenced by the increasing request for enrollments that exceeds forecasts, highlights Jesús Martín, responsible for FP of the UGT union. “Students and families see that there is a wide and cutting-edge offer, with a flexibility and employability that the university does not have.” “The ones with the worst academic record no longer go, but the one with the best one. The grade matters and that has finished giving prestige to the higher cycles,” he adds. Martín also points out that high school students choose the ‘top 8’ of the upper cyclesamong which are the computer science family and health cycles such as radiology or laboratory.
Look at professional training with different eyes and be aware that it goes much more than a job in a factory It is something that is due not only to the impulse from the administrations (Parliament recently approved a new law) but also to the change in mentality of students and, above all, their families, who are beginning to realize that higher vocational training does not have great things to offer. envy the university
“In the ‘EGB generation’ they asked themselves what do you want to study? Now they ask themselves what do you want to do?”
Ainara Zubillaga, Director of Education and Training of the COTEC Foundation
“In the ‘EGB generation’ they wondered what do you want to study? Now you are wondering, what do you want to do?”, explains Zubillaga. The general secretary of VT of the ministry emphasizes that the Unemployment in those under 25 years of age with higher vocational qualifications is 5.78%. “It should be noted that only 296,000 people with technical and higher technical qualifications are job seekers out of a total of 4.5 million unemployed, according to the latest data from March 2022,” he adds.
Sanz explains that his department has four years working with leading companies of the different productive sectors to identify the needs and job profiles demanded by the new economy to design the new vocational training offer. “This close collaboration is guaranteeing training in permanent update and connected to the reality of work”, he highlights.
Unemployment in those under 25 years of age with higher vocational qualifications is 5.78%
Despite the obvious boost that VT has received from the administrations and the collapse of topics between fathers and mothers, there are still problems for it to shoot up as it happens in Europe. Especially in Germany, which has the oldest, most prestigious and most envied professional training. According to data from the Bertelsmann Foundation, for every 100 German students, 60 study vocational training and 40 go to university.
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In the case of Spain, one of the big problems for the definitive take-off of higher vocational training is that baccalaureate is a stage fundamentally dedicated to approving selectivity, especially the second year, so all the experts call for a rethink. Among secondary school teachers -adds Termes- there is still reluctance and some continue to have an academic bias and think that ‘good’ is high school and university and ‘bad’ is FP. “This topic has to change. Vocational training is not only a way of finding work but also of academic continuity.”
supply problem
Another problem is that compared to wide range of high school (homogeneous throughout Spain), that of FP is unequal depending on the city and the community in which the students live. “Like high school, FP, also higher education, should be a close and public educational offer. Access to education is a right, but there are families who are forced to enroll their children in a private center due to lack of supply. And who can afford it? It cannot be that there are kids who are left out & rdquor ;, claims the UAB researcher.
Basque VET
If German VET is the envy of Europe, in the case of Spain, Euskadi is the admired region. And it is for several reasons: the Basque business fabric, the healthy coexistence between public and concerted centers and the very clear political commitment to vocational training. “The Basque Government has quick formulas to get degrees and specialization programs. For example, a specific company needs staff in gene therapy and the administration organizes a cycle to provide dual training for a few months or a year”, concludes Ainara Zubillaga.