Beyond the earthquake caused by the results of the latest PISA report, one of the fronts of the educational system is early school leaving, a multi-causal phenomenon closely linked to lack of orientation. There is consensus on the urgent need to “more and better guidance”, point Aina Tarabini, professor at the Department of Sociology of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and expert on the subject, who warns that the current model confuses guidance with information and it is very finalist.
Sociologist Aina Tarabini urges us to help students “understand who they are and what options they have” to reduce school dropouts.
“The orientation offered today in institutes is designed only for those who have problems,” continues the sociologist, who proposes a broader model that does not act only on those who do not know what to do. In the eyes of Tarabini, orientation should involve “accompaniment that helps you understand who you are and what options you have“.
“We should apply a broader model of guidance that does not act only on those who do not know what to do”
Sociologist
Tarabini is the researcher who coordinated the EDUPOST16 project, which analyzes and compares the factors that condition the post-16 educational opportunities in urban environments (Madrid and Barcelona); that is, the transition between ESO and other studies.
After four years of interviews with young people, teachers and families, many things are clear. The first is that orientation is essential, but it does not act in nothing. “If I guide you towards a training cycle that you will not be able to enter because there is no public offer, in the end what I will end up doing is managing frustration,” says the researcher, who points out the urgent need to expand public vocational training places.
The conclusions of this new research coordinated by Tarabini -that shortly the Bofill Foundation will be published in book format – also point to the need to change teaching beliefs. “Within the institutes the belief that the Baccalaureate It’s for the smart and the Vocational training for those who are not, and that message is transmitted to children and undermines their self-esteem. “Why is a good student always recommended to do a scientific Baccalaureate?” asks the researcher, who celebrates that the view towards higher-level vocational training has indeed changed – for the better -. She warns that the pending subject is now change the look towards mid-grade vocational training.
The sociologist also values the fact that guidance and school dropout early are on the political agenda: “We are late, but it is good news. In fact, these are two of the five priorities that the Minister of Education, Anna Simóput on the table in his first meeting with Minister Pilar Alegría held last December 28.
Given the value of the higher degree of FP, now the subject is to promote the intermediate degrees
The Agenda 2030 for sustainable development includes the goal of reducing premature school dropout in Europe from the current 9.6% to 9%. However, Spain is still far away, with a rate of 13.9% (and Catalonia 16.9%). Despite this, since 2012 the early school leaving rate In Spain it has been reduced by almost 11 points, going from 24.7% to 13.9%.
The school dropout rate in Spain is 13.9% and Catalonia is 16.9%
FP and companies
TO Nacho Sequeira, director of the Foundation success, organization that has been building bridges between the educational and business worlds for years to reduce early school leaving, a phrase from a German businessman stuck in his mind at one of the many conferences on dual FP in which he has participated. This said that if all companies are dedicated to training a young person, They will all have a prepared worker. Young people may not stay in the company that trained them, but there will be no shortage of talent.
The FP asks companies to get involved with the training of students: “If they want specialized labor they have to collaborate”
“On the other hand, in our country, many companies are reluctant to invest in training and prefer to compete later on salaries; and the result is that they compete for scarce talent, since we lose young people along the way, disenchanted by not being able to have more practical training in the companies themselves”, point.
That is the message that Sequeira tries to transmit daily during the search for companies to host students from PFI [FP dirigida al alumnado de entre 16 y 21 años que no ha finalizado la ESO] and Basic FP. “If anyone needs to have a good experience in the company, it is these young people, who have no references; these internships are very important for them so that they have a motivation to continue studying“he adds, putting on the table the difficulties they have in finding companies that give young people with these profiles an opportunity, especially after the entry into force of the new law, which makes companies have to pay for it.
As with the PISA results, the rates of early educational abandonment -of 16.9% in Catalonia, well above both the Spanish average (13.9%) as the European one (9.3%) – double both in the case of low-income families and in young people of migrant origin.
Early school leaving rates (16.9% in Catalonia) double in low-income families
Jesus Martin, responsible for Vocational Training in Catalonia at the UGT points out that “the business world has to understand that, If they do not collaborate, they will not have trained people“, he assures, appealing to the co-responsibility of the companies.
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Both Sequeira and Martín agree that the possibility of having a good experience in the first contact with the business world is key to motivating the most vulnerable students of the intermediate and basic degree FP to continue your studies,
Juan Carlos Bondia, vice president of the Vocational Training Teacher Network AssociationHe, for his part, remembers that Public Agency for Training and Qualification Professionals of Catalonia also raises the need to modify the structure of professional qualification, which today is made up of a 36.3% of workers without training and only one 21.3% with intermediate training; while, according to the agency, the ideal would be for these to be between 45% and 50%.