the Government proposes to increase the places for Middle School students and cut those for High School students

2024-01-22 22:58:09

BarcelonaIn order to enhance access to higher vocational training (FP) for students in secondary education cycles, the Department of Education will propose to increase the quota of places reserved for these technical profiles to the detriment of those reserved for students coming from high school. According to Efe, the ministry will propose at the next meeting of the Vocational Training and Qualification steering committee that the quota for middle school students go from the current 20% to 40%, while that of high school students will be reduced from 60 % to 45%. The proposal, which practically equalizes the reservation percentages, will be transferred to the governing body for planning and evaluation of FP policies on Friday, January 26, according to sources in the department, who state to the ARA that these percentages could still to change. “The department is working with all the groups involved in the application of the basic regulations of the State”, they explain.

Today, only 20% of the places for access to the higher level are reserved for middle-level VET students, while 60% are reserved for students coming from high school. The remaining 20% ​​is for students who have completed other studies and must pass an exam to gain access. The state regulation that regulates this, Royal Decree 659/2023, states that up to 85% of the access places to the higher level of FP must be reserved, but it grants certain flexibility to the communities to decide on what percentages. “The royal decree does not leave much margin and has established the approximate percentages for each case. The department makes a proposal so that students who come from the technical route have maximum access to the places offered,” explain government sources.

This Friday’s meeting will be used to share with the most representative business and union organizations the proposal to modify percentages. At the moment, and in statements to Efe, the head of the FP sector of UGT, Jesús Martín, has assessed that a reserve of 40% is still “insufficient”, and for this reason he says that he will propose that the figure arrive “as minimum” up to 50%. Instead, he adds, he will request that the reservation of places for high school students be 35%. “We can’t continue to prioritize students coming from high school and belittle professional skills”, he says.

In Martín’s opinion, maintaining the current percentages is a “contradiction” with respect to the new curriculum that will be approved next year and which will make “all the VT to have a dual character”. The union representative insists that high school students “have not done a single hour of practice” and that the Government “should substantially lower the percentage of places allocated so far to [aquest] students”. In this sense, he emphasizes that pre-registration “must value educational continuity”, and for this reason he also advocates for increasing the places reserved for those who have recognized professional skills and have passed a course or access test.

The problems of FP

The Public Training and Qualification Agency and the Education and Work departments warned in the summer that the main problems of VET in Catalonia are, on the one hand, that there are empty places in studies of strategic trades and, on the other hand, the other, that students find too many obstacles to accredit their qualification. In addition, the authorities said, young people are not attracted to studies that have more job placement. Although this year almost 100,000 Catalan students applied for a FP degree – interest in this training option continues to grow and for the first time the high school has lost students –, at the beginning of the year there were more of 14,000 vacancies.

The Government wants to promote VET because, more and more, the labor market calls for specialized medium technical profiles, especially in sectors such as metallurgy, energy and the food industry. According to the General Prospective Report 2023-2026, from today until 2030, the professional families of FP where more qualified workers will be needed are installation and maintenance; healthcare; hospitality and tourism; computing and communications, and electricity and electronics. On the other hand, the professions of beauticians or dressmakers will have fewer job opportunities.

Occupations where more workers are missing

Workers specialized in electricity and electrotechnology (76.9% of municipalities)

Welders, planers, assemblers of metal structures, blacksmiths, tool makers and similar (75.4% of municipalities)

Salaried workers in catering services (69.2% of municipalities)

Workers who take care of people in health services (63.1% of municipalities)

Owner waiters and chefs (61.5% of municipalities)

Mechanics and machinery adjusters (61.5% of municipalities)

Other workers who take care of people (50.8% of municipalities)

Information and communication technology technicians (50.8% of municipalities)

Science and engineering technicians (47.7% of municipalities)

Precision mechanics in metals, ceramists, glaziers, craftsmen and graphic arts workers (44.6% of municipalities)