Spain

Introduction to the VET System in Spain

The Spanish education system is governed by two laws, the Organic Law on Education which regulates the whole education system other than at university level and the Organic Law on Education , which covers university education.
The administrative framework of VET in Spain is as follows, in each of its three subsystems : the responsibility for initial vocational training lies with the education authorities (Ministry of Education, Social Policy and Sport - MESPS ), though this has now been transferred to the authorities of the 17 Autonomous Community (AC) ; the responsibility for vocational training for the unemployed lies with the Ministry of Labour and Immigration (MLI) and has been transferred to all the AC except the Basque Country. Concerning the continuing training, the administration is made jointly between central government (MLI) and the social partners through the Tripartite Foundation for Training in Employment (TFRE).

The VET system consists of four levels: pre-school (3 to 5 years of age), Primary School (six years of schooling - 6 to 16 years of age), Compulsory Secondary Education (four years of schooling - 12 to 15 years of age), Post-Compulsory Schooling (two years of schooling - 16 to 17 years of age).

Children from 3 to 5 years old in Spain have the option of attending the Pre-school stage, which is non-compulsory and free for all students. It is regarded as an integral part of the education system with infants' classes at almost every primary school.

Spanish students aged 6 to 16 undergo primary and secondary school education, which is compulsory and (like the preceding preschool from age 3) free of charge. Successful students are awarded a Secondary Education Certificate, which is necessary to enter the post-compulsory stage of Schooling for their University or Vocational Studies .

In the year 2004, the government of Spain proposed a new VET model, regarding training and employment field by creating a new training model with the aim of improving the quality of VET, allowing its decentralization by giving the management to regional governments and improving institutional administration .

IVET

IVET in the Spanish education system is part of secondary education. This, in turn, is divided into compulsory secondary education and higher secondary education. The compulsory and free period of schooling established by the LOE of 2006 covers the 10-year period from 6 to 16 years of age, and includes two educational stages: Primary Education from 6 to 12 years of age and compulsory secondary education from 12 to 16. Compulsory education is considered a public service and, therefore, the responsibility of central government. It is provided by publicly-funded centres and publicly-subsidised private centres. Compulsory secondary education as established by LOE is defined as the final stage of basic education. It is comprehensive in nature and lasts from the ages of 12 to 16, in two-year cycles. Specific Vocational Schooling is divided under LOE into two educational levels (middle level and upper level), both of which lead to occupational qualifications. Middle-level Specific Vocational Schooling, which forms part of the secondary education system, is accessed after finishing compulsory secondary education (ESO) or by means of an entrance exam if the candidate is at least 17 years old; the upper level is accessed after the Bachillerato or by means of an entrance exam if the candidate is at least 19 years old. In the IVET of the Spanish education system Vocational training centres also exist. These Centres may be private or public. Middle-level Specific Vocational Schooling may be given in dedicated centres or in centres teaching other schooling as well. Usually this form of education is offered together with compulsory secondary education and the Bachillerato in secondary education institutes . In general; the centres which deliver upper-level Specific Vocational Schooling also offer middle-level training.

CVET

CVET in Spain is developed in three ways: education of adults within the scope of the Education Administration; Vocational Training for the unemployed, within the scope of the Labour Administration; continuing training for currently employed workers. In Spain, access to continuing training is through the training programmes contracted on a yearly basis by the TFRE. Workers have access to this training independent of their training level. As one of the three vocational training subsystems in Spain, together with initial vocational training and vocational training for the unemployed , continuing training is part of a single regulatory framework for training and education in Spain. Law 5/2002 of 19th June (BOE 20th June 2002), the Qualifications and Vocational Training Act, implemented a system of vocational training, qualifications and accreditation. There are three pathways within this section: adult education, run by the educational authorities; vocational training for the unemployed, run by the labour authorities; and continuing training for workers. Adult education is included in section III of the Educational System Reform Act and its regulation is developed by the Autonomous Regions. Adult education is offered to all individuals over the age of 18 so that they can acquire and update basic training and gain access to other educational and occupational opportunities. The Education Administration in Spain is regulated by Article 3 of the Law 1/1990 from 3 October, for General Enforcement in the Education System and is developed for the different Autonomous Communities. It offers a series of educational actions to all citizens who are legally of age, with a view to acquiring and updating basic training, and providing access to all educational and professional levels. The education of adults within the scope of the Education Administration incorporates different training activities: a curricular option that allows all adults to receive training at all levels and programmes of the education system; an extracurricular option of great scope that comprises a heterogeneous series of training programmes; and lastly, a series of specific or extraordinary exams that allow adults to obtain academic and professional degrees, from which they can gain access to certain training programmes. The basic level is structured in a single step, comprising the entire learning process from learning how to read and write to obtain a Secondary Education diploma.

Quality Assurance

Considering the Quality Assurance (QA) in VET, two major entities of the central government are involved :

The Ministry of Education(MEDU) is responsible for the enactment of basic standards which implement the constitutional right to education by establishing general rules for the educational system; setting minimum standards for teaching centers; establishing the overall education program, setting the minimum contents of education programs, and regulating the validity of academic and occupational qualifications across Spain; guaranteeing the right and obligation to know the Spanish language, without impairing the right of those Autonomous Regions with languages of their own establish their own standards guaranteeing that individuals know and use their own linguistic heritage. Additionally, the Autonomous Regions are responsible for the regulatory development of the basic national standards and the regulation of the non-basic elements or aspects of the education system, as well as having executive and administrative management authority over the education system in their own regions, except a limited number of such powers which remain the responsibility of central government.
The Ministry of Labour and Immigration (MLI) is responsible for implementing the National Vocational Education and Training Plan ; implementing the National Plan for School-Workshops, Trade Learning Centers and Employment Workshops (programming, organization and management, and the issue, accreditation or recognition of vocational certificates); running the National Census of vocational training centers and collaborating agencies ; keeping national vocational training statistics for general use throughout Spain; regulating the conditions for obtaining, issuing and recognizing labour certificates as valid throughout Spain; implementing the National Plan for the Investigation of Labour Market Needs (which sets up a jobseeker qualification program and regulates the permanent monitoring system of the labour market); cooperating at an international bilateral and multilateral level in vocational training for the unemployed; initiating high-level inspection procedures.

Other important organisms that have a major role in QA in VET are:

The Institute of Evaluation (IE) (reports directly to the General Secretary of Education) is the new name given to National Institute for the Evaluation and Quality of Education System by the new Law of Education and has the following functions: elaborating multiannual projects of general assessment of educational system; coordinating the participation of Spanish State in international evaluations; elaborating the National System of Education Indicators that will contribute to the knowledge of educational system and to direct the decision-making of educational institutions and of all sectors involved in education; collaborating in the realisation of general diagnostic assessments, which permit to obtain representative data, as well from students and centres of the Autonomous Communities as the hole State, in the framework of general assessment of educational system
The Public State Employment Service (PSES) is an independent organization from the General State Administration, whose role is the allocation, development and follow-up of programs and measures of the employment policy. The PSES aim includes the responsibilities as the following: develop and inform the MLI the state necessary ruling proposals with regard to employment, training for employment and protection due to unemployment; develop the preliminary draft of its income and expenses budget, promote the development of the National Employment System in cooperation with the public employment services of the autonomous communities paying special attention to the coordination between active employment policies and unemployment benefits; manage the employment programs and professional training for employment, legally allocated to it and under the scope of its expenses budge and carry out the research, surveys and analysis about the situation of the labour market and the instruments to improve it, in cooperation with the rest of the relevant autonomous communities. Occupational Observatory (OO) is a technical department integrating a group of analysts that, having for reference the study of occupations in different economic activities; detects, analysis and disseminate what is happening at the labour market, elaborating reports about the job market situation in different regions of the State, the occupations in sectors and interesting economic activities, the changes in the qualifications requisites that are produced in different occupations; etc.
The Tripartite Foundation for Training in Employment (TFRE), which belongs to the State Public Sector, is one of the bodies that make up the organisational and institutional participation structure of the subsystem of vocational training for employment. It has a tripartite nature and its board of trustees is formed by the Public Administration and the most representative employers' and trade union organisations. Its responsibilities are carried out within the framework of Royal Decree 395/2007 of 23rd March, which regulates the subsystem of vocational training for employment, including collaborate and provide technical assistance to the PSES, contribute towards promoting and disseminating vocational training for employment among companies and workers and o provide technical support to Public Administrations and the employers' and trade union organisations that are present on the bodies that participate in the system.

The National Institute of Qualifications (NIQ) is the technical instrument, depending on the Ministry of Education, Directorate General of Vocational Education and Training, which supports the General Council of Vocational Education and Training in order to achieve the objectives of the National System for Qualifications and Vocational Education and Training (NSQVET) . The responsibilities of the NIQ include defining, creating and updating the National Catalogue of Professional Qualifications (NCPQ) , which mean to observe qualifications and their evolution, to determine qualifications, to accredit qualifications, to develop the integration of professional qualifications and to follow-up and assess the National Program on Vocational Training. The NSQVET consists of instruments and actions which are necessary to promote and develop the integration of vocational education and training through the NCPQ and aims at promoting and developing the assessment and accreditation of professional competences in order to encourage the professional and social development of the people and to meet the needs of the productive system. These instruments and actions include the NCPQ; a procedure to recognize, assess, accredit and register professional qualifications; information and guidance concerning vocational education and training, and employment; and the assessment and quality improvement of the NSQVET to provide pertinent information about the operation of the System and its adaptation to the learning needs of individuals and of the productive system. According to the law (Act 5/2002 of 19 June 2002 on Qualifications and Vocational Education and Training), the assessment of the NSQVET shall aim to guarantee the effectiveness of its actions and its adaptation to the needs of the labour market.

The VET System in Spain is supported by four essential standards:

The Organic Law 5/ 2002 on Qualifications and VET.
The Organic Law 2/2006 on Education.
The Royal Decree 1538/2006 on General Organization of VET.
The Royal Decree 395/2007 on Professional Employment training.

Three elements ensure the quality of the training offered:

Evaluation
Inspection,
Teaching staff, which must possess degrees

In Spain a VET quality network has been created in order to support regional governments and improve the image of VET, identify, select and share indicators that will be appropriate to evaluate the quality of VET, foster the relationship between systems and educational centers and diffuse information on the events at European level in the area of quality assurance.

The National Public Employment Service cooperation with the regional governments will together elaborate and execute an annual evaluation plan that allows the evaluation of quality, effectiveness, efficiency impact of the VET system for employment and identification of the aspects susceptible to improvement.

EQARF Indicators

The following PDF attachment summarises evidence identified that relates any indicators used at national level to the ten indicators proposed in the EQARF recommendation: EQARF Indicators Spain