Spanien: Letzte Schritte der Berufsbildungsreform

Spain: Final steps of the Vocational Education Reform

In May 2024, the Council of Ministers, at the proposal of the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training, and Sports (MEFD), approved four royal decrees that finalise the regulatory framework for the Vocational Training Law enacted two years ago. With the approval of these royal decrees, the implementation of the dual system in both Intermediate (ISCED 354) and Advanced (ISCED 554) Vocational Training is complete. Additionally, the new regulations incorporate various modules related to digitalisation, sustainability, entrepreneurship, and technical English.

Starting next September, all vocational training will be dual in the first year of both Intermediate and Advanced Vocational Education, as well as in vocational education masters that include internships. Dual vocational training implies that students will receive training at the vocational education school and in companies. In this system of dual vocational training, students should be on-the-job training for more than 35% of the student's total training duration. Additionally, the company participates in the assessment of more than 30% of the learning outcomes that the student must achieve upon completing their studies. This new system will be fully implemented in the 2025/2026 school year.

The new Vocational Education system incorporates dual training in two modalities, general and intensive, depending on the time students spend in the company and the learning outcomes assumed by it. Since early 2024, students in internships have been contributing to National Insurance during their training period in the company, a cost that will not affect the companies.

In addition, in the upcoming school year, all Intermediate and Advanced Vocational Education studies will include new core modules tailored to each training offer and linked to essential aspects of the current economy. These new modules include Digitalisation Applied to the Production System, Sustainability Adapted to the Production System, Technical English, and Personal Pathway for Employability I and II. The latter covers aspects related to social skills, entrepreneurship, labour rights, or the so-called "employability skills" such as time management, creativity or adaptability, increasingly valued in company recruitment processes.

For the first time, the system includes elective subjects in Vocational Education and incorporates the requirement to complete a project. In this project, the teaching team presents a challenge-based assignment in the classroom that simulates a real situation in the production system to which the training is linked.

With this final step, which has been discussed with the autonomous communities in recent months, the Government of Spain completes the significant transformation of the system initiated in 2018. This transformation has enjoyed the consensus and collaboration of all stakeholders involved in Vocational Education from the outset. It is a unique model aimed at all citizens and connected with the economic reality to guarantee the employability of young people and workers and the success of businesses.