Actors made up as cats that resemble celebrities theriansFormula 1 cars, chocolate fountains, music booths where you can create your own song, and agents of all kinds in eye-catching uniforms. Entering Hall 2 of the Education Fair and not being entertained for a while is almost impossible, and perhaps all these attractions explain—in part—the change the educational guidance fair has undergone to reach its current state: this year, for the first time, there are more exhibitors of vocational training (FP).

Apart from the 17 higher degrees – four of them also online – and the 10 intermediate degrees that it makes available to students, La Salle It offers the science and technology, humanities and social sciences, and arts tracks in 12 of its centers. This range also includes the International Baccalaureate, the Batxibac, and the Baccalaureate Dual education further increases the likelihood that each person will find their own educational path.

"The demand for vocational training has skyrocketed, and in parallel, the private sector is seeing an opportunity it previously overlooked and has grown twice as fast as the public sector in just a few years." This is how the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, described the situation of vocational training in Spain, where he asserted that some students pay up to 9,000 euros to study a vocational course. Faced with this surge, the Spanish government has announced its intention to curb private centers that do not guarantee the minimum quality standards for these studies.

The percentage of students who drop out of school early in Catalonia is four points higher than the European average. These are students who have not completed compulsory secondary education (ESO) or, especially, who after completing it do not continue with any type of post-compulsory education such as upper secondary education (Bachillerato) or vocational training (FP). The proportion of Catalan students who leave school prematurely is 13.7%, while the European average is 9.3%. Although since 2017 Catalonia has reduced the dropout rate by more than three pointsThe rate remains far from the 9% target set by Europe. The Catalan government presented its new Action Plan against Early School Leaving this Friday at an event in Vilafranca del Penedès. Neither President Salvador Illa nor the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, attended, but the new Secretary for Educational Improvement, Ignasi Giménez, was present. The strategy that the government intends to implement over the coming years has ten key areas, including a project to "reconnect" with students who have already left school, more flexible educational pathways, a focus on newly enrolled students, and a series of actions to create a network among various administrations for monitoring purposes.

One of the main objectives announced during the term of Salvador Illa's government and the Minister of Education, Esther Niubó, is to enhance the prestige of Vocational Training (FP). Within this mission, the biggest challenge facing the Ministry was finding a solution to the chaos that plagues the system every year with FP pre-registrations and the resulting difficulties. 30,000 students started last year without a place.

Vocational training (VT) classrooms reopened this Friday after the summer break, but they still had some empty seats. The VT registration period ended on September 8. with more than 15,000 vacancies (15,232), a figure that has been reduced over the days and with the arrival of live registration: in three days, 3,000 people have signed up and the number of empty seats has been reduced to 12,000. In August, 14,840 students did not have a placeto the studies they wanted.

With some improvement, but still with a significant imbalance between places in the courses that most interest students and those that the education system can offer. The registration period for vocational training (FP) has ended with more than 15,000 vacant places (15,232), after 14,840 students went on vacation in August without a place to the studies they desired. Although the number of vacancies and students without a place remains very high, this year there have been 4,000 fewer unallocated places than last year, when the vocational training course began with 31,000 students without a place and 19,000 vacancies available. Furthermore, in this comparison, it should be taken into account that around 7,500 new places were opened in vocational training this year.

The bottleneck remains, despite narrowing compared to last year. Nearly 15,000 (14,840) students are heading into the summer without a place assigned to study for a mid-level or advanced vocational training (VT) degree, despite having pre-registered within the established deadlines. 31,000 students saw the course begin without them having a place.

Francesc Torres (Ibiza, 1962) is a professor and telecommunications engineer. He was rector of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) from 2017 to 2021. He is now serving again and speaks to ARA in his first interview since winning the rectorship elections a month ago.

Last year, private vocational training (VT) courses enrolled twice as many students as just five years ago. This increased interest in private vocational training (VT) courses has not been a novelty for years: in recent years, the number of students enrolled in private VT courses has always been higher than in state-funded VT courses at this stage of post-compulsory education. In the 2019-2020 academic year, private VT courses had 40,989 students, almost 20,000 more than those enrolled in state-funded VT courses. However, this gap has widened to the point that last year there were approximately 60,000 more students enrolled in private VT courses (82,009) than in state-funded VT courses (21,963).

The new Vocational Training (VT) law wants to revive a previously very common position in our businesses: the apprentice. The regulations, approved three years ago by the Spanish government and which the autonomous communities have begun to implement this year, increase the number of internship hours students complete in a real work environment and aim to give the entire model a dual character, regardless of their degree. However, this transformation requires much greater involvement from companies, and this is where it has encountered its greatest stumbling block.

The Department of Education and Vocational Training and the Council of Chambers of Commerce of Catalonia presented this Monday theStudy of job placement in vocational educationThe document analyzes the Catalan labor sector in relation to the studies completed by workers based on data from students who graduated in the 2022-2023 academic year and should serve two primary purposes. On the one hand, to provide future students of vocational training (VT) degrees with a reference to the job opportunities available for each degree. On the other hand, it should be one of the bases for rethinking and restructuring the studies and VT offerings available in Catalonia.

For almost any teenager about to finish compulsory secondary education, the question "what are you going to do?" haunts them for months. Until recently, those who answered "I want to do a Baccalaureate" would instantly receive a question: "Humanities, science, or art—some also included technology?" However, if today someone wants to take advantage of a family meal to bring up this topic with a nephew, grandchild, or child and talk about all the options available, the conversation should probably extend beyond the after-dinner conversation, because in Barcelona alone, there will be up to seventeen baccalaureate degrees to choose from next year.

"How can social media connect us, if using a cell phone at the table is rude?" asks a girl, as if it were a hand-to-hand battle between gladiators and she'd just disarmed her opponent, who, eager to buy time to devise a counterattack, responds with a simple but effective: "How?"

They go in groups and loaded with tote bags, pens, and t-shirts with countless logos from universities, vocational training centers, and various schools. Once the raid to collect all the possible gifts is over, it's time to focus on what's important, and this is when the large class groups branch out into smaller groups of threes or pairs depending on what they "maybe" want to study. It's the only way to stay organized that the thousands of teenagers who visit the Salón de la Enseñanza find, seeking answers to their academic future among the more than 250 exhibitors—12% more than last year—and the 200 orientation activities offered.

Next year, a new path to obtaining a vocational training (VT) qualification will be available in Catalonia. This Tuesday, the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the Department of Education agreed to launch a new training path at the UPC's Martorell VT center (FPCAT-UPC Campus for Sustainable Mobility) that will allow students to obtain a technical or higher technical qualification through professional certificates.

Since last year, vocational training (VT) degree places have been assigned in order of applicants' grades. However, until this Wednesday, prospective students of these courses had no way of knowing—other than word of mouth—what grade they would need to enter the intermediate or advanced degree they desired. But this Wednesday, as reported by the ARA, The Ministry of Education has published the cut-off marks for all vocational training levels. from Catalonia through a search engine that allows you to filter by access score, territory, cycle, shift, and center.

The Government pledged not to repeat last year's episode, in which More than 30,000 students started the course without a place in vocational training, And this Wednesday, it will launch an essential measure to achieve this. According to ARA, for the first time, the Education Ministry will publish the cut-off marks for vocational training (FP) degrees.

The Catalan government is getting down to work on one of the main problems facing post-compulsory education in Catalonia: the mess with places and pre-registration for vocational training (FP). The president, Salvador Illa, announced this Thursday that next year there will be 7,583 new FP places in Catalonia. The increase in supply will also be accompanied by almost 500 new FP teachers, a sector in which Catalonia continues to have problems finding teachers. "If we need new professionals, we must find the spaces to train them," Illa argued.

The future transfer of railway responsibilities to Catalonia should lead to an improvement in the service, but to do so more hands are needed. With this in mind, the Government has presented a plan on Tuesday with a clear objective: that in the next three years 1,000 vocational training (FP) students will be trained to specialise in tasks related to the railway sector.