Education will publish the cut-off marks for vocational training for the first time.

BarcelonaThe 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.

Although it is true that places in vocational training cycles were already being allocated based on applicants' grades, the problem was that there was no information that could help students know or predict whether the grade they obtained in compulsory secondary education (ESO) or a mid-level degree would be sufficient to gain admission to the courses they wanted. Now, vocational training students will be able to consult the cut-off marks for the cycles to get an approximate idea of whether or not they have a chance of getting in, just as students wishing to enter a university degree have been able to do for years.

Today, Educació will launch an online search engine with the cut-off marks—the score of the student with the lowest grade who entered the cycle in question last year—for each and every one of the vocational training degrees available at every school in Catalonia. The tool will allow filtering by entry route, region, cycle, field, and center. All of this should facilitate registration for vocational training courses and avoid errors in applications, such as last year's Up to 8,000 students did not get a place before starting the course because they did not officially meet the requirements., although it was later explained that in many cases there were errors or missing documentation in the pre-registration process.

In fact, the cut-off score search engine, which is due to start operating today, will also be incorporated into the pre-registration simulator, which will be launched shortly and will serve to show students and their families how to fill out a pre-registration application.

Reducing dropout rates

According to Educació, the measure will also serve as an additional tool for high school guidance counselors to provide advice to students and families and, at the same time, should help reduce school dropout rates, as students will have more information to avoid applying for a program they don't want or that they won't be able to access due to their grades. "Exploring alternatives can be a key element in finding similar options to the desired one, in vocational training programs and related centers," argues Educació. It should be noted that, based on 2023 data, One in four students who start vocational training in Catalonia drops out in the first year., a reality that is due, in part, to the fact that a program is chosen without much knowledge of it, and the training that ends up not convincing the student.

In addition to publishing the cut-off marks, two weeks ago, President Salvador Illa also announced that 7,500 new places will be opened for vocational training degrees next academic year and that registration will be brought forward so that everyone has a place assigned by the end of July, and not in September as has been the case until now. Furthermore, the pre-registration process will be done online, which should facilitate the procedures, since it will not be necessary to go in person to the institute to register for the desired program.

On the other hand, the Government also wants to improve communication with students to guide them through the changes in this new procedure for accessing vocational training. Therefore, the language used in forms and notifications has been revised to be more concise. When completing the pre-registration form, the importance of completing various applications to increase your chances of obtaining a place will be emphasized, and SMS and emails will be sent alerting you of the deadlines for completing these applications.