More than 550 teachers discussed the new collaboration between VET centres and companies that will take place after the implementation of the VET Law at the 9th FPEmpresa and CaixaBank Dualiza VET Congress. Under the slogan “Working together. The new role of the company in VET” and during the 4th and 5th of May, the Cidade da Cultura de Galicia in Santiago de Compostela hosted the debates related to the challenges that society will face for the adequate development of the new regulations, the role that business and trade union organisations will develop to facilitate the training commitment of the company and the relationship with the centres, and the role of the company tutor in dual training.

The Regional Minister of Culture, Education and Universities of the Xunta de Galicia, Román Rodríguez, stressed that companies will have “to trust even more in vocational training” with the introduction of the new law that dualises all new training, despite the fact that a large part of the work has already been done. As he pointed out, “companies rely on vocational training to find professional resources to expand their workforces”, as reflected in the data: “85% of students who take vocational training in Galicia are placed immediately, and if we are talking about dual training, the percentage is 100%”.

Among the companies that took part in the Congress were Iberdrola, Nestlé España and Grupo Pescanova, which underlined the responsibility that companies are taking on with the new regulations.

Silvia Carballo, from HR at Nestlé España, pointed out that this new regulation poses to the company “whether you want to be a mere spectator or integrate me from the beginning, that we all start hand in hand with a common objective to provide the best profiles, which adapt to the needs we have”.

For Patricia Rodríguez, from the Grupo Pescanova, the new law is an opportunity to increase collaboration with educational centres and to continue improving.

New success in participation

The organisers FPEmpresa and CaixaBank Dualiza, in collaboration with the Xunta de Galicia and the participation of Fundación Orange, have celebrated the good reception of the congress, which each year brings together more than half a thousand attendees from all over Spain.

The president of FPEmpresa, Luis García Domínguez, gave a positive assessment of the results of the event and recalled that “the 9th VET Congress was intended to focus on the new role of the company in the regulatory framework of the new VET Law”.

In this way, García stated that “the reflections that have taken place at this meeting have helped us to determine which are the critical elements for improving the system. One of them is related to improving orientation towards vocational training and the desire to find ways or places for companies and centres to meet”.

The director of CaixaBank Dualiza, Paula San Luis, expressed her satisfaction with the smooth running of the congress, which has already become a benchmark for VET professionals and is a meeting point for teachers, but also a stage for the main educational vanguards, and a bridge to companies, which are increasingly represented in this forum”.

This success is the result, said San Luis, “of the efforts of teachers from all over Spain, of our ally FPEmpresa, without whom this would not be possible, and of the Xunta and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, which not only facilitate but also support each of the actions initiated by CaixaBank Dualiza for the prestige of vocational training”.

9th VET Congress, a meeting point for VET centres, companies and business organisations

More than 20 speakers from different sectors, from academia to business, took part in the congress, with the aim of highlighting the value of leading companies in vocational training and the creation of tools that provide knowledge to educational centres and national and international students. Among the various speakers were Román Rodríguez, Regional Minister of Culture, Education, Vocational Training and Universities of the Xunta de Galicia; Eugenia Pérez, Director General of Vocational Training of the Xunta de Galicia; Ángeles Cárdaba, Advisor to the Office of the Secretary of Vocational Training; Mónica Moso, head of the CaixaBank Dualiza VET Knowledge and Innovation Centre; and, finally, companies such as Iberdrola, with the head of Training at Iberdrola Spain, Roberto Mediavilla; IndesIA, with the expert in the GCTio area of Telefónica, Daniel Guzmán, Grupo Pescanova, Nestlé España, among others.

FPEmpresa also presented the awards for the 6th Call for Dualiza Grants and the 3rd edition of the FPEmpresa Awards, with Juan Carlos Lauder, former director of CaixaBank Dualiza, being recognised in the category of Vocational Training Career Award; and Javier Olleros in the category of the Award for the Company committed to Vocational Training.

Also, within the framework of this congress, several visits were made to VET centres in Galicia, such as CIFP Compostela, CIFP Politécnico de Santiago, CIFP Someso, CIFP de Imaxe y Son, CIFP Paseo das Pontes, CIFP Universidade Laboral Culleredo, CIFP Ánxel Casal-Monte Alto and CGIFP Eduardo Barreiros.

The Congress has been broadcasted live through the official YouTube channels of FPEmpresa and CaixaBank Dualiza and can be viewed again in the following links:

If you wish to consult the programme of the 9th VET Congress, click here.

The Association of Vocational Training Centres FPEmpresa and CaixaBank Dualiza are organising the 9th VET Congress under the slogan ‘Working together. The new role of business in VET’. The Congress will be held on 4 and 5 May at the Cidade da Cultura de Galicia in Santiago de Compostela. In addition, the event has the collaboration of the Xunta de Galicia and the sponsorship of the Fundación Orange.

With the new VET law, which will be implemented in 2024, all training will be dual, which will lead to students spending more hours training in companies. The productive sectors will be able to acquire a new commitment to collaboration with vocational training and learning outcomes. For this reason, this new edition aims to become the meeting point for VET centres, companies and business organisations to highlight the new collaboration that will take place between centres and companies.

The president of FPEmpresa, Luis García, assures that this Congress “has the challenge of joining forces between companies and centres to promote vocational training. With the new VET Law, VET centres need companies to help them to increase the number of hours in training positions and to take co-responsibility for the learning outcomes of students. Therefore, this Congress aims to become a great space for reflection and collaboration”.

For her part, the Director of CaixaBank Dualiza, Paula San Luis, expressed her confidence that the congress “will once again become one of the main forums in our country to bring together VET teachers and provide them with a space to learn about experiences, exchange opinions and establish alliances that will allow Vocational Training to continue to advance. In this endeavour, teachers will continue to have the firm support of CaixaBank Dualiza”.

In addition, San Luis said that “the success of previous editions among the educational community will be repeated this year, with the added bonus that more and more companies will participate in the event, facilitating the relationship between the different realities of our VET, which is the main objective with which Dualiza was born and continues to work.

A student body that is better trained and prepared for their future employment

After the inauguration and the institutional presentation, the presentations will include the Secretary General of Vocational Training, Clara Sanz; the Director General of Vocational Training of the Xunta de Galicia, Eugenia Pérez; and the Director of Education and Training at CEOE, Juan Carlos Tejeda, to address key issues on the role of business in vocational training.

There will also be a block of research presentations with the participation of entities such as the Dualiza Observatory, Orkestra, University of Santiago de Compostela (USC), among others, and there will be visits to educational centres in Galicia, such as CIFP Compostela, CIFP Politécnico de Santiago, CIFP Someso, CIFP de Imaxe y Son, CIFP Paseo das Pontes, CIFP Universidade Laboral Culleredo, CIFP Ánxel Casal-Monte Alto and CGIFP Eduardo Barreiros.

The IX VET Congress will address and discuss issues such as the role of the company tutor in dual training. Also, aspects such as the role that business and trade union organisations will play in the daily life of the centres through the social councils or how we can generate an innovation model for SMEs with the collaboration of the VET centres.

Anyone interested in Vocational Education and Training can participate by registering at the following link.

For more information about the congress or more details about the programme, please click here.