The Association of Vocational Training Centres FPEmpresa has attended the EfVET 2023 Annual Conference in Rhodes (Greece) from 25th to 28th October to work together with other European entities on the ecological transition. Representing FPEmpresa was Carlos de Olagüe, the Association’s Madrid and International coordinator, together with Tomás Alonso, vice-president of FPEmpresa.

Under the slogan ‘The VET agenda on future skills based on the green transition’, the event aimed to address the various facets of the green emergency and bring society together to share experiences and skills to help set an agenda for improving the VET ecosystem.

It is worth noting that the EfVET Annual Congress is held every year as a meeting point for Education and VET professionals from Europe, Asia and America. Thus, more than 300 delegates from different countries have come together in this edition to jointly devise actions to ensure education aligned with the green economy.

Programme

The meeting, which was opened by Joachim James, President of EfVET, included a wide range of interactive activities where EfVET members and delegates exchanged knowledge and good practices in the management of green initiatives by schools.

During his speech, Carlos de Olagüe also highlighted the work and commitment of Spanish VET centres in relation to Sustainability and Social Responsibility. For this reason, several green projects from the following FPEmpresa associated centres were presented as examples: IES Mencey Acaymo, IES Federica Montseny, CIFP Río Tormes, CIPFP Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, IES Pedro de Tolosa and CIFP Paseo das Pontes.

After knowing the date of the next congress, which will be in October 2024 in Amersfoort (The Netherlands), the event ended with a complementary agenda focused on leisure and cultural visits, with the aim of raising awareness of the educational and employment context of the country.

“As the national representative of EfVET and FPEmpresa, we are grateful for the organisation of this Assembly, which has allowed us to learn first-hand about the importance of continuing to update ourselves in digital and ecological matters in order to build quality education and VET”, concluded Carlos de Olagüe.

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.

The Association of Vocational Training Centres FPEmpresa attended the meetings of the EfVET Executive Management held on 26th and 27th January at the Escuela Superior de Hostelería y Turismo in Madrid. Carlos de Olagüe, EfVET Coordinator for Spain and FPEmpresa Member for Madrid and International, also participated in the organisation of the meeting.

The agenda of the day covered discussions on various topics such as: policy, conference, membership action, finance and projects. However, one of the most prominent topics on the agenda was the preparation of the next European Congress on the island of Rhodes (Greece) from 26 until 28 October 2023. The Congress will include conferences, workshops, visits to VET centres and Market Place (networking meetings), although the theme of the event is not yet known.

The meeting on the 26th was followed by a visit to the facilities of the Escuela Superior de Hostelería y Turismo to learn about good VET practices in the centre.

The meeting on the 27th was followed by a visit to the facilities of the Escuela de la Vid, where José María Rodríguez, Director General of Secondary Education and Vocational Training of the Community of Madrid welcomed the participants, who came from 12 different countries.

Meetings to increase international relations

“The event has been a great opportunity to give visibility in Europe to the quality of vocational training in Spain. Both the Escuela Superior de Hostelería y Turismo and the Escuela del Vid have shown the methodologies and training techniques at the highest level. The Entrepreneurship Classroom of the School of Hospitality and Tourism, equipped with the latest technology, and the attention received by teachers and students have made possible the event with a great international impact,” said Carlos de Olagüe.

“Without a doubt, for FPEmpresa it has been an excellent opportunity to consolidate its international trajectory. In addition, this event was made possible thanks to the collaboration of the Directorate General for Secondary Education and Vocational Training and the teams and students of the Escuela Superior de Hostelería y Turismo de Madrid and the Escuela de la Vid”, concluded the EfVET coordinator for Spain.

Finally, the meeting discussed the work of the Thematic Themes (EfVET thematic teams), established in 2018 with the main objective of becoming a ‘Think Tank’, opinion leader and reference point for VET in a specific field. Also, to promote innovation and business opportunities among project members.

Currently, EfVET thematic teams are focusing on the areas of Entrepreneurship, Sustainability through VET, Tourism, VET 4.0, Internationalisation and Learning Mobility and Inclusive Vocational Excellence.