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Patrick Werquin reports back from the:
Get qualified, Conference on Vocational Educational Training 2009, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, 6-8 May 2009
I travelled to Spain on 6-8 may 2009 to participate in the 3rd conference on vocational education and training entitled: “Get qualified, Conference on Vocational Educational Training 2009”, yearly event organised by The Council for Vocational Educational Training from the Canary Islands, with the Public Administration for Employment, Industry and Commerce and the Public Administration for Education, University, Culture and Sports.
The main objectives of this annual event is to provide VET teachers, social and economics workers as well as education and labour guidance officers with the latest developments and research findings in the field of VET. I was invited to report on the OECD activity on recognition of non-formal and informal learning – which is seen as an interesting way to promote VET and to motivate potential learners – and on some of main findings for Spain that participated in the OECD activity.
The opening speech was delivered by the Chairman of The Council for Vocational Educational Training. I was among the keynote speakers and I insisted on some of the specificities of recognition of non-formal and informal learning in Spain. In particular, I talked about the favourable conditions that exist in Spain to set in motion a comprehensive recognition system (common agreement among public administrations, regional authorities and social partners, presence of significant experiences at regional level, quality of interventions at local level, existence of organic laws and royal decrees, existence of a National Catalogue of Occupational Qualifications and high level of political awareness, thanks to the EU work in particular) but stressed that Spain still have a very fragmented system. The system is different from an Autonomous Community to another, for instance, and it is not yet possible to obtain a full qualification only on the basis of recognition of non-formal and informal learning, like in Norway, Ireland or France typically. In short, the Spanish recognition system is still school oriented. What the Spanish recognition system does (pruebas system for example), it does it extremely well, but a more holistic approach could be considered.
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