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Beñat Bilbao-Osorio, Tracey Burns, and Francesc Pedró report back from
The International Symposium on Innovation, Vocational Training and Business, held in Barcelona from 12-13 March 2009
This event was organised by the Fundació BCN Formació Professional (owned by the City Council of Barcelona), in collaboration with CERI and with support from the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona. The conference was attended by over 200 policy makers and employers from Spain.
Tracey Burns and Francesc Pedró opened the main conference with a keynote on the findings of Systemic Innovation in VET. This session was chaired by Jorge Calero, professor at the University of Barcelona. Although Spain did not take part in the SI VET project, the presentation was well attended and the discussion afterwards made clear that the emerging themes on barriers and drivers of innovation in VET systems had broad applicability to the Catalan and Spanish systems. In particular, there was an interesting discussion on the role of good practice and its generalisability across country and system contexts. The danger of innovation fatigue and the resulting need to pace the timing and implementation of systemic innovations was also highlighted in the discussion. This issue elicited similar interest at previous meetings (Bonn, Sydney) and seems to be a key theme resonating with our audiences.
Viktoria Kis gave the opening presentation in the session on VET policies. She presented the methodology used in the OECD “Learning for Jobs” and the key policy messages emerging from phase 1 of the activity. This was followed by a panel discussion, chaired by Joan Josep Berbel, director of the Occupational Service of the Government of Catalunia. The panel included Josep Francí, director general for vocational training, Ministry of Education, Government of Catalunia, and Miquel Soler, director general for vocational training, Ministry of Education, Social Policy and Sport, Government of Spain. While Spain was not involved in the “Learning for Jobs” project, many of the policy messages discussed in the comparative report were relevant to it. In the discussion participants described current practices in the Spanish and Catalan VET system and the main challenges faced, such as ensuring high-quality career guidance and coordination between various public authorities who share responsibility for VET.
Barbara Ischinger, OECD Director for Education, gave the closing speech of the event in a session chaired by Montserrat Ballarín, education counsellor of the City Council of Barcelona and commented on by Mar Serna, minister of employment, Catalan Government. Her speech focused on the work of the OECD in education and innovation, and on the importance of VET systems, particularly in times of crises.
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