Vocational Training is experiencing an unprecedented boost in the Spanish educational system, especially after the approval last March of the new regulations that have brought about important changes that seek to reinforce and improve this type of studies. Among the most significant changes in VET is the dual nature that all degrees now have, which implies that students combine their stay at the educational center with compulsory internships in companies in the sector that will also be responsible for the students’ training. . This year 2022 has been the one that has registered the most applications for admission, with 5.6% more than last year but, however, not all applicants have managed to obtain a place, especially in the public centers of the Community of Madrid and Catalonia. Last June, the date on which the first application process was opened, from the Workers’ Commissions union they denounced the lack of public places in the Community of Madrid and demanded that the regional government “abandon its passivity in the face of the lack of places and develop a plan to increase and improve the FP offer and the attention that this stage deserves,” according to their statement. In addition, from CCOO they stressed that last year “in face-to-face FP, 17,976 young people were left without a place in the higher level studies of their choice and 6,938 in intermediate level. If the number of young people who could not study FP at a distance is added, the regional government ‘left in the lurch’ no less than almost 30,000 students.
“It’s dramatic. The majority of students who want to study VET want to do it in a public center as their first option, but they don’t have it” Isabel Galvín, Education CCOO
And this new course the figures have been even higher: more than half of Madrid applicants to FP have been left without a place. Of 59,900 requests, around 33,000 have not been able to access the studies they wanted, point from the CCOO while stressing that these data are increasingly ‘opaque’ as many public centers do not even publish them. “It’s dramatic. The majority of students who want to study a FP want to do it in a public center as their first option, but they don’t have it”, says Isabel Galvín, representative of Education in the CCOO. Due to this, the Ombudsman has already initiated actions ex officio with the Departments of Education of the Community of Madrid and the Generalitat of Catalonia to obtain official data on the number of places offered to study Vocational Training and the forecasts for adapt the current offer to the growing demand.
Higher grades: the most affected
Higher education has been the one that has left out the most students, with 61% of students who have not managed to obtain a place, compared to 54% last year, according to data from the study carried out by the union.
In addition, the degrees related to the health world have been the most affected. For example, in the Clinical and Biomedical Laboratory, 90% of the students who applied for it have been left without a place. In second position are those studies related to Image and Sound, Computer Science and Communications: in 3D Animations, Games and Interactive Environments, 86% of the applicants will not be able to take these studies. This is due to the fact that the demand related to the great interest that this type of studies arouses does not really correspond to the public places that are offered.
Private centers: a solution that not everyone can afford
This situation that affects many students has caused many of them to choose between working, taking a gap year or trying to access a private center. The price of the latter is between 4,000 and 10,000 euros for two years, depending on the modality that is studied. For example, a Higher Degree in Electrotechnical and Automated Systems at CEAC costs from 194 euros per month and that of 3D Animations, Games and Interactive Environments is around 230 euros. For Rosa María Avilés, mother of two school-age children, this type of center is not a viable option: “A normal family cannot afford to pay around 400 euros a month,” she told RTVE. Her son Iván, 17, wants to study computer science, but has not been able to obtain a public position. “What are you doing with this youth?” she wonders. “Do you send them to work like our parents did in the old days? They have to be trained, but things are very bad,” he says. “If you can’t pay for a private, they force you either to do a gap year or to work. I don’t think about changing grades.” because it would be getting into another formation that I wasn’t going to like and it’s not fair,” Cristian told RTVE. This young man from the Madrid town of Getafe wanted to study a Higher Level Training cycle in TAFAD (Higher Technician in Animation of Physical and Sports Activities) but of the 7 public centers in which he applied, none has admitted it. He says that he has been looking at private centers, but these suppose an important economic effort. “In one that I have found, the license plate is 500 euros and then a month I would have to pay about 300,” he says.
