Supporting dual VET quality improvement within the Spanish education system 

The Commission provided technical support to the Spanish Ministry of Education and VET to reach a consensus among the main stakeholders on a coherent monitoring framework for dual Vocational Education and Training (VET) schemes.  This system is expected to allow for the design and implementation of a quality control system for dual VET programmes, in line with the European Framework for Quality and Effective Apprenticeships.  

Context 

As part of the strategy to tackle youth unemployment, the Spanish government approved an apprenticeship contracting tool to support the implementation of a dual Vocational Education and Training scheme in 2012. After six years of implementation, preliminary data and reports show that dual VET is a powerful education mechanism that enables young people to enter into the labour market swiftly and sustainably.

However, the practice also shows that different regional administrations have implemented this new modality in multiple ways. This will eventually build a body of good practices and guidance for future reference/ implementation.  However, it may also represent an obstacle/ challenge to delivering a high quality education model.  

Support delivered 

Support was delivered through an exhaustive analysis of the current state of affairs, which included an exploration and further categorisation of successful dual VET schemes in the different autonomous regions. It also included a study of relevant best practices at the international level, and several  study visits to other EU Member States with established apprenticeships schemes. Moreover, it developed  a country monitoring framework, composed of key indicators to assess the quality and performance of dual VET schemes at the national level.  

Results achieved 

The project achieved the following results: 

• Increased awareness among national and regional stakeholders of best practices in the field of dual VET, both at the national and international level, resulting in a common understanding of key dual VET success factors. 
• Elaboration of consistent proposals for a dual VET system reform based on common quality standards across the country, aligned with the European Framework for Quality and Effective Apprenticeships.  
• Development of a Spanish Dual VET monitoring framework, composed of variables and indicators to be collected in a homogeneous and periodic manner across all autonomous regions, facilitating the comparison and analysis at the national level.