The Departament d’Educació (Regional Ministry of Education) is the administrative body of
the Government of Catalonia in education matters and is responsible for: the proposal and
implementation of general non-university educational policies, training and recruiting of
trainers, and the management of training centres. The Regional Ministry of Education of
the Government of Catalonia, also, sets up training programmes for IVET students and
supports training centres in their co-operation with local companies and professional
associations.
The Regional Ministry of Education of the Government of Catalonia also has an on-going
quality programme to help and support state funded VET providers in Catalonia to define,
establish, implement and keep their own management system based on the values of
quality.
The Work Based Learning (WBL/ Apprenticeship) system was introduced in Catalonia since
its implementation in Spain in 2013. Nearly 300 training centres offer WBL/ apprenticeship
courses in all sectors, around 10.007 apprentices were enrolled in this vocational modality
last academic year. Approximately 4000 companies are involved in the delivery of this
vocational training modality.
The Departament d’Educació also coordinates the compulsory work placement of all the
vocational students in the country. It holds the responsibility of all those work placements
and international exchanges for the 400 Vocational Training Centres of the region.
At the same time, The Department d’Educació promotes as well, mobility projects
addressed to training centres and has involved them in trans-national experiences all over
Europe, in the framework of European initiatives such as POCTEFA, the Lifelong Learning
Program and Erasmus+, for more than 20 years. The Departament d’Educació has also
participated in a several European projects in the field of the ECVET experimentation (OPIR,
RECOMFOR, etc.), and currently fosters actively the use of this system among the most
mobility experienced schools in the region and works alongside other European regions on
this issue, in multiple European projects. Also, a Decree to regulate study periods abroad,
taking into account the ECVET principles, was launched in 2014. All these major innovative
pedagogic changes have fostered significantly ECVET mobility projects among vocational
providers in the region.