School-Based Vocational Education and Training System in Spain

This book discusses the developments in policy and practice in the field of formal, non-formal and continuing vocational education and training in Spain since 1970. It describes how VET has been transformed and become one of the country’s main areas of pedagogical innovation, and also examines current developments, such as the role of non-formal vocational education and training, the accreditation of vocational qualifications acquired in the non-formal system, and the adoption of dual apprenticeships that bear little resemblance to central European dual systems.Written by respected researchers in these fields, the first section is informative and analytical, offering a description of the system and comments based on academic literature and research. The second section illustrates the research on relevant issues, portraying empirical data from different regions in Spain, as well as nationwide data. Explaining and interpreting data on the basis of the authors’ different theoretical frameworks, the book provides a comprehensive, updated and accurate overview of VET and relevant research in Spain, as well as their relation to European and global developments.

Fernando Marhuenda is Full University Professor of Didactics and School Organization at the Faculty of Philosophy and Educational Sciences of the University of Valencia, Spain. He has been a Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Education of the University of London (UK), the University of Wisconsin – Madison (USA), the University of Augsburg (GER), on several occasions at the University of Mainz (GER), and most recently at the University of Rochester, NY (USA).Coordinator of the University of Valencia’s multidisciplinary research group on transitions from education into employment for people living in vulnerable conditions, where he has led regional, national and European research and innovation projects on vocational education and training to facilitate transitions into adulthood and working life. His publications include ‘La formación profesional, logros y retos’ (Madrid, Síntesis, 2012) and he is editor of  ‘Vocational education beyond skill formation’ (Bern, Peter Lang, 2017). He is a peer reviewer for journals such as the Journal of Curriculum Studies, the International Journal of Research on Vocational Education and Training, Psychosocial Intervention, Revista de Educación, Profesorado and Revista Interuniversitaria de Orientación Psicopedagógica.