Interview with Francesc Roca, Secretary of Vocational Training

1. How have you experienced the transformation of vocational training in recent decades?

I have experienced vocational training that must address both initial training needs and the qualification and requalification needs of individuals, in order to facilitate lifelong learning and provide society with a dynamic professionalization response, tailored to the social and economic demands of each moment and sector.  

2. What are the main novelties of the recent regulatory changes in vocational training?

Vocational training is key to ensuring qualified employment adapted to the changing needs of the labor market. Strengthening it with an accessible system that combines theoretical training in classrooms with practical experience in companies will allow for more effective integration into the professional world and an agile response to market evolution and new challenges. This dual model, aligned with the demands of the productive sector and especially focused on strategic and high-demand sectors, will not only improve employability but also contribute to the value and competitiveness of the Catalan economic system.  

3. What are the main challenges of unifying regulated vocational training and vocational training for employment into a single system? How is the Secretariat of Vocational Training addressing these challenges?

Organic Law 3/2022, of March 31, on the organization and integration of Vocational Training, has among its objectives the implementation and ordering of a single vocational training system. It is oriented towards guaranteeing the principle of lifelong learning, consolidates a single offer with modular, flexible, accreditable training adapted to the needs of the labor market. All training is dual in nature, with ascending vocational training pathways – accreditation of competencies, professional certificates, vocational training qualifications – which foresees the creation of sectoral centers of excellence, establishes the bases of the relationship between vocational training and university, and sets up a professional guidance system at the service of citizens.  

4. How is the implementation of dual vocational training evolving? What are the main difficulties for its implementation? What are you doing to promote it?

One of the specific objectives of the XV Government Plan is to strengthen vocational training with an accessible, dual, and integrated offer with the productive fabric and the territory. We are developing a strategic plan for dual vocational training with all involved agents to deploy it and increase the rate of employment and job stability. Vocational training in Catalonia creates and incorporates talent.  

5. How do you value the initiatives to promote entrepreneurship in the new vocational training regulation?

The Catalan business fabric, characterized by its diversity and dynamism, concentrates approximately 18.4% of the total companies in Spain and reaffirms itself as one of the engines of the Spanish economy and a pole of attraction for foreign investment. Composed mainly of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), it offers a solid foundation for fostering entrepreneurship and economic diversification. From the Directorate General of Vocational Training and Special Regime Education, we are promoting the Empren FP program, which supports and boosts entrepreneurship and its values in vocational training centers throughout Catalonia, for the creation of entrepreneurial projects. At a first level, the program stimulates and promotes an entrepreneurial culture in centers to create the appropriate ecosystem for entrepreneurial projects to emerge. At a second level, the program promotes the creation of real and viable entrepreneurial projects that enter the market.  

6. Our motto is “I am what I want to be”. Are you?

What I am is thanks to Vocational Training.