Curriculum, subjects, number of hours

The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, after consultation with the Autonomous Communities, is responsible for establishing the corresponding vocational training qualifications, as well as the basic aspects of their curricula. Since May 2014, different basic vocational training qualifications and their curricula for the whole State have been approved. For more information, see TodoFP.es.

At present, there are 34 Basic Vocational Training Certificates belonging to 19 occupational families:

1. Physical and Sports Activities:
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Access and Maintenance in Sports Facilities
2. Administration and Management:
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Desktop Computing
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Administrative Services
3. Agrarian:
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Agricultural and Livestock Activities
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Gardening and Floral Compositions
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Forestry Activities
4. Graphic Arts:
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Graphic Arts
5. Trade and Marketing:
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Commercial Services
6. Building and Civil Engineering:
   • Basic Vocational Training in Building Reform and Maintenance
7. Electricity and Electronics:
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Electricity and Electronics
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Manufacture of Metal Elements
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Electro-Technical Installations and Mechanics
8. Mechanical Manufacturing:
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Manufacture of Metal Elements
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Manufacturing and Assembling
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Electro-Technical Installations and Mechanics
9. Hotel Industry and Tourism:
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Baking and Pastry Making Activities
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Accommodation and Laundry Services
   • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Cooking and Restaurant Industry
10. Personal Image:
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Hairdressing and Aesthetics
11. Food Industries:
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Baking and Pastry Making Activities
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Food Industries
12. Computing and Communications:
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Desktop Computing
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Computing and Communications
13. Installation and Maintenance:
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Manufacturing and Assembling
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Housing Maintenance
14. Wood, Furniture and Cork:
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Carpentry and Furniture
15. Maritime-Fishing:
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Maritime-Fishing Activities
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Maintenance of Vessels for Recreational and Sports Purposes
16. Socio-Cultural and Community Services:
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Domestic Activities and Building Cleaning
17. Textile, Clothing and Leather:
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Textile and Leather Repair and Alteration
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Upholstery and Drapery
18. Transport and Vehicle Maintenance:
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Maintenance of Vessels for Recreational and Sports Purposes
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Vehicle Maintenance
19. Glass and Ceramics:
    • Basic Vocational Training Certificate in Glassworks and Pottery.

The Autonomous Communities add to these basic regulations, establishing, for their respective territories, the curricula of the training cycles corresponding to the various qualifications available.

Educational institutions develop such curricula by drawing up their yearly general programme, whose objectives, contents, evaluation criteria, sequencing and methodology must respond to the characteristics of the student body as well as the training possibilities which are available in the surrounding area.

Structure and curriculum

Basic Vocational Training Certificates have the same structure as the rest of vocational training provision of the education system, and also include lifelong learning skills.

The vocational modules of each qualification must be expressed in terms of contents, evaluation criteria and learning outcomes, also considering the professional, personal, social and lifelong learning skills to be developed.

Basic vocational training cycles include the following vocational modules:

1. modules linked to competence units of the National Catalogue of Vocational Qualifications
2. modules linked to the common blocks established by the Act on the Improvement of the Quality of Education, which ensure the acquisition of lifelong learning skills:

• Communication and Society I and II module:
  • Spanish Language
  • Foreign Language
  • Social Sciences
  • Co-Official Language, in those Autonomous Communities with a co-official language.
• Applied Sciences I and II module:
  • Mathematics Applied to the Personal and Learning Context in a Professional Field
  • Science Applied to the Personal and Learning Context in a Professional Field.

3. work placement module.

These modules are compulsory in the 1st and 2nd year and they are defined in relation to the professional field of the qualification concerned.

The vocational modules of Communication and Society and Applied Sciences:

• are based on the curriculum of the subjects of compulsory secondary education included in the modules, as well as on the professional profile of the relevant vocational training qualification
• the number of hours for these modules together generally represents between 35% and 40% of the total duration of the cycle, including an hour of tutoring per week.

The work placement module:

• it corresponds to what is established for these modules in the rest of vocational training of the education system
• the education authorities decide at which point of the programme students can take this module, depending on the specific characteristics of the programme and the availability of placement positions in companies
• its duration must represent at least 12% of the total duration of the training cycle.

All basic vocational training cycles include, as cross-curricular themes, the following aspects:

• teamwork, health and safety at work, entrepreneurship, business and career counselling
• respect for the environment and promotion of physical activity and a healthy diet
• skills related to reading comprehension, oral and written expression, audiovisual communication, information and communication technologies and civic and constitutional education.

The education authorities have to ensure the certification of training in health and safety at work when the productive sector corresponding to the professional profile of the relevant qualification so requires. This training can be provided as a specific training unit within the work placement module.

As all these contents are cross-curricular, the skills and contents involved must be clearly specified within the different learning and evaluation activities.

Teaching methods and materials

Teaching methods

The organisation of basic vocational training is flexible in order to adapt to the different situations of students.

Teaching methods in this type of provision have an overall nature and tend to lead to the integration of skills and contents within the different vocational modules. In addition, they adapt to students’ needs and the gradual acquisition of lifelong learning skills, in order to facilitate the transition to working and civil life and continuity throughout the education system.

The Ministry of Education and Vocational Training establishes that educational institutions are free to draw up their own methodological proposals, which must observe the following general principles:

• attention to diversity
• students’ access to common education
• promotion of the necessary measures in order to develop academic supervision
• development of guidance and regulation of specific solutions to cater for pupils with special learning difficulties and highly-gifted students.

Educational institutions have pedagogical autonomy to define and develop the curriculum established by the relevant Autonomous Community. In their school development plan, they define the specific teaching/learning methodology they consider most appropriate to meet the characteristics and needs of their students.

The Teachers’ Assembly is the body responsible for planning, coordinating and deciding on teaching aspects.

At classroom level, teachers, in accordance with what has previously been mentioned and in the exercise of their academic freedom, are free to choose the methodology, materials and didactic resources they deem most suitable to ensure the development of their students.

Academic supervision and educational and vocational guidance are considered to be of particular importance. Their characteristics are the following:

• academic supervision guides students’ individual and collective educational process
• it contributes to the acquisition of social skills and helps students to develop their self-esteem
• it contributes to build the skills and abilities that allows them to progress along their educational and professional pathway
• each basic vocational training group has, at least, a weekly one-hour tutoring session each year
• the form teacher has to develop an annual programming for academic supervision that is included in the school development plan
• the annual tutoring programme must include specific information and guidance activities allowing students to make the most appropriate decisions regarding their educational and professional path on completion of the basic vocational training cycle.

Teaching methods in basic vocational training should integrate the relevant scientific, technological and organisational aspects in order to provide students with a global overview of the productive processes of the professional activity in question.

Curricular materials and teaching resources

The publication and adoption of textbooks and teaching materials does not require previous authorisation from the education authority. In any case, they:

• must have the appropriate level of scientific rigour and adapt to the curriculum established by each education authority
• must reflect and encourage respect for the constitutional principles, values, freedoms, rights and duties, as well as for the principles and values included in the current educational legislation and the Act on Comprehensive Protection Measures against Gender Violence, to which all educational activity must adapt.

The supervision of textbooks and other curricular materials is part of the regular process of inspection carried out by the education authority of all the elements included in the teaching/learning process.

The textbook selection process follows some guidelines in all educational institutions:

• Pedagogical Coordination Commission of each educational institution: it prepares a report on the textbooks that are considered most appropriate
• School Council and Teachers’ Assembly: they supervise the report of the Commission
• Teachers: they are responsible for the final decision
• if the School Council does not agree with this decision, suggestions can be made for the Teachers’ Assembly to consider them.

Pupils’ homework outside school hours is not regulated in any official document; it is each teacher who organises it.

Information and Communication Technologies

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT):

• must play a fundamental role in producing the methodological change required in order to improve educational quality
• the education authorities are in charge of providing public schools with all the necessary IT infrastructure with the goal of assuring its incorporation into the educational processes, emphasising the need to integrate ICT into the classroom through every curricular area.

Within the framework of the Plan for Digital Culture in School of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, the Espacio Procomún Educativo is developed, intended for educational and learning purposes, mainly by the teaching community and students, but also by the general public.

Espacio Procomún Educativo:

• facilitates access to the repository of open educational resources (OER) of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training and the Autonomous Communities
• gathers teaching materials classified through metadata (LOM-ES) in order to ensure standardisation, in line with the curriculum for non-university education
• materials are ready to be used directly in the classroom or to be modified and adapted to different contexts or needs
• download formats favour integration into Learning Management System (LMS) platforms.

These OER are under open license (Creative Commons España), which allows free access, as well as their use, modification and redistribution by others without any restriction or with limited restrictions.

The most significant element of ‘Procomún’ is faceted search, which is characterised by the following:

• information retrieval systems that enable searches based on natural or iterated reasoning
• the possibility of searching in context, since, when selecting an educational content, information on related contents coming from other sources to which they are linked is shown.

Regarding digital educational materials, the authoring tool ‘eXelearning’ is available for teachers:

• it facilitates interested teachers the creation of their own materials according to their needs
• it is an easy-to-use and open-source authoring tool that enables the adaptation of materials to teachers’ and students’ needs.