Summary of the visit organized by the Markiezaat College the 15-16 of April 2015 in the framework of the DTS Project. Report from the teachers sent by HETEL.
DAY 1: 15th of April 2015 The day started in the Markiezaat College (www.markiezaat.nl ), in Bergen. The college is made by 3 buildings and our work started in one of them, where classrooms and workshop rooms are located. 15 Km from this building the College has facilities for mechanical workshop rooms and some classrooms. The work session started with the introduction of the teachers and each of the groups (Netherlands, Lithuania, Portugal and Spain) presented the education system of their countries. In the next lines we sum up some of the aspects found particularly interesting:
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Dutch System: Around 65% of students go to vocational training and 55% of this percentage belongs to the dual VET system. The Dutch dual VET system has 2 variations: with a total immersion in enterprises (4 days in company and 1 day in the VET center) and the second one, similar to the Spanish one, with alternation periods between company and VET center. Moreover, the tutors from the companies receive a special training to be in charge of the VET student, receiving an official qualification for this. The second aspect we found very interesting is the close cooperation existing between the business world and the training world, to the point that decisions regarding VET are taken by Committees formed by companies, VET centers representatives and education and economic public authorities depending of the industrial challenges of the region, so VET is understood as a tool to achieve the objectives of the region as a whole. Furthermore, companies which participate in the Dual VET system benefit from fiscal advantages.
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Portuguese system. VET cycles in Portugal are longer than in Spain (normally 3 years) and the Dual VET system is progressive. The first year the training is received 80% of the time in the center and 20% in the company, the second year the percentages are 75% / 25% and the third one is 60% / 40%, but it is never at the same time in the center and in the company. The proportion of students in VET and in upper secondary education is similar to the Spanish one.
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Lithuanian system. It is very similar to the Spanish one but the training of the student is never in the company and the VET center at the same time.
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Spanish / Basque system. Coming from centers belonging to HETEL, we explained what HETEL is and we explained its different working groups. We went on with the education system of the Basque Country, with special mention to the Dual VET system.
In the afternoon, we visited the rest of the facilities of the College and we discovered that the workshop rooms have machinery provided by different business associations of the province, which shows once again the high level of cooperation between companies and VET centers.
As a curiosity, at 18:00 all teachers were invited to have dinner in the Markiezaat Cookery School and the dinner was prepared and served by the students of the course in hotel industry.
DAY 2. 16thof April 2015 The second day we visited a company located in the industrial area of Bergen op Zoom: FMI (www.fmi.nl ). The company belongs to the mechanical sector and students from the Markiezaat College make part of their training there. We could visit the workshop of the company and check that they have the most modern machinery, which is available for the students who carry out their work based training there. After visiting the company, we visited the rest of the facilities of the Markiezaat College, which are located in Etten Leur, 15 Km away from the main building. This one is an industrial unit with classrooms in the upper floor and a mechanical workshop in the ground floor. Students spend one day a week there. In the building, the College also organizes courses for employees and they rent machinery to companies and private people, being this a financial source for the VET centers. All the machinery in this building was provided by a business association or around 200 companies.
During the visit, teachers from the Markiezaat College explained to us that students have one morning a week to acquire basic knowledge of English, Dutch, History‌ and in the afternoon they have theoretical classes within their specialty. When they are in companies, they have practical exercises to complete, which are evaluated by the tutor provided by the company. Another aspect of the relation between VET centers and companies we found interesting to implement in the VET centers in the Basque Country is that some VET centers in the Netherlands provide services to companies, especially to SMEs. For example, many SMEs in the province hire the accountancy service to a VET center of Bergen. The last visit took us to Aviolandia (http://www.am-ts.nl/en/), in Hoogerheide, dedicated to vocational training in aeronautic maintenance service. During this visit, our guides explained to us that although officially the training provided is level EQF4, actually it is a level EQF5 due to its complexity. They also told us that most of the students there ended up working in the military sector and thanks to the high quality of the education provided it was easy to find a job afterwards. The facilities were also high level, with different airplane models the students can work with.
A last point to be highlighted is that both the organizers of the visit and the people who received us in the different companies treated us very well and answered to all our questions without any problem. Besides, they offered the possibility to organize a similar visit to public authorities or business representatives which might be interested in the Dutch Vocational Education System.