Vocational training as an alternative to school failure. Possibilities and limits

Abstract

This article analyzes the possibilities and limits of Vocational Training. Both the traditional and Dual Vocational training are considered an alternative to the high drop-out rates and school failure in Spain at the basic and compulsory levels. It fulfills the challenges of a society advancing in geometric progression whereas educational options do so in arithmetic progression. Once showing the meaning of negative figures, it is inferred that both international and state authorities warn about the risk of social exclusion in Spain, above all in a globalized society heading towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution, digitalization, Industry 4.0, the removal of existing professions and the opening of others still to be specified, the demand for professionals trained in multiple and flexible skills, and so on. Thus, there is a strong emphasis on a new structure of the educational system in which Vocational Training, mainly in its Dual modality, acquires a leading role as training of qualified professionals. By all means, it also reflects on the potential limits of the traditional and Dual Vocational Training, based on the experiences and studies on this educational level and the difficulty of implementing other countries models without the corresponding adjustments to the characteristics of the Spanish educational training system and its industrial network.