Formación Profesional (or F.P. or Vocational School)

Today I went on a field trip with the grade 10s (4º de la E.S.O) to three different "schools" here in Miranda. In Spain, the schools are called "Centros de Formación Profesional", which in North America, is something similar to a vocational school. Every year the grade tens take the field trip because come June, they have to start making decisions that will affect their futures.

Here in Spain, only grades 1-10 (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (E.S.O)) are obligatory. After grade 10 there are 3 possible paths for students to take:

1. Continue at the high school in Bachillerato (grades 11 & 12)
2. Move to Formación Profesional (F.P.) (Vocational School) as a "mid-level" student
3. Drop out and either do nothing, or work

After completing #1 (passing), the student can then 

      A. write the university entrance exam and then get into university or

      B. go to F.P. as a "superior-level" student

After completing #2 (2 years of vocational studies) the student can then

     A. start working as a basic technician or

     B. continue onto the "superior-level" to become a superior technician and then after if they want, move into a university degree program

That being said, this is the year these grade tens will have to decide what they want to do. Many of them (judging by class sizes) do continue onto grades 11 & 12 although it's probably not the best option for them. I can see why they do it though because that way if/when they graduate, they can choose between university and superior-level F.P. studies. However, it is rumoured that Bachillerato is very difficult (I personally haven't seen any evidence of it being any harder than any of the years before) and many of the students end up failing, and having to repeat (which they are allowed to do, over and over again)


Anyways, the purpose of the field trip today was for them to see the possibilities that are open to them either for next year, or after Bachiller, if they choose that route instead of university. 


The first F.P. we visited was actually part of Miranda's one other high school, Fray Pedro. The facilities were pretty small, and there were just 3 or 4 work areas. They offered welding, something to do with computers, and hydrolics (keep in mind I was listening to this all in Spanish for 5 hours...)

The second one we visited was on the outskirts of Miranda in an area called "El Crucero". Back in the day, it was actually the old Montes Obarenes (the school I'm working at now) until they built a new building closer to the center of town for the high school. Now it's just the F.P. called "Rio Ebro". It had a nice bright interior (probably recently renovated) and some trees and shrubs outside (rare for Spain). I should mention that both Fray Pedro F.P. and Rio Ebro are both 100% public, and therefore I'm pretty sure students just pay a small registration fee. Rio Ebro offered a variety of programs like: electricity, welding, hair styling, massage therapy, image and sound, lab work, hospital aids, etc. 

The third F.P. (I don't remember the name) was just a 5 minute walk from Rio Ebro, and was virtually the exact same. The one big difference between the two is that #3 is "concertado" which in English is like semi-private/charter school. So the students might have to pay more, which I have no idea why they would when they have the exact same thing for cheaper down the street (I guess I'll have to ask one of them someday why they chose #3). Like I said, #3 was really similar to Rio Ebro, and offered virtually all the same programs.

Overall I had an alright time walking around these three places for 5 hours listening to the same thing over and over again, but I definitely would have appreciated knowing that they all offer the same things. One other thing I found a little strange about the tours was the extent that the professors were showing off what they were doing in the class. In my opinion the point of the tours was to show the students what F.P. could do for them and their future careers, not to show them every single machine/tool that is in the building, before they even know what kind of jobs the program could help them get.


I plan to expand more on the field trip and some things it made me realize in my other blog, so feel free to check it out :).