Last Wednesday, November 19, the European Projects and International Relations Area participated in the first round table on international mobility organized by the Miquel Biada Institute in Mataró.

During the day, it was possible to talk about the different international mobility projects and counted on the collaboration of the teachers who participated in the training stays managed by the Foundation on Advanced Intelligence in Germany and Sustainability and Environment in Sweden with the aim of promoting international mobility in Vocational Training for teachers through the Erasmus program.

This Round Table is a very good example of the dissemination made by the participating centers of international projects on how the impact of them is positive, not only in the direct participants, but at the level of the whole center.

From the Foundation together with Xarxa FP we coordinate the first Erasmus exchange of the School of Second Opportunities of Barcelona. The mayor of Barcelona Jaume Collboni, last Thursday received a group of students from the FGU Trekanten center in Vejle, Denmark, who participate throughout this week in the first international Erasmus exchange between second chance schools. The students of this Danish center share experiences and coexist from last November 18 and until the 21st with the students of the Municipal School of Second Opportunities (EM2O). The next exchange will take place in the Danish city of Vejle where EM2O students will travel between 16 and 26 March.

• The city of Barcelona has passed the relay of the secretariat of the Forum of Cities with the Council of Vocational Training in Mataró in an event held in Mataró.

• It is made up of 15 cities and two county councils throughout Catalonia, and is the necessary interlocutor in front of other administrations or entities related to the local level to defend the opinion and the work carried out in the municipalities around the FP.

The city of Barcelona has passed the relay of the secretariat of the Forum of Cities with the Council of Vocational Training in Mataró in an event held in Mataró. The secretariat of the Forum of Cities with Vocational Training Council (FP) is itinerant and this year this function falls to Mataró that takes over from Barcelona.

The meeting also presented the agreement that will be signed by all cities and that includes these commitments:

1. Creation of a preferential and stable relationship and collaboration framework with entities related to the municipal and vocational training fields, mainly: municipal associations, county councils, provincial provincial councils, General Directorate of Vocational Training, Public Agency for Vocational Training and Qualification and other entities linked to vocational training.
2. Planning of actions aimed at the involvement of municipal entities, on an equal footing with the rest of the agents that directly affect professional training, so that they can be responsible for the decisions that are taken globally.
3. Joint coordination to maintain a public presence with a single voice, in the spaces that are agreed, issuing opinions and in defense of the recognition of the work carried out in the municipalities around vocational training.
4. Presentation as necessary interlocutors before other administrations or entities related to our field in the topics related to vocational training at a territorial level and as a Forum.
5. Planning and execution of specific actions in a coordinated manner among all the municipalities that sign this agreement, in the field of vocational training.
6. Organization of meetings and conferences with other agents from outside our territory to contrast experiences.

The following municipalities and county councils are currently part of the Vocational Training Council:

• Barcelona (Barcelona Municipal Council for Vocational Training)
• County Council of Bages
• Baix Llobregat Vocational Training Council
• Council of Vocational Training and Employment in Vallès Oriental
• Figueres (Commissioner of Talent, Vocational Training and Universities in the Alt Empordà)
• Girona (Consell Municipal de la Formació Professional i l’Ocupacional de Girona)
• Granollers (Consell de la Formació Professional i l’Ocupació de Granollers)
• L’Hospitalet de Llobregat (Standing Commission of the Vocational Training of L’Hospitalet de Llobregat)
• Lleida (Lleida Municipal Council for Vocational Training)
• Mataró (Consell de Formació Professional de Mataró)
• Olot (Department for Vocational Training and Employment in La Garrotxa)
• El Prat de Llobregat (El Prat de Llobregat Professional Training Council)
• Reus (Consell de Formació Professional de Reus)
• Rubí (Rubí Professional Training Council)
• Sabadell (Table of Professional Training of Sabadell)
• Tarragona (Municipal Council of Vocational Training and Employment of Tarragona)
• Terrassa (Consell de la Formació Professional de Terrassa.

Four years of regulatory changes and growth of the Forum.

Barcelona has been the secretary of the Forum of Cities with the Vocational Training Council for the last 4 years. When Barcelona took over the secretariat, this joint work space to share and transfer knowledge was already very well structured and organized with working groups around different areas such as orientation, dual training, institutional relations, dissemination to other municipalities, etc. However, during these four years the deployment of FP has taken place and the objectives and strategic lines of the FPCAT Agency have been developed, with which the Forum has worked from the municipal level. Regulatory changes have also taken place in this period, including the new Organic Law on VET. These regulatory changes have been incorporated into the new agreement, as well as the new VET councils that have been created recently in the Catalan territory. In this regard, the Councilor for Economic Promotion and Labour, Raquel Gil, said that the new agreement that has been created “recommends the will to grow a space for commitment and cooperation to work in a coordinated way and facilitate the transfer of knowledge and experiences, as well as acting before the relevant bodies, to defend the interests of the municipalities linked to the field of VET”.