On May 25th, together with Barcelona Activa, we were at the Night of the Barcelona Installers Guild, sharing a good time and the duties to continue explaining a profession with a lot of need for people to work, where VET plays a key role.

In this second episode, we talk to Laura Zurriaga, better known by her social media name @Croquetadexocolata. With Laura, we will explore the professional and educational transitions in life, the changes in professional direction, and how vocational training is a very valid and powerful option to carry out these changes.

Find out how vocational training can be the key to successful transitions in life and career!

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During the last week we have carried out a training stay with the management teams of centers in Barcelona, AMB and Mataró to learn about the Estonian training system and the VOCO VET excellence center in the city of Tartu.

The BCN FP Foundation has celebrated the sixth edition of the event of final presentations of the MètropolisFPLab at the convent of Barcelona Activa, with a series of final presentations of teams from different educational centers. The companies that participate in the project, and that launch the challenges are Resolve, MB92, Gpainnova, the Maresme Waste Consortium, the Port of Barcelona, the ZF Consortium, the Circuit de Catalunya, Aigues de Barcelona, Hospital Clínic, Institute of Marine Sciences, Ametller Origen, Universal Robot, Seabots.

The participating centers are from the center of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona and Barcelona City.

The final event and the awards ceremony will take place on June 6. Good luck to all the participants!

> There have also been 13 companies and 50 centers that offer professional training.

> The winners obtain a paid scholarship to develop their projects within these companies for two months.

The Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona (AMB), the Diputació de Barcelona, and the Fundació BCN Formació Professional have publicly presented the thirteen winning projects of the 6th edition of the MetropolisFPLab, held during the 2023-2024 academic year. More than 1,500 vocational training students from 50 schools have participated in this edition, and have responded to the challenges posed by 13 companies or institutions. As in previous editions, the winners have received a paid scholarship to develop their projects within these companies for two months.

The companies that have proposed challenges to the sixth MetropolisFPLab and the winning teams are:

COMPANY	CHALLENGE	WINNING TEAM
Mesoestetic	How can we design and create a system to receive, evaluate, and select proposals for improvement by operators or production technicians?	Chop Chops, de l’Escola Pia de Mataró
Consorci de Residus del Maresme	How can we separate and recycle the textile waste that we mostly throw away to mixed waste?	Projecte RenovaTèxtil, de l’Escola Municipal del Treball de Granollers
Marina Barcelona 92	How could we give a second life to plastic pellets from the recycling of the plastics we use in the shipyard?	JDC, de Sanitària Hospital del Mar de Barcelona
Hospital Clínic	What could we do to raise awareness and reduce the health problems generated by childhood and youth obesity?	NUTRIFIT, de l’Escola Joviat de Manresa
Port de Barcelona	How can we make known, through graphic material, the logistics chain of the port of Barcelona?	PortBCN a la vista!, del Col·legi Cultural de Badalona
Resol	How can we create and design a new type of mobility for outdoor use using recycled plastic?	Too Agency, de l’Escola del Treball de Barcelona
Aigües de Barcelona	How can we integrate and adapt different spaces and buildings in our city as future climate shelters within the reach of citizens?	Proven+Partners, de l’Institut Provençana de l’Hospitalet de Llobregat
Consorci de la Zona Franca	How can we position the Zona Franca polygon as a friendly, easy, and accessible work area for everyone?	UN STUDIO, de l’Escola del Treball de Barcelona
Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya	How can we create an information tool that manages the breakdowns and incidents that refer to the maintenance of the Circuit facilities?	LES TRES BESSONES, de l’Escola Pia de Mataró
Institut de Ciències del Mar	In coastal communities, how can we reduce the environmental impact and regenerate the coastline, the coastal ecosystem, and the sea ecosystem?	Institut Pedralbes, de l’Institut Pedralbes de Barcelona
Grup Ametller Origen	How can we design an intelligent hydroponic irrigation system that allows us to be more efficient?	Nova Rosada, de Sanitària Hospital del Mar de Barcelona
Universal Robots	How can we take advantage of the use of robotics and artificial intelligence to help elderly people with dependency and reduced mobility?	Botmate, de l’Escola Municipal del Treball de Granollers
GPA Innova Seabots	How can we improve the collection capacity of floating solids and hydrocarbons in a surface marine robot?	The Developers, del Col·legi Cultural de Badalona

Creativity and innovation have once again marked this edition, with very curious proposals. At the awards ceremony, Ester Pujol, director of the Area of Social and Economic Development of the AMB, highlighted “the quality of the finalist projects worked by VET students, who, with a focus on equity and a more sustainable world, have responded to the challenges and involvement of companies in professional learning”.

On behalf of the Diputació de Barcelona, Joan Josep Galiano, CEO of the Education Area of the Diputació de Barcelona, points out that “from Diputació de Barcelona we have made a very firm commitment to promote educational opportunities for everyone and to facilitate the educational continuity of young people. A solid educational itinerary, which provides a good level of competence, offers more guarantees of being able to move towards a more satisfactory life project, both professionally and personally. And in this sense, we hope that the participation of students in the Metròpolis FPLab project has been able to contribute to motivating them and encouraging them to continue their studies”.

For Sara Berbel, president of the BCN Vocational Training Foundation, “the Metropolis FPLab is a perfect binomial of interrelation between companies, institutions, and VET centers. All the projects that have reached the end of this 6th edition are very good and the quality, as the 13 participating companies have made us notice, increases year by year. We also want to highlight that the Metropolis FPLab is a project of great territorial impact with participants and winners from many centers and municipalities. Nothing would be possible without the great involvement of the tutors of centers and companies; they are essential for this project. See you in the 7th edition!“

During the event, two recognitions have also been made for the tutoring of the projects. Cristian Martínez, from the Marianao Institute of Sant Boi de Llobregat, and, by the tutoring in the company, Arnau Casanova, from Mesoestetic, have been recognized.

Likewise, Innobaix, a collaborating entity of the MetropolisFPlab, has presented the Innobus Award, through its director, Natàlia Mir, to the CVJH team of the Mercè Rodoreda Institute in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.

MetropolisFPLab: business innovation to enhance the employment of young people

The MetròpolisFPlab project was born in the 2018-2019 academic year as a fusion of three educational innovation projects: Innolab, from Innobaix; Port Innova, from the port of Barcelona, and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya program. It aims to highlight the talent of students and bring them closer to the labor market. It aims to promote the acquisition of key skills and promote the employment of young people.

On June 13, 2024, the Night of Entrepreneurship 2024 was held at the Casa Llotja de Mar of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce, an event in which the delivery of the 15th edition of the FPemprèn Awards and the 6th edition of the FPConsolida is celebrated.

The event, led by Clara Sanchez-Castro, was inaugurated by Mrs. Marta Angerri, member of the Executive Committee of the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce and president of the Women, Business, and Economics Observatory, Mrs. Sara Berbel, executive president of the BCN Vocational Training Foundation, Mr. Lorenzo Di Pietro, general director of Barcelona Activa, Mrs. Ester Pujol, director of the Area of Social and Economic Development

After the welcome speeches, the 6th FPConsolida award was presented, an award presented jointly with Netmentora Catalunya and the Department of Education, to the company Blue Containers Company, by Iv’n Romero, Anna Laura Bertero, and David Llusà. After the award ceremony, which was given by Mr. Alejandro Ribó, CEO of Netmentora Catalunya, we were able to learn about the experience of Ivan and Anna Laura with her company.

Subsequently, it was passed to the delivery of the 15th edition of the FPemprèn Awards. This edition has had 97 in the first phase, of which 69 have been evaluated, corresponding to 27 VET centers in the city of Barcelona and its Metropolitan Area and with the participation of more than 220 students. The winning projects in each category can be consulted HERE: https://www.fundaciobcnfp.cat/innovacio/fpempren/

Once all the categories of awards were presented, the closing ceremony was carried out by Mrs. Mercè Chacón, General Director of Vocational Training.

Photos of the event can be viewed here: https://mega.nz/folder/uAx3VI6b’n0GDhFq8KR8ueUvUPUqXAw

The BCN Vocational Training Foundation has received the Alianza Award for Dual Vocational Training, convened by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the CEOE, in the category “organization” by the Dual VET Project at the Barcelona City Council.

We manage the dual VET project of the Barcelona City Council with:

• Elevated investment (7.3M€)
• Dimension and impact (+ 2,300 apprentices in 10 years, each year it incorporates about 300 students in Dual)
• Bet and consolidation (+ 10 years)
• Leadership in the implementation of Dual in the public administration.
• Reproducibility in more than 149 municipalities in Catalonia.
• Involvement in a multitude of areas, services, and institutes of the city council, as well as with different organizations of the municipal scope.

The Gala of the VIII Awards Alianza para FP Dual Training was held in Madrid on June 20, and Neus Pons, director-manager of the BCN VET Foundation, and Javier Pascual, responsible for the Management of People, Organization, and Electronic Administration of the Barcelona City Council, received the award.

The Award aims to recognize the commitment of VET in Spain to give visibility to the good practices and agents involved, and also raise awareness in the educational centers, organizations, and society in general of the need to promote a great Dual VET.

Thank you very much to everyone who made it possible!

During May and June, two training stays were carried out in Estonia and Germany thanks to the Erasmus programs coordinated by the BCN Vocational Training Foundation.

First, 20 members of the management teams of vocational training centers in Barcelona and its metropolitan area have spent a stay in the city of Tartu to know first-hand how one of the professional training centers of European excellence is managed and organized, such as the Tartu Rakenduslik Kolledž VOCO (https://voco.ee/). 

Anmateix, the delegation of vocational training centers was also received by the deputy mayor of Tartu, by the companies Toyota and A. Le Coq Brewery, and by the professional training center specialized in health Tartu Health Care College (https://www.nooruse.ee/en/). Finally, the delegation was also able to visit the organization of Tartu as the capital of European culture in 2024 (https://tartu2024.ee/en/).

Secondly, 15 members of training centers in the field of intelligent and advanced industry were able to carry out a training stay in Hanover coordinated by the Industrie- und Handelskammer – IHK Hannover (Cambra de Comerç de Hannover) to know how industrial professional training is adapting to changes in the sector and how Germany tries to attract talent to professionalizing industrial studies. 

During the stay, the Befrufsbilden Industrial Vocational Training Centre was visited by Schulen Neustadt a. Rbge. (https://www.bbs-nrue.de/) and the electronic and industrial production companies Clarios (https://www.clarios.com/es) and Sennheiser (https://www.sennheiser.com/es-mx). Finally, the delegation was able to visit the Ideen Expo (https://www.ideenexpo.de/),

one of the European events of reference in the capture and promotion of industrial vocations in Europe. 

It should be noted that more than 30 centers were able to participate in the training stays: Institute of Audiovisual Media EMAV, Food Institute of Barcelona, Institut Escola d’Hoteleria i Turisme de Barcelona, Institut Pedraforca, Escola Massana, Centre d’Art i Disseny, Fundació Sagrat Cor Sarrià, Institut Joan Brossa, Institut Escola del Treball, Institut Salvador Seguí, Institució Cultural del CIC – Fundació Privada, Institut Francesc Ferrer i Guàrdia Badalona, Institut Alexandre Mussa.

The participants of the Singular Project have done a series of activities during June.
First of all, they contributed their reflections with care and advice services on drug use, the use of screens, and other risky behaviors in the prevention program “Let’s Chat!”
The following week, they went to DFactory Barcelona to meet the companies Leitat, Tetravol SL, and 5Skill Solutions. It was a day full of innovation and learning!
On Friday 7, we organized a visit to the Municipal Institute of Education of Barcelona for young people who graduated from the CFGS in Early Childhood Education, where they were able to solve all their doubts.
The following week they went out to visit the most emblematic places of the Poblenou neighborhood with about thirty users of the Pere Relats Foundation residence.
Next Friday they took a plogging walk, through various parks on Montjuïc, enjoying its beauty, and collecting the garbage that we were finding along the way, keeping Barcelona clean and caring for nature.
We have also learned to dance popular dances and we were taught La Casa dels Entremes, last but not least, we have participated in one of the rehearsals of the Castellers de la Vila de Gràcia.