Building Up a VET System: Formal VET

Vocational education and training (VET) has been influenced by the changing social context and labour market. VET has been forced to adapt to new labour scenarios and to seek how to develop needed competencies for working in professional settings and preparing for this changing labour market. According to these social and labour changes and its new requirements, in Spain, since the middle of the twentieth century, there have been changes and reforms of formal VET with the main purpose of improving its quality, social recognition, accessibility, etc. This chapter provides an overview of Spanish formal VET system and its evolution until nowadays through a complete description of the laws that have influenced VET, listing its characteristics, objectives, structure, levels and curriculum or programmes and focusing on the need of working on a collaborative model among all social agents on VET for its success transformation and development.