The Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture announced today the implementation of vocational training courses for basic education in the next school year. This initiative is part of a series of measures designed "to promote the fight against school failure of youngsters attending compulsory schooling."

Speaking at a press conference held in Angra do Heroísmo, Luiz Fagundes Duarte stated that these courses are "primarily addressed at students aged 14 or over with severe problems of absenteeism, repeated academic failure and who face integration difficulties in the school community."

The courses may also be taken by students who "have face constraints in regular school and seek an alternative to the regular curriculum. They allow students to complete middle school and junior high school levels, and provide them the possibility of attending secondary school."

According to the Regional Secretary, the vocational training courses to be implemented in regional public school in 2014/2015 are based on a methodology that is primarily focused on "the acquisition of knowledge on structuring subjects within the regular curriculum."

This measure also allows students to contact three vocational activities that are directed to the development of skills that "may enhance their future integration into the labour market" as well as simulated practice, preferably in a business context. Moreover, the course will provide vocational guidance and stimulate the development of behavioural, relational and professional skills, through a personal and social development/school mediation component."

The Regional Secretary for Education, Science and Culture stressed that the personal and social development/school mediation component "is not included in the guidelines adopted nationally for these courses."

"However, we consider that it is essential because it favours the implementation of mediation and tutoring models as well as the provision of vocational guidance, which reassures the inclusive role of schools," added the government official.

"We are aware that, in many cases, school failure is beyond learning skills. Therefore, it is necessary to develop behavioural, relational and social skills among these students in order to build a positive model for students and their families," said Luiz Fagundes Duarte.

In this context, the Regional Secretary stressed that "some of these youngsters have given up themselves before dropping out of school. Hence, it is important to focus on the development of personal and social skills, with special emphasis on autonomy, persistence, self-knowledge and the recovery of positive models in the relation with other people."

 The selection of students for these courses will be made by school psychologists. The process will involve parents and tutors and the students themselves, "being in line the profile, expectations and training path for each of them." The number of students per class should be between 10 and 20," added Luiz Fagundes Duarte.

In order to ensure the coordination between several subjects and motivate students to develop cross-curricular work projects, focusing on a practical approach, the order regulating the creation of vocational training courses in a basic education level allows the allocation up to third of the workload of other subjects to the vocational training component. This measure has not been implemented at a national level.

The implementation of these courses, whose order was published in the Official Journal on May 5, is subject to approval by the Regional Directorate for Education, which will assess them by the end of the school year 2014/2015.

This project is part of the Programme of the Regional Government of the Azores, especially with regard to the goal to promote academic success at various school levels. It is a "strategy to combat school dropout, promote equality of opportunities as well as the personal and social development of youngsters, through measures designed to diversify the educational offer and the implementation of a wide range of school recovery programmes. They are intended to guide students with irregular school paths marked by absenteeism or school failure," stressed Luiz Fagundes Duarte.