Linking vocational training centers to their environment

Abstract

Among the most pressing social challenges today is the formation of individuals in a complex and unstable social and labor world. Organizations should enhance collaboration as an element for the social transformation and development of the individuals linked to them. In this regard, vocational training should meet the needs and interests of both the work environment and students. A questionnaire was administered to the management teams of 193 regulated vocational schools in Andalusia from a total population of 383 to determine the collaborative relationships they maintain with the environment. The results reveal possible models of centers depending on the nature of their collaboration: administrative (A), initiation (B), formalized (C) and support (D). Support centers are those which have established a culture of collaboration that strengthens and promotes the teaching of vocational education and the professional and personal development of students through networking with the environment. The results can aid in establishing guidelines to enhance collaboration between schools and their reference communities and organizations at the macro (government and administration) and micro (managers and institutions) levels.