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Overview of Apprenticeship in
Spain
Silvia Fernández Martínez
PhD Candidate University of Bergamo (Italy)/ ADAPT
Associazione per gli studi internazionali e comparati sul diritto del lavoro e sulle relazioni industriali
Framing the issue
Global economic crisis particularly affected Spain, specifically young people
Spain: one of the European countries with the highest youth unemployment
rate (between people without any studies certification but also with a
University Degree)
Disconnection between formal education system and labor market
Contract for Training and Apprenticeship: instrument to allow young people to
enter in the Labour market
Several reforms in the field of school-to-work transition and work-linked training =
scattered regulatory framework and legal uncertainty
Article 11.2 Estatuto de los Trabajadores- Royal Decree 1529/2012 of 8 November
introduced a new legal framework for the Contract for Training and Apprenticeship
Associazione per gli studi internazionali e comparati sul diritto del lavoro e sulle relazioni industriali
Objectives of the Contract
Not only the job performance but also the acquisition of a formation by the
employee = professional qualification, acquisition of skills and learning how to
perform a profession
New modality of contractual agreement = specific regulation
Theoretical training activity and practical training activity are two separated
moments
Theoretical training has to be related to the job
Alternation system of learning-by-doing. It will be more effective if the two
moments of the training will be integrated
Aim of the contract: implement the employability of young people
Contract for Training and Apprenticeship: instrument of labour insertion
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Features
Apprenticeship = employment contract
Employee has all Labour Law and Social Security rights, included unemployment
benefits
Legal regulation doesn’t contain limits about the number of Contracts for Training
and Apprenticeship that a company can conclude, collective agreements can not
introduced this limits
People from 16 to 25 years old, temporarily extended to 30 years until the rate of
unemployment in Spain goes beyond 15%
People without a degree
Modality of fixed-end employment contract = minimum duration 1 year and
maximum 3 years
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Features
Tacitly extended to an open-ended full-time employment contract if the
employee continues to provide services once the maximum duration of the
contract has been completed
Forbidden to conclude two or more Contracts for Training and Apprenticeship to
obtain the same qualification or in the same job position
Trial period: if after the Contract for Training and Apprenticeship, the employee
remains in the companny a new trial period cannot be established
Working time: effective working time in the workplace (75% first year and 85%
second and third year) and hours dedicated to vocational training
Possibility for temporary employment agencies to conclude Contracts for Training
and Apprenticeship: obligation of provide training activity
Remuneration: established by collective agreements. Hours of theoretical training
activity are excluded from remuneration
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Training activity
System of professional training is a new tool to implement the training component
of the Contract for Training and Apprenticeship
Obligation of the company: check the correspondence between vocational training
with job performance
Obligation of the apprentice: attend theoretical lessons. Hours of vocational
formation in the educational system are part of the object of the contract
Training activity can be provided in an attendance, semi-attendance or e-learning
system
It can be offered by an authorised Training Centre or by the company if it has
adequate installations, staff with the competences required and an authorization
Non-compliance of the obligation to offer training activity to the employee has the
consequence of extend the contract in an open-ended full-time contract
Associazione per gli studi internazionali e comparati sul diritto del lavoro e sulle relazioni industriali
Latin American Case
Situation of young people similar to Spain
Contract for Training and Apprenticeships born as an instrument to young people
to acquiesce experience
Lack of implementation
Fixed-term employment contract
Training activity:
Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile and Paraguay: training activity takes place in the workplace
Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru: Training Centres that provide theoretical training
activity outside the company
Associazione per gli studi internazionali e comparati sul diritto del lavoro e sulle relazioni industriali
Conclusion
Despite the effort of Government to implement the use of the Contract for Training
and Apprenticeship, data related to the number of contracts concluded are not very
encouraging
Contract for Training and Apprenticeship has been used mostly for its temporary
nature and has not achieved the objective to give practical formation to young
people
Contract for Training and Apprenticeship has been considered as a modality of
precarious work because of the low rates of real inclusion in labour market
Problem: cultural approach to dual training systems
Training activity is not correlated with the real demands of the companies