EQUALITY

What we are going to discuss is: - F r o m o u r e x p e r i e n c e - How various equity parameters affect when allocating students to their companies in work placement?

PARAMETERS: EQUALITY SEX AGE MOBILITY LANGUAGES PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGEMENT COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER ACTIVITIES

E Q U A L I T Y SEX  The less influent parameter in every single subject.  Only in a few isolated cases companies have requested an specific sex.

E Q U A L I T Y AGE (1/3) Here we can distinguish between two ranges:  Young students.  Easy to allocate.  No big problems with them.  Not so young (please set the threshold on your own).  Some problems detected here. Companies show lack of interest due to some motives.

E Q U A L I T Y AGE (2/3 – Motives stated) Motives explicitly stated by the company:  Difficulties of adaptation to company's own working rules.  They find more difficult to complete and adapt the professional profile.  Used to lead young people.

E Q U A L I T Y AGE (3/3 – Motives observed) Our perception:  They try to avoid problems derived from conciliation between working and family life.  The younger the student is, the easier for he to assume non favorable conditions without claiming.

E Q U A L I T Y MOBILITY (1/3 – Students’ issues) NOTE: Some of the circumstances mentioned here are due to the characteristics of our environment. Regarding students:  Transport grants have been removed in the last few years.  Most of students don't owe a vehicle.

E Q U A L I T Y MOBILITY (2/3 – Companies’ issues) Regarding companies:  Some of the biggest companies are geographically dispersed.  There isn't an adequate public transport network to get to them.

E Q U A L I T Y MOBILITY (3/3 – Consequence) Consequence:  Sometimes, we have to assign students giving more priority to mobility issues rather than any other reason, like their aptitudes or interests.

E Q U A L I T Y LANGUAGES  English is the most frequently foreign language requested.  Sometimes, companies require this feature even if it's not actually required for the job.  Usually, the teacher in charge asks for volunteers and determines who are the most prepared.

E Q U A L I T Y PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGEMENT (1/2) This variable affects specially to:  Certificados de profesionalidad (Professional certificates)  600 hour courses.  To get basic professional competences.  Equivalent to ordinary vocational training.

E Q U A L I T Y PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGEMENT (2/2)  Formación profesional Dual (Dual vocational training)  New model (for us, not for you).  Where companies interview and choose the students.  They pay a small salary to them. In these cases companies prefer to choose students with previous degrees, ensuring that the candidate has more capabilities.

E Q U A L I T Y COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER ACTIVITIES (1/2) Students use to share their lessons with many other responsabilities nowadays, such as:  WORK: Mini-jobs or part time jobs.  FAMILY CARES.  OTHER STUDIES: University, courses on line, languages, etc.

E Q U A L I T Y COMPATIBILITY WITH OTHER ACTIVITIES (2/2) In any case, Education Administration in Spain forces the training period to be done at the company facilities and in a continued period of time. At this point we miss:  A longer period of time to complete the training, allowing more flexibility in terms of calendar and timetables.  The ability to perform the training using the tele-job mechanisms provided by Internet.

EQUALITY T h a n k s f o r w a t c h i n g