Centro de Formación Profesional La Planilla is a private institution that receives public funds from the Ministry of Education of the Community of La Rioja, which provides official studies. It provides both initial vocational training, continuous and occupational training for employed and unemployed people. In the initial vocational training field, the centre offers High-level Technical Degree in Early Childhood Education. Nevertheless, we intend to implement new High-Level Technical Degrees in further calls.

Our goal is to prepare personally and professionally trained people to maintain ethical behaviour, critical thinking, enthusiasm for learning, respect for the environment and be able to access the world of work or higher education. So throughout the formative stage we prepare students for the time to go to the Job Training Centres where they should put into practice all the knowledge learned.

In 2005 our institution collaborated with a vocational training centre in France by welcoming a group of French students coming from Grenoble for three weeks. These students were beneficiary of the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme. Our institution was responsible for looking for the enterprises for their practices in our region and accommodating them in our facilities.

Special attention is paid to the quality of teaching and research at partner institutions as well as their offer of teaching in foreign languages. Successful partnerships are based on reciprocity, balance of mobility and mutual interest.

In order to choose partners, we will request reciprocal collaboration with an institution in the host country, which helps us to arrange logistics matters. We will do some preparatory visits and select the companies suitable for the required needs.

Geographical and linguistic coverage is taken into account when selecting partner institutions. In the present, we are working with an French institution, concerning its experience in European programmes. However, our objective is to broaden broders and establish alliances in other European countries.

The participation of our Institution in the Erasmus programme is very important to our overall international strategy for the following reasons:

• to encourage international mobility among vocational students to complete their training in other European Union centres, either by training practices periods in the enterprises (once they have finished their studies) or training periods during the course of their studies
• to expand the border work of our students and make them aware of job opportunities beyond their immediate environment, and, of course, outside Spain, helping them not only to their professional enrichment but personal and human development, knowing the culture and the way of life of the country where they could be
• to provide teachers with opportunities for personal and professional development, and to promote the exchange of expertise and experience on pedagogical methods
• to allow students who cannot participate in a mobility programme to benefit from the knowledge and experience of teachers from other European countries
• to create European awareness in the field of labour and academic education of our students to be aware that they occupy a common space in the area of training, both professional and human, labour, and being also aware of the importance of common heritage history of the European Community
• in 2010 Centro de Formación Profesional La Planilla was awarded with the silver Q according to the model EFQM. We work on quality systems following strategy lines, one of which, line 7, refers to the adaptation of customers’ needs. One of these needs is our students’ training abroad.
• we carry out a process focused on traineeships with a careful management by using a tool called GESFOR
• to enhance the learning of languages, we are developing a project, called CLIC (Integrated Linguistic Competence in Centres), implemented in the High-Level Technical Degree in Early Childhood Education, in order to improve students’ academic and professional skills, and expand their professional field. This project has been approved and endorsed by the teaching staff and the provincial Department of Education of La Rioja
• to act as an educational reference for our city, Calahorra and the province, La Rioja
• to ensure the full dissemination of European Projects developed in our institution in different media: our website, social networks, radio, TV and magazines.

The target groups of mobility in the Erasmus programme are:

• Students in the High-Level Technical Degree in Early Childhood Education
• Students in the High-Level Technical Degree in Transportation and Logistics
• Students in the High-Level Technical Degree in Stylism and Hairstyle Management
• Staff of our institution who have the language skills required in the host country

Cooperation Project

Within the strategy of the organization, we include the intention to carry out cooperation projects with other EU centers for these reasons:

• to foster structured and transparent cooperation among HEIs and enterprises to facilitate achieving the objectives of EU Modernisation Agenda for Higher Education and to promote cooperation with other educational sectors
• to establish alliances between higher education institutions and enterprises promoting creativity and innovation by offering relevant learning opportunities
• to create a Europe of the citizens and increase the intercultural communication between them
• to improve language skills
• to support the exchange of experiences among the European Union Higher Education Institutions.

Policy objectives

Centro FP La Planilla has the Silver Q certifying the quality education that is taught, which is attractive for our students. The rate of higher education graduates is increasing. Currently, 40% are motivated to train abroad through European programmes. The ability to participate in the Erasmus programme will be a motivating incentive to open professional and personal horizons for members of the educational community.

One of the goals is that students and teachers can acquire the relevant skills, especially in the linguistic field, to succeed in high-skill occupations. We believe this goal will have a very positive impact within our organization and academic progress and work both lecturers and students of the school.

We estimate that the Erasmus programme provides more opportunities for students to acquire skills through additional education or training abroad, and to promote international cooperation to enhance performance of higher education. Therefore, the cooperation agreements, interinstitutional innovation projects will mean a breakthrough for achieving this goal.

The strategy of our institution identifies the quality of teaching, which is ensured by the provision of opportunities for faculty members to develop their training. Several measures are carried out such as attending educational courses, quality courses, foreign language courses, refresher courses, lectures, visits to other schools, contact with other centres for research on different methodological approaches, participation in innovation projects and improve teaching (CLIC, Emotional Education, etc..) and online training. Therefore, we believe that the mobility of teachers will provide modernization of the lessons taught, as it will allow teachers to acquire new expertise and teaching, which can then be shared with the faculty of their own institution. They may also conduct research in their areas of competence of our centre. The consolidated alliance between our institution and the host companies of trainees reinforces the knowledge triangle (education, research and enterprise). The Erasmus programme strengthens our work with companies from other European communities.

Our institution is working to obtain a new award for our management according the EFQM model and finding the best funding mechanisms to move forward in excellence. Participation in the Erasmus program will help modernize the operation of our center.

Contact

Sara Villoslada: svilloslada@laplanilla.org

Elba Carrera: ecarrera@laplanilla.org

Centro de FP La Planilla

Avenida de los Angeles s/n

26500 Calahorra, La Rioja

Spain

Tel: +34 941 131 643