IES Rodanas, Miralbueno and Ítaca, together with CPIFP Los Enlaces, will receive a grant of 3,000 euros each from the Department of Education to develop experimental programs of collaborative and challenge-based learning. Four educational centers in Aragon have been selected by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports of the Government of Aragon to implement, starting next school year, four experimental projects of methodological innovation in vocational training cycles that promote the transformation of the model towards collaborative learning based on challenges.
These are the IES Rodanas in Épila with its program “La Red del Rodanas”; the IES Miralbueno and ÍTACA in Zaragoza with “Design, calculation and construction of the best vertical wind turbine” and “A la marchíTACA”, respectively; and the CPIFP Los Enlaces also in the Aragonese capital with “Sounds good, sounds visual”. All of them will receive an economic aid of 3,000 euros from the educational administration for their implementation.
In addition, their selection will imply a time allocation of up to five teaching hours per week to carry out tasks related to these projects. The training needs linked to the projects will be managed and coordinated by the Innovation Center for Vocational Training of Aragon.
To implement the model, it is necessary to work in an interdisciplinary way in several modules that represent at least 70% of the academic load of a course of the corresponding training cycle. The project will be carried out for a minimum of three school years, that is, up to and including the 2026/2027 academic year, dedicating at least three months of interdisciplinary work in each academic year.
Innovation in Vocational Training is a priority highlighted in the V Aragonese Vocational Training Plan, which promotes the expansion of the challenge-based A.0 model to increase the number of educational centers and training programs that incorporate educational models that specifically emphasize the acquisition of both transversal and technical competencies. In this sense, collaborative projects, which are beneficiaries of grants awarded by the Department of Education, seek to change the formative paradigm in Vocational Training.
It is a different way of teaching and learning, a methodology focused on real projects and/or challenges, with the active participation of both companies and other institutions, aimed at developing the necessary skills for the working world of the future. The training courses that adopt the A.0 model must promote learning based on real projects and/or challenges, overcoming the traditional limitations related to pre-established modules, physical spaces and rigid schedules; thus following a model adapted to the specific characteristics of the Aragonese context.
The entire team of teachers, with the support of local companies and organizations, will identify a series of challenges close to the students, which they will have to address collaboratively and in groups. Teachers will change their traditional role of teaching a specific subject to that of tutor, guide and facilitator of projects and challenges, allowing students to be the active protagonists of the educational process. The teaching team will have the ability to reorganize educational spaces and manage the time dedicated to each activity.
Training will be adaptable, focusing on both technical skills and transversal competencies. This A.0 approach in training will address technical skills by anticipating the digitization of the sector and its impact on them, but will also pay attention to transversal, personal or social skills required by today’s work environment.
This training will be able to include new skills to increase the employability of students within their local context, taking advantage of the autonomy of the educational center. Companies, business groups, associations and other entities will actively participate in the creation of projects and challenges to bring the reality of the productive environment even closer to vocational schools.
