The Council of Ministers has approved today the Project of Law of Artistic Education, which regulates for the first time in more
30 years of these studies (music, dance, dramatic art, conservation and restoration of cultural assets, plastic arts, design and audiovisual arts). This initiative responds to a historical and widespread demand for regulation by the sector. Likewise, the Government has approved the Royal Decree that sets the schedule for the implementation of the new Vocational Training system.
The future law on artistic education will affect 140,000 students and 14,000 teachers, and a sector with great social, cultural and economic potential. In the press conference after the Council of Ministers on Tuesday, the minister spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez, explained that the text has been approved in the second round and will be sent to Congress to begin its parliamentary process.
"This is a response to a demand from the artistic sector, which mostly welcomes this law," said the Minister of Education and Vocational Training, Pilar Alegría. "It closes a strategic circle that began with the Education Act (Lomloe), continued with the Vocational Training Act, the Science Act and, later, the Universities Act (LOSU)", added the minister who highlighted the "clear commitment " of the Government for the transformation and modernization of the educational system of the country.
The text homologates higher artistic education to the European Higher Education Area, equating them to university ones. And professional artistic education to the National Catalog of Professional Qualifications, that is, to the new FP system, also opening the possibility of recognition and accreditation of these skills for workers in the sector.
"It is a commitment to the modernization of the scientific and educational sector of Spain", Alegría emphasized, noting that for 30 years there has not been a basic legislation to encompass these teachings (Music, Dance, Dramatic Art; Conservation and Restoration of Assets Cultural, Plastic Arts, Design and Audiovisual Arts).
Alegría stressed that the text responds to a social demand from the sector, which is supported by the majority.
There will be four new teaching bodies (of higher education professors and professors; and of professional education professors and professors), in addition to artistic teaching workshop teachers.
The integration will be voluntary and a transitory calendar is foreseen.
The bill favors the research activity of public school teachers and their contribution to artistic creation. It also provides for the creation of new teachings such as audiovisuals.
The bill equates the scholarships of higher education students to those of university students. Finally, the centers will have more pedagogical and organizational autonomy and will be able to associate with each other to create campuses for the arts.
The Council of Ministers has also approved the Royal Decree that sets a four-year implementation schedule for the new Vocational Training (FP) system.
This establishes that in the next academic year 2023-2024 the competent administrations must begin to gradually implement the new training offer.
Thus, the law establishes a system by degrees of professional training (A, B, C, D and E) taking into account its breadth and duration continuously from micro-training (grade A) to titles and specialization courses or masters ( degrees D and E), based on educational progression and obtaining an accreditation, certification and degree. The modules will be accrediting and cumulative so that obtaining several, carried out in short training, can complete a major degree.
According to the new calendar, in the case of grades A (partial accreditation of competence), B (certificate of competence) and C (professional certificate) it must start before September 1, 2023 and will be completed on January 1, 2024.
Grade D (training cycles) will begin in the 2023-24 academic year, and will be completed in the following two years, with the curricula of the current cycles being extinguished at the same time.
Finally, each autonomy will implement from the next course the E degrees (specialization or masters) that it considers. And in the 2024-25 academic year, they will be implemented on a general basis.
In addition, the decree sets a date (before September 1, 2023) for the regulatory development of the main elements of the new VET system, such as the national catalogs of Competence Standards and Training Offers
Professional and the Modular Catalog of Vocational Training.
That same date will be the deadline for the start-up of state FP registries and competency accreditations.
professionals acquired through work experience or non-formal and informal routes and from the General Register of Vocational Training Centers. Regarding the general strategy for professional guidance, the Government must make it public before January 31, 2024.
