To begin with, it was necessary to know what the reality of the companies was and last year a survey was conducted with 711 FP students from Gipuzkoa. The data for the 490 companies that were submitted to the elections were as follows: The second edition of the survey will be held this year. At the end of September 2014, a day of analysis of results will be held among all the actors involved in order to jointly agree on the steps to be taken.

“There is a concern that most of the students, being Euskaldunes, are thinking about what happens in practice.” Fermin Lazkano, head of the IMH Ekinberri project group, told us this. They started with a little research at school, and seeing that the results were not as bad as originally thought, they decided to see what state was also in the rest of the counties. This is how the Gehitu project came about. The project has the linguistic advice of Ahize-AEK and the collaboration of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa.

Data from students from 20 schools in Gipuzkoa were collected last year. They wanted to measure whether the FP students of model D, when they are going to do the internships, are attended in the language and have the opportunity to do the internships in Basque. This is the first phase of the project, of course, then the intervention phase will come, “once the data has been analyzed among all, among representatives of the company, those responsible for practices, those responsible for Euskera plans and institutional representatives”.

In the case of respondents in the 2012-2013 academic year, 53% were Model D students, while 33% were Model A students. The data collected were divided into three groups: in what language the students were received, that is, the first contact with the company was in Euskera – both orally and in the documentation received –; in what language they worked with the tutor designated by the company, that is, if the tutor was Euskaldun and, if so, if he worked in Euskera; and, thirdly, in what language the rest of the company was spoken. According to the data collected, there are at least 99 cozy companies, even if they are Euskaldunes, who worked in Spanish with their students. “There’s the task,” according to Lazkano. “It’s a reception, there are no technical difficulties and with little, the number would increase easily.” Guardians are more difficult. “It’s up to you Euskaldun, the one who wants to speak in Basque, the one who has the habit of speaking in Basque about his work, and speaking in Basque for three months as responsible …”. The amount is not, in his view, so bad: 42% were taught in Spanish and 37% in Basque. However, in addition, there are Euskaldunes who work in Spanish; according to the survey, in 50 cases, even if they are Euskaldunes, the students did it in Spanish. Therefore, “that would also be an interesting point of intervention.”

They will define the intervention when they collect and value the data from the second survey. But for the time being, a few phrases are already being invented. For example, to bring together those responsible for internships and to show in their procedures whether the tutors are Euskaldunes or not, and to follow up, “in cases where they are Euskaldunes, to ask the student to correct them in Euskera”. A dialogue campaign would then be held with employers, especially those companies that have Euskera plans. Lazkano, however, is aware that the origin of this project has emerged from the will of two or three educators concerned with the Basque Country and that educational centers cannot intervene in companies. However, it is clear that “vocational training practices are also part of the educational model” and that it is the responsibility of the centers that practice them in the model chosen by the students.

Therefore, and even recognizing that the degree of intervention of the centers is limited to observation, he considers it necessary to establish some type of procedure to automatically respect the model of choice of student.

Does FP offer in Basque?

The person responsible for the IMH says that there is a certain relationship between the school model and its use. “The fact that there are people who have worked in Basque, that is, who have been students of model D, has to do with receiving in Basque, but the rest of the models are much more related to Spanish,” explains Lazkano. In this sense, we wanted to know what the offer of Professional Training exists in model D and model A, since the level of Euskera knowledge of the student is a significant data. In the 2013-2014 academic year, 76% of the middle level Vocational Training students are in model A and 23% in D. The Department of Education indicated at the beginning of the course that the Basque model has increased in Vocational Training and that for the first time, more than a quarter of the students are in Basque.

By territory, the offer made in Spanish presents significant differences. Although in Gipuzkoa model D is the predominant in FP centers, in Bizkaia and Álava the supply of model A predominates. However, it is worth mentioning, for example, that in Álava there has been a significant increase in the demand of model D by the students. According to Eustat data, enrollment in Primary Model D increased by 12% between 2010 and 2011. If we add that in companies there is also a generational change and that in addition to being Euskaldunes, more have studied in Euskera, “this jump to work is also easier, because they have fewer problems using the technical Euskera”. Lazkano is therefore optimistic, as long as the intervention phase is agreed. In this sense, within 3-4 years the work done could be remedied, “if the intervention has had an impact or not”.