The deputy delegate of the Government in Ourense, Eladio Santos, reaffirmed the commitment of the Government of Spain to innovation in professional training. He did so during a visit to the new Classroom of Applied Technology (ATECA) of the Institute of Secondary Education Lauro Olmo de O Barco de Valdeorras, where he was accompanied by the mayor of the municipality, Aurentino Alonso; the territorial director of Education, Science, Universities and Training, Jorge Rubén Sampedro, and the director of the center, Amparo Quiroga.
The subdelegate explained that the ATECA Classrooms are a fundamental element of the Plan for the Modernization of Vocational Training in Spain, promoted by the Ministry of Education, Vocational Training and Sports. "Students go to the job market with much more chances of finding a job and with a solid knowledge of the digital world in which companies move," he said.
In this regard, Eladio Santos stressed that since 2020 the Government of Spain launched a profound reform of its Vocational Training system around three axes: the updating of the training offer, the promotion of the system of accreditation of competences and the reinforcement of the guidance system to improve professional accompaniment.
Hybrid-virtual classroom
The project that premieres in this course the IES Lauro Olmo is called Hybrid-virtual classroom and is related to the teaching of transport and maintenance of vehicles. To enable it, the center received a grant of 55,000 euros from the Ministry of Education, within the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, financed with Next Generation funds.
Thanks to the funding, the institute’s project focused on the modernization of a classroom that was 40 years old, through the expansion of the car entrance, the assembly of a new elevator, the installation of a vehicle charging station and the acquisition of a vehicle and an air conditioning charging station adapted to current cars. In addition, state-of-the-art material was incorporated: virtual reality glasses, a smart TV, a diagnostic machine in tablet format and an oscilloscope for signal verification.
ATECA classrooms
The Applied Technology Classrooms (ATECA) are spaces intended for students of Vocational Training, which are highly specialized and equipped learning places. They promote collaboration and the use of novice technologies such as mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR). They often recreate real-world technological work scenarios, with the aim of making students perfectly aware of the demands of the present and future world of work.