Vocational training can be defined as the process of acquiring specific knowledge, skills and competences to carry out a profession, position or function in a labour context, with the aim of preparing the person to act efficiently and effectively in the labour market.
It is a structured system that offers various qualification options, from short courses to longer programmes, covering technical and industrial, technological, social, service or management areas, among other areas of knowledge.
This training can be offered in face-to-face, distance learning, alternating between the training entity and the company, or in a work context, offering courses that prepare trainees to respond to the needs of the labour market.
The objectives of vocational training are
- To qualify and certify the labour force, preparing people to carry out professional activities with quality and efficiency.
- Promote employability by increasing people's chances of finding work and remaining in the labour market.
- Encouraging personal and professional development by stimulating the development of technical but also transversal skills.
- Contribute to economic growth by creating a qualified response geared to the needs of companies.
This training, like any form of transmitting knowledge and the consequent evaluation of results, must be preceded and accompanied by documentation that allows it to be recorded, because ‘Words fly, writings stay' (popular Portuguese saying). (popular Portuguese saying).
Technical and pedagogical documentation plays a fundamental role in vocational training, since it defines the guidelines and enhances the quality and effectiveness of training processes and initial or continuous learning.
A well-structured Technical and Pedagogical Dossier (TDP) makes it possible to:
- Consistent and coherent planning, facilitating the management of the training process.
- Transparency, communication and collaboration about the training process, allowing everyone involved - trainees, trainers, monitors or facilitators, coordinators and organisations - to have access to the same relevant information about the course.
- Documentary organisation of programme content and learning objectives, teaching methodologies and techniques, as well as teaching resources and equipment.
- Evaluation and continuous improvement by analysing the data collected, making it possible to propose or make adjustments to the learning process, guaranteeing its quality.
- Recording for future memory, as a history of the training process, allowing future access to information about the course, teaching practices used and results.
- Guarantee that the training complies with the rules and regulations established by the training organisations and regulatory bodies.
A Technical and Pedagogical Dossier (TDP) model may contain, by way of example, and depending on the type and modality of training provided, either the internal regulations of the training organisation and the respective system for certifying the qualifications obtained by the trainees:
- DTP cover
- Table of contents
- Programme content
- Timetable
- Characterisation of the trainees
- Identification of the trainer
- Order form for external services (from the trainer, for example)
- Session plans
- Cover of trainee documentation, if applicable
- Attendance register and summaries
- Trainer satisfaction questionnaire
- Trainee satisfaction questionnaire
- Occurrence log for trainer
- Record of suggestions and/or complaints for trainees
- Evaluation and grading boards
- Action/course report
- Certificate template (front and back)
If companies hire an external training company, certified by DGERT, it is this company that is responsible for building the DTP, which is increasingly happening digitally, so the model forms can differ greatly from company to company.
Since 2010 it has been compulsory to register trainees and issue vocational training certificates on SIGO - Sistema Integrado de Informação e Gestão da Oferta Educativa e Formativa - so that companies, in particular, can see the training given to their workers certified under the Labour Code. This platform is also used to consult and issue each citizen's Individual Competence Booklet (CIC).
For more information, you can consult the following websites:
- DGERT - Directorate-General for Employment and Labour Relations, the body responsible for vocational training policy in Portugal.
- IEFP - Instituto de Emprego e Formação Profissional, a public service whose mission is to promote the creation and quality of employment and combat unemployment
- ANQEP - National Agency for Qualification and Vocational Education, a public institute whose mission is to contribute to improving the qualification levels of young people and adults in Portugal.
