Transiciones tempranas al mercado laboral. Los contratos de formación y aprendizaje, ¿oportunidad o trampa para los jóvenes?

Abstract

We focus upon the chances to train and equip young people, through apprenticeships, with qualifications. These were a traditional way to provide vocational training in preindustrial societies; the universalization of compulsory secondary school finished with apprenticeships in many countries, except118 those where social agents kept control upon decisions on VET, hence establishing a dual system. Apprenticeships are back in the past two decades. The incorporation of VET to the formal educational system in Spain did not contribute to promote its prestige. The combination of high rates of unemployment with high rates of early school abandonment whenever the economic cycles were high point to the many problems that apprenticeship contracts have in order to facilitate transition into active life, as well as the chances behind them.