Skip to main content
European Commission logo

Eurydice

EACEA National Policies Platform:Eurydice
Quality assurance in adult education and training

Spain

11.Quality assurance

11.3Quality assurance in adult education and training

Last update: 23 June 2022
On this page

Adult education and training provision is vast and depend on those responsible for training and providers. 

Responsible bodies

Adult Education is offered either by educational or labour administrations. Depending on the administration in charge of adult education and training, two types of provision can be distinguished:

1. Lifelong learning

The bodies responsible for the evaluation of specific plans for lifelong learning are:

  • regional education authorities
  • the Subdirectorate General for Lifelong Learning of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MEFP), in charge of the academic organisation of adult education and the development of the training provision in the relevant area of management of the Department regarding this issue. It also manages the Centre for the Innovation and Development of Distance Education (CIDEAD) and specific distance provision for adults.

2. Vocational training for employment, formal and non-formal

The employment authorities are in charge of promoting the improvement of quality so that training responds to the needs of both employed and unemployed workers and companies. For that purpose, they have implemented evaluation mechanisms in order to assess the following aspects:

  • the impact of the training undertaken on job access and retention, the improvement of the employability of workers and the improvement of the competitiveness of companies
  • the effectiveness of the system in terms of the scope of the training and the adequacy of actions to meet the needs of the labour market and companies
  • the efficiency of the economic resources and the means used.

The responsible bodies for quality assessment are:

  • the Public State Employment Service (SEPE);
  • the Tripartite Foundation for Training in Employment;
  • the competent bodies in the different autonomous communities.

SEPE is an autonomous body of the General State Administration, currently attached to the Ministry of Labour and Social Economy, which is entrusted with the organisation, development and monitoring of Employment Policy programmes and measures.

The Tripartite Foundation for Training in Employment collaborates with SEPE and, as its technical support, both are in charge of managing the training initiatives that constitute the Employment Training System. They also support evaluation, monitoring and control activities, as well as the implementation of telematic systems for their development and execution.

Approaches and methods for quality assurance

Different mechanisms are already in place to evaluate adult education, depending of the administration in charge of providing and managing the training in question: 

1. Adult education within the education system

Characteristics of the evaluation of adult education:

  • it is conducted in public or private educational institutions which are authorised to offer distance education for adults;
  • if students reside out of the locality where the authorised institution is located, external evaluations can be conducted outside such locality, in accordance with the requirements of the collaboration agreement between the distance learning educational institutions for adults, or through other forms that will ensure the proper conduct of the tests.

2. Vocational training for employnment, formal and non-formal

It is the responsibility of each competent Public Administration, in its respective field, to ensure the quality of professional training for employment. To do this, through the evaluation of training, the following are carried out:

  • a process of permanent evaluation of vocational training for employment in its field of action;
  • an annual plan for evaluating the quality, impact, effectiveness and efficiency of the entire vocational training system for employment in the workplace, the conclusions and recommendations of which should lead to the incorporation of improvements in its management;
  • the implementation of systems and tools for continuous quality improvement in the centres that provide training actions. To measure quality, it will set criteria and indicators in accordance with instruments that it develops for this purpose.

Centres and entities that provide the training will collaborate in the evaluation of the training they carry out. Likewise, the competent administrations will publish the results of the evaluations carried out, allocating a space for information and consultation that is easily accessible and identifiable.

Each competent Public Administration will monitor all the initiatives and delivery modalities and will evaluate the results of the training, thus contributing to the measurement of its impact. This monitoring and control is carried out in accordance with what is determined in each annual Monitoring and Control Plan.

3. Participation of Spain in the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC)

It assesses the competencies of adults aged 16 to 65 in key information processing skills: reading comprehension, mathematics and problem solving in IT environments. This international assessment has so far been carried out in 35 countries and economies. Spain participated in the first edition of this study in 2013, the results of which have already been published and is currently also participating in the last round, which is now it the pilot phase. The PIAAC Cycle 2 study and the next main study will take place between fall 2022 and spring 2023.

The assessment measures adult competencies in key information processing skills: reading comprehension, mathematics, and problem solving in computerized settings. In addition, it collects information on the use that adults make of their skills in their daily life and at work.