05/11/2014 COMPETIR – Formação e Serviços, S.A. Leonardo da Vinci Partnership Project Education Schemes as an Integration Tool A European Comparison (ESIT) Professional Training

In Portugal the immigrants have access to every kind of trainee that is offered, but for that they need a stable legal situation otherwise they can’t access the trainee. There are specific programs for immigrants and disadvantaged groups: POISE – Programa Operacional da Inclusão Social e Emprego (Operational Program for Social Inclusion and Empoloyment) What kind of training is offer to the immigrants?

Priority of investment Active inclusion, to promote equal opportunities and active participation and improving employability: – Objective: Promote the development and recognition of personal, social and professional skills potentially of the more vulnerable groups, enhancing their employability. – Action: Portuguese for all – Target: Adult immigrants residing in Portugal, duly covered by the law in force. Operational Program for Social Inclusion and Employment

The trainee for immigrants are mostly free, funded by public institutions and can be promoted by public or private institutions. If the target of the program where the trainee are included is immigrants then the group will be just immigrant people, otherwise, they can be included in groups with people not immigrant. Depending on the duration of the training they can have a theorical part very big, where the students are inserted in companies to practice what they learned. Operational Program for Social Inclusion and Employment

Depending on the immigrants the level of education are very different: – Immigrants from PALOPs (Portuguese-speaking language) – have a very low level of education; – Immigrants from east of Europe – mostly people with high qualification. What is the level of education inside the immigrants community?

The professional training replaces the regular education in the cases that gives students a certification/graduation. In the professional training the practical component is bigger than the one in the regular education. Students are included in the labor market when they are studding, preparing them for a future job. Does the professional training replace the regular education or it is just an extra thing?

In Portugal the mandatory education is 12 years. There are some programs for students that can’t make the regular education. They are sent to the professional education, a more practical education where the participants have a compensative level of education. Is it possible to "compensate" the level of education using the professional training?

In the professional training, if we talk about long term training (until 2/3 years), during the training the participants are included in some internships. After the end of the training they just have the support of the public institution (IEFP – Institute of the employment and professional training). After the end of the training, do participants receive some kind of support?

Mostly the immigrants come to Portugal to work, not to study, so they don’t see training as a benefit but an obligation. In some cases they just want to participate in some courses to achieve a legal situation in Portugal (eg. Portuguese for all). What is the approach of immigrants to the training offered to them?

Thank you!