An introduction to our institution. Tomás Alonso Pérez. Principal

MOVING AHEAD, TOWARDS THE FUTURE FROM THE PAST

OUR CENTER

IES FRANCISCO TOMÁS Y VALIENTE is a public center for Vocational Training in the Community of Madrid.

Its origins date back to 1986, back then, it was sited in the district of HORTALEZA. Initially called IFP HORTALEZA, it changed its name in 1997 to pay tribute to the former President of the Constitutional Court and TEACHER at the Autonomous University of Madrid, FRANCISCO TOMÁS Y VALIENTE killed by the terrorist group ETA on February 14, 1996.

It was in the 1996-97 academic year that the members of the Educational Community decided to change the name of the institution. A public contest was held, and three names were taken to the School Board, including Francisco Tomás y Valiente’s name, who has just been killed by ETA some weeks before.

Having been a teacher himself, our current name is a tribute to his teaching work.

Two Vocational Training Families are taught in this center: Administration and Management and Electricity-Electronics. We teach the three levels: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced.

In our Teachings section you can see the different training cycles in each of the specialties.

The Management Team

IES FRANCISCO TOMÁS Y VALIENTE is a public school for Vocational Training in the Community of Madrid.

Its origins date back to 1986, back then, it was sited in the district of HORTALEZA. Initially called IFP HORTALEZA, it changed its name in 1997 to pay tribute to the former President of the Constitutional Court and TEACHER at the Autonomous University of Madrid, FRANCISCO TOMÁS Y VALIENTE killed by the terrorist group ETA on February 14, 1996.

It was in the 1996-97 academic year that the members of the Educational Community decided to change the name of the institution. A public contest was held, and three names were taken to the School Board, including Francisco Tomás y Valiente’s name, who has just been killed by ETA some weeks before.

Having been a teacher himself, our current name is a tribute to his teaching work.

Two Vocational Training Families are taught in this center: Administration and Management and Electricity-Electronics. We teach the three levels: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced.

The advantage of being a centre dedicated exclusively to Vocational Training is that it allows us to work on the basis of the following pillars:

1) The development of the potential of the person, no matter what level they study, through digital, technical and methodological innovation in a learning process to which the teaching staff also contribute. We participate in a multitude of innovative initiatives aimed at this goal.

Digital innovation: The demands of today’s market require professionals to have a high level of digital competence, regardless of the family they belong to. In this sense, we have requested a 3-year digital innovation project to support the strategy that has been implemented for years.

We also participate in the Selfie initiative, to diagnose the digital competence of the entire educational community.

One of our objectives from this academic year (which forms part of the key strategy of our Entrepreneurship Project) is that all our pupils graduate having acquired notions of digital design and manufacturing.

Methodological innovation: We encourage the development of project-based teaching at all levels of education, but especially at those where this innovation makes a difference. Some projects are particularly challenging, as they put our learning capacity to the test: the GarageLab project (originating in the Orange Foundation call for proposals) which requires working with Basic Vocational Training using agile methodologies or the NEST project of the Empieza por Educar Foundation which involves monitoring new teachers in their teaching practice through observation and subsequent evaluation for improvement.

We try to bring the curriculum closer to the reality of the centre through different methods. For example, in the recent construction of a Technological Innovation Pole and VET Business Incubator, our Electrotechnical and Automation Systems students designed the electrical installation and home automation, the Electrical and Automatic Installations students carried it out and the Basic VET students assisted them in the installation and assembly.

Technical innovation: this is achieved thanks to the contact with collaborating companies that actively participate in the students’ training. In addition, we participate in innovation projects of the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, in collaboration with other schools (from other Autonomous Communities) and companies. Our connection with companies allows us to tackle projects that modernise our facilities, such as the imminent installation of a charging point for electric vehicles or the manufacture, with the participation of our students, of an industrial wind turbine.

We also have two workshops with manufacturing and digital design machines so that students of all levels and professional families are able to create functional prototypes and models, within the framework of a strategic entrepreneurship project. We have a multitude of 3D printers, two industrial laser cutters, two vinyl cutting machines, 3D scanners, etc…. This type of technology is increasingly valued in the professionals of the future and we want our students to participate in learning these technologies as a preamble to their future need for continuous digital training.

2) Openness to agents that bring the professional and social world closer to the students’ training: social and sectorial foundations, professional associations, administrations and collaborating companies.

Contact with our partners enriches our students’ learning. At the time of writing this project, some of the most significant contacts are as follows:
– Acciona, which has just moved its head office, close to the school, which makes it easier for us to carry out collaborations. We are not only talking about visits that have already taken place, but also about the training received and given by our students in design and digital manufacturing.
– The Iberdrola Foundation finances teacher training that is carried out and developed by the Empieza por Educar Foundation, specialising in students with low levels of motivation and self-concept, and we currently have a trainee teacher specialising in this type of teaching.
– The FENIE Energía Foundation, through various companies, is collaborating with our students and teaching staff to install an electric vehicle charging point, as well as financing it.
– The Exit Foundation has a pilot programme with our students to monitor students in the dual mode. Likewise, for more than 7 years we have been participating in the Coach project for school mentoring by professionals who hold executive and managerial positions.
– We participate with the Orange Foundation in calls for applications in which our students showcase their skills in design and digital manufacturing as part of the GarageLab project. The Mayor of Madrid, José Luis M. Almeida, visited our school in 2021 to discuss this project.
– We collaborate with the Centro Público de Educación Especial Princesa Sofia and the Aulas TEA del Real Colegio Nuestra Señora del Loreto. Our Basic Vocational Training students design and manufacture adapters, splints and appropriate tools for children with functional diversity and people on the autistic spectrum.
– Thanks to our Solar Project – Energy Classroom (awarded in the 2019 Dualiza call), we receive schools and institutes of the environment in a scientific dissemination project with which our VET students train ESO students in renewable energies, while disseminating the real work we do in Vocational Training. This project was awarded in the III Convocatoria Dualiza Bankia.
– From our simulated companies (awarded as an innovation in 2006 and included in OUR OWN PROJECT), we participate annually in company fairs with other simulations from Spain and Europe, carrying out real operations within a Sefed simulation environment of the Inform Foundation.
– Internationally, we have recurrent contacts with companies and educational centres abroad. We have consortiums with the XarxaFP network of the Madrid City Council, and with the D.G. of Centres and Vocational Training of the Community of Madrid. We also have recurrent initiatives with educational centres in France, Sweden and England. We are currently in talks with companies in Poland, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Slovenia, Romania and Lithuania to host IVET students.
– The recent construction of our ViveroIESFTV VET business incubator is connecting us with the Municipal Council of Hortaleza to promote entrepreneurship at a local level in collaboration with local agents.

3) The visibility and dissemination of the talent of Vocational Training students, promoting the dissemination of a real image of these studies that is not always known. It is a local dissemination, with a national but also international character. Internationalisation is a very important part of the centre’s vocation.

Our belief in the value of work leads us to disseminate the value of our work. We try to promote this image of Vocational Training in our digital reputation, both on the web, forums, social networks, etc. We try to disseminate the activities that are carried out in our centre, but also recurrently showcase samples of the know-how of our students.
Whenever we have the opportunity, we attend meetings, congresses and meetings to disseminate successful experiences. We recently participated in the IV Congress of the Region of Murcia, in the Circular Economy Congress in Teruel and we will soon participate in the II Virtual Meeting of Reference in Educational Innovation for Vocational Training Teachers, in a Vocational Training congress in Aragon and in another one in Ceuta, always invited to show the results of some of our most outstanding projects.
We are members of the most relevant associations in our sector, such as FPEMPRESA (national) and EFVET (international), with the aim of creating networks and exchanging and disseminating experiences.
We have recently participated in a report for the programme Informe Semanal of RTVE, in another report for the programme «Aquí hay Trabajo» of La2 of RTVE, and recently a recording has been made in our centre which will be broadcasted in the weekend news programme of RTVE.

Mr. Francisco Tomás y Valiente: Life and work.

Born in Valencia in 1932, he studied Law, and started teaching at Salamanca University where he was up to 1980 when he moved to the Autonomous University of Madrid. He was awarded many different titles and awards, and was made Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Salamanca in 1995.

Along with his huge writing, teaching and research work, Francisco Tomás y Valiente was a Magistrate of the Constitutional Court from 1980 to 1986, and its President between 1986 and 1992. He was also a member of the Arbitration Commission of the Conference for Peace in Yugoslavia in 1991, and Permanent Counselor of State since 1995 to his death.

Almost withdrawn from public life, he was killed in 1996, while working at his desk as Professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid.

Millions of white hands, millions of innocent hands have risen since then, claiming «enough is enough!» every time ETA strikes reason.

Francisco Tomás y Valiente died for having defended the Constitution throughout his life, a fact which was even more visibly in the last stage of his life, defending the Rule of Law against terrorism. He died because he wanted to teach another language: the language of reason, which is the language of Peace and the language of good people.