The Immersive Archive of Local Voices educational project, promoted by the Image and Sound department of the Junípero Serra Integrated Vocational Training Center (CIFP), allows students to actively participate in the preservation, documentation, and dissemination of the oral and sound history of the region. The initiative seeks to "record the present before it becomes the past," combining technical training with ethical reflection and fieldwork. This week, the project brought together professionals from the museum and fishing sectors to reflect on the importance of conserving tangible and intangible heritage and documenting living memory in a context of social and environmental change. On Monday, the first round table discussion took place with the participation of Toni Vich, director of the Marratxí Clay Museum; Aina Ferrero, director of the Inca Footwear and Industry Museum; and technician and professor Biel Company. The session addressed the cataloging of collections, heritage custody, and the social role of local museums.

In recent years, Vocational Training (FP) in the Balearic Islands has received a significant boost from both society and the government, with the aim of enhancing its prestige. This effort has resulted in greater visibility, stronger ties with businesses, and innovation in training programs, all in an attempt to demonstrate that FP is a solid and promising career path. Despite these advances, the reality for students remains precarious: almost half of those enrolled in Basic Vocational Training drop out before obtaining their qualification. According to data provided by Francesca Salvà, director of the Research and Innovation Laboratory in Vocational Training at the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), based on a monitoring study by the Ministry of Education, 42.4% of Basic Vocational Training students leave their studies before graduating, four percentage points above the national average. At the intermediate level, the dropout rate is 26.8%, almost the same as in Spain as a whole, and at the advanced level it reaches 18.5%, also above the national average. Although these figures are negative, they are better than in previous years. However, when compared to the overall school dropout rate, which stands at 20.14%, they prompt reflection on what is going wrong. This contrast between the image of vocational training as a successful and highly valued path and the dropout rates marks the students' journey. Many arrive without knowing exactly what vocational training entails, hoping for purely practical instruction, and drop out when they discover that the weight of theory is unavoidable. Families without the resources to provide support, overwhelmed guidance counselors, and a labor market that rewards a lack of qualifications exacerbate this problem.

The STEI union has denounced the fact that "it is becoming increasingly difficult for teachers supervising Vocational Training internships to find companies to place their students with." The union points out that this situation affects secondary schools (IES), Vocational Training Centers (CIFP), and Adult Education Centers (CEPA) in the Balearic Islands, and that the situation has worsened with the new vocational training law. "The new vocational training law increases the time required for in-company training and mandates internships in the first and second years of intermediate and advanced vocational training cycles," the union notes. "We already warned that, given the small and medium-sized business sector we have in the Islands, this would be complicated and would ultimately lead to conflict, as is now evident," they add. According to STEI, the difficulty in finding companies is compounded by the fact that "public educational centers face many obstacles in signing internship agreements with private companies." Furthermore, they denounce that "teachers have seen a reduction in the number of hours they have to find companies for student internships, thus preventing them from completing their Vocational Training studies."

The 2025-2026 vocational training course begins this Friday in the Balearic Islands with 20,991 students enrolled and 2,007 teachers in the classrooms. During the first phase of the admissions process, it was found that the most in-demand qualifications correspond to the professional areas of maritime and fishing, safety and environment, transport and vehicle maintenance, healthcare, physical and sports activities, administration and management, and computer science and communications. Furthermore, the most in-demand areas are personal image in Menorca and commerce and marketing in Ibiza. In Formentera, the offering remains flexible and adapted to the needs of the local productive sector.

The new Integrated Vocational Training Center (CIFP) in Alcudia will offer 15 training courses divided into three professional areas: Administration and Management, Hospitality and Tourism, and Food Industries. It will have 714 places and will provide students with practical training tailored to the needs of the labor market. The center will offer:

The building that was formerly the Palma Polytechnic High School will now house an Integrated Vocational Training Center (CIFP) and a Vocational Training Innovation Center. All of this will have a capacity for 2,000 students. The Regional Minister of Education and Universities, Antoni Vera, and the Director General of Vocational Training and Educational Planning, Isabel Salas, presented the preliminary project this Friday. The Polytechnic, Vera noted, will now house "two distinct buildings and two different structures." One of them will house a CIFP (Integrated Vocational Training Center) and the other, a vocational training innovation center. Together, they will have the capacity to train approximately 2,000 students, who will be able to complete 45 training cycles—basic, intermediate, and advanced—across 10 different professional areas.