Agenda
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In the context of its European Community of Learning Providers, Cedefop announces that the fourth meeting of the Working Group 1 “Learning Providers and the challenge of TEL: enhancing teachers’ and trainers’ e-skills” will take place in Paris on Monday 1 and on Tuesday, 2 April 2019.

The meeting aims at discussing the group’s work since its third meeting on 5-6 November 2018, in view of formulating by late 2019 concrete practical guidance to VET-providers and suggestions to the EU Commission for its post 2020 programming period.

More information will be available in due time.

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Cedefop informs that the fourth meeting of the thematic working group 3:  “Learning Providers and Migration: Empowerment and Integration through Learning” will take place in Rome on Thursday, 4 and Friday, 5 April 2019.

The meeting will focus on the group’s work since its third meeting on 20-21 November 2018, in view of formulating by late 2019 concrete quality guidelines to VET-providers and suggestions to the EU Commission in relation to its post 2020 programming period.

More information will be provided at a later stage.

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Cedefop is currently organizing the fourth meeting of the Working Group 2: “Learning Providers and the EU Mobility: Reinforcing VET attractiveness through Staff engagementplanned to take place in Aveiro, Portugal on Monday, 8 and Tuesday, 9 April 2019.

The meeting aims at discussing work progress since the group’s third meeting on 27-28 November 2018, in view of formulating by late 2019 concrete practical guidelines to VET-providers and suggestions to the EU Commission for its post 2020 programming period.

More information will be published in due time.

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Cedefop held the second policy learning forum (PLF), 'Unlocking the potential of learning at the workplace by, and for, teachers and trainers in VET'.

Teachers and trainers in vocational education and training (VET) work in the context of innovation, globalisation, rapid technological and societal changes that set challenges to education and training systems across Europe and globally.

The Riga conclusions (2015) called for systematic approaches to and opportunities for initial and continuing professional development of VET teachers and trainers, the European Framework for Quality and effective apprenticeships (2018) and the Teachers and Trainers Matter: How to support them in high-performance apprenticeships and work-based learning. 12 Policy pointers (2018) took forward the importance of teachers and trainers’ competences to ensure quality learning experiences. 

During the first PLF that took place in 2016, the participants discussed how to establish systemic approach to professional development of VET teachers and trainers and highlighted:

  1. their role as agents of trust in ‘crossing the barriers’ between the world of education and the world of work;
  2. the need to keep their level of professionalism up-to-date and in the lifelong learning perspective;
  3. balance between regulation and motivation to cooperate;
  4. the role of school leaders, employers and trade unions in supporting teachers and trainers and
  5. the impact of digital technologies

The second PLF invited the participants to discuss the ways how to build stronger bridges between the school and the workplace so that teachers and trainers benefit in their professional development and better support learners in innovative and effective ways.

The participants discussed the following:

  1. school leadership: their role in supporting teachers and learners and support to leaders;
  2. innovative approaches to professional development of teachers and trainers, including use of the potential of digital technologies and learning in industry;
  3. partnerships and cooperation of stakeholders and teachers and trainers for quality of learning and fostering exchange between teachers as experts in teaching and learning and trainers as experts in occupation;
  4. creating collaborative cultures and practices in schools and with the workplace; teachers and trainers as agents of trust between the school and the workplace;
  5. strategic approaches and use of research to support teachers, trainers and policy-makers;
  6. equipping teachers and trainers for modern pedagogical approaches, innovation and digitalisation, for working with learning-outcome-based standards, curricula and assessment, for supporting learners in various aspects, e.g. career guidance.

The participants exchanged and shared their experiences in policy and practice on the topic; established contacts and networking; and explored possible directions for further policy learning and policy implementation.

The policy learning forum brought together the participants from national, regional and local authorities, social partners, teacher professional associations, parents' and apprentices' associations.

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Globalisation, digitalisation and migration are changing the way we work and learn. Increasing skills mismatches and the challenge of integrating all learners into work and education call for everyone involved to act. Validation of prior learning (VPL) as a stimulus and ‘guide’ for sustainable personal, organisational and societal development is more relevant than ever. Validation is the process of making visible and giving value to individuals’ learning achievements, irrespective of their learning pathways.

The aim of the VPL Biennale is to strengthen the dialogue between policy-makers, practitioners, users of validation as well as other stakeholders in the process. The Biennale is a forum where different stakeholders can exchange knowledge, ideas and vision on how to make VPL work. The good practices and recommendations from the event will be used in the formulation and public adoption of the Berlin Declaration on VPL.

The third VPL Biennale focuses on taking stock of what has been achieved in terms of policy development and implementation in recent years and on how to move forward. Six VPL policy areas will be investigated:

  1. Organisational arrangements: how can bridges be built among stakeholders from the worlds of business, volunteering, and education for VPL results to have value?
  2. Financing: what forms of financing must in place to make VPL accessible to all learners?
  3. Procedures and instruments: what kinds of procedures and instruments provide valid results and can cater for a large number of candidates?
  4. Support structures: what support structures must be available to reach disadvantaged learners?
  5. Post-validation pathways: what follow-up actions are required for validation to facilitate further learning and career paths?
  6. Legal foundations: what issues need to be addressed by laws and regulations for VPL to be effective?

Apart from the conference, the Biennale will host a competition, the Global Validation Prize 2019. The competition has three categories: products, procedures and policies, and is open until 24 February 2019.

The Biennale has also launched a call for papers on ‘Current research and projects’, to be presented in an independent event at the Biennale (open until 1 March 2019). The Biennale invites presentations which highlight current academic research on the topic of VPL or showcase VPL projects in progress or recently completed.

Cedefop is contributing to the organisation of the Biennale hosted by the Bertelsmann Stiftung; its Organising Committee includes the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), the Nordic Network for Adult Learning (NVL), the European Centre Valuation Prior Learning (EC-VPL), the VIA University College, Globedu, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), the European Commission and Cedefop.

Find more information and register at: https://vplbiennale.org/

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Cedefop will host the 33rd ICT Advisory Committee Meeting of the EU Agencies (ICTAC), in Thessaloniki on Thursday 16 and Friday 17 of May 2019.

The mission of ICTAC is to promote inter-agency cooperation on issues of common interest in the area of Information and Communication Technologies, through knowledge and experience sharing and exchange of good practice.

ICTAC operates under the auspices of the EU Agencies Network. ICTAC meetings are forums of intense exchange and rich interaction. They have gained enormous traction among the wider ICT community of the EU Institutions and bodies and are highly regarded.

 

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Welcome to Cedefop Policy Forum: “What role for community lifelong learning centres? The potential of one-stop shops for preventing youth at risk from disconnecting”.

Cedefop, in cooperation with the Lifelong Learning Platform, organised this policy forum to explore the potential of community lifelong learning centres as one-stop shops for preventing young people at risk and early leavers from education and training from disconnecting. The event was hosted by the Romanian Presidency of the Council in its permanent representation to the EU in Brussels.

This policy form involved the participation of approximately 80 Brussels-based stakeholders from the permanent representations of Member States to the EU, the European Commission, the European Parliament, European agencies, European business and sector associations, trade union and employee organisations, as well as national policy-makers, practitioners and social partners involved in designing and implementing integrated services to tackle early leaving from education and training.

Event rationale and aims

From a lifelong perspective, tackling early leaving from education and training (ELET) is an ongoing process, which requires a multidisciplinary and whole community approach.

The EU currently focuses on young people aged 18 to 24 who did not complete upper secondary education. However, evidence shows that skills and competences acquired during the first years of life affect future education and employment prospects. At the same time, thanks to support available, adults who had previously ruled out education and training are increasingly rediscovering their learning potential. This is why tackling early leaving from education and training begins as early as in kindergarten (early childhood education), and includes compensation measures to support young adults in acquiring at least an upper secondary qualification.

Focus of the forum

The forum focused on the potential of multidisciplinary teams in community lifelong learning centres (CLLC) to play a key role in tackling ELET. The forum was an opportunity to discuss Member State experiences in using integrated service delivery (one-stop shops, case management and multi-skilled teams) in different settings. Participants considered the potential for establishing CLLCs in disadvantaged areas across Europe. These would offer access to a wider range of learning opportunities for people of all ages, maximising the support offered by multidisciplinary teams. Participants were invited to reflect on the post-2020 agenda in the field to ensure continued progress towards improving EU citizens’ qualifications and skills.

Objectives

  • Explore and learn from selected good practices in Europe providing a more integrated solution to youth at risk through community-based LLL centres.
  • Identify key elements to be transferred or replicated from good practices across Europe.
  • Strengthen the case for establishing CLLCs across Europe.
  • Acknowledge achievements and reflect on the post-2020 agenda for tackling early leaving form education and training.
  • Explore the new edition of the Cedefop VET toolkit for tackling early leaving and its updated resources.
  • Get familiar with the Cedefop Reflection tool assisting policy makers in taking action towards a comprehensive approach to tackling early leaving from education and training.
  • Learn about the role of ambassadors to Cedefop’s VET toolkit for tackling early leaving and join the community of practice.

Methodology

The Policy Forum required active participation from all participants involved in dialogue and exchange of good practices and experiences in the plenary sessions.

Working with us

Call for expression of interest

Reference
Cedefop/2019/01/SNE
Closing date
04/04/2019