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The aim of the Changing nature and role of vocational education and training (VET) in Europe project is to improve our understanding of how VET is changing in the European Union countries (including Norway and Iceland). Over a three-year period (2016-18), the project will analyse how vocationally oriented education and training has developed and changed in the past two decades (1995-2015) and, on this basis, point to the main challenges and opportunities facing the sector today and in the future.

National qualifications frameworks (NQFs) help to make qualifications easier to understand and compare. They can also encourage countries to rethink and reform national policy and practice on education, training and lifelong learning.  

NQFs classify qualifications by level, based on learning outcomes - that is, what the holder of a certificate or diploma is expected to know, understand, and be able to do. This classification reflects the content and profile of qualifications. The learning outcomes approach also ensures that education and training subsystems are open to one another. Thus, it allows people to move more easily between education and training institutions and sectors.

Environmental change has been one of the key drivers of labour demand and skills supply across all sectors for the past years. Cedefop has been exploring the implications on jobs and skills for over a decade now. Since 2019, the European Green Deal (EGD) is the EU's new growth strategy, aiming at transforming the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 and where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. Leaving no person and no place behind this transition is another pillar of the EGD.

Implementing the EGD will affect all EU sectors and occupations, albeit in different intensities and directions. To better understand the implications in jobs and skills, as well as the role of VET in supporting the green transition, Cedefop's relevant work explores employment effects, skill requirements and implications for vocational education and training (VET) at EU, sectoral and occupational level. The main aims are to investigate the expected impact of the EGD and other EU environmental and climate change policies on future skills demand within and across sectors, and to provide insights for effective training and education policies and initiatives.

To learn more about Cedefop's recent work on skills and jobs for the green transition, you can listen to our podcast.

The importance to Europe of skilled and knowledgeable citizens extends beyond formal education to learning acquired in non-formal or informal ways. Citizens must be able to demonstrate what they have learned, to use this learning in their career and for further education and training.

Cedefop’s work on VET statistics and indicators supports evidence-based policy and practice in VET. It works to improve the availability, quality, relevance, use, analysis and dissemination of data on initial and continuing VET, adult learning and skill development, including labour market and other VET-related data. Cedefop cooperates with key stakeholders to develop and improve international statistics, including Eurostat and OECD. Project outputs include online access to statistical data and indicators at European and country level related to European VET policy, publications, data insights, analyses and updates to help interpret data meanings and trends.

The learning outcomes principle is - explicitly since 2004 - systematically promoted in the EU policy agenda for education, training and employment. The learning outcomes approach binds together important European tools developed during the last decade, notably the European Qualification Frameworks (EQF). At national level, the learning outcomes form the basis on which national qualifications frameworks  are built and is increasingly influencing the definition and writing of qualifications and curricula as well as the orientation of assessment and teaching and training.  

‘VET systems in Europe’ is the most comprehensive information resource on vocational education and training (VET) systems in European countries. 

It is essential that teachers and trainers have opportunities to develop and maintain their technical, pedagogical and transversal skills to the highest standards. Cedefop supports the implementation of European strategic objectives for high quality professional development accessible to all VET teachers and trainers in Europe.

In this project Cedefop monitors the implementation of the common EU priorities in VET and analyses key achievements and challenges in the European cooperation in VET since 2002 (known as Copenhagen Process).

The project's objective is to monitor EU member states’ strategies and mechanisms for financing vocational education and training (VET) and to investigate their effectiveness and efficiency. This site provides information on investment in VET and on developments in VET funding systems and instruments. The analysis focuses on cofinancing, looking at roles of different stakeholders in sharing costs and responsibilities in VET.

The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) is a common European reference framework whose purpose is to make qualifications more readable and understandable across different countries and systems. Covering qualifications at all levels and in all sub-systems of education and training, the EQF provides a comprehensive overview over qualifications in the 38 European countries currently involved in its implementation. In close cooperation with the European Commission, Cedefop provides analytical and coordination support for the implementation of the EQF and carries out a number of comparative studies and analysis on issues related to the implementation of the framework at EU, national and sectoral level.

Cedefop’s European skills and jobs survey (ESJS) has revealed that about 45% of EU adult workers believe that their skills can either be better developed or utilised at work. European policy that mitigates skill mismatch can thus be conducive to raising productivity and improving worker well-being.

But better matching a country’s skill supply to the needs of its economy is a dynamic process that requires policies to increase education and training responsiveness to labour market needs. Mitigating skill mismatch in an era of fast-paced digitalisation, AI and automation requires a well-developed skills anticipation infrastructure in countries and an integrative approach to skills governance.

The purpose of this project is to support the design, diffusion and implementation of VET policies and measures helping adults, especially the low-skilled, to achieve the knowledge, skills and competences required for work, employability and lifelong learning.

Lifelong guidance aims to provide career development support for individuals of all ages, at all career stages. It includes careers information, advice, counselling, assessment of skills and mentoring. Quality guidance services should be available to all individuals, regardless of their employment situation, socioeconomic status, ethnicity or gender. Cedefop’s lifelong guidance project develops research and knowledge exchange for the improvement of guidance and counselling across the European Union.

Cedefop Skills Forecast provides comprehensive information on future labour market trends in Europe. The forecast acts as an early warning mechanism to help alleviating potential labour market imbalances and support different labour market actors in making informed decisions.

Quality assurance in vocational education and training (VET) is a key priority at EU level to improve the quality of VET systems, and increase transparency of VET developments between Member States, thereby supporting mutual trust, mobility of workers and learners, and lifelong learning.

In cooperation with the European Commission, Cedefop supports the implementation of the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET).