European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas and Commissioners Nicolas Schmit and Mariya Gabriel presented proposals for Council Recommendations on individual learning accounts (ILAs) and microcredentials, at a press conference, on 10 December.

‘We are coming today with very concrete, emblematic initiatives. They are particularly interesting because they are new, fresh, modern, they concern every European and I think they are easy to understand,’ said Mr Schinas.

At the Porto Social Summit, in May, an EU-level target of 60% of all adults taking part in training every year by 2030 was set. The proposals aim to help Member States meet this target.

The proposed Council Recommendation asks Member States together with social partners to:

  • set up ILAs and provide training entitlements for all adults of working age;
  • define a list of labour-market-relevant and quality-assured training that is eligible for funding from the ILAs and make it accessible through a digital registry;
  • offer opportunities of career guidance and validation of previously acquired skills, as well as paid training leave.

The Commission proposal also seeks to make microcredentials work across institutions, businesses, sectors and borders. To that end, Member States should agree on:

  • a common definition of microcredentials;
  • standard elements for their description; and
  • key principles for their design and issuance.

A current Cedefop project looks at the potential of microcredentials and the topic was extensively discussed at a recent conference.

A European ecosystem

As Mr Schinas said, ‘microcredentials are shorter, more customised courses and we need with this proposal to ensure that we create a European ecosystem around them. We need to stimulate the offer, to stimulate the demand and to promote knowledge, skills and competences, preparedness to be able to provide microcredentials, and equal opportunities, which is a constant priority in this area.’

Referring to the ILAs, the Vice-President noted: ‘They are something each of us can have, it is portable, mobile and we can have it in our individual wallet. The initiative is very timely, relative and opportune because it allows us to respect one of the main targets we announced in the European skills agenda, the objective of 60% of adults in training each year, which we have some distance to cover to comply. But the added value of this ILA approach is that it helps us counter and correct some of the pathologies associated with training in Europe: lack of motivation, lack of time, lack of funding.’

On his part, Commissioner Schmit underlined: ‘Principal number one of the European pillar of social rights is about the right to have good education and the right to lifelong learning. The two instruments that we propose today are the concretisation of this right. Microcredentials can be extremely important because they can be mobilised rapidly. This is very useful, especially in the digital age when we must retrain people for the digital technologies.’

Mr Schmit also argued that ‘each person, each citizen has the right to have an ILA. It’s also important to transform the mindset, the relationship with training. We have a low number of people going through lifelong learning, and the least-trained get the least retraining. ILAs exist in a few countries, very successfully, but we have to see how European resources can help set and scale up these accounts to make them available to everybody.’

Speaking about microcredentials, Ms Gabriel noted: ‘They are already largely used across the EU; they have been developed by several public and private actors and are available in various informal and formal learning situations and contexts. We still have obstacles when it comes to the full use of microcredentials. People don’t always understand their exact value and there is a lack of quality and transparency. And that considerably limits the amount of confidence and trust that people place on microcredentials. We are proposing a European approach to overcome the existing obstacles.’

Replying to a reporter’s question, Mr Schinas gave an example to illustrate the substance of the Commission proposals: ‘In September, we were together with Mr Schmit in my hometown, Thessaloniki, which has become a vocational education and training (VET) hub because it is the seat of Cedefop, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training. We visited some classic VET projects and I was really impressed by the quality, the professionalism and the engagement of the teachers and learners who follow the European apprenticeship model. This is an example to follow, and it is compatible with what we are presenting here today.’  

What’s next

The proposals will be negotiated with Member States. Once adopted by the Council, the Commission will support Member States, social partners and relevant partners in implementing these Council Recommendations.