Cedefop newsletter

High-level representatives of international organisations working on vocational education and training (VET), including European Training Foundation (ETF) Director Pilvi Torsti, had the opportunity to discuss recent developments, ongoing work in working groups, how artificial intelligence influences skills development and how TVET can respond to crisis situations.

Cedefop Executive Director Jürgen Siebel opened the event arguing that ‘perhaps the time is ripe for the interagency group to start reflecting on possibilities to create implementation partnership plans, common to all participating agencies, so that support to individual countries can materialise through a concerted effort backed by shared information and evidence. As strategic targets for VET or TVET cross-cut between the agencies, the next step for the group could be to design a roadmap for shared interventions.’

The IAG-TVET was created by UNESCO in 2008 to ensure good coordination of activities by the key international organisations involved in the delivery of policy advice, programmes and research on TVET. The group has improved knowledge-sharing and a common understanding of key issues. Its goal is to better leverage the work of each member organisation to help countries design and implement more effective TVET policies and improve productivity, economic prosperity, sustainable development and employment opportunities.

In the context of this group, Cedefop has had the opportunity to cooperate with most of its members, such as UNESCO, UNEVOC, ILO, OECD, World Bank, the ETF, the European Commission and other international bodies.

Cedefop Head of Department for VET and Qualifications Loukas Zahilas, who co-chaired the meeting with UNESCO’s Hervé Huot-Marchand, referred to the cooperation within the dedicated working groups as a mechanism to carry forward work on specific priorities by shedding light on themes like TVET indicators, career guidance, future of TVET and work-based learning.

Cedefop-ETF knowledge-sharing seminar

The directors of Cedefop and the ETF signed a new framework of cooperation between the two agencies for 2024-26 before the Thessaloniki leg of the traditional knowledge-sharing seminar on 8 December.

The two sister agencies first developed a formal collaboration through an agreement in 2001, in advance of the EU enlargements of 2004 and 2007, and have continued to work together since.

Opening the seminar, Mr Siebel said: ‘We strongly believe that through knowledge sharing and active participation in the activities of the agencies, the ETF and Cedefop deepen their expertise and ensure continued complementarity of activities and the required synergy. Further deepening our cooperation has produced visible results by successfully informing EU policy shaping and implementation in a coordinated manner’.

The event benefitted from the involvement of members of the Inter-agency group on TVET, who took part in the group’s meeting the previous day. The seminar’s theme, excellence and inclusion, gave participants the opportunity to be informed about the ETF’s work and Cedefop’s planned activities.

One of Cedefop’s key priorities is to provide its users and stakeholders with skills intelligence, which synthetises key findings from the Agency’s research and analysis on skills and labour market trends. Skills intelligence blends insights from various strands of Cedefop’s work and covers different aspects of labour market, including skills, sectors or occupations.

The new series takes advantage of outputs of recently developed or updated products or tools: the European skills and jobs survey, which investigates changing skills and tasks within occupations, and the rising importance of digital technologies and skills development.

Cedefop’s Skills forecast looks ahead to 2035 and estimates  future job creation, qualification needs and the impact of ageing on future skills shortages. The Agency’s pioneering work on analysing online job advertisements, presented in its Skills OVATE tool, enriches the occupation data insights with detailed information on most demanded occupations, supporting the traditional employment statistics.

Data insights go beyond presentation of data and offer a narrative on the drivers of change and expected developments and challenges in employment and skills.

This series will bring 34 occupation data insights, published in several stages. The first batch consists of four insights on managerial occupations and six on professional occupations. Those focusing on managers bring insights on CEOs and legislators, business managers (such as those in finance, marketing, R&D or HR), technical managers (such as manufacturing, construction or ICT managers) and retail and hospitality managers.

The insights on professionals cover science and engineering, but also ICT professionals, health care or teaching professionals,  office professionals (such as finance, marketing or administration roles) and professionals in legal, social and cultural areas.

Stay tuned for more updates!

This is the message brought home by Cedefop Executive Director during a conference in Berlin. The event, entitled 'Worldwide Policy Cooperation for Excellence in VET', was organised by WorldSkills Germany on 9 November.

Mr Siebel attributed the success of European cooperation on VET, firstly, to the fact that 'over time, we have become much clearer about what we want VET to be. The 2020 policy cycle and documents — the European Skills Agenda, the VET Recommendation, the Osnabrück Declaration — are testament to common objectives to be reached by 2025 and 2030.'

In addition, he noted that another positive influence is the fact that the EU concentrates its policies on the mega trends of our time, most prominently, the digital and green transition, and demography.

Skills and VET for greening

Speaking at a conference organised by the European Economic and Social Committee, entitled '#ReskillEU - new jobs for energy and transport in Europe' in Brussels on 8 November, Mr Siebel elaborated on the challenges posed to Europe's economies by the twin transitions.

He pointed out that in order to leverage the employment potential of the green transition, we need rapidly to make the most of the European Year of Skills and expand skills that contribute to greening and 'greenovation'.

Cedefop research data suggest that the demand for green transition professionals is booming, he said, underlining that VET fuels the green and digital transitions and is best placed to deliver the higher-level skills these transformations require.

The EGD to benefit construction

Cedefop's Executive Director also had the opportunity to take the sectoral approach addressing representatives of the German construction industry as the keynote speaker at SOKA BAU's Europe Day 2023 event in Brussels on 8 November.

The construction sector was brought to its lowest employment levels in the past 15 years following a turbulent succession of crises (the financial crisis of 2008 and the coronavirus recession), Mr Siebel noted.

At the same time, he added, skills upgrading is very visible in the sector: employment in low-skilled jobs almost halved, in medium-skilled jobs increased and high-skilled employment more than doubled.

'The digital and green transitions are strong drivers of change affecting all sectors, and, as our research shows, construction, along with waste management, are clear winners from the European Green Deal and the green revolution,' he said.

This was the main message conveyed by Cedefop Deputy Director Mara Brugia to participants in a conference entitled ‘The Green Deal as the EU growth strategy’, organised by SGI Europe and the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels on 20 November.

As the European Year of Skills is in full swing, Ms Brugia spoke during a panel discussion on upskilling and reskilling the European Union's workforce for the green transition and also noted that to reach the objectives of the Green Deal it is crucial to understand the key skills necessary for reaching a circular economy.

Cedefop findings, she added, suggests that skills for the green transition are in fact a blend of technical and soft skills, job-specific and transversal skills, and that there is a strong link between the digital and the green transition, given that in most key occupations for the green transition, the design, development and use of technology, as well as digital skills are crucial.

Green drivers

She went on to list the occupations that are most important for the green transition, as they transpire from Cedefop’s research:

• Key green occupations, i.e. those who work on the frontline of the green transition;
• occupations developing green technologies, and managers that need to adjust or develop new business models;
• occupations that may be small in terms of employment shares, but nevertheless indispensable for achieving the green transition – ‘thyroid’ or niche occupations.

Fresh employment opportunities are expected to emerge not only in high-skilled jobs, but also in middle-skilled occupations with more technical profiles, such as offshore renewable energy plant operators and biogas technicians, and low-skilled roles, e.g. in the waste management sector, Ms Brugia said and further outlined the dual role that vocational education and training (VET) can play to enable the green

• In the short-term, VET can accompany the changes taking place, by quickly addressing emerging skill demands, for example via short courses.
• In the longer term, VET can embed the circularity concept in existing curricula and programmes and design new ones where necessary; it also means attracting young people to green learning pathways. Thus, VET does not simply accompany the changes, it triggers change and fosters innovation.

‘But VET is not a panacea. Shortages are not only a skills supply issue, we need to create high-quality jobs, make them more attractive, not only in terms of remuneration and working conditions, but also allowing people to make full use of their potential’, Ms Brugia pointed out, adding that this necessitates more green skills anticipation to enable evidence-based policy and decision making and a comprehensive skills governance to understand in a timely manner the implications of the green transition for skills and jobs.
 

The event is organised by the European Commission’s DG Enviroment in Rotterdam over two days (23 and 24 November) and brings together decisionmakers, stakeholders and experts from across the European Union to focus on how to further reduce and prevent air pollution.

Mr Siebel said that Cedefop data estimate that an additional 2.5 million jobs (more than +1%) will be created by the year 2030 thanks to the implementation of the EGD, not only in sectors driving the green transition, but also in administrative and support, legal, accounting and consulting services, computer programming and information services.

However, he warned that the estimate may turn out to be optimistic: this forecast will not become reality by itself – it is a ‘maximum possible’ scenario sketching the employment potential of the green transition under the assumptions that:

• The EGD is fully implemented, and its targets are reached by 2030;
• people have access to training;
• we will have no labour and skills shortages that could derail progress.

Cedefop’s Executive Director noted that a successful transition requires management skills, data analytics skills as well as soft and people skills to help citizens and companies think and act greener.

He pointed out that according to Cedefop’s online job advertisements analysis, there is a boom in demand for professionals in green-transition-jobs – jobs for highly trained people (scientists, R&D researchers, specialised engineers) that invent Greentech and find ways to implement it.

‘Professionals are not the largest group, but the fastest growing group. We sometimes call them thyroid occupations. They are small in terms of employment, but not having them puts the entire green transition at risk.’

Nevertheless, the Agency’s green foresight – Mr Siebel added – suggests that many different types of jobs support the green transition, and they have no colour:

‘It is not only about high-level green engineering and research skills and the skills we often think of relating to green jobs (installing solar panels, making buildings energy efficient, servicing electronic vehicles). A successful transition requires management skills, data analytics skills as well as soft and people skills to help citizens and companies think and act greener.’

Referring to the obstacles of skills shortage and skills mismatch, Mr Siebel underlined that a skilling revolution is needed, and that can be achieved by upscaling VET and adult learning, governance innovation and better matching skills and jobs, as well as working on the supply side to invest in, and provide, quality jobs.

Watch: The European Green Deal creates jobs, but...

Behind each door, until 25 December, a skill that an EU country will need in the future will be hidden, mixed with a little bit of Christmas spirit.

A small taste:

‘Delivering presents for over 6 000 years can take a big toll on your health...
In Austria and Slovakia, the occupation with the highest growth in absolute numbers will be personal care workers.’

Come back every day to find out about a new country and skill, and celebrate this very special European Year of Skills Christmas.

From everyone here at Cedefop, we send you our best season's greetings and wish you a happy new year!