This policy brief highlights the need to transform adult skills development by expanding beyond traditional continuing vocational education and training (CVET) to include workplaces and digital environments supported by frameworks that connect formal, non-formal and informal learning pathways. It stresses the importance of workplaces as lifelong learning spaces and argues that policies should enable learning through work.
Drawing on case studies from Ireland, Spain and Finland, the brief explores sectoral approaches to workforce skills development. Finland’s transformative model places workplaces at the core of learning, while Spain and Ireland rely on more traditional, institution-based training provided primarily outside the workplace.
Key themes include sectoral governance, SME support and intelligence-based skills planning. The findings offer actionable insights for policies that encourage employers to take a more active role in workforce skills development, shifting from periodic training to continuous, workplace-integrated learning that boosts business competitiveness and innovation.
Publication details
Cedefop. (2025). Towards organisations as learning workplaces: moving beyond certified, institutionalised continuing vocational education and training. Policy brief. Publications Office of the European Union. DOI: 10.2801/2218024. https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications/9203
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Towards organisations as learning workplaces Moving beyond certified, institutionalised continuing vocational education and training
