Agenda
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The first policy learning forum (PLF) on apprenticeships is linked to the thematic country reviews on apprenticeships (TCRs), which Cedefop launched in 2014. With the TCRs Cedefop supports cooperation at European level among Member States, and interacts with individual countries that wish to develop quality apprenticeships, in line with EU policies. To date there have been three rounds of TCRs:

  • the first round included Malta and Lithuania, and was concluded in 2015;
  • the second round, with Greece, Italy and Slovenia, was concluded in mid-2017;
  • the third round is in progress; it includes Cyprus and Croatia, and kicked off in early 2017. In this round, Cedefop is piloting a lighter version of the TCRs on apprenticeships (flash TCRs) in Belgium (French-speaking Community) and Sweden.

Cedefop’s PLFs are an opportunity for countries to generate knowledge and build consensus around shared problems. The 2017 PLF on apprenticeships addresses the countries that are either involved at different stages of a TCR/flash TCR on apprenticeships, or have expressed an interest to participate in a future round. Stakeholders and national experts directly involved in the TCR exercises have been invited to contribute to the PLF, which will take place in Cedefop (Thessaloniki, Greece) on 7 and 8 September 2017.

Participants will have an opportunity to:

  • discuss how the TCR countries have used/will use the knowledge generated by the TCR to devise domestic policies: the five countries from the first two rounds that have completed the TCR exercise (MT, LT, EL, IT, SI) will play a prominent role in these discussions;
  • reflect on several shared problems, and formulate knowledge-based solutions;
  • Take part in an exercise on apprenticeship cost-benefit analysis.
  • Discussions are expected to result in:
  • advice on how the TCRs should/could formulate solutions and policy recommendations in an environment where knowledge/expertise on policy issues but may be politically contested, despite being a critical resource in policy-making;
  • consensus building around shared problems;
  • better understanding of the divergences and convergences between labour market and education and training actors (regarding communication, policy expectations, etc.).

European vocational skills week
#EUVocationalSkills

 

 

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Cedefop is developing a fully-fledged system for analysing online vacancies across the EU.

By exploring job vacancies (OJVs) as a promising source of labour market information, Cedefop intends to set up a pan-European system for collecting real-time labour market intelligence. Assessing the availability and accessibility of information on the landscape of job-portals and the use of online job-vacancies in 28 EU Member States (“Landscaping exercise”) constitutes an important first step in the exercise. The Expert Workshop brings together International Country Experts (ICEs) who have been collecting information on the OJV landscape in their countries. It serves as a framework for discussing the comparative analyses of the first results of this work and investigating the implications of the findings for the following data collection and analysis.

The Expert Workshop seeks to deepen the insights of the Landscaping Activity by:

  • Reflecting on the Landscaping Activity and its challenges with the ICEs and Cedefop representatives;
  • Understanding the function of online job-portals in different countries;
  • Identifying the critical aspects and the possible gaps in individual or group of countries;
  • Establishing a common approach for finalising the Country Reports;
  • Exploring the role of EURES and global job-portals in relation to national and international job portals.
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Inspired by the outcomes of the European big data hackathon organised in March 2017, Eurostat and Cedefop decided to capitalise on the ideas and solutions generated and to boost their further development in a framework of high policy relevance. The aim of the event was to foster the development of solutions that integ...

Inspired by the outcomes of the European big data hackathon organised in March 2017, Eurostat and Cedefop decided to capitalise on the ideas and solutions generated and to boost their further development in a framework of high policy relevance. The aim of the event was to foster the development of solutions that integrate various datasets, big data techniques and powerful visualisations to offer policy relevant evidence on skills mismatch in Europe.

Eight hackathon teams participated in the seminar. They worked further on their initial proposals and presented their upgraded prototype solutions in Thessaloniki, Greece on 18-19 September 2017.

Posters with latest versions of prototypes under development (posters are based on test data):

The first day was dedicated to presenting and discussing the solutions as they stand. The following thematic working sessions were organised:

  • Skills mismatch analysis and indicators using several datasets;
  • Big data analysis techniques and machine learning;
  • Visualisations.

Cedefop and Eurostat, as well as experts in the above fields, joined the working sessions. The Agenda of the event can be found here.

During the second day the teams worked ‘offline’ and reflect upon further potential developments of their solutions, under the assumption that time and necessary resources would be available. The event concluded with a panel of representatives of Cedefop, Eurostat and various other DGs of the European Commission discussing the lessons learned and potential support for further development of the presented solutions (e.g. in terms of data provision).

Photos from the event can be found here.

 

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Cedefop is jointly organising with the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union a "Guidance Week" on the 26th of September.

The first meeting of Cedefop’s network for lifelong guidance and careers education, CareersNet will be one of the opening events of the week. The main aims of this meeting will be to welcome CareersNet participants, clarify basic tasks and expectations, as well as familiarise them with existing tools at their disposal.

Participants will discuss:

  • The role and priorities of the network in supporting research and informing policy;
  • The current structure of the European lifelong guidance database;
  • The updates to the database;
  • The possibilities of including an evaluation component in the database;
  • Foreseen and potential outputs;
  • The work schedule of the network.

The event is part of the European vocational skills week 2017 of which Cedefop is a partner.

#EUVocationalSkills

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NQF developments in Europe have been rapid. Latest developments attest to the growing attention qualifications frameworks have been receiving from policy-makers and practitioners. The aim of this event is to stimulate open and critical reflection on the current and future role of NQFs.

 

 

Before 2005, qualifications frameworks were in place in three European countries – France, Ireland and the UK. By 2017, NQFs have been introduced by all 39 countries taking part in the implementation of the EQF. Given that these NQFs are becoming increasingly operational, questions regarding their added value and their impact are particularly relevant: 

Do these national qualifications frameworks make a difference in policies and practices and to the learners and citizens they are supposed to benefit?

Cedefop, in cooperation with the European Commission and Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), is organising a peer learning conference on NQF impact. The main aim of the event is to allow policy-makers, researchers and practitioners to exchange experiences and discuss the impact and challenges of NQF implementation. The following key questions will be addressed:

  • What would be lost if your country did not have an NQF?
    • To whom do NQFs make a difference?
    • How do NQFs make a difference?
    • Under which conditions do NQFs make a difference?
  • What kind of evidence is currently available to provide insights about the impact of NQFs
    • in Europe?
    • internationally?
  • What kind of evidence may be required in the future to measure and evaluate NQF impact?
    • What baseline data or indicators could be useful in explaining NQF impact of and could help continue political support for NQFs?
    • Which methodologies are most appropriate for measuring and evaluating NQF impact?
  • What kind of European cooperation on NQF impact assessment is possible and desirable? Can national approaches contribute to the overall assessment of the EQF?

Participants are expected to play an active role in the event; conclusions from the different working group sessions will feed into a final note to be discussed by the EQF advisory group.

The event is linked to the European vocational skills week 2017 in which Cedefop is a partner..

Join the discussion:

  #NQFimpact      #EUVocationalSkills

 

Discover your talent

 

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The preparation of Cedefop’s pan-European skills supply and demand forecasts is supported by a network of experts in forecasting and labour market analysis from each EU Member State. Individual Country Experts (ICEs) contribute to increasing the quality of the forecasts by commenting and validating the methods, tools...

The preparation of Cedefop’s pan-European skills supply and demand forecasts is supported by a network of experts in forecasting and labour market analysis from each EU Member State. Individual Country Experts (ICEs) contribute to increasing the quality of the forecasts by commenting and validating the methods, tools and results. Cedefop organises regular technical workshops to provide a platform for experts to meet and provide feedback to Cedefop. The aim is to involve national experts in the process of preparing the forecasts, drawing on their knowledge and expertise, and to obtain country specific insights.

Workshop rationale and objectives

The workshop will provide an opportunity to bring together the research team and the group of individual country experts, together with Cedefop staff, to:

  • Outline the programme of work under the current Framework Contract;
  • Validate the final results of the updated projections;
  • Discuss inputs for the two sensitivities that will accompany the baseline projections;
  • Discuss progress on the methodology to develop a more detailed disaggregation of occupations and the new rules of the EUROSTAT microdata dissemination, and how they are intended to improve or affect the existing approach;
  • Present Eurofound’s research on the Future of Manufacturing in Europe, looking at the impact on employment skills of alternative future scenarios;
  • Discuss alternative ways of presenting the results via the Skills Panorama;
  • Discuss how to extend and improve the dissemination of and engagement with the outputs of the research.

Workshop structure and methods of working

The workshop will be organised as a series of presentations and discussions. Background notes will be circulated in advance. These will be prepared by team members so that participants are informed on the key issues to be debated. The aim of the sessions is to develop a focussed dialogue with individual country experts. For the structured group discussions, each country expert will be allocated to a country group. In each country group, the discussions will be facilitated by a member of the research team and a Country Group Expert (CGE). The CGE will synthesise the country group discussion and report back to the complete workshop group.

Working with us

External notice of vacancy

Reference
Cedefop/2017/04/AD_external
Closing date
13/09/2017

Interagency notice of vacancy

Reference
Cedefop/2017/04/AD_interagency
Closing date
13/09/2017

Cedefop/2017/03/AST_interagency

Reference
Cedefop/2017/03/AST_interagency
Closing date
30/08/2017

Cedefop/2017/03/AST_external

Reference
Cedefop/2017/03/AST_external
Closing date
30/08/2017
Reference
AO/DLE/EVGAR-PMD/Validation&Guidance/003/17
Closing date
05/09/2017
Reference
AO/DLE/LSALVA/WBLinUpskillingPathways/005/17
Closing date
07/09/2017
Reference
AO/DLE/RCDCR/adult refugees and VET/007/17
Closing date
08/09/2017
Reference
AO/DLE/IPS/VETforLM&SI/008/17
Closing date
14/09/2017
Extended closing date
29/09/2017
Reference
AO/DSI/JB/Comparing_VET_Qualifications/010/17
Closing date
15/09/2017