The Agora conference, A bridge to the future: European vocational and training policy 2002-10, focused on how vocational education and training policy can help promote employment, growth and social inclusion. It was hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) in Brussels.
Although considerable progress has been made during the past eight years of cooperation between the EU and the national authorities and social partners of 33 countries, the task of reforming VET is far from over. Conference participants agreed that vocational education and training must attract a greater share of learners, while investment in training options must keep pace with the needs of the economy.
Debate focused on the results of Cedefop’s report on European policy cooperation in vocational education and training. This report helped to shape the Bruges Communiqué of December 2010 setting the policy goals and measures for the next three years.
Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion László Andor said that a longstanding problem of the EU is that lifelong learning is usually taken up by — and in some cases offered only to — the medium to highly skilled, rather that to those who need it most. He added that EU Education Ministers have agreed that at least 15% of adults should participate in some form of education and training by 2020. At present that take-up of lifelong learning is 2% in some Member States and over 50% in others.
In a video address, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Multilinguism Androulla Vassiliou stressed the progress that has been achieved, particularly with regard to the common European instruments, principles and guidelines. This, she said, “has had a major impact on mobility, transparency and the recognition of qualifications“.
Pierre Mairesse of the Education of the Directorate-General for Education did the math for the implications of Europe 2020 on VET: the goals of a maximum of 10% school leavers and 40% higher education graduates, he said, means that vocational education and training should cover 50% of learners, not counting continuing training for adults. Improving the quality, attractiveness and relevance of VET is thus no simple task, involving all sectors and a very large number of citizens.
Representing the Hungarian Presidency, Sándor Czomba, State Secretary at the Ministry for National Economy, gave examples of how European cooperation had influenced VET in Hungary. The conference themes were also the areas of greatest interest to the Hungarian Presidency, in cooperation with the European Commission: to make VET more attractive and relevant, in particular for Europe’s youth, and to pay more attention to adult learning/continuing training.
MEP Pervenche Berès, Chair of the European Parliament’s Employment and Social Affairs Committee, agreed with the single-minded pursuit of the implementation of common European instruments advocated in the policy report. Collectively, she said, these instruments make it easier to understand qualifications, support lifelong learning, and facilitate job and geographical mobility. What Europe now needs is a ‘bold approach’ to reforming VET.
The conference host, President of the Economic and Social Committee Staffan Nilsson, stressed the need to upgrade skills for the green economy. As President of an organisation representing civil society he was pleased to note that Cedefop’s policy report advocates dialogue involving civil society. Such partnerships, he said, must be wide and deep in order to modernise training systems successfully.
Photo credits: Cedefop; European Commission; European Parliament, European Economic and Social Committee