Cedefop newsletter

Professionalising lifelong guidance systems amid change and societal transformations requires better coherence and integration of policies. Cedefop, supported by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and CareersNet, has coordinated work on this renewed reference framework and cross-sectoral guidelines. 

It aims to inspire purposeful collaboration, innovation, dialogue, and evidence collection to foster effective policies and systems. Cedefop’s work and the European Lifelong Guidance Policy Network’s 2015 guidelines are acknowledged and built upon.

Context

Based on responses from 735 teachers across 23 EU Member States, the EVTS pilot analysis highlights key factors shaping VET teachers’ continuing professional development and wellbeing. It points to a profession under increasing strain, characterised by heavy workloads, limited recognition and rising risks of burnout. Teachers face growing expectations linked to classroom diversity, digitalisation, the green transition and cooperation with workplaces.

Professional development is driven less by formal training alone and more by informal and self-directed learning, supportive organisational environments, favourable working conditions and a sense of professional accomplishment. By shedding light on the everyday realities of VET teachers, these pilot findings provide early insights, while the full EVTS results expected at the end of 2027 are anticipated to show strong potential to inform EU and national policies aimed at strengthening and sustaining the teaching profession.

Facts and figures

• Low recognition and weak attractiveness
  Few teachers feel valued: only 9% believe society recognises their profession and 13% consider their salary adequate, undermining attractiveness and recruitment.
• Staff shortages, workload and stalled career development
  Staff shortages affect many schools, with 49% of teachers taking on additional responsibilities. Administrative burden and classroom challenges are common, limiting time for innovation and slowing career progression.
• A growing wellbeing crisis
  Many teachers report physical exhaustion and emotional strain, pointing to a widespread wellbeing challenge, although commitment to the profession remains strong.
• Rising classroom complexity and inclusion demands
  A significant share of teachers feel insufficiently prepared to teach diverse groups or support vulnerable learners, while behavioural challenges are increasing.
• Green, digital and AI transitions outpacing preparedness
  Preparedness for sustainability, digitalisation and AI remains uneven. Many teachers report a need for further training in these areas.
• Strengthening basic skills and labour market relevance
  Teachers play a key role in developing learners’ basic and transversal skills. However, heavy workloads and skills gaps can limit their capacity to fully support learners’ readiness for changing labour markets.

Key message

• IVET teachers remain highly committed but are operating under pressure. Strengthening recognition, improving working conditions and career prospects, and expanding targeted continuing professional development - particularly in inclusion, digitalisation, AI and green skills – are essential to sustain the profession. Ongoing reforms across Europe show growing recognition that investing in teachers is key to delivering high-quality, future-oriented VET.

Policy pointers

• Effective support for IVET teachers requires addressing structural conditions that constrain teaching capacity and system responsiveness.
• This includes developing more flexible and permeable pathways into VET teaching to strengthen links with industry expertise, reducing administrative burdens to allow greater focus on teaching and learner support, and embedding wellbeing, inclusion, digitalisation and sustainability more systematically within school leadership, governance and continuing professional development frameworks.
• At European level, further strengthening mobility schemes, peer learning networks and knowledge-sharing platforms would support innovation, professional exchange and the long-term adaptability and resilience of VET systems.

The VET system offers upper secondary level programmes in technical schools, including evening options for adults, an apprenticeship system for young learners and higher VET programmes. Recent efforts include curriculum reform, upgraded facilities, closer employer links and vocational orientation in lower secondary to boost awareness and attractiveness. Public schools of higher VET, supported by graduate tracking, operate nationwide in key economic sectors linked to the digital and green transition.
Adult learning participation is guided by the Cyprus lifelong learning strategy 2021–2027, which aims to establish a robust monitoring framework, strengthen governance and promote inclusive lifelong learning. The THALIA 2021–2027 cohesion policy programme supports individual learning accounts, validation of prior learning and outreach to vulnerable groups. Transversal priorities include digitalisation in teacher upskilling, STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) learning and stronger guidance and career support services.

VET systems are central to providing the practical and technical skills required for climate neutrality and digital transformation. However, persistent labour and skills shortages in VET occupations threaten EU competitiveness, innovation, and sustainable growth.

This policy brief analyses the key drivers of VET shortages across the EU, including an ageing workforce, unattractive working conditions, gender segregation, limited teacher supply, and outdated curricula that struggle to keep pace with green and digital demands. It supports policy discussions linked to the Union of Skills (2025), the Herning Declaration (2025) on VET priorities for 2026 -2030, the forthcoming European VET strategy (2026), and the proposed Quality Jobs Act.

Facts and findings

• In 2024, 22 VET occupations were experiencing EU-wide shortages.
• The most widespread shortages are found in metal and manufacturing (welders, metal sheet workers), construction (electricians, plumbers), food processing (cooks, bakers), transport (heavy truck drivers), and health and social care (care assistants)
• VET skills shortages in the EU are widespread and driven by demographic ageing, low job attractiveness, gender imbalances, teacher shortages, poor working conditions, and structural mismatches.
• Demographic pressures are intensifying shortages. Employees nearing retirement already account for around 10% of total employment and 40% of teachers in the EU aged 50 or older.
• ICT VET enrolments increased significantly (from ~113 000 to ~180 000 between 2016-2023). However, only about 60% of students complete ICT VET programmes. Completion among female ICT students is below 50%, while in healthcare exceeds 90% for females.
• AI is projected to reduce EU employment by about 5%. Between 19%–68% of workplace tasks are exposed to AI replacement. However, VET occupations are less exposed to AI replacement risk on average than non-VET occupations. Some VET occupations have very low replacement scores (e.g., insulation workers).
• VET is highly effective at delivering transferable skills. Skills matching among VET graduates is much higher than matching by education level or field of study, often exceeding 70-80%.

Key messages

• The drivers of shortages are complex: shortages are not merely caused by a lack of qualified workers or ageing of EU society, they are also driven by low pay, strenuous working conditions, outdated curricula, and restrictive recruitment practices. Furthermore, institutional barriers like fixed enrolment limits and slow recognition of foreign qualifications limit the available pool of candidates.
• VET teacher shortages create a vicious cycle: training institutions struggle to attract and retain teachers and this lack of capacity threatens the practical relevance of training and reduces the credibility of VET programmes for new learners impacting the overall perceived attractiveness of VET system.
• While AI is transforming the labour market, VET roles generally face lower replacement risks than non-VET occupations. However, it is still essential to equip VET students with foundational and digital skills to ensure they remain employable as technologies evolve.
• Addressing gender stereotypes both in terms of imbalances within the enrolments to VET pathways and eventually within the employment in VET occupations, is seen as a vital strategy to expand the talent pool.
• VET is highly effective at delivering transferable skills. The labour market values the VET practical competences even if the graduate works outside their original field of study.
   

Policy pointers

Addressing VET shortages requires coordinated action at EU and national levels. Key priorities include:

• enhancing the attractiveness and quality of VET pathways
• improving working conditions and job quality in shortage occupations
• expanding training capacity by tackling teacher shortages
• strengthening sector - VET collaboration to align curricula with labour market needs
• promoting gender balance and inclusion of underrepresented groups
• modernising skills recognition and portability systems
• embedding digital and AI-related competences across VET programmes
   

The ETLS interviewed workers in the EU, Iceland and Norway to assess the development of various aspects of the workers’ training, learning and ability to do their jobs. The analyses in this report underline the important role of workplaces and workers in supporting Industry 5.0. Alongside expanding worker capabilities and fostering worker empowerment, workplaces support learning by providing learning opportunities and by putting in place the requirements and inducements that encourage learning and drive the deployment of worker skills for the advancement of work organisations.

Context

Skills have become a central priority in EU policy as drivers of competitiveness, innovation, and the green and digital transitions. Initiatives such as the European Skills Agenda, the Pact for Skills, and the Union of Skills emphasise lifelong learning. The shift towards Industry 5.0 highlights the need for human-centred production systems that enhance workers’ capabilities rather than replace them.

To effectively attain productivity gains, organisations must employ workers with the knowledge and skills needed to enact their empowered role. This requires the ability to do things right, but also the ability to do the right thing. Our measure of learning captures this learning. The report analyses how this measure of learning is influenced by personal and workplace characteristics and by participation in learning activities. Finally, the report analyses how workplace and personal characteristics are related to employee participation in various learning activities, those organised by employers and those that are initiated by employees themselves.

Facts and findings

• Skills development is strongly associated with the motivation to learn, the need for learning, the effort put into learning (the participation in learning activities).
• Motivation for learning is shaped jointly by personal drivers and workplace incentives, such as pay and workplace norms about learning. Learning need emerges as personal characteristics, but it is also affected by contextual variables like job redesign and the introduction of new technologies or work processes.
• Motivation to learn, job autonomy and managerial support are strongly associated with a higher participation in all learning activities, both employer-organised and self-initiated.
• Participation in employer-organised learning activities is higher when information about how to job one’s job well is readily available, when learning is linked to career progression, in case of job redesign, and when employees’ workload is manageable.
• Participation in self-initiated learning activities is more frequent in workplaces in which employees share information and engage in behaviours that help the smooth unfolding of operations.

Key messages

• Skills development is strongly associated with individual and workplace factors. For example, motivation is affected by both personal and contextual characteristics.
• Underskilling is likely to be a temporary phenomenon as it triggers participation in all learning activities and skills development.
• Learning effort is difficult to monitor, employers may be aware of workers’ participation in training they organise, but there are many informal learning activities taking place that are hard for them to observe.
• Employers take control of skills formation process, changes in job tasks, the introduction of new processes and technologies, and underskilling are associated with increased provision of employer-organised training.
• Employees participate in the skills formation process. In organisations in which employees apply their skills to contribute to find solutions to workplace problems they also engage more frequently in learning activities.

Policy pointers

• Motivation is strongly linked to skills development and participation in learning. It stems from both intrinsic interest and external factors such as pay and workplace norms, implying that low participation may reflect weak contextual drivers rather than individual disposition.
• Managers recognise the importance of learning when it is directly tied to workplace change, particularly with the introduction of new technologies and evolving job design, where workers must adapt to new tasks.
• Both the extent of learning and its returns are difficult to observe and assess, which can limit employers’ ability to evaluate training outcomes and shape investment decisions.
• Fostering a leaning culture – involving the provision training, workplace norms concerning learning, motivational drives, and managerial support for learning, can promote learning and induce workers to draw on their skills in the interest of the organisation. In this way, the learning culture ensures that learning creates value for the organisation, linking learning to business performance.