About

The Timeline of VET policies in Europe is the main source of information about policies and practices in vocational education and training (VET) and lifelong learning (LLL). It contains more than 1 000 initiatives in the Member States of the European Union, Iceland and Norway. For each policy or practice, it provides detailed information about their rationale, objectives, main features and activities, target groups, bodies responsible for their implementation, etc. It shows which initiatives in a country address a specific theme, and if and how they relate to, or form part of, a strategy, legal act or national programme.

Cedefop collects this information in line with the EU priorities: for 2015-20 these were set in the Riga Conclusions, while for 2021 and onwards they are defined in the Council Recommendation on VET and the Osnabrück Declaration.

ReferNet, Cedefop’s network of expertise on VET representing all Member States, plus Iceland and Norway, provides the data annually. The network is partly financed by the European Union.

Cedefop has designed, piloted and populated the Timeline of VET policies in Europe in close cooperation with its ReferNet national partners aiming to serve the needs of those designing and/or implementing policies in VET and LLL across and beyond the EU. These needs were identified during a pan-European ex-ante evaluation that preceded the development of the information tool.