- 2018Design
- 2019Implementation
- 2020Implementation
- 2021Implementation
- 2022Implementation
- 2023Implementation
- 2024Implementation
- 2025Implementation
Background
Rapidly changing society (digitisation, ageing, migration flows) leads to change in the labour market (need for new skills such as learning to deal with evolutions and transitions, circular economy, lifelong learning) and new challenges for labour market-oriented education.
InnoVET supports teachers in Flanders to allow labour market-oriented education to change with the needs of the future:
- on a didactic-pedagogic level, such as evaluation or coaching;
- on a technical level, such as the use of specific techniques and machines;
- in ICT: being able to use ICT in the classroom and digital teaching materials (important in COVID-19 times).
Objectives
InnoVET stands for innovation in vocational education and training (VET), so innovation in labour market-oriented courses.
It is a project of the Flemish government for schools offering technical secondary education (TSO) or vocational secondary education (BSO) courses, to familiarise teachers and students with the labour market of today and tomorrow. This is done by stimulating labour market-oriented schools to develop and test innovative materials and methodologies through projects, with the intention of disseminating this to all labour market-oriented courses in Flanders.
Central to this are:
- how to bring innovation to the classroom?
- how to develop innovation for and by teachers to support young people (especially in situations such as the COVID-19 pandemic)?
- how innovation can help young people to overcome the difficult bridge from education to the labour market more easily?
Description
In 2018, a Flemish evidence-based research facility – commissioned by the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training – carried out a study to formulate an answer to three questions, together with teachers, directors, business leaders and networks:
- What are the major technical challenges facing education?
- Which training needs for teachers are related to this?
- What does good professionalisation look like to meet those needs?
The resulting policy development consists of three phases:
- 2018-19: bringing together as many partners as possible;
- 2019-21: project design: to design projects for developing learning materials for teachers and learners, schools formed partnerships with different stakeholders, such as sectors, companies and experienced employees (regional, Flemish and international), and Flemish and regional partners, including the regional technological centres (RTC), pedagogical support services (PBD), research and knowledge centres and private partners (e.g. software suppliers). Teachers played central role in these partnerships cooperating with other teachers and teacher teams from different levels of education, directorates, and other schools. Projects operated on a school year-based cycle;
- 2020-22: dissemination of the results locally, regionally and across Flanders, e.g. through publication on the educational portal to exchange learning materials, KlasCement.
In 2018, a Flemish evidence-based research facility – commissioned by the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training – carried out a study to formulate an answer to three questions, together with teachers, directors, business leaders and networks:
- What are the major technical challenges facing education?
- Which training needs for teachers are related to this?
- What does good professionalisation look like to meet those needs?
The resulting policy development consists of three phases:
- 2018-19: bringing together as many partners as possible;
- 2019-21: project design: to design projects for developing learning materials for teachers and learners, schools formed partnerships with different stakeholders, such as sectors, companies and experienced employees (regional, Flemish and international), and Flemish and regional partners, including the regional technological centres (RTC), pedagogical support services (PBD), research and knowledge centres and private partners (e.g. software suppliers). Teachers played central role in these partnerships cooperating with other teachers and teacher teams from different levels of education, directorates, and other schools. Projects operated on a school year-based cycle;
- 2020-22: dissemination of the results locally, regionally and across Flanders, e.g. through publication on the educational portal to exchange learning materials, KlasCement.
In 2018, the design of InnoVET was constructed and many partners were brought together.
In 2019, 13 projects started (InnoVET cycle 1) and worked during the school year 2019/20.
In 2020, after altering some InnoVET modalities in line with the experiences gained in cycle 1, nine projects started (InnoVET cycle 2) for the school year 2020/21.
In 2021, eight InnoVET projects started (InnoVET cycle 3) for the school year 2021/22.
In 2022, 12 InnoVET projects on extended reality (XR) and 7 InnoVET projects on other topics started (InnoVET cycle 4) for the school year 2022/23. At the InnoVET meeting which took place on 21 September 2022, schools involved in the InnoVET project shared their innovative teaching materials with other participating schools. Moreover, in 2022 a practical inspiration guide for teachers in technical and vocational schools was published, compiling lessons learnt and examples from previous InnoVET projects. Additionally, an XR action plan (2022–2025) was developed for technical and vocational education, aiming to improve access to XR materials (both hardware and software) and enhance the professional development of teaching staff in this area.
In 2023, six InnoVET projects were selected. Of those six, five were on XR-related themes.
In 2024, three projects were selected to improve and expand already developed applications in previous InnoVET cycles. The second aim of the new projects is to increase professionalisation of VET-teachers regarding innovative learning materials and a wider dissemination to this target group.
No new InnoVET projects were approved in 2025.
Bodies responsible
- Flemish Department of Education and Training
Target groups
Learners
- Learners in upper secondary, including apprentices
Education professionals
- Teachers
Entities providing VET
- Companies
- VET providers (all kinds)
Thematic categories
Governance of VET and lifelong learning
This thematic category looks at existing legal frameworks providing for strategic, operational – including quality assurance – and financing arrangements for VET and lifelong learning (LLL). It examines how VET and LLL-related policies are placed in broad national socioeconomic contexts and coordinate with other strategies and policies, such as economic, social and employment, growth and innovation, recovery and resilience.
This thematic category covers partnerships and collaboration networks of VET stakeholders – especially the social partners – to shape and implement VET in a country, including looking at how their roles and responsibilities for VET at national, regional and local levels are shared and distributed, ensuring an appropriate degree of autonomy for VET providers to adapt their offer.
The thematic category also includes efforts to create national, regional and sectoral skills intelligence systems (skills anticipation and graduate tracking) and using skills intelligence for making decisions about VET and LLL on quality, inclusiveness and flexibility.
This thematic sub-category refers both to formal mechanisms of stakeholder engagement in VET governance and to informal cooperation among stakeholders, which motivate shared responsibility for quality VET. Formal engagement is usually based on legally established institutional procedures that clearly define the role and responsibilities for relevant stakeholders in designing, implementing and improving VET. It also refers to establishing and increasing the degree of autonomy of VET providers for agile and flexible VET provision.
In terms of informal cooperation, the sub-category covers targeted actions by different stakeholders to promote or implement VET. This cooperation often leads to creating sustainable partnerships and making commitments for targeted actions, in line with the national context and regulation, e.g. national alliances for apprenticeships, pacts for youth or partnerships between schools and employers. It can also include initiatives and projects run by the social partners or sectoral organisations or networks of voluntary experts and executives, retired or on sabbatical, to support their peers in the fields of VET and apprenticeships, as part of the EAfA.
Teachers, trainers and school leaders competences
Competent and motivated VET teachers in schools and trainers in companies are crucial to VET becoming innovative and relevant, agile, resilient, flexible, inclusive and lifelong.
This thematic category comprises policies and practices of initial training and continuing professional development approaches in a systemic and systematic manner. It also looks at measures aiming to update (entry) requirements and make teaching and training careers attractive and bring more young and talented individuals and business professionals into teaching and training. Supporting VET educators by equipping them with adequate competences, skills and tools for the green transition and digital teaching and learning are addressed in separate thematic sub-categories.
The measures in this category target teachers and school leaders, company trainers and mentors, adult educators and guidance practitioners.
This thematic sub-category refers to all kinds of initial and continuing professional development (CPD) for VET educators who work in vocational schools and in companies providing VET. VET educators include teachers and school leaders, trainers and company managers involved in VET, as well as adult educators and guidance practitioners – those who work in school- and work-based settings. The thematic sub-category includes national strategies, training programmes or individual courses to address the learning needs of VET educators and to develop their vocational (technical) skills, and pedagogical (teaching) skills and competences. Such programmes concern state-of-the-art vocational pedagogy, innovative teaching methods, and competences needed to address evolving teaching environments, e.g. teaching in multicultural settings, working with learners at risk of early leaving, etc.
European priorities in VET
VET Recommendation
- VET as a driver for innovation and growth preparing for digital and green transitions and occupations in high demand
Osnabrück Declaration
- Establishing a new lifelong learning culture - relevance of continuing VET and digitalisation
Subsystem
Further reading
Country
Type of development
Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2026). Innovation in vocational education and training (InnoVET): Belgium-FL. In Cedefop, & ReferNet. (2026). Timeline of VET policies in Europe (2025 update) [Online tool].
https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/tools/timeline-vet-policies-europe/search/38644