Supporting modernisation of VET systems

Medium-term priorities 2012-14. Download Medium-term priorities 2012-14.
2.1. Supporting modernisation of VET systems
Continuous renewal and reform of VET is important for Europe to recover from the current economic crisis and ensure longterm growth and prosperity. This is required to reach the vision set for 2020 in the Bruges communiqué to make VET systems ʻ[...] more attractive, relevant, career-oriented, innovative, accessible and flexible [...]ʼ.
In the period 2012-14, Cedefop will support this renewal process by:
(a) monitoring and reporting on progress of European VET cooperation (Copenhagen process); and
(b) further developing and supporting implementation of common European tools and principles, in close cooperation with the European Commission, Member States and social partners.
This support for European processes and initiatives will build on Cedefopʼs research and systematic comparative analyses of VET and lifelong learning policies and practices at national and sectoral levels.
Context
Support for VET reform and renewal must consider the way the overall European VET landscape is changing. VET is increasingly playing a critical role in our societies. While current trends indicate traditional forms of initial VET will remain stable in the years to come, vocationally oriented education at tertiary level and in the form of continuing and further education and training is rapidly growing in importance. VET will increasingly have to operate in a lifelong and lifewide context, be realised in partnership with the education and training sector and the labour market and lead to qualifications at all levels.
Development of VET requires prioritising between a complex set of objectives: not only must vocational education and training be attractive to young people as well as experienced adults; it must also be relevant to enterprises and sectors. VET reform and renewal, focusing on excellence and inclusion, thus requires systematic cooperation between a wide diversity of stakeholders from different institutions, sectors and levels. Qualifications frameworks in particular (at European, national and sectoral levels) are becoming key instruments to foster more systematic dialogue and cooperation on education and training reform. Frameworks make it possible to bridge traditional divides between general, vocational and higher education and clarify how VET is interlinked with these other parts of the education and training system, in particular general and tertiary education.
Citizens must be able to make full use of their knowledge, skills and competence to find employment and increase their potential through further learning. Use of learning outcomes to define and describe qualifications will promote this transparency and in the long term help to improve mobility between institutions, sectors and countries. To succeed in helping citizens better to demonstrate their formal qualifications and their knowledge, skills and competence acquired outside formal education and training, all European instruments and principles introduced in recent years (EQF, Europass, ECVET, validation of non-formal and informal learning) must be fully implemented. As all these tools are still at an early stage of implementation, it will take continued information and commitment of all actors to apply and develop them further. At a later stage, their relevance to employers and employees will need to be evaluated.
Overall coherence of European VET policies represents a particular challenge in the coming years. Countries differ significantly in terms of overall strength and profile of their VET. In initial VET, for instance, some countries see the majority (60-80%) of youngsters choosing vocational tracks, while in other countries less than 30% choose this route. These differences can directly influence youth unemployment, productivity and innovation capacity, as the current crisis has shown. European instruments such as the EQF may inspire and ease exchange of experience between countries and sectors and promote excellence in VET in Europe overall. Diversity of European VET is a challenge to developing common trust in the quality of countriesʼ VET programmes and their outcomes. The role of the European quality assurance framework for VET (EQAVET) in building this trust must be ensured, in particular in relation to the shift to learning outcomes.
Mobility of learners and workers is one key objective of the EU 2020 process. Not only can mobility make it easier for people to find jobs, it is also a source of new experience and learning. Mobility depends on recognition of qualifications. While the EQF and ECVET may make such recognition easier as they focus on learning outcomes, European VET cooperation must ensure better coordination with existing arrangements and mechanisms for academic (ENIC/NARIC for higher education) or professional qualifications (Directive 2005/36). Simplifying recognition practices, access to and progression in education and training is a precondition to make VET more flexible and lifelong and lifewide learning possible.