The primary aim of CVET in Greece is the development and improvement of the qualifications and skills of unemployed and working people and the creation of new jobs. The definition of CVET and adult education and their forms and functions are provided mainly by recent laws that have introduced important policy developments.
The most important aim of lifelong education is to constitute a dynamic policy factor for social integration. Accordingly, a series of programmes focusing on socially vulnerable and disadvantaged groups are being implemented and promoted.
Despite the policy statements and the actions that have been taken, Greece, along is among the European Union member countries that rank lowest in the field of citizen participation in Lifelong Learning training and education programs at the age group of 24-64. Greece’s participation percentage is only 3.6%, when at the same time the average European participation is 10.8%.
OAED is the major body responsible for implementing continuing vocational training programmes in order to cover the needs of the unemployed who require specialisation in order to find work. The main focus of OAED is to develop and/or expand upon existing continuing vocational training courses with a view to making a more effective intervention in the labour market and covering the needs of the largest possible number of interested persons in training services.
The Account for Employment and Vocational Training (Logariasmos gia tin Apascholisi kai Epangelmatiki Katartisi, LAEK) is a major mechanism of CVET at the initiative of enterprises in Greece. This account has decisively contributed to the reinforcement of vocational training and employment policies. The financial resources of LAEK come from the joint contributions of both employers and employees, which amount to 0.45% of the total salary of each employee and are collected by the Social Security Institute (Idryma Koinonikon Asfaliseon, IKA).
Ο Λογαριασμός για την Απασχόληση και την Επαγγελματική Κατάρτιση (Logariasmos GIA κασσίτερος Apascholisi kai Epangelmatikis Κατάρτισης, ΛΑΕΚ) είναι ένα σημαντικό μηχανισμό Cveta με πρωτοβουλία των επιχειρήσεων στην Ελλάδα. Ο λογαριασμός αυτός έχει συμβάλει αποφασιστικά στην ενίσχυση της επαγγελματικής κατάρτισης και των πολιτικών απασχόλησης. Οι χρηματοδοτικοί πόροι του ΛΑΕΚ προέρχονται από την κοινή συνεισφορά των εργοδοτών και των εργαζομένων, οι οποίες ανέρχονται σε 0,45% του συνολικού μισθού κάθε εργαζόμενου και συλλέγονται από το Ινστιτούτο Κοινωνικής Ασφάλισης (Idryma Koinonikon Asfaliseon, ΙΚΑ).

Adult and continuing education has the dual function of contributing to employability and economic growth, on the one hand, and responding to broader societal challenges, in particular promoting social cohesion, on the other.
Companies and families support important investments that have, to date, ensured important growth in both skills and the ability of the European population to innovate. Thanks to this commitment, Europe today has a wealth of organisations specialising in adult and continuing education. The sector has grown in importance, both as a increasingly significant player in the economy and in view of its capacity to respond to the demand for learning by the knowledge economy.
As the book Adult and continuing education in Europe: Using public policy to secure a growth in skills shows, adult and continuing education has a critical role to play in ensuring Europe copes with the phenomenon of education exclusion, which, repeated year after year, generation after generation, undermines social cohesion and the growth of employment. Public policies must respond to two strategic challenges: to encourage the propensity to invest in adult and continuing education and to guarantee the reduction of educational exclusion.
Download a free PDF copy of the book on the Commission's website.
Text via European Commission

This project is funded with the support of the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
About the project
The ARALE Project aims to collect awareness raising and advocacy campaigns for adult education in Europe directed at the general public, at specific target groups and at policy-makers.
How to raise awareness on adult education? Best practice collection
One of the main objective of the ARALE project is to get better information and knowledge about awareness raising campaigns and better know-how on how to organise, structure and execute campaigns from a civil society perspective.
ARALE conference
The ARALE Conference will present the results of the project and some best practise examples of awareness raising activities for adult education that were organised in Europe towards the general public, specific target groups and policy-makers. Workshops will allow the participants to discuss specific issues in smaller groups. The agenda is currently being drafted.
Resources
In this section you will find the ARALE material and the useful links and publications related to the project's topic.

The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) is pleased to announce the publication of its Second Global Report on Adult Learning and Education - Rethinking Literacy. The first GRALE was published in December 2009 to coincide with the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI). The outcome document of that conference, the Belém Framework for Action, which was adopted by 144 UNESCO Member States, stipulated that UIL should conduct "a monitoring process at the global level to take stock and report periodically on progress in adult learning and education". This report is the result of that monitoring process for the period 2010–2012. The print publication will be available in English, French and Spanish, and will be launched in all five UNESCO regions, starting with Asia and the Pacific (Jakarta) on 20–22 August 2013.
Drawing on data received from 141 countries, most in the form of a quantitative reporting template, the Report reviews progress in implementing the Belém Framework for Action. It focuses on the five key themes identified in Belém – policy, governance, financing, participation and quality – and examines in particular detail the transversal theme of adult literacy. It reveals that, while many of the same challenges remain, several of the core messages of the Belém Framework have found their way into national policy debates and reform processes.
Perhaps the most important message that emerges from this report is that lifelong and life-wide learning offers the most promising perspective to address the challenge of adult literacy.
Second Global Report on Adult Learning and Education - Rethinking Literacy (PDF).

EAEA is delighted to invite you to the ARALE Conference that will take place on the 2nd and 3rd of October 2013 in the conference center Science14 in Brussels.

• What? EAEA´s ARALE Conference
• When? 2nd of October at 9.30 am - till 3rd of October at 5pm
• Where? Science14, Rue de la Science, 14b, 1000 Brussels. Map to the Venue.

The ARALE Project

EAEA´s project ARALE for "Awareness Raising for Adult Learning and Education" aims to collect awareness raising and advocacy activities for adult education in Europe. Those activities might be directed at the general public, at specific target groups and at policy-makers. The project´s objective is to get better information and knowledge about awareness raising activities and better know-how on how to organise, structure and execute awareness raising activities from a civil society perspective.
The ARALE Conference
The ARALE Conference will present the results of the project and some best practise examples of awareness raising activities for adult education that were organised in Europe towards the general public, specific target groups and policy-makers. Workshops will allow the participants to discuss specific issues in smaller groups. The agenda is currently being drafted.
Registration to the conference
To take part in the ARALE Conference, please register by clicking the button below.

The registration will be open until Friday 13th of September, but please register as early as possible.
Travel and accommodation
Please arrange yourself your travels and hotel booking as soon as possible. EAEA will cover the costs of one night per participant. EAEA will not cover the travel costs and will not cover a second night. We have negotiated good prices in two centrally located hotels in Brussels. If you wish to stay in a hotel and book one of these, please contact us at tania.berman@eaea.org.