CVET - Continuing Vocational Education and Training
Continuing Vocational Training Survey: relevance, lessons learnt and ways forward

Cedefop, in collaboration with Eurostat, is organising a workshop to support and contribute to the preparation of the forthcoming 4th Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS4) that will be implemented in 2011 (reference year 2010).
The workshop will take stock of achievements, and discuss how to strengthen the quality of this survey and to increase its utility for policy, research and for enterprises themselves. Reducing response burden and facilitating data provision for enterprises will be a challenge to meet in future. The workshop will be a place for countries to exchange experiences and know-how, and to share good practices, culminating in recommendations for ways forward in measuring continuing vocational training in enterprises.
United Kingdom : Continuing vocational education and training (CVET) for adults
Lifelong learning in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is often taken to refer to learning that takes placed after the young person has finished formal education and training. In Scotland lifelong learning has a broader ‘cradle to grave’ definition. The usual definition of ‘continuing’ in the UK context refers to learners over 19 years of age.
In recent years, vocational education has received greater attention from policy-makers. Governments in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have identified priorities in lifelong learning and adult learning, in particular. For example, the Lifelong Strategy for Scotland emphasises the ‘cradle to grave’ idea of lifelong learning and widening access to learning for all citizens. In Wales, the Assembly’s government’s strategy for the promotion of lifelong learning emphasises broadening learning pathways.
Access courses to HE are recognised by the Quality Assurance Agency for higher education (QAA) through their inclusion in a national scheme. A Student who successfully completes an Access course is awarded a certificate bearing the QAA Access logo.
Since April 2002, in England and Wales, state provided work-based learning for long term unemployed adults has been delivered through the Jobcentre Plus, under the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). Scotland delivers its Adult training through Training for Work.
Government, the CBI and the trade unions are encouraging a range of approaches to workplace learning. To raise the profile of workplace learning and to involve the trade unions in a more focused way, legislation now enables the election or appointment of learning representatives by trade union branches. The Union Learning Fund has been set up with government funding through the TUC, to encourage an innovative approach whereby unions extend the training they give, for example to tackling basic skills weaknesses among their members. In Scotland the Scottish Executive funds the Scottish Union Learning Fund (SULF) as post of the strategy to tackle skills issues.
The strategy of government relies on encouraging individuals to take up learning and training opportunities, with a strong focus on the learner’s needs rather than on the institutional interest of the providers. The ‘New Deal’ system of placing requirements on young jobseekers is the clearest exception to this rule, where conditions must be met before there is an entitlement to benefit.
Livslang læring i England, Wales og Nordirland er ofte at henvise til læring, der tager placeres efter den unge har afsluttet formel uddannelse og uddannelse. Livslang læring i Skotland har et bredere "vugge til grav 'definition. Den sædvanlige definition af "vedvarende" i Det Forenede Kongerige sammenhæng refererer til elever over 19 år.
Latvia : Continuing vocational education and training (CVET) for adults
Strategies for adult education in Latvia are defined by the Concept of Adult Education of Latvia (Pieaugušo izglītības koncepcija), the National Lisbon Programme for 2005/2008. Adult education should satisfy both the need for personal development and public needs. It should aim to fulfil individual needs and complement existing levels of education and training regardless of age and levels of previous education.
Some of these issues are being addressed in the Guidelines for Lifelong Learning (2007-2013) which outline the vision for 2013 in terms of the needs of different target groups; mainstream development; policy aims and results indicators; and resources available.
There is a long tradition of adult continuing education in Latvia usually with evening courses for working adults who had not completed primary or secondary education. The Law on Education (Izglītības likums 1998) stipulates that adult education should be individually chosen to encourage personal development and improve labour market competitiveness. Adults have the right to follow programmes throughout their whole life, regardless of formal levels of education.
Training programmes for unemployed people are financed from the state budget. They can also be organised according to employer proposals who are seeking employees with certain skills; where this is the case the employer must provide a job for the trained person lasting at least 1 year.
Enterprise provided training can assist employees to adapt to new tasks or to re-qualify to improve their career chances. For enterprises in Latvia participation in training is a voluntary activity and they tend to be more concerned with providing training to ensure their employees can adapt to new workplace demands and provide courses on-site or outside of the enterprise usually at private providers. The number of providers has been increasing, especially in the cities, to meet the training demands of enterprises.
There is little information on the amount of training undertaken at individual initiative in Latvia. Some universities have Continuing Education Departments which provide training for individuals. Other training options include self-education through informal study through TV and radio, audio and video cassettes, as well as computer learning.
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Daži no šiem jautājumiem tiek aplūkoti Pamatnostādnēs Mūžizglītības (2007-2013), kas izklāsta redzējums 2013 ziņā vajadzībām dažādām mērķa grupām; mainstream attīstību; politikas mērķis un rezultātu rādītājus, un resursu pieejamību.
Italy : Continuing vocational education and training (CVET) for adults
In Italy, there are two systems that provide adult education. The first falls under the responsibility of the Ministry of Education. The second, which provides continuing vocational training (Formazione Professionale Continua) for adult workers, is organised by the regional authorities.
The general system of Adult Education is financially supported on the base of resources allocated by the State, the Regions, and the local authorities; other funding can be provided by a number of public and private agencies, as well as by EU resources. Continuing training activities in Italy are implemented by a variety of agencies and institutions.
Lifelong learning in Italy is thus "disseminated" through the education, training and labour systems, and therefore the institutional jurisdiction in the programming, management and evaluation of the actions regarding lifelong learning is highly specialised. The reference context of lifelong learning (systems of education, training and labour) has been recently affected by wide-ranging reform processes.
Order No. 22 dated 6 February 2001 of the Ministry of Education "Sull'educazione degli adulti", states that the educational system must act according to procedures agreed with the vocational training and informal-education system, in order to "accompany the development of the individual, thus guaranteeing lifelong learning" in the full exercise of the right of citizenship. The right to lifelong learning, as a right of citizenship, is understood as an instrument of targeted action on social exclusion.
The growth of the Adult Education Centres has been considerable, rising from 25 in the first year of their foundation (1997) to 540 in 2003-2004.
The Adult Education Centres are located throughout Italy with an average of five centres per Province (the highest concentration is observed in Lombardy, Sicily and Campania).
The reforms introduced in Italy in recent years for the labour market, the social security and the VET system involve an overall system oriented towards “Welfare to Work”. One of the main objectives of this system is to foster the integration (or reintegration) in the labour market for the unemployed, the weaker categories or those at risk of exclusion.
According to the most recent Excelsior survey carried out by Unioncamere, Italian enterprises have nowadays more awareness of their fundamental role in training their employees, especially in the starting phase of their job. This fact confirms an existing gap between formal/school training and real vocational needs expressed by the productive system.
The activities of the Adult Education Centres are aimed not only at courses for the attainment of educational qualifications, but also for the reception, listening and guidance, as well as the primary, functional and adult literacy, the learning of language skills, the development and consolidation of basic skills and know-how, the recovery and development of cultural and relational skills both suited to the activity of participation in social life, and to the return to training of persons in marginal conditions.

Ireland : Continuing vocational education and training (CVET) for adults
Continuing vocational education and training (CVET) is a rapidly growing part of the Irish VET system. It caters for a diverse range of learners and fields of learning and takes place in a range of locations, including Institutes of further education, training centres, community-based learning centres and in the workplace.
The governments’ National Anti-Poverty Strategy (NAPS), identified education and training as central to addressing poverty, and targeted investment and support for individuals and groups with inadequate literacy and numeracy skills. In 2005 the Educational Disadvantage Committee (EDC), issued a report entitled, ‘Moving beyond Educational Disadvantage’. This looked at disadvantage on a lifelong curve and made specific recommendations in relation to adult and community education.
While most entrants to third-level and higher education are school leavers, government policy is to encourage greater participation by mature and second-chance learners. Priority has been given to increasing participation from persons from traditionally under-represented groups such as students from disadvantaged backgrounds and Travellers. To achieve this special arrangements have been put in place in various universities, including access officers, alternative entrance qualification requirements and special foundation or preparatory courses. A number of other initiatives have been established, including the special links with second-level schools. Students with disabilities are supported with technical education aids and supports. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (DETE) is responsible for developing continuing vocational training (CVT) policies for the unemployed.
Government policy has long been that CVET for persons at work is primarily the responsibility of employers, who are the main source of funds for training for the employed, through their direct funding of in-company training and their financial contributions to the National Training Fund (NTF).
FÁS runs a range of fee-paying evening courses in its training centres aimed at employed workers and the general public who wish to update their skills. If the trainee is unemployed or is from a recognised disadvantaged group no fee is charged. In many cases the employer sponsors the training or pays or reimburses the cost of these courses. In addition to the publicly-provided CVET, commercial training providers offer courses to the general public and individual learners can avail of fee paying courses in for instance, language and IT skills provided by these companies.
培训就业局运行一系列付费晚间课程的培训中心,旨在劳动者和一般公众谁要更新他们的技能。 如果学员是失业或是来自弱势群体认识到不收费的。 在许多情况下,雇主赞助的培训或国家或报销的费用,这些课程。 除了公开提供CVET ,商业供应商提供培训课程,一般公众和个人学习者可以利用的付费课程,例如,语言和信息技术技能提供了这些公司。
Iceland : Continuing vocational education and training (CVET) for adults
Access to lifelong learning has seen a colossal expansion in the past decades. Numerous private education and training institutions have been established, aiming specifically at adults and the state co-finances nine Regional Centres for Lifelong Learning, which offer a wide scope of training possibilities. In many cases they e.g. offer the possibility of adding on to qualifications through distance learning and a combination of on campus and distance learning. Many universities also offer similar possibilities and use both e-learning and more traditional approaches.
The nine Regional Centres for Lifelong Learning (Símenntunarmiðstöðvar) are the cornerstone of the government's continuous education and training programme.
In 2007 two institutions owned by social partners (Fræðslumiðstöð atvinnulífsins – the Education and Training Service Centre (http://frae.is) and Iðan fræðslusetur – the Vocational Education and Training Centre (http://idan.is) were working with the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (menntamálaráðuneyti) in the establishment of quality assurance mechanism for all adult education and training, as a part of a contract involving also “real competence” assessments and training for people with little or no formal skills.
The main providers are private companies that sell their services to whoever wants to pay. In recent years, there has been a great emphasis on teaching Icelandic to immigrants and it has proven difficult to get enough teachers for the subject, especially because many of the immigrants speak no other language than their own.
Training of any kind has been very popular in recent years. Even though specific information is not available for this completely unregulated field, it appears that the biggest group seeks general education rather than VET. Re-education courses at the universities expand rapidly and every type of language course seems to be very popular. The offer of vocational courses is much smaller and there the aim seems to be towards increased specialisation or re-training at special schools.

2007年2つの機関の社会的パートナー( Fræðslumiðstöð atvinnulífsins -教育およびトレーニングサービスセンター( http://frae.is )とIðan fræðslusetur -職業教育訓練センター( http://idan.is )の所有では、との仕事をしていた契約も" "の評価をほとんどあるいは全く正式なスキルを持つ人々に真の能力に関する研修の一環として、すべての成人教育と訓練の品質保証機構の設立に文部科学省、科学と文化( menntamálaráðuneyti ) 、 。