The Maastricht Study

1
VET Challenges and research agendas
Tom Leney LeneyTO_at_qca.org.uk
2
Competitiveness who leads?

• Higher gross domestic product per capita than
  USA Luxembourg
• More productive per hour Austria, Belgium,
  France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg,
  Netherlands, Norway. Here, the challenge is to
  raise employment levels
• Different country profiles - Productivity
  employment skills investment innovation
• Successful models in Europe the Nordic group?
  Ireland? Austria?

3
Skills and competences to meet future needs?

• Anticipating future skills and labour market
  needs new risks, new approaches (Finland
  futures)
• Which are the key competences? (Estonia reforms)
• Entrepreneurship is one active skills and/or
  skills for business start-up (Austria steps
  ahead)
• Developing broad occupational competencies
  through workplace learning is now the key factor
  for VET reform in Europe (the Netherlands define)
• Validation of informal and non-formal learning
  opens doors (France innovates, Noste in Finland)

4
Lifelong learning target low-skilled groups in
the workplace

• The challenge for participation in lifelong
  learning.
• Few EU member states reaching the EU target UK,
  Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Netherlands, Slovenia
  plus Norway and Iceland
• Variations between sectors Communications/textile
  s
• Workers with lower education attainment six times
  lower chance to participate in training (Frico
  Cheese)
• Older workers (Sparbanken 55), workers in
  declining industries (Poland, re-skilling mining
  regions),migrant groups (Romania), workers in
  small companies (Japan, automotive)
• From initiatives to strategy? (Denmark)

5
Economic and social priorities for lifelong
learning

• All the European countries indicate that access
  to education and training is a policy priority
  (equity, targeting groups)
• However, few indicate that increasing
  participation in CVT is a funding priority
• Reference to some specific groups but
  upskilling and opportunities for older workers
  does not receive much attention in most European
  countries

6
Lowering barriers to mobility

• Migration after enlargement lower than expected
• VET can reduce barriers and ease frictions that
  currently inhibit the mobility of workers and
  learners
• VET has an important role to play but is not
  the major driver behind migration
• Europass? Ireland Austria

7
VET investing more and better

• Investing in VET brings rewards to companies and
  to individuals, though often seen as a cost or
  treated with reluctance.
• Implications for governments, employers and
  individuals
• Setting the standard for ET spending in Europe?
  Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Cyprus,
  Finland between 8.3 and 6.2 of GDP
• A lack of private funding except for some
  aspects of HE, countries do not address this
  issue well

8
Innovation strategies

• Ensuring highly skilled VET professionals.
• Emphasis on concrete action at decentralised
  level and by the social partners
• Establish synergy between VET policies and
  economic and employment policies. Innovation
  agreements and partnership commitment to foster
  investment in human capital
• Special attention to key competences, ICT
  literacy and learning partnerships
• Opportunities for peer learning (bench
  learning) at the EU level

Lisbon - Copenhagen - Maastricht Consortium
9
Four questions 2010 and after
?

• What policies (lifelong learning, labour market,
  inclusion, innovation) can stakeholders develop
  to optimise the learning opportunities for all
  target groups in the workplace?
• Can we facilitate strong European networks to
  innovate in VET, and involve wider publics?
• How will we best progress the agreed objectives,
  since European countries are on different
  starting lines for VET and develop differing
  visions of lifelong learning?
• How to balance the economic and social aspects of
  the Lisbon goal?