16 juni 2011 NETH-er seminar Skills
Neth-ER organised a skills seminar in which it was commonly agreed that an adequate skills base is much needed. Furthermore, it is both the task of educational institutions and the labour market to anticipate on skills. Much work though still remains to be done in bringing education and employment together to tackle skills issues together rather than having separate discussions.
Jan van Zijl, chairman of the Association of VET Colleges, provided the opening speech, stating that bridges should be built between the world of education and the world of work. In addition he conveyed the message that one should not only stimulate excellence in education to enhance one’s skills level, but also that conditions have to be created whereby vulnerable groups are offered chances as well.
Adjacent to Van Zijl’s contribution, Lucie Davoine from the Directorate-General Education and Culture, gave an insightful presentation on the flagship initiative An agenda for new skills and jobs.
Amongst other focus points she mentioned that skills shortages mainly exist in the ICT, sciences, mathematics, engineering and health sectors and that jobs are becoming more knowledge- and skills-intensive. The latter means that by 2020 35% of all jobs will require high-level qualifications. In addition, the European Commission will work on new initiatives to promote the importance of transversal skills like entrepreneurship, languages and digital literacy.
Following Davoine’s presentation, Alina Maria Bercea from DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion talked about European Sector Skills councils that are also mentioned in the Agenda for new skills and jobs. The Sector Skills councils are aimed at bringing together existing national networks and to analyse skill needs. The added value of the councils according to Bercea is that they offer a platform of exchanges between sector representatives and providers of education and training on the one hand. On the other hand, they provide a single access point to information on employment and skills. However, some critical questions were asked about the councils, for example where to place transversal skills. Another question was why councils are set up in the sectors that exist up to the present date although one should perhaps focus on future sectors and the skills needed for the future jobs that do not exist yet.
Consequently, Jens Bjornavold from the Centre for the Development of Education and Training (Cedefop), touched upon the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and its relation to the European Skills, Competences and Occupations Classification (ESCO). According to Jens, EQF and ESCO complement each other. They are both aimed at creating a common language for education/training and the labour market and at establishing a common platform for dialogue and cooperation. Many questions however were raised mainly regarding ESCO being yet another tool which will not be efficient and effective. Also, as as argued by some participants,ESCO will not lead to simplified, workable procedures for both schools, students, employers and employees.
Eline van der Net and Siegfried Willems from the CINOP International Agency touched upon the ‘Bridging the skills gap’ conference which they attended in Budapest.
