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This booklet focuses on some of the main aspects of vocational education and training (VET) in Italy. It provides an outline of the structure and characteristics of the training system and the challenges it faces. The booklet includes a chart of VET in the Italian education and training system and some education and training statistics. Show less

This short brochure gives a concise overview of the state of play of Bulgaria's education and training system, its distinctive features, the particular challenges the country faces and the policy responses it has been developing. A chart showing the VET system's structure and figures on student enrolment, early leaving and employment rates of young graduates complete the picture.

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'Skillset and match' is Cedefop's magazine promoting learning for work. This issue contains a feature on the Second European vocational skills week and the #CedefopPhotoAward 2017 (pages 10-13). Feature articles include: Lifelong guidance in the digital age / Rosy Voudouri (pages 4-5); Skills Panorama at the service of career guidance / Stelina Chatzichristou (pages 6-7); Hacking big data for better labour market policies / Sofia-Maria Giannouli (pages 8-9); Social dialogue can benefit digital Europe / Rosy Voudouri (pages 14-15); VET: from past to future / Loukas Zahilas and Jens Bjornavold (page 16); Insights on what EU citizens think about VET / Lidia Salvatore and Ernesto Villalba-Garcia (pages 18-19); Cedefop apprenticeship reviews make a difference (page 20).

This issue also reports that the Europass has passed the 100 million CV milestone and provides information about the latest Cedefop publications and upcoming events. The Member State contribution comes from current EU Presidency holder, Bulgaria.

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The main stories in this issue are 'Are we prepared for the future of work?' in which Konstantinos Pouliakas explains the impacts of digitalisation on skills and jobs and 'VET for prosperity in Europe' in which Bulgaria's Education Minister Krasimir Valchev talks about the role of vocational education and training in bringing prosperity to Europe. Other articles include: Visiting MEPs praise Cedefop's work / Rosy Voudouri; Learning providers at the heart of VET / Tina Bertzeletou; EQF celebrates 10th anniversary / Slava Pevec Grm; Weaving a stronger social fabric for Europe: the European pillar of social rights / Eleonora Schmid; Australia seeks real skills for real careers / Karen Andrews, Assistant Minister for Vocational Education and Skills. The issue also contains information about the latest Cedefop publications and upcoming events. Show less

This report details Cedefop's first cross-nation study of apprenticeships in the European Union. The point of departure for the study is what countries define and offer as apprenticeship training. It then applies a purposive approach to identifying the changes that apprenticeships are undergoing in practice, based on their design characteristics. Largely based on data collected in 2016, the study includes mapping of apprenticeship schemes with a stable/valid legal basis at system level, or mainstream schemes, in the EU Member States, Iceland and Norway; it identifies and analyses the different purposes and functions associated with the schemes, and investigates whether and how they differ in terms of organisation. This report indicates the fundamental differences among apprenticeships in Europe that account for the absence of a shared understanding of the concept of apprenticeship. The design of apprenticeship schemes seems to respond to two different and evolving purposes and functions of apprenticeship, plus a hybrid one, existing side by side - the analysis of which may bring new insights into EU- and national-level policy debates. The first function group is apprenticeship as an education and training system; the second is apprenticeship as a type of VET delivery within the formal VET system; and the third, apprenticeship as a hybrid system, aims to offer young people a way of reaching a qualification by bringing them onto the labour market (strong link with social inclusion and employment) and combines elements of the other two groups but does not fully fall under either of the two.

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This Cedefop national qualifications framework (NQF) monitoring report confirms that NQFs play a key role in the European qualifications framework (EQF) implementation and in improving transparency and comparability of qualifications nationally and internationally. The 39 countries monitored (28 EU Member States, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Kosovo, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey) are developing and implementing 43 national qualifications frameworks. Most NQFs are comprehensive - covering all levels and types of formal education and training qualifications and promoting learning outcomes perspectives and triggering reform. They have contributed to reinforced and more consistent use of learning outcomes in qualifications, made higher VET (EQF levels 5 to 8) more visible, and supported more systematic implementation of validation of non-formal and informal learning. However, their visibility and use by the labour market is still limited. Sustainability, visibility to end-users, stakeholder involvement, ownership of the process, and consensus-building are among the conditions critical to successful NQF use and impact.

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This publication is part of a series produced as part of the Cedefop project 'The changing nature and role of VET (2016-18)'. The aim of the paper is to identify and analyse patterns and trends in enrolment in upper secondary initial vocational education and training (IVET) in Europe over the period 1995 to 2015. The research produced findings on comparability of the international data as well as trends in enrolment in upper secondary IVET and its share of enrolment in upper secondary education. It found that, in countries where there has been a decline in VET enrolment, most of this is due to a declining youth population. It also found that many fluctuations in enrolment figures are artificial in the sense that they are the result of changing national classification and/or reporting practices. When correcting for these factors, findings show that the development of absolute enrolment in VET, as well as its share of enrolment in upper secondary education, has been quite stable in most countries.

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Level descriptors are essential elements of national qualifications frameworks (NQF) established and implemented across Europe. They define what is meant by learning outcomes, describing what an individual is expected to know, be able to do and understand, having acquired a qualification at a particular level. This publication provides an updated overview of NQF level descriptors of 39 countries participating in [European Qualifications Framework] EQF implementation [an overview published in 2013 is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 114.77]. It shows that all 39 countries taking part have now defined - and for a large part adopted - their levels of learning outcomes. The analysis illustrates the influence of the EQF on national level descriptors, and demonstrates how countries have adjusted and further developed the learning outcomes approach according to national needs and priorities. National level descriptors have mostly been developed through extensive dialogue between different stakeholders. This report celebrates the 10th anniversary of the EQF in 2018 and its further implementation, as anchored in the revised EQF recommendation (2017).

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This research paper is the fifth in a series produced as part of the Cedefop project 'The changing nature and role of VET (2016-18)'. Based on comparative analysis of labour force survey data from 2014, the report analyses the vocational effect on labour market and education outcomes, asking whether any advantages conferred by vocational qualifications in early career would be offset by disadvantages later in life. The report explores the functioning of the safety net and the diversion effects across countries, demonstrating how these vary considerably with the specific institutional structure of schooling and work-based training. The results indicate that VET graduates are potentially sacrificing the longer-term gains associated with further education in favour of short-term benefits.

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This flyer provides a concise overview of Austria's vocational education and training system. Austrian vocational education and training (VET) ranks high, as demonstrated by its differentiated offer and high attractiveness: around 70 per cent of each age cohort opt for a VET path at the end of compulsory education. The last year (year 9) of compulsory education and the first of upper secondary education coincide. School-based VET and apprenticeships (dual track training) coexist. They cover nearly all economic sectors and lead to different qualification levels (either EQF 4 or 5). Most school-based VET comes under the remit of the education ministry. Governance of apprenticeship is shared by the ministries of economy (company-based track) and education (school-based track). There is also a variety of VET programmes at tertiary level and for adults.

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