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The European Union (EU) hopes to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic area in the world by 2010 and making lifelong learning a reality for all citizens is the guiding principle for meeting this goal. This booklet contains the initial highlights of the Eurobarometer survey, which directly asks citizens their opinion of lifelong learning, and includes a brief country profile of Greece, the EU Presidency country at the time of publication. Findings of the survey include: nine in 10 European citizens think lifelong learning is important, at least to some extent; the majority of citizens think they learn best in informal settings; and social and personal reasons for learning outweigh work-related motives. Policy implications of these findings are also discussed. The contents are: Creating one world of lifelong learning - an integrated approach for an inclusive society; Skills for a Europe of knowledge; Lifewide learning and the diversity of learning; Incentives, motivations and intentions; Citizens’ views on lifelong learning in Greece. Show less

The 2008 financial crisis and the persistent economic downturn that has followed have had a major impact on the European labour market. Taking their effects into account, Cedefop has produced its latest forecast for skilled labour supply and demand up to 2020. Cedefop's forecasts are unique in making a comparative analysis of the major trends in employment growth and decline for sectors, occupations and qualifications both across the European labour market as a whole and for individual European Union Member States. According to the forecasts, assuming a slow but steady recovery, up to 2020, the European economy will create some eight million new jobs. However, nearly 10 times as many jobs, around 75 million, will need to be filled as people retire or leave the workforce. Although there will be job openings for all types of occupations, most new jobs will be at the higher and lower end of the skill spectrum bringing a risk of job polarisation. Weak employment growth indicates that there may be an oversupply of people with high-level qualifications in the short term, but by 2020, Europe will have the most highly-qualified workforce in its history. This publication provides the data behind these trends and discusses the challenges they pose for policy-makers.

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Cedefop is the European Union's (EU's) agency to support the development of vocational education and training (VET) policies. Cedefop's work programme for 2011 is grouped around the following priorities: (1) informing European VET policies; (2) interpreting European trends in and challenges for skills, competences and learning; (3) assesing VET's benefits; and (4) raising the profile of VET. Show less

Validation of non-formal and informal learning is defined as 'a process of confirmation by an authorised body that an individual has acquired learning outcomes measured against a relevant standard'. It aims to make non-formal and informal learning visible socially, in the labour market and in the education and training system, based on the identification, documentation, assessment and certification of such learning. Validation has the potential to contribute to achieving the goals set by the Europe 2020 strategy, as it can contribute to matching skills supply and demand, supporting mobility across sectors and countries and fighting social exclusion. The European inventory on validation of non-formal and informal learning is a regularly updated overview of validation practices and arrangements across Europe. It is compiled in cooperation with the European Commission and ETF. The inventory was endorsed by the Council recommendation of 2012 on validation and works together with the European guidelines as a tool to support countries in developing and implementing validation arrangements.

The inventory informs dialogue and learning between countries and stakeholders developing and implementing validation in Europe. Our key objective is to support Member States so that more learners and workers can acquire and make visible new skills, which will support their career and further learning and improve their quality of life. The 2018 update of the inventory is a unique record of how validation is being used nationally, regionally and locally across Europe. It contains the state of play and an overview of developments for 39 countries, illustrated by good practice examples. You will also find thematic reports on key issues in designing and implementing validation initiatives, plus three international case studies. The inventory is the result of a three-year process based on the work of a large network of national experts, extensive review of documents, and interviews with key stakeholders.

Edited excerpt from publisher's website.

The 39 country reports are: Austria / Karin Luomi-Messerer; Belgium-Flanders / Katleen De Rick; Belgium-French / Milica Popovic; Bulgaria / Mariya Dzhengozova; Croatia / Marija Pavkov; Cyprus / Anna Manoudi; Czech Republic / Milada Stalker; Denmark / Bokil Husted; Estonia / Marin Johnson; Finland / Anni Karttunen; France / Cecile Mathou; Germany / Claudia Ball; Greece / Anna Manoudi; Hungary / Eva Tot; Iceland / Fjola Maria Larusdottir; Ireland / Ilona Murphy; Italy / Elisabetta Perulli; Kosovo / Teuta Danuza; Latvia / Diana Ieleja; Liechtenstein /Jaana Puukka; Lithuania / Giedre Beleckiene; Luxembourg / Claire Duchemin; Malta / Suzanne Gatt; Montenegro / Slavica Dimovska; Netherlands / Ruud Duvekot; North Macedonia / Ognen Spasovski; Norway / Odd Bjorn Ure; Poland / Aleksandra Duda; Portugal / Paula Guimaraes; Romania / Magdalena Balica; Slovakia / Juraj Vantuch; Slovenia / Marija Pavkov; Spain / Patricia Vale; Sweden / Soren Kristensen; Switzerland / Deli Salini, Saskia Weber Guisan and Evelyn Tsandev; Turkey / Fusun Akkok; UK - England and Northern Ireland / Michael Richardson; UK - Scotland / David Scott; UK - Wales / David Scott.

The five thematic reports are: Bridging the gap: validation creation routes and links between sectors / Jo Hawley-Woodall; How digital forms of assessment and self-assessment might place a new challenge and opportunity for assessment methodologies / Karin Luomi-Messerer; How social partners and other labour marketrelated stakeholders are involved in validation arrangements / Mariya Dzhengova; Validation of non-formal and informal learning for migrants and refugees / Ilona Murphy; The role of validation in an upskilling pathway for young people not in education and training (NEETS), adults with low skills and long-term unemployed people / Gabor Endrodi.

The three case studies are: Canada-Nova Scotia / Cecile Mathou; Chile-Chilevalora / Gabor Endrodi; Hong Kong / Ruud Devekot. Show less

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 report begins with an analysis of guidance as an educational process, particularly in the areas of transmission, processing and acquisition of knowledge and skills. It is seen as an integral part of educational activities and not merely the provision of information. To help the research, some essential reference terms are re-defined: 'low skilled', 'young people', 'guidance' and 'needs'. The report is in four chapters: (1) guidance as a training process: a theoretical framework; (2) research on the situation and life circumstances of young people; (3) the need to redefine the terms of the problem; and (4) hypotheses and proposals. The report concludes with four recommendations for the support and encouragement of low-skilled young people at the start of their training and work, and an acknowledgement of the difficulties they face in the current social environment. Show less

This Cedefop policy brief is based on an empirical piece of work carried out in Greece and Portugal. The work tested if, and under what conditions, intra-EU relocation of refugees based on skills and labour market needs in countries of relocation may work. The central element of a skills-based solution is matching refugees' skills and qualifications with labour market needs in a potential receiving country that offers adult refugees a clear perspective of employment and a clear route to self-reliance. Such skills-based solutions to protection would offer an additional pathway to refugees to move legally from third countries to the EU, as well as within the EU. Experience gained indicates six ways in which progress can be made to expand relocation in Europe based on refugees' skills and labour market needs.

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'The value of learning' is the third in the Cedefop series of reports on vocational education and training (VET) research. It covers three broad themes, published in three volumes: impact of education and training; the foundations of evaluation and impact research; and evaluation of systems and programmes. This volume of the background report: gathers contributions on philosophical roots, types and standards of evaluation and impact research; discusses tools and methods for evaluating education and training systems and reforms; and addresses competence measurement and the design and selection key competences in an international context. It contains: Philosophies and types of evaluation research / Elliot Stern; Developing standards to evaluate vocational education and training programmes / Wolfgang Beywl, Sandra Speer; Methods and limitations of evaluation and impact research / Reinhard Hujer, Marco Caliendo, Dubravko Radic; From project to policy evaluation in vocational education and training - possible concepts and tools: evidence from countries in transition / Evelyn Viertel, Soren P. Nielsen, David L. Parkes, Soren Poulsen; Look, listen and learn: an international evaluation of adult learning / Beatriz Pont and Patrick Werquin; Measurement and evaluation of competence / Gerald A. Straka; An overarching conceptual framework for assessing key competences: lessons from an interdisciplinary and policy-oriented approach / Dominique Simone Rychen.

The three volumes of the background report are indexed from TD/TNC 84.261 to TD/TNC 84.263; individual papers from these volumes are indexed from TD/TNC 84.264 to TD/TNC 84.283. The synthesis report from this third series is indexed at TD/IRD 88.32; its executive summary is indexed at TD/TNC 84.259. Show less

This publication is the final report on Cedefop's study on in-company trainers in small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs]. More and more opportunities exist for adults to learn, including in work-based settings; enterprises provide training to ensure that they have all the skills and competences needed for competitiveness and growth. One out of five employees in SMEs is involved in facilitating learning of others while they are less likely to participate in training than their counterparts in large enterprises. What is their role? How many are they? What qualifications and competences do they need and have? What are their tasks and activities? How do they update their competences? How do their employers support them? Are they aware of and do they benefit from publicly supported programmes? Based on in-company trainers' and employers' responses from 254 SMEs, this publication provides some answers to these questions.

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The common impression of skill mismatch in the European Union (EU) is one of employers unable to fill vacancies despite high unemployment. But Cedefop's European Skills and Jobs (ESJ) survey reveals a more complex problem. Skill mismatch, a term not always clearly understood, affects most of the workforce, not only those looking for a job. The economic crisis has made skill mismatch worse. Due to weak employment demand, more people are taking jobs below their qualification or skill level. The survey shows that, in the EU, around 25 per cent of highly qualified young adult employees are overqualified for their job. Those graduating after 2008 are almost twice as likely to be overqualified for their first job as those who graduated between 1991 and 2000.

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