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Traditionally, vocational education and training (VET) has been a strong pillar of the Slovak education system. Despite growing interest in general education, participation in secondary VET is still among the highest in the [European Union] EU. While VET programmes offering access to higher education remain attractive, the share of learners completing programmes without this option has declined sharply. The resulting low supply of skilled workers and craftsmen triggered new legislation in 2015 introducing a 'dual' type of initial VET. With a growing share of social sciences and humanities graduates, labour market mismatches are also visible at tertiary level. Employers consider this risky for industry and the open export driven Slovak economy as a whole.

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'Skillset and match' aims to promote vocational education and training [VET] in the context of European initiatives taken by the [European] Commission, Member States and social partners through Cedefop's work programme.

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Feature articles in this issue include: Engaging SMEs in apprenticeships: turning ideas into reality; Growing business with apprentices / Jason Holt; Reviewing apprenticeship in member states / Ramona David; VET helps people say 'yes' to education and training / Irene Psifidou; Helping low-skilled adults / Steve Bainbridge and Lidia Salvatore; A broader role for Cedefop in a new Europe / Micheline Scheys; Skills for jobs and jobs for skills, in the robot era; Young people: the last ones to get a job / Peter Cappelli; Proudly presenting the new skills panorama / Alena Zukersteinova and Jesus Bustamante; Work organisation and workplace learning: a win-win environment / Rosy Voudouri; A European forum for learning outcomes / Kate Tetley and Tomasz Saryusz-Wolski; Increasing outreach and attractiveness / Gerd Oskar Bausewein; and Improving VET in Denmark / ReferNet Denmark. Show less

On 28 June 2011, the Council of the European Union adopted the Recommendation 'Youth on the move: promoting the learning mobility of young people'. The Recommendation focuses on young people in a learning context, and identifies ways in which Member States can promote learning mobility across the European Union (EU). The Recommendation identifies 10 key thematic areas for action. The mobility scoreboard for initial vocational education and training (IVET) is a tool for supporting the monitoring of countries' progress in their implementation of the Recommendation, and more generally the upgrading of IVET mobility policies. It is intended to: (a) assist policymakers and stakeholders in identifying examples of good practices in the field of IVET learning mobility; (b) outline the strengths and weaknesses of mobility structures and policies in place in the countries covered, thus highlighting the areas for further progress; and (c) both inspire and support reforms of national and EU IVET mobility policies.

This document presents the concept, tools, methodology and first results of the mobility scoreboard for IVET. The information and results presented cover 26 out of the 28 EU Member States (data from Lithuania and Poland are missing) along with Iceland and Norway. From a thematic standpoint, this prototype focuses on four of the 10 thematic areas of the Recommendation, i.e. information and guidance, administrative and institutional issues, recognition of learning outcomes, and partnerships and funding. An extended version covering all 10 thematic areas will be available in 2017.

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This report draws both on literature review and an original collection of stories from biographical interviews of individuals in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Poland and the UK. The narrative accounts describe the wide variety of experiences with initial and further education. The analysis focuses on motivations for learning (or not) and the findings confirm that early negative experiences with schooling have a scarring effect inhibiting workers' willingness to re-engage in education later in life. Nevertheless, many low-educated adults command a variety of skills, which they have developed in the work context, while the interest of the low-educated in education and training may be rekindled by making learning instrumental to improvement in their work situation.

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The European labour market is challenged by changes in the demographic composition of the labour force and increasing work complexities and processes. Skills forecasting makes useful contribution to decisions by policy-makers, experts and individuals. In this publication, Cedefop presents the latest results of skills supply and demand forecasts. Alongside the most likely scenario, it shows the impact of alternative labour market activation or migration policies on future labour market imbalances, illustrating the effects of the 'highest possible' labour market activity rates based on past and possible future baseline trends. The role of migration in mitigating labour market imbalances is incorporated into the scenario, responding to available job opportunities, income differentials and unemployment levels across Member States.

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'Skillset and match' is Cedefop's magazine promoting learning for work. This issue includes an interview with European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility Marianne Thyssen during her first visit to Cedefop. Other articles include: A new lease of life for European VET [editorial] / James Calleja (page 3); Making people's skills visible / Ernesto Villalba (page 17); Global trends and their impact on VET / George Kostakis (pages 18-19). Other highlights include interviews with Geoff Hayward from the UK and Denise Amyot from Canada on the link between vocational and higher education. An eight-page supplement, '14 ways to tackle skill mismatch' by Gary Horsley (pages 9-16), looks at inspiring ways to tackle skill mismatch. The member state contribution comes from Estonia where vocational education and training for adults makes finding work easier. Also included is information about the latest Cedefop publications and upcoming events.

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

Cedefop's 2016 skills forecast offers insights into future trends in skill demand and supply across the European Union (EU). Trends are being driven mainly by demographic change, better access to education, technological advance and climate change. These drivers are expected to impact employment, occupations and qualifications in all sectors across the EU between now and 2025 in different ways, particularly by: encouraging employment growth in services; increasing need for high qualifications; and high replacement demand; changes in job content and tasks. To support the EU workforce in preparing for the anticipated effects of these trends, education and training need to ensure: a balanced mix of skills across sectors, countries and qualification levels; broader skill profiles across occupations and qualifications, combining technical and behavioural skills; and acquisition of new specialised and technical skills as these are changing more rapidly throughout working life.

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This short description aims to contribute to better understanding of vocational education and training (VET) in the Netherlands, providing an insight into its main features and highlighting recent VET policy developments. VET in the Netherlands is comprehensive and flexible and has good labour market outcomes. The Dutch experience shows that an effective VET system requires regular adjustments to keep meeting labour market and society needs. Striking a good balance between the system's accessibility, quality and efficiency is a constant challenge. In recent years, policies have focused on reducing early leaving from education and training and streamlining qualifications. Recent policies aim at increasing quality and efficiency by reducing programme duration and by strengthening performance-based funding. These and other measures benefit from a tradition of evidence-informed policy and practice.

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In 2014, the rate of early leaving from education and training in the European Union (EU) had dropped to just one percentage point above the Europe 2020 benchmark of less than 10 per cent. This encouraging trend is partly owed to the numerous projects and initiatives across Europe over the last three decades which have supported young people at risk of dropping out of education. Yet many of these initiatives have neither aroused attention nor found a market beyond their local context, in spite of their success. What has prevented policy makers and practitioners in other places reaping their benefits? What does it take to transfer successful practices and make them work in different settings? Following analysis of the causes and manifestations of early leaving from education and training, and of policies preventing and counteracting the phenomenon, Cedefop has been looking at the conditions for mainstreaming successful projects and initiatives into regional/national programmes and for policy learning from one country to another.

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