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The Youth Guarantee is an innovative approach to tackling youth unemployment to ensure that all young people under 25 - whether registered with employment services or not - get a good-quality offer of employment, continued education, an apprenticeship or a traineeship within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving formal education. [European Union] EU countries endorsed the principle of the Youth Guarantee in April 2013. This leaflet explains how the Youth Guarantee works and why it makes a difference.

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These guiding principles are a contribution of the European Commission, Cedefop and the thematic working group on professional development of trainers in vocational education and training (VET) to the objective set in the Bruges communique of collecting good practice and developing guiding principles on the changing roles, competences and professional development of VET teachers and trainers. The objectives of the paper are firstly, to attract attention to and increase knowledge of what these key agents between the worlds of education and work are and what makes them 'trainers', and secondly, to discuss existing practice and provide suggestions on how to support in-company trainers so they have opportunities to update their competences throughout their careers. After presenting the general context, the paper discusses the diversity of situations, titles, functions and roles of in-company trainers across member states [of the European Union] and focuses on two groups of specialists who provide training in companies: trainers who perform training tasks as the major part of their occupational role and employees whose occupational role includes a particular training-related function (for example, owners, general managers, supervisors and skilled workers). It also points out the common understanding that at least four groups of competences are important to a different extent for trainers in VET, including those who train in companies: technical/subject-related; company-specific; pedagogical-didactical; and transversal. The paper then identifies examples, areas and approaches in which interventions, or lack of such, have significant influence on in-company trainers so that stakeholders across companies, sectors and countries have reference points to look for further actions. Examples of competence requirements and profiles of VET trainers from Belgium, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands are presented in detail in the annex.

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The Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills is a new framework for strategic cooperation to address short and medium-term skills needs in a given economic sector. The publication outlines how stakeholders (businesses, trade unions, public authorities, research, education and training institutions etc.) can apply the framework to address sectoral challenges, illustrating the steps towards delivering sector-specific skills solutions through sectoral partnerships. The Blueprint currently focuses on six pilot sectors including: automotive; defence; maritime technology; space (geo-information); textile, clothing, leather and footwear (TCLF); and tourism. It will be extended to additional sectors in the future.

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In 2019, the European Commission and CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies), conducted a study on mapping opportunities and challenges for micro and small enterprises in offering their employees up- and re-skilling opportunities. Up- and re-skilling are necessary to face changes in the labour market, led by important transformations such as digitalisation, ageing population and climate change. In addition, the recent [Coronavirus Disease 2019] COVID-19 crisis has reinforced some of the existing trends transforming the labour market, like digitalisation, and made the need for continuous up- and re-skilling even more evident.

This guidance pack draws on the results of the study and presents information, recommendations and additional resources for intermediary organisations such as chambers of commerce or education and training providers, and social partners to support micro and small companies in up- and re-skilling.

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The European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF) acts as a translation device to make national qualifications more readable across Europe, promoting the mobility of workers and learners between countries and facilitating their lifelong learning. The EQF will relate national qualifications systems to a common European reference framework. Individuals and employers will be able to use the EQF to better understand and compare the qualifications levels of different countries and different education and training systems. The EQF was adopted by the European Parliament and Council on 23 April 2008. The EQF encourages countries to relate their qualifications systems or frameworks to the EQF by 2010 and to ensure that all new qualifications issued from 2012 carry a reference to the appropriate EQF level. The core of the EQF are eight reference levels describing what a learner knows, understands and is able to do, i.e. learning outcomes. Levels of national qualifications will be placed at one of the central reference levels, ranging from basic (Level 1) to advanced (Level 8). It will therefore enable much easier comparison between national qualifications and should also mean that people do not have to repeat learning if they move to another country. The EQF applies to all types of education, training and qualifications, from school education to academic, professional and vocational education. The system shifts the focus from the traditional approach which emphasises 'learning inputs' such as the length of a learning experience, or type of institution. It also encourages lifelong learning by promoting the validation of non-formal and informal learning.

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Although the organisation and content of education and training systems are entirely their responsibility, Member States increasingly acknowledge the benefits of policy cooperation with European Union partners to address common challenges in these fields. The quality of education and training, and with it the quality of teacher education, are high on the policy agenda in all the countries of the European Union. The purpose of this handbook is to offer practical and reasonable advice for policymakers wishing to introduce, or to make more effective, a system of induction for new teachers.

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Boosting the quality and supply of apprenticeships is part of the [European Union's] EU's approach to tackling youth unemployment. This leaflet gives an overview of measures under the recently launched European Alliance for Apprenticeships, to help Member States and other stakeholders achieve this aim.

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The [European Union] EU is working to reduce youth unemployment and to increase the youth employment rate in line with the wider EU target of achieving a 75 per cent employment rate for the working-age population (20-64 years). This leaflet gives an overview of the latest measures proposed by the EU to help Member States specifically tackle youth unemployment and social exclusion.

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ESCO is the multilingual classification of European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations. It identifies and categorises skills, competences, qualifications and occupations relevant for the [European Union] EU labour market and education and training, in 25 European languages. The system provides occupational profiles showing the relationships between occupations, skills, competences and qualifications. ESCO has been developed in an open [information technology] IT format, is available for use free of charge by everyone and can be accessed through an online portal.

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Almost 70 million people in Europe have trouble reading, writing, making simple calculations or using a computer. The new Upskilling Pathways initiative will provide a fresh start to people in need of basic skills development through tailored learning offers and skills assessments to help them acquire a minimum level of literacy, numeracy and digital skills and/or a broader set of skills. Learn more about the Upskilling Pathways in the leaflet and find out how you can get involved.

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