Are micro-, small- and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs) threatened by a skills shortage or is it their in-built limitations that prevent their access to skills? How could governments and the European Union help them tackle the troubles they face when trying to recruit the skills they need to remain competitive and grow?
In episode 25 of Cedefop’s Skillset and match podcast, which we prepared alongside DG EMPL, the European Commission's Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, we get all aspects on the subject: Cedefop expert Giovanni Russo talks about the evidence from research; Mathilde Cregut, Policy Advisor at SMEUnited, tells us how the problem looks from the point of view of MSMEs; and Annemiek Wortman, Head of Department of the Dutch Ministry of Labour and the Netherlands' National Skills Coordinator, shares the experience of successful government assistance.
🌐 Cedefop for European Year of Skills
In an episode recorded live during the #CedefopVideoAward presentation event at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival on 8 March, vocational education and training learners, practitioners and experts share with Rosy Voudouri inspiring real-life stories, problems and solutions, as well as tips to make young people's learning and career paths easier and more fulfilling.
Microcredentials are all the rage in the world of education right now. But what exactly are they and do they deserve all the fuss created around them? Who benefits from acquiring them? With the European Year of Skills in full swing, how can we make microcredentials work for as many as possible? Two experts in the field, Honorary Research Associate at University College London Paul Grainger and Cedefop's Anastasia Pouliou, give their views.
In an interview during their visit to Cedefop, MEPs Dennis Radtke, Loucas Fourlas and Stelios Kympouropoulos, all members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, discussed the Parliament’s efforts to assist EU Member States in helping people upskill and reskill for the digital and green transition.
Talking to Cedefop's Rosy Voudouri, they also focused on the likely benefits of the European Year of Skills and on Cedefop’s work to support the Year and the Committee.
🌐 Cedefop for #EuropeanYearofSkills
How can skills intelligence be turned into policy to tackle skill gaps in view of the green and digital transitions?
Cécile Hanoune, Head of Unit Climate Action Governance and Effort Sharing at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA) and Cedefop's expert Ilias Livanos, who has been working on skills forecast and the European Skills Index, discuss on Cedefop's Skillset and match podcast.
🌐 Cedefop for #EuropeanYearofSkills
Annabel Wildschut, Research Officer at the European Institute for Gender Equality – EIGE, and Cedefop expert Joanna Napierala discuss the intricacies of moving to a clean energy sector while attracting more women to it.
🌐 Cedefop for the European Year of Skills
Why aren’t apprenticeships offered in high-tech industries such as video gaming? What are the advantages and disadvantages of virtual reality in education? What is the modern role of a teacher? Two practitioners, representing education and business, exchange views and agree that their sectors must work together to serve learners in the digital era better.
The wave of digitalisation that has swept the world of work in the last few years has been affecting all forms of education, changing what learners are taught but also how they are taught.
A symposium, co-organised by Cedefop and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Thessaloniki, as part of the European Year of Skills, was dedicated to the link between the digital transition and one of the most enduring institutions of vocational education and training (VET), apprenticeships.
In episode 18 of the Skillset and match podcast series, Marieke Vandeweyer, Senior Policy Analyst at the OECD, and Cedefop's Deputy Director Mara Brugia discuss the aspects of this dynamic relationship and their implications for policy-making.
Is teachers’ and trainers’ professional development commensurate with their key role in the educational process? What are the factors that slow it down? How can we make sure that training keeps up with the fast-paced digital and green transitions and the new curricula demands? In the context of the European Year of Skills, the Cedefop expert who leads a project dedicated to teachers and trainers and a teacher from Spain who works on addressing these challenges share their views on the current situation and on what needs to change.
In an exclusive interview, European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas shares his views on skills, on what the Commission does to promote them and on how people can benefit from the European Year of Skills, which has just started. He recognises that skills shortages pose a big problem for the European labour market, and he sees the Year as a way of giving back to young Europeans who suffered during the pandemic 'opportunities in education, training, mobility and in the job market.' Mr Schinas argues that 'we have the political will, we have the regulatory framework, we have unprecedented resources, and we are now building the necessary synergies and awareness to make this Year work at all levels,' adding that 'we never had so much money for skills in the EU'. He also calls for a 'de-Brusselisation' of the initiative: 'Taking the Year out of Brussels would help immensely with its success.'
With 2023 being the European Year of Skills, we look at the findings of Cedefop’s 2nd European skills and jobs survey. Carried out at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the survey collected the views of over 46 000 workers in all EU Member States, Iceland and Norway on how digitalisation affects them, how their skills match with their jobs and on their readiness to invest in continuous vocational training. The Cedefop expert behind the project, Konstantinos Pouliakas, the European Training Foundation’s Manuela Prina and Seamus McGuinness, Research Professor at Ireland’s Economic and Social Research Institute, analyse the headline findings.
Cedefop Executive Director Jürgen Siebel and his counterpart of the European Labour Authority (ELA) Cosmin Boiangiu discuss about how the two Agencies' cooperation can advance cross-border transferability of skills and labour force mobility.
In an exclusive wide-ranging interview to Cedefop's Skillset and match podcast, Nobel laureate economist, Sir Christopher Pissarides, shares his optimistic views on the future of work, the impact of automation on jobs, Europe's dedication to lifelong learning, the results of the 2nd European skills and jobs survey, and more. He urges workers to embrace the latest technological revolution and calls for governments to take action against the inequalities caused by the digital technologies. Sir Christopher, who is currently leading a review on the future of work in the UK, was a keynote speaker at Cedefop’s recent high-level conference on ‘Powering the digital transition’.
As he approaches retirement after 26 years of serving European vocational education and training (VET), award-winning Cedefop expert Jens Bjørnåvold shares his career experience, views and predictions on the future of VET, lifelong learning, validation of prior learning and qualifications. Will VET withstand the test of the changing education and labour market landscape? Jens says he cannot imagine a society without vocational training and points to lifelong learning as a basic driver of future individual and collective development. He also assures us that he will continue to be involved in the field, only this time from his hometown in Norway. Listen to his fascinating insights.
Fabienne Goux-Baudiment has dedicated her academic and professional life to the scientific study of future trends and the probabilistic foresight of the challenges that lie ahead. She speaks on episode 11 of Cedefop's Skillset and match podcast about the emerging faces of education and work, skills and aptitudes, and explains her view of what she terms 'liquid people'.
Cedefop's Cynthia Harrison Villalba and the European Training Foundation's (ETF) Florian Kadletz speak about the first ever Global Careers Month, organised by the Inter-Agency Career Guidance Working Group as well as the crucial part career guidance is playing at the current historical juncture.
European vocational education and training policy sets the targets that must be met so that all Europeans can have better access to and benefits from education. Cedefop helps develop and monitor these policies, together with the European Commission and the EU Member States. As part of this work, a new tool has been created and is now available on our website. It’s called European vocational education and training policy dashboard, and it monitors the progress Member States and the EU overall make towards achieving the policy targets they set. Cedefop experts Steve Bainbridge and Marco Serafini explain what this tool does and how well Europe manages this process.
How two European Union decentralised Agencies join forces to promote vocational education and training (VET), skills and human development in the EU and beyond.
In the eighth episode of Cedefop's Skillset and match podcast, the European Training Foundation's (ETF) Director ad interim Xavier Matheu and Cedefop Executive Director Jürgen Siebel discuss the two Agencies' collaboration, among others transferring VET-related knowledge between European Union Member States and neighbouring countries and cooperating on Europe's response to the refugee crisis generated by the war in Ukraine.
Three generations of Cedefop people share their experience of living in Thessaloniki, an ancient city with more than 2,000 years of uninterrupted urban history, and working at the oldest European Union decentralised agency. Lore Schmid, Sorhna-Paule Perrot and Thomas Mellios all agree that anyone with an opportunity to live that experience should go for it!
Are microcredentials an effective response to the economy's current challenges? Are they really gaining currency in the labour market and what pitfalls could they potentially involve in the face of the digital and green transitions? How can the challenges of their certification, validation and portability be tackled? And will they be a permanent feature in the world of work and education or just a passing fad? Cedefop's Loukas Zahilas and Anastasia Pouliou with some answers on Cedefop's Skillset and match podcast series.
