The EfVET Youth Forum is an initiative launched on EfVET Conference 2024, hosted by MBO Amersfoort (the Netherlands), with the main purpose of fostering the involvement of Vocational Education and Training (VET) students from different countries in activities that allow them to meet, exchange ideas and collaborate under a multicultural context.
This year, EfVET carried out the third edition of its Youth Forum in parallel with EfVET Annual Conference 2026, between October 21st and 23rd, in Brussels.
With participation of 33 students coming from 12 VET schools from Italy, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, Estonia and Finland, this year’s Youth Forum was themed “Global Citizenship Empowered by VET”.
Guided by 4 teachers coming from Italy, Estonia, Ireland and Finland, all participating students were clustered into 6 different multicultural groups, and spent three days immersed in activities (including a meeting with Mr. Koen Bois d’Enghien, Policy Officer in the field of VET at the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL), and a guided visit to the Council of the European Union) that inspired them to cooperate and work with each other in exploring topics related to the Youth Forum’s theme, including:
- Challenges and opportunities given by Erasmus+ international mobilities for the development of transversal and soft skills;
- Digital citizenship, including the perils of online activities (especially on an era of Artificial Intelligence), and the need for ensuring privacy and data protection;
- World-changing skills, including digital skills, creativity and communication;
- Equality approaches applied by schools to different types of disabilities, and to socio-economic and childhood inequalities;
- The importance of the youth voice and participation in political decision-making processes.
These topics were presented by each group of students at the EfVET Youth Forum session, which took place on October 23rd. Opening this session was the Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Ms. Brigitte van den Berg, an advocate of the active role of young people in the European Commission, and the driving force behind a recent initiative called the “Youth Advisory Group”, created to integrate the perspective of young people directly into the decisions of the European Commission.
After their group presentations, the Youth Forum students ended the session with a powerful message targeted at the 600 EfVET Annual Conference participants, including VET providers, teachers, leaders, and policy and decision makers – a Youth Forum 2026 Declaration calling them to action, to:
- “Encourage students to leave their comfort zone and live their dream”;
- “Be more sensible and mindful of young people while planning international opportunities”;
- “Introduce mandatory digital safety lessons in school”;
- “Inspire youth to develop skills in communication, creativity and AI”;
- “Bring mandatory awareness programs to schools, focused on several kinds of diversity”;
- “Give us more opportunities to like this to share our knowledge.”
As mentioned by the students to conclude the EfVET Youth Forum session, “VET students are here, and we have a lot to say!”. So, let’s all listen and continue working for a better future for them, together!