On 5 November, the European Commission released the Education and Skills Package, which includes important initiatives for Vocational Education and Training.
Comprised of four key priorities, this Package combines the initiatives detailed below.
Priority 1: Stronger basic skills for every learner, including:
- EU guidance on basic skills, aimed to support EU countries to target improvements on reading, mathematics, science, digital and citizenship skills;
- European School Alliances, dedicated to the cooperation between schools for exchanging practices on basic skills;
- Network of Advisory and Support Services, which connect national and regional services across the EU in support of leadership, wellbeing, digital safety and cooperation with parents.
Priority 2: Better and safer use of technology for education, with:
- A European Digital Infrastructure Consortium on Education (EDU-EDIC), aimed to support EU education providers to scale education technology while ensuring data privacy and online safety;
- An AI Literacy Certificate for 15-year-old learners, to be piloted in 2027 / 2028;
- A European Healthy Screens Pledge, including tools for schools and families to ensure digital wellbeing and online safety of children.
Priority 3: A more attractive and supported teaching profession, supported by:
- A European Teachers Agenda, aimed to support national strategies and to foster investment on teachers’ careers, working condition and education though a dialogue between social partners;
- A new generation of Erasmus+ Teacher Academies, which will be implemented from 2027 onwards with support from EU funding programmes under National and Regional Partnership plans to improve teachers’ education.
Priority 4: Modernising VET through the European Strategy for VET 2026 – 2030
The strategy, central to the mission and work of VET providers, sets out a roadmap of initiatives to make VET more agile, high-quality, international and better connected to the skills Europe’s economy needs. Below are the key actions.
1. Quality and agility of VET systems
Pilot a European Sectoral Training Accelerator, to increase certification of flexible learning modules
Strengthen basic skills in VET through EQAVET and launch a joint programme with the Council of Europe on citizenship education
Set up a European Vocational Excellence Network to modernise training
2. Stronger links between VET, business and strategic sectors
- Enhance VET-business partnerships through the European Competitiveness Fund, relying on the joint creation of training centres by VET institutions and companies, in benefit of learners’ access to innovative technology;
- Establish sectoral apprenticeship clusters through the European Alliance for Apprenticeships
Making VET more European and international
- Set up an EU marketplace for mobility of VET learners and apprentices, aimed to support international mobility of learners for training and the development of experience in different workplaces.
- Integrate candidate countries into the Union of Skills and supporting VET modernisation through the accession process
- Support VET partnerships with non-EU countries under Global Gateway, the EU Talent Pool and other programmes
Governance and funding
- Monitor the implementation and draw on existing indicators, tracking employment outcomes, work-based learning, participation in continuing VET, gender gaps and reform implementation
- Support the actions through the MFF, Erasmus+, and other Commission initiatives.
More details about the Education and Skills Package, its priorities and different initiatives can be found at https://education.ec.europa.eu/focus-topics/improving-quality/education-and-skills-package.
EfVET has been actively contributing to the different consultations launched this year by the European Commission, which resulted in this Education and Skills Package.
Among those contributions, developed with support from EfVET Members, were:
- Position Paper “A contribution to the European Strategy for Vocational Education and Training” (March 2026)
- Policy Statement “An ambitious Erasmus+ for VET and lifelong learning – Guiding Principles for the future of Erasmus+ program 2028 – 20234 (April 2026);
- Position Paper “Innovating Education: A contribution to the European Commission’s consultation on Basic Skills, Teachers and Digital Education by 2040” (September 2026).
As such, EfVET will analyse the contents of the Education and Skills Package and its initiatives, to cross-check it against the needs of its Members, and to reflect on how it can support the implementation of this Package with their active participation, for the benefit of all VET teachers, trainers, learners and school communities.