“Only training providers implement European VET” – EfVET’s President
In a conference organised in Valladolid by the Ministry of Education of Castilla y León region, the President of EfVET Professor James Calleja insisted that “it is time to implement strategies and roadmaps for European VET. Several European countries, including Spain have taken the necessary measures to provide adequate resources to make VET a first choice for learners and workers. The shining examples of VET providers in Switzerland, Austria, Finland and Germany among others, show that when VET is socially and politically accepted, its added value is visible in the quality of life of an entire nation. If VET providers are at the heart of any strategy implementation for European VET, then they should also be at the centre of any future strategy design together with employers”.
The IV Forum on Vocational Education took place at the Feria de Valladolid attended by over 400 delegates from the region and Spain. The European Commission, European Training Foundation and Cedefop speakers also addressed hundreds of teachers, trainers and high-ranking officials from industry. Parallel to the conference a Skills Competition took place engaging hundreds of young people in various projects in economic sectors which included carpentry, woodwork, electrical and mechanical installations, gardening, the care and IT sectors, beauty, fashion design, flower arrangement, culinary studies and many other trades. The conference was inaugurated by the Minister for Education of Castilla y Leon Ms. Rocío Lucas Navas, Minister of Education of the Junta de Castilla y León.
EfVET’s President keynote presentation focused on New Skills Strategy in Europe: Horizons and Opportunities for Vocational Training. He delved into the many European initiatives from the Copenhagen process to the recent launch of the Union of Skills stressing the fact that European initiatives for VET have been on the table for almost twenty-five years. Huge progress has been made but three factors of notable importance for the future of vocational education and training are now emerging namely skills mismatch, lack of speed in implementing VET policies and lack of good governance. Among these, Professor Calleja stressed the importance of member states speeding up their reform policies and in giving VET good governance through long-term funding, greater autonomy to VET providers and modern infrastructure and equipment.
In addition to these necessary conditions, EfVET’s President added the need to rethink VET pedagogy and engage students in work-based learning and the creative use of AI at all levels and in all years of vocational education. “It is paramount to the success of the vocational sector” Professor Calleja said, “that schools, colleges and higher education institutions work together with employers by giving students hands-on experiences in the form of apprenticeships and other type of workplace commitments. Employers are an integral part of any learning process in VET”. EfVET’s President emphasised that the most important aspect is that “nothing is more relevant to European VET reform than that recommended and implemented by training providers and employers; the rest is academic!”.
In a number of keynote presentations and panel discussions, speakers from education and industry spoke about the need for better links between the world of education and that of employment by engaging employers in curriculum design and directly in learning environments. Young people today are attracted to the effective us of technology. AI and virtual reality are taking the place of human interaction. However, measures to re-launch the benefit of learning from each other rather than exclusively through machines and online was stressed several times. Human experience is a value which few machines can emulate particularly in the acquisition of transversal skills which are increasingly becoming the route to careers in many economic sectors.
Mr. Agustín Francisco Sigüenza Molina, Director General of Vocational Training and Special Regimes and coordinator of the VI Vocational Training Forum drew the concluding Strategic Lines for the New Vocational Training in the Spanish Region. He highlighted the importance of work-based learning in the form of dual education and training and invited industry to continue with its support to educational institutions providing vocational education. He also echoed the need to give training providers strategic roles in planning VET policies and in humanising VET in this age of technology.
