The Pact for Skills mobilises vocational education and training stakeholders to equip Europe’s workforce with the skills of tomorrow.
For the fifth edition of the European Vocational Skills Week, the European Commission (EC), in cooperation with the German Presidency of the Council of the EU, organised a series of online events and panel discussions to exchange on good practices and discuss how vocational education and training (VET) can bring the twin digital and green transitions forward. Bringing different stakeholders together and stimulating EU-wide cooperation, the Skills Week also acted as an exchange platform to find ways to make VET more attractive, futureproof and globally competitive.
The Skills Week this year turned out to be a special edition, as VET, an education sector highly dependent on hands-on and on-the-spot training, has been heavily disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Green and digital skills, however, are vital for the economic recovery as they have the potential to counterbalance skills shortages and mismatches. Equipping the workforce with the skills of tomorrow has thus become a priority for policy makers, businesses and VET institutions. During the Skills Week, the EC repeatedly called on the Member States to include skills in their national recovery plans and to make use of the funding opportunities that will be available under the EU’s recovery plan and the instruments under the EU’s long-term budget (see SwissCore article).
As one of the highlights of the Skills Week, Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit and Commissioner for Internal Market Thierry Breton launched the Pact for Skills (PfS). The PfS aims at mobilising industry, employers, social partners, chambers of commerce, public authorities, education and training providers and employment agencies to work together to provide more and better up- and reskilling opportunities for people of working age. Signing up to the principles of the accompanying Charter, the stakeholders commit themselves to join forces to fight unemployment through skills development while following a people-centred and sustainable approach that puts lifelong learning for all at its centre.
While the private sector is crucial for the skilling of the workforce, social partners, taking on the intermediate role between the labour market and employees, can raise awareness and ensure a socially just transition. The role of the public authorities on the other hand is to improve initial and continuing VET by observing the development of market needs, by tracking and reviewing measures taken and by supporting partnerships. Cooperation and exchanges should take place between public authorities, VET providers and learners, the private sector and social partners on national, regional and local level as well as across borders. To support these efforts, the EC offers services under the PfS in the form of a networking hub, a knowledge hub as well as a guidance and resources hub, which will offer information regarding EU funding and programmes that support skills development.
The achievement of the economic recovery and strengthening of European competitiveness along the twin digital and green transition being dependent on support from key industrial ecosystems, the launch of the PfS presented the first large-scale partnerships in the automotive, microelectronics as well as the aerospace and defence industries. Initiatives in the automotive ecosystem aim at upskilling 5% of the workforce each year, which will create opportunities for about 700’000 people and represent an overall public and private investment of €7 billion. To take on the challenge of up- and reskilling of overall 100 million workers, industry sectors will have to focus on adapting and creating new training and teaching formats, developing digital and green skills, motivating female participation and forecasting skills needs. Further roundtable discussions with industrial ecosystems are expected to bring about new skills partnerships in the near future, in tourism as well as in the proximity and social economy, among others.
The EU sets out a clear roadmap for VET: The PfS is the first key action under the European Skills Agenda. Presented on 1 July 2020, the Skills Agenda is a five-year plan to strengthen sustainable competitiveness in line with the European Green Deal, to ensure social fairness as laid out in the first principle of the European Pillar of Social Rights, and to build resilience against challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Aiming at engaging 50% of adults to participate in learning activities every year by 2025, the agenda sets out clear and ambitious objectives for up- and reskilling Europe’s workforce. Another key priority under the Skills Agenda, the Council Recommendation on VET sets out the framework for a futureproof VET. The Council Recommendation is planned to be adopted during the Education, Youth, Culture and Sport Council meeting on 30 November 2020 together with the Osnabrück Declaration, which, supported by Member States, the Commission as well as social partners, will set out the VET agenda for the next 5 years (see SwissCore article).