Iceland: establishment of an apprentice centre for improved cooperation between labour market and VET schools

The apprentice centre (Nemastofa atvinnulífsins) is located on the premises of Iðan Education Centre and the opening event took place in the presence of the Minister of Education and Children, Ásmundur Einar Daðason, representatives from the labour market, and principals of upper secondary VET schools.

The apprentice centre (Nemastofa atvinnulífsins) is located on the premises of Iðan Education Centre and the opening event took place in the presence of the Minister of Education and Children, Ásmundur Einar Daðason, representatives from the labour market, and principals of upper secondary VET schools.

The centre is a cooperation forum for affiliated parties of the SA Conference of Icelandic Enterprise on VET learning, focused on improving workplace training and the share of skilled tradespeople in the labour market. More specifically, it aims to increase the number of businesses and master tradesmen willing to offer apprenticeship contracts and workplace training. It also aims to assist businesses and master tradesmen in maintaining quality standards and providing targeted education and training for apprentices in the workplace. In this context, at the opening event of the apprentice centre, the Minister of Education and Children Ásmundur Einar Daðason, the Director of the Iðan Education Centre Þór Pálsson, and the Director of Rafmennt Electrical VET Centre, signed an agreement on a special initiative intended to increase the number of companies included in the VET workplace directory.

The apprentice centre will provide an overview of the number of learners in workplace training as well as the number of internships.

Summary of the centre’s role

The apprentice centre aspires to:

• encourage businesses to register in a directory of enterprises licenced to take on apprentices, and assist them as needed;
• monitor of the number of apprentices in training and estimate future needs and requirements;
• offer education and training for master tradesmen and mentors receiving apprentices to advance their training skills and the use of electronic learning journals;
• act as a forum for discussion concerning projects and tasks inherent in workplace training, including the content of electronic learning journals;
• organise events and conferences on workplace learning and award outstanding businesses for their work with apprentices;
• promote vocational education and training and the wide range of job opportunities in the industry;
• work on projects agreed on by contract with the Ministry of Education and Children, the Directorate of Education and/or upper secondary schools.

During the opening event, incentive prizes were awarded to companies that have achieved positive results in training and teaching and can be considered good practice examples. These were the goldsmith and jewellery store Tímadjásn, the car dealerships BL and TG raf.

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Apprentice centre website