Agenda
-
This flagship conference is one of Cedefop’s key contributions to the European Year of Skills. The conference offered a platform to stimulate dialogue, to disseminate research and policy findings, and to reflect on how to better match VET, skills and qualifications with the evolving needs of the workforce and wider society.

This flagship conference is one of Cedefop’s key contributions to the European Year of Skills. The conference offered a platform to stimulate dialogue, to disseminate research and policy findings, and to reflect on how to better match VET, skills and qualifications with the evolving needs of the workforce and wider society.

The conference addressed three key issues: the mismatch between labour supply (skills) and demand, the discrepancies between the needs of individuals and employers, and the opportunities and challenges of implementing responsive VET policies and programmes to bridge these gaps. Key questions discussed include:

  • What do employers want and what they cannot find?
  • What do people want and how can they find it?
  • How can learning provision address real learning needs effectively?

The key questions discussed at the conference build on Cedefop's comprehensive research and policy work on VET, skills and qualifications. While there are no definitive answers or solutions, acknowledging the gaps and challenges opened up opportunities to engage in constructive discussions. The event had a strong focus on implementation, roll-out, and upscaling of responsive policies and actions and aspired to construct a more inclusive narrative that shines a light on issues, trends and challenges in the VET, skills and qualifications landscape that are currently not centre stage.

Watch the whole conference

Speakers

Margaritis Schinas, Vice President, European Commission, took office as Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life in the Von der Leyen Commission in December 2019.

In this capacity, he oversees the EU’s policies for migration, security union, social rights, skills, education, culture, youth, health and dialogue with churches, religious associations and non-confessional organisations.

View more

Mr Schinas started his career in the European Commission in 1990. He also served as a Member of the European Parliament, from 2007 until 2009. Upon the completion of his parliamentary term of office, he returned to the European Commission and held various senior positions.

In 2010, President Barroso appointed Mr Schinas as Deputy Head of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers. Later he served as Resident Director and Head of the Athens Office of the European Commission's Directorate‑General for Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN). In 2014, President Juncker appointed Mr Schinas as the European Commission’s Chief Spokesperson.

Margaritis Schinas holds an MSc on Public Administration and Public Policy from the London School of Economics, a Diploma of Advanced European Studies on European Administrative Studies from the College of Europe in Bruges and a Degree in Law from the Aristotelean University of Thessaloniki.

Dragoș Pîslaru – MEP, Chair of the EMPL Committee

Dragoș Pîslaru is a Romanian economist and former Labour and Social Affairs Minister in the 2016 government. He is a member of the European Parliament since 2019 on behalf of REPER, affiliated to the European political family Renew Europe and Chair of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.

View more

He was the co-rapporteur of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the largest financial instrument created by the European Union for the economic recovery of the Union after the pandemic and pushed for the creation of the social and children & youth pillars of the RRF.

As Chair of the EMPL Committee, Mr Pîslaru has spearheaded efforts to address pressing social and employment challenges facing the European Union. His leadership has been instrumental in fostering dialogue among MEPs, policymakers, and stakeholders to develop policies that prioritize children and youth, skills development, job creation and social inclusion.

Dragoș has been a strong supporter of the Child Guarantee and he is leading the Working Group on monitoring the implementation of Children Guarantee of the Parliament, a new permanent entity of the European Parliament.

He has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to championing the interests of youth and working towards a brighter future for the next generation, influencing EU legislation and the European Year of Youth in 2022.

Dragoș holds an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a PhD in Economics from the National Institute of Economic Research, within the Romanian Academy.

Mr Pîslaru has been named the second most influential MEP on social policies (EU Matrix, 2023) and the most influential MEP on economic policies (VoteWatch.eu, 2020).

Oliver RoepkeOliver Röpke was elected as the president of the EESC in April 2023.

Member of EESC since 2009, Mr Röpke was the president of the EESC Workers' Group, a member of the EESC Bureau and rapporteur of many EESC resolutions and opinions on employment and social policy, single market and innovation.

View more

Mr Röpke headed the Brussels office of the Austrian Trade Union Federation (ÖGB) and  took on several senior positions including as ÖGB representative to the EU institutions, the Executive Committee of the ETUC, and an advisory member of the ÖGB federal executive board. Mr Röpke has a legal background and holds a law degree from the University of Vienna.

Jürgen Siebel, Executive Director of Cedefop, joined Cedefop from the private sector in September 2019.

As Executive Director, he is responsible for managing the Agency’s operations in accordance with the strategic direction of its tripartite Management Board.

View more

Jürgen has a background in human resources management with particular emphasis on learning and education, the strategic development and roll-out of work-based vocational education and training programmes, as well as related corporate social responsibility initiatives.

In this context he has also collaborated with institutional actors at national, European and global levels.

Before joining Cedefop in Thessaloniki, Jürgen served for 20 years in various leading operational and strategic HR roles in Siemens AG, mostly as senior manager with global governance or business partner responsibilities.

Jürgen earned his MSc in economics at the University of Hamburg, and a PhD in business administration from the University of Vienna.

photo Branch resizedAnn Branch, Head of Unit at the European Commission, leads the European Commission team working on the EU Skills Agenda and the European Year of Skills in the department for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.

She has worked for the EU institutions for over 20 years on a range of EU policies and funding programmes. Previous areas of work included social & inclusive entrepreneurship, social economy, the Erasmus+ programme, education for innovation, the cultural and creative sectors, European social dialogue and industrial relations.

View more

In 2019 she was awarded the “Outstanding Public Social Intrapraneur of the Year Award” by the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship. In 2021 she was included as ‘One of the top 100 women in social enterprise in 2021’ by Euclid Network.

Mara Brugia is the Deputy Director of Cedefop, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training.

She has been involved in vocational education and training (VET) since 1994. As Head of Department from 2004 to 2014, she managed teams of European experts working in research and policy analysis to support the development and implementation of the Union policy in the field of VET, skills and qualifications.

View more

She holds a university degree in Economics and a Master in Economics, politics and law of the European Union. Her mother tongue is Italian (born in Perugia) and she is fluent in English, French, Greek and Spanish.

photo Caprirolo resizedGonzalo Caprirolo, head of the Unit of Analysis at the Ministry of Labor, Family, Social Affaires and Equal Opportunities  of the Republic of Slovenia since 2019.

He has coordinated and contributed to the development of a long-term skill forecast system in place in 2023. He is actively engaged in developing and implementing a project to set up a labour market platform aimed at facilitating matching in the labour market and providing relevant information to wide public and stake holders on labor market needs. Other activities include the development of scoreboards and tools to monitor, well-being, social and labor market developments.  

View more

He was Chief Economist at the Ministry of Finance and head of the Policy Analysis Unit which he helped to stablish. Gonzalo designed the current fiscal rule in place in Slovenia and contributed to a government’s debt portfolio management strategy leading to a substantial lower debt service costs. He was senior economist at the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development. He was consultant at the International Monetary Fund working on monetary policy implementation (Washington), and United Nations Development Program.

He has held various positions in professional bodies. He is currently member of the social Protection Committee’ s Minimum Income Network. He was head of the Slovene delegation to the Output Gap working group of the Council of Europe. He led the Slovene delegation to the Economic Policy Committee (EPC) of the Council of Europe and was Chairman of the EPC’s Labor Market Working Group. He was member of BRUEGEL steering committee (Brussels-based think tank). He represented Slovenia in the Sub-Committee on IMF issues of the Economic and Financial Committee of the Council of Europe and He was member of the ad-hoc FSC - Ageing & Financial Markets devoted to the analysis and implications of ageing populations for financial markets. He was delegate to the Economic Policy Committee and Working Party No1. at the OECD.

He holds a master’s degree from Columbia University (MIA), New York and master’s degree in Economics from El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico City.

Slavica Alojzija Černoša has been working in education for almost 40 years.

She began her career as a professor at an upper secondary vocational school in Ljubljana and during this time completed her master's degree.

View more

In 1994, she joined the National Institute for Adult Education (Andragoški center Slovenije) and led a project of study circles.

In 1998, she accepted the position of assistant director and head of the in-service department at the Institute of Education of the Republic of Slovenia.

During this time, she also completed her doctoral studies in management in education. In 2003, she joined the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, where she is still employed.

She has been the head of the Department for Adult Education for 5 years and since 2012 head of the Department for Upper Secondary Education.

She knows the field of vocational education and adult education from the point of view of the provider, professional expert, and systemic point of view.

She was also a member of the working group at INES at the OECD for several years and currently is a member of AG EQF, AC VT, and DG VT on the EU level.

photo EbnerGina Ebner has been Secretary General of the European Association for the Education of Adults since 2007. Before, she worked as a language trainer in adult education and as a pedagogical manager for a vocational training institute in her native Austria. She moved to Brussels in 2002 where she was a project manager at EUROCADRES (Council for European professional and managerial staff) before she started at EAEA. From 2013 to 2019 she also served as president of the Lifelong Learning Platform.

View more

She has worked on issues such as gender equality, outreach, validation, life skills, benefits of lifelong learning and many more. She believes in adult learning and education as a central instrument to shape Europe’s future in a positive way and is enthusiastic in advocating for strong adult education communities, structures, policies and civil society.

photo HanouneCécile Hanoune is heading the unit responsible for Climate Governance, Plans & Mainstreaming in the European Commission.

The unit is closely involved in the implementation of the European Green Deal by working with Member States to ensure the development and implementation of robust national climate action policies and to promote sound climate action investments through various EU funding programmes. 

View more

She joined the Commission in 2005 and has worked in the Directorate General for Climate Action for 13 years, first on policy development and implementation of the EU Emission Trading System and then on the EU overall climate action strategies and the economic analysis underpinning them.

She started her career in the French government working on town planning and water resources. She has a broad experience in the development and implementation of public policies designed to manage scarce resources.

A French national, she holds academic degrees from the Strasbourg political science institute and ESSEC (Ecole supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales) business school.

phot HeikinheimoRiikka Heikinheimo is responsible for the competence and RD&I sector at the Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK).

Since January 2022 she has also worked as the chair of the Education and Training working group at Business Europe.

View more

Right kind on skill-set has become a major issue for many companies that are renewing their businesses - many times in a very disruptive environment. How to keep up with the development? Traditional education systems are built for a more rigid environment.

The task of Riikka Heikinheimo at EK is to follow and influence the politics and legislation in order to develop the Finnish public education and RD&I systems and private practices to meet the skill challenges such as green and digital transition.

Through her long practical experience in research and innovation strategies and implementation, combined with funding and management experience, she has developed a passion and a deep understanding for the nature and needs of a successful and productive education system and RD&I process.

Riikka Heikinheimo has a long experience as an executive director in both national public funding organizations and she has  been a chair/member of many planning or advisory boards/committees developing different strategies related to education, research and innovations both at national and at European level and also at international level. She also serves several boards as a chair or a member.

George Kostakis is coordinator of Cedefop's Department for VET and Qualifications.

Georges leads Cedefop's work on VET policies and systems which analyses developments and implementation of national VET policies in line with the VET Recommendation and Osnabruck Declaration.

View more

His thematic expertise includes quality assurance in VET and international qualifications.

Ilias Livanos is a Cedefop expert at the Department for VET and Skills.

Ilias, amongst his other duties at Cedefop, is the leader of the Skills forecast and the European skills index.

Ilias is an economist by training, with a PhD in employment research from the University of Warwick, where he worked for several years prior to joining Cedefop.

View more

His expertise is in labour economics, education economics, and industrial relations. Ilias has published articles in various top-ranking journals.

photo McGuinness resizedSeamus McGuinness is a Research Professor and the Research Area Co-ordinator for labour market research at the Economic and Social Research Institute.

Prior to joining the Institute, he held posts at Queens University Belfast, the Northern Ireland Economic Research Centre and the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic & Social Research (University of Melbourne). He obtained his PhD in Economics from Queens University Belfast in 2003.

View more

His published research covers the areas of labour economics and the economics of education. He has also published research in the areas of industrial relations, small business economics, regional economics, and the economics of constitutional change in Ireland. He is a research fellow in the Institute of Labour Studies (IZA) in the University of Bonn and an Adjunct Professor in the department of economics at Trinity College Dublin.

photo MeertBavo Meert is an international policy adviser on education and labour market at the Flemish Ministry of Education.

At the Ministry of Education, he is one of the liaisons between Belgian and European stakeholders in education. He specializes in VET, adult education, lifelong learning, and skills.

Meschino-photo-resized2Giulia Meschino has been working for EVTA since June 2013, in charge of the development and implementation of the network’s strategy.

Before moving to Belgium, she worked in France, United Kingdom, Malta, and Albania. She is a member and representative of the VET4EU2 platform and has acquired expertise on internationalisation and mobility of VET providers by leading the implementation of different EU funded projects on the topic.

View more

She holds a master's degree in international relations and Diplomatic Affairs at University of Bologna, and an executive master's in management of international Organisations at the Solvay Business School.

El Iza Mohamedou is the Head of the OECD Centre for Skills which supports countries to achieve better economic and social outcomes by taking a whole-of-government approach and engaging with stakeholders to develop and implement better skills policies.

She has more than 25 years of international experience working in the field and at headquarters with various international organisations and in the private sector.

View more

El Iza holds a PhD in Economics, MBA in International Business and a BA in Economics.

Robert Plummer is a senior adviser at BusinessEurope, responsible for issues concerning migration and mobility, education and skills, social dialogue and the European Labour Authority.

Prior to joining BusinessEurope, Robert worked as a political adviser for the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) party.

View more

He attended Keele University in the UK and holds a PhD in Industrial relations and human resource management, focusing on a comparative study of the demand for EU migrant workers in Sweden and the UK.

He also holds an MA in European industrial relations and human resource management, and a BA in Human geography and human resource management.

Frank Pot is emeritus professor of "Social innovation of work and employment" at Radboud University Nijmegen and honorary advisor of the European Workplace Innovation Network (EUWIN).

He is former director of TNO Work and Employment and had a chair by special appointment of "Work and technology" at Leiden University.

Ms Anastasia Pouliou is a Cedefop Expert in qualifications and credentials - Future of VET.

She is currently leading the Agency's research on Microcredentials for labour market education and training, learning outcomes and the Future of VET in Europe.

View more

She is involved in other Cedefop activities (including the coordination of developments on national qualifications frameworks and the TVET-Interagency group on the Future of VET).

Before joining Cedefop she worked as an educational consultant in the Ministry of Education and Religious affairs and as a head of the European Affairs Unit in the Organisation for Vocational Education and Training (Greece).

She has performed senior management and national coordination on Europass and Leonardo da Vinci projects and has published influential articles in academic journals.

She has represented Cedefop as keynote speaker at high-level international events in Europe, USA and South Africa.  

Antonio Ranieri is Head of Department for VET and Skills at Cedefop.

He manages a team of European experts investigating skills trends and changes in the worlds of work and support the development and implementation of the Union policy in the field of vocational education and training.

View more

The Department work encompasses a wide range of research and policy analysis in two Cedefop strategic areas of operation, namely skills and labour market and learning and employability.

An economist by training, Antonio has taught regional economics at the University of Rome since 2002. He also lectured at the National High School of Public Administration on cost-benefit analysis and public expenditure.

Prior to joining Cedefop, in 2010, he was Head of Research and Studies at the public services authority of the Municipality of Rome. Until 2007, he was Head of Area at CLES, an independent centre of studies on labour market and economic development based in Rome.

Lidia SalvatoreLidia Salvatore is expert for adult learning and continuing vocational training at Cedefop and is responsible for Cedefop work on empowering adults through upskilling and reskilling pathways and on CVET.  Prior to joining Cedefop Lidia worked as a research officer in Eurofound, in the field of youth employment policies.  

Souto Otero-photo-resizedManuel Souto-Otero is Professor at the School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University and Senior Professorial Fellow at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, currently on secondment with ICF.

He has published widely in the areas of education and labour markets, and is currently researching a variety of aspects related to digitalisation and the future of work.

View more

He was been involved in the preparation of Cedefop's ESJS2 and is currently Co-Principal Investigator in the project "Digital Disruption and the Future of Work: Reimagining Education, Skills and Employability" an in international research programme dedicated to understanding the future prospects for human augmentation, social inclusion and shared prosperity, funded by Skills Futures Singapore.

He has previously undertaken a large number of research projects on education issues for European institutions (the European Commission, European Parliament, Cedefop), the OECD, UNESCO, national governments internationally, think-tanks and third sector organisations. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Education and Work and an Executive Editor of the British Journal of Sociology of Education.

Jacqueline Tanzer trained as a graphic designer and competed in Graphic Design Technology at the EuroSkills Competition 2014 and the WorldSkills Competition 2015.

This marked the start of her active engagement for VET.

View more

From 2017 to 2022 she was a representative for Europe on the WorldSkills Champions Trust, a group of past competitors that work together to expand the WorldSkills movement and promote the importance of skills. She is also an entrepreneur, running her own graphic design business.

photo Trier WangAnja Trier Wang is Leading Senior Adviser on VET at DI – Confederation of Danish Industry and has more than 20 years of experience in representing employers’ views on Education and training policies in Denmark as well as on European level.

Anja represents BUSINESSEUROPE in the EQF Advisory Group and participates in educational committees and social dialogue in several industrial sectors.

View more

Prior to joining DI Anja held positions in the Danish Parliament and the Ministry of Education as adviser on European affairs and Education.

She holds an MA in Law from University of Aarhus and a postgraduate Degree in International Relations from University of Amsterdam.

Jasper Van Loo is coordinator of Cedefop’s department for VET and Skills.

He currently coordinates the labour market and skills analysis work of the agency. He is also part of the team investigating EU skills trends using online job vacancies.

View more

He has a master degree in quantitative and general economics and holds a Ph.d. in social sciences.

As a researcher and project manager at the Dutch research centre for education and the labour market (ROA) Jasper led research projects on labour market issues, skills, employability and obsolescence of knowledge.

He also worked on HRD and HRM, taking an economic perspective to human resources issues. Jasper started working for Cedefop in 2007. He led the centre’s early work on skill mismatch, coordinated the centre’s work on national VET systems and policies for several years, and led the centre’s skills governance work.

Patricia Velicu is Senior Policy Advisor and Head of Collective Bargaining and Social Policy Coordination at IndustriAll European Trade Union, the European Trade Union Federation representing industrial workers in metal, chemicals, textile and energy sectors.

She is also working on digitalisation and youth policies.

Maarit Virolainen is a project researcher at the Finnish Institute of Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä Finland.

Her research focuses on learning from work experience, transitions from education to work, and comparing the development of the Finnish vocational education and training system in the Nordic and European context.

View more

She has a PhD in adult education and has co-authored and published several articles on the transformation of learning in transitions to the 4th industrial revolution.

Ludovic Voet has been re-elected Confederal Secretary at the ETUC Congress in Berlin, in May 2023. Elected Confederal Secretary of ETUC in 2019, he since coordinates the trade union pressure to obtain a Platform Work Directive and steers in European debate ETUC engagement to make climate action and Just Transition a reality for all workers.

View more

From June 2023 onwards, Ludovic is responsible of ETUC area of work for an economy that works for the people and the planet. He will thus fight for a sustainable economic model, a reform of the economic governance and the EU Semester, fair taxation and an EU fiscal capacity and EU funds fit for the twin transitions. He will follow just transition, climate, energy and industrial policies as well policies of upskilling and reskilling of the workforce. He will also try to conclude the trade union fight for an ambitious Platform Work Directive.

Loukas Zahilas is currently Head of the Department for VET and Qualifications at Cedefop.

He studied Chemistry and Information Technologies and he has a PhD in educational policies (qualifications frameworks).

His more than 32 years of professional experience in education and training were mainly acquired at the Greek Ministry of Education, the University of Athens and Cedefop.

View more

He joined Cedefop in 2006 working initially as a senior expert on qualifications and the common EU tools and as of 2014 he is Head of the Department for VET and Qualifications.

He is a member of Cedefop’s management team and his department’s work is based on research and analyses providing evidence on policy developments and implementation as well as advice and support at European level.

It covers the Cedefop strategic area of ‘Shaping VET and Qualifications’ aiming at improving the overall transparency, relevance, quality and inclusiveness of VET by facilitating close interaction between initial VET, continuous VET and general and higher education to serve the skills needs of all age groups at all levels.

-
The European Year of Skills puts the importance of having a skilled workforce to support the green and digital transitions in the spotlight. Having skilled and knowledgeable citizens is not just a matter of formal education (e.g. schools and universities). It is also critically dependent on learning acquired in non-formal ...

The European Year of Skills puts the importance of having a skilled workforce to support the green and digital transitions in the spotlight. Having skilled and knowledgeable citizens is not just a matter of formal education (e.g. schools and universities). It is also critically dependent on learning acquired in non-formal or informal contexts, such as at work or during leisure time. Validation is a tool for citizens to demonstrate the skills they have acquired in these contexts. It facilitates obtaining qualifications, access to training, and job market entry.   

The third edition of the European guidelines for validating non-formal and informal learning has been developed by Cedefop in close collaboration with the European Commission and in consultation with Member States and experts over the last three years. The guidelines target everybody involved in setting up, development and implementation of validation. Alongside being  a source for inspiration, the guidelines are also meant to stimulate reflection on  how to best address common issues and challenges across levels and contexts.  

This European Year of Skills Virtual Get-together, organised in cooperation with the European Commission, demonstrated key features of the new guidelines and showcased experiences in addressing challenges in the implementation of validation from different perspectives. 

Video recording

The video recording of the event can be watched from here.
(By following the link, the YouTube privacy policy and cookies will apply)

 

Agenda

Times are indicated in CET.

15.00 – 15.05 Opening and welcome by Jasper van Loo (Cedefop) and Koen Nomden (European Commission)
15.05 – 15.25 The new European guidelines: A tool to support validation in Europe - Presentation by Aline Jürges (European Commission) and Ernesto Villalba (Cedefop)
15.25 – 16.25

The guidelines in practice
Panel discussion moderated by Koen Nomden (European Commission) followed by Q&A, with

  • Michelle Nugent-Considine (successful candidate of Level 6 Hairdressing Qualification via RPL, Ireland)
  • Michela Bastianelli (ANPAL, Italy)
  • Johan Nordberg (Svensk industrivalidering, Sweden)
  • Maida Pieper (VOL+, Spain)
16.25 – 16.30 Closure by Aline Jürges (European Commission) and Ernesto Villalba (Cedefop)

Speakers

Michela Bastianelli is a sociologist in organizational and labour market studies and holds a post degree qualification in management and development of human resources and structural funds. She is a researcher at ANPAL – The Italian National Agency for Active Labour Market Policies.

View more

She is on the European Qualifications Framework - EQF Advisory Group as Italian representative for the implementation of the EU Council Recommendations on the EQF and Validation of non formal and informal learning NFIL and she is part of the Italian EQF National Coordination Point.

Since 2002 she has been dealing with national and international studies for the analysis, assessment and development of adult competences, taking part in OECD PIAAC, the “Programme for the International Assessment for Adult Competencies” first Cycle (2008-2013) as National Quality Manager and Occupations and Sectors Coordinator.

photo JuergesAline Jürges has been working at the European Commission since 2001.

She is currently a Policy Officer in the ”Skills Agenda” Unit within DG Employment, which is devoted to co-ordinating the European Skills Agenda, working across the Commission to make sure its 12 flagship actions deliver on the ground.

View more

Aline has been focusing in the past years on policies to empower individuals to learn, notably on career guidance and more recently on validation. Her work on validation is closely linked to the Unit’s work of making people's skills and qualifications more easily understood across borders, notably through the European Qualifications Framework (EQF).

Nomden-photo-resizedKoen Nomden is currently Team Leader for “Transparency and Recognition of Skills and Qualifications”, within the Skills Agenda Unit of the European Commission (DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion).

Before that he was a policy officer in charge of the validation of non-formal and informal learning and career guidance.

photo Nordberg resizedJohan Nordberg is involved in the Svensk industrivalidering in Sweden, a national system for validating skills that are critical for a sustainable and competitive production of goods and industrial services.

Principals of the scheme are a consortium of industry partners and of these recognized national trade associations.

View more

Through an operating agreement a consortium of industry partners is responsible for ensuring quality and relevance in the system and for further developing it at a pace that meets the needs of the industry.

Michelle Nugent-Considine is a tutor and RPL mentor with the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board based in the Ennis Campus.

Michelle had been in the hairdressing industry for 25 years before getting the opportunity to earn her level 6 Advanced Certificate in Hairdressing through RPL.

View more

She has a broad and extensive knowledge of all aspects of the hairdressing industry having completed numerous hairdressing courses throughout her career including industry specific masters in colour, cutting and business.

Having only recently stepped away from being behind the chair while also managing an award winning salon Michelle has just joined the team at Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board as both a tutor and RPL mentor and is very much looking forward to teaching a level 3 in hairdressing while also mentoring a group of hairdressers who will be working to receive their own level 6 Advanced Certificate in Hairdressing in the coming weeks.

Maida Pieper is a project technician at Spanish Volunteering Platform (PVE).

She has been working at PVE since 2019 in charge of programs that promote the validation and certification of transversal competences through volunteering in Spain such as the VOL+ program.

View more

She is also in charge of other programs such as eVA-VOL (e-validation of learning outcomes through volunteering) and the Certifica+ program (a quality seal for volunteer trainings that incorporate competence improvement).

Among her latest publications are 'Learning beyond the classroom: the role of volunteering in competence development' (2022) and 'Volunteering, competence certification and employability: Evaluation of the VOL+ Program' (2021).

She’s been working on the Third Sector for more than 12 years. Her most recent job positions include the Coordination of the Centre of Social Innovation at San Andrés University and the Coordination of the Social Enterprise Knowledge Network.

She has a Master’s degree in Governance and Human Rights, a Postgraduate in Nonprofit Organizations and a BA in Psychology.

Jasper Van Loo is coordinator of Cedefop’s department for VET and Skills.

He currently coordinates the labour market and skills analysis work of the agency. He is also part of the team investigating EU skills trends using online job vacancies.

View more

He has a master degree in quantitative and general economics and holds a Ph.d. in social sciences.

As a researcher and project manager at the Dutch research centre for education and the labour market (ROA) Jasper led research projects on labour market issues, skills, employability and obsolescence of knowledge.

He also worked on HRD and HRM, taking an economic perspective to human resources issues. Jasper started working for Cedefop in 2007. He led the centre’s early work on skill mismatch, coordinated the centre’s work on national VET systems and policies for several years, and led the centre’s skills governance work.

Ernesto Villalba-Garcia has worked at Cedefop since 2011.

He is currently responsible for Cedefop’s work on validation of non-formal and informal learning.

He has worked, together with the Commission, on the monitoring, implementation and evaluation of the 2012 Council Recommendation on validation, as well as on several updates of the European inventory of validation and the European guidelines.

View more

Ernesto has served in different committees and working groups of the European Commission, the OECD, and UNESCO. He holds a PhD in International and comparative education from Stockholm University and is on the editorial board of the European Journal of Education.

-
The European Year of Skills offers a wide range of education and labour market actors exceptional opportunities to learn from one another and to translate evidence on skills and jobs into measures in support of economic and social ambitions. Over the past decade, many European countries have collected and analysed a wealth...

The European Year of Skills offers a wide range of education and labour market actors exceptional opportunities to learn from one another and to translate evidence on skills and jobs into measures in support of economic and social ambitions. Over the past decade, many European countries have collected and analysed a wealth of data and evidence that help anticipate and match people’s skills to current and future jobs. But turning such skills intelligence into effective skills matching measures and practices for sectors, regions and communities can be challenging. 

Cedefop’s fifth virtual get-together has welcomed policy officials and practitioners, social partners, representatives of civil society institutions, experts and other interested parties to learn about how best to design effective and targeted skills anticipation and matching initiatives. Cedefop recently released a collection of such practices via its revamped Matching skills online web tool

The Matching skills web tool is designed for policy-makers working on education and training, skills, labour market policy and related policy areas. It covers the main policy initiatives used to detect labour market trends and anticipate skill needs in all EU Member States. It also includes vocational education and training (VET) measures that use such labour market information to inform and shape up- and reskilling, and skills matching practices and measures. The tool uses a harmonised and comparative methodology; national experts were consulted to collect the information included. 

In this virtual get-together, Cedefop has showcased the main building blocks of several innovative skills anticipation and matching initiatives recently implemented in EU Member States. Panellists representing initiatives described in the Matching skills web tool have reflected on the factors driving the success of their national initiatives, and on potential constraints or future development opportunities. This virtual get-together aimed at sharing good practices in designing or reforming forward-looking skills matching policies and practices, and offered policy learning opportunities European countries and regions can benefit from.

Video recording

The video recording of the event can be watched from here.
(By following the link, the YouTube privacy policy and cookies will apply)

Agenda

Times are indicated in CET.

11.30‑11.35 Opening and welcome by Jasper van Loo, Cedefop
11.35‑11.55 Matching skills: from evidence to action
  • Konstantinos Pouliakas, Cedefop 
11.55‑12.10 Reflecting on good skills anticipation and matching policy
  • Professor Terence Hogarth, University of Warwick
12.10‑12.50

Getting inspired: learning how best to match skills to jobs
Panel discussion moderated by Jasper van Loo, Cedefop

  • Noreen FitzPatrick, Manager - Enterprise, Employees and Skills, SOLAS 
    ‘Skills to Advance’, Ireland
  • Despina Valassi, Scientific associate of Small Enterprises Institute of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (IME GSEVEE) 
    ‘Skills foresight for labour market diagnosis’, Greece
  • Leen Verachtert, Strategie-Monitoring-Competent, VDAB and Veerle De Keersmaecker, Expert, Labor Market information, Policy advisor, VDAB
    ‘Competence-based matching’, Belgium
12.50‑13.00 Q&A

Speakers

Veerle_De_KeersmaeckerVeerle De Keersmaecker is a policy advisor at VDAB (public employment service Flanders).

In collaboration with the various Belgian public employment and training services ACTIRIS, ADG, Bruxelles Formation, Le Forem (united under the partnership SYNERJOB), VDAB developed and manages an occupational and competencies database, named Competent.

View more

Both input from experts from the sectors and data & AI insights, are used to determine the evolutions of the Competent database.

Competent is used by the public employment and training service providers to develop services and is also available as an open data database (API’s) to all interested customers for the development of labour market tools.

Veerle is an all-rounder when it comes to competence profiles, version management, database management, partnerships etc.  Veerle is also specialised in the topic of soft skills.

Noreen_FitzPatrickNoreen FitzPatrick is the Employee Development Manager in the Enterprise Employment and Skills unit in SOLAS, the Further Education Authority of Ireland.

Employee Development supports the development and implementation of the Further Education and Training (FET) policy framework on skills development for the employed, to enhance levels of employee participation in FET, in alignment with the National Skills Strategy.

View more

She has extensive experience working with learning networks and enterprise to upskill in priority skill areas to ensure competitiveness and skills development in industry.

Terence-HogarthTerence Hogarth is a professor in the University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research (IER) where he leads a programme of research on vocational education and training (VET) - with a particular emphasis on apprenticeships – and its responsiveness to labour market demand for skills. His research is also concerned with identifying changing patterns of demand for skills with a particular focus on skill mismatches. This particular programme of research employs a range of methods including surveys, forecasting, foresight, and text mining techniques. He is currently involved in the Horizon study entitled Skills2Capabilities.

View more

Between 2016 and 2020, he was a Senior Adviser at Fondazione Giacomo Brodolini (FGB), a not-for-profit research foundation based in Rome, where he led a programme of cross-national research on employment and skills.

Konstantinos Pouliakas is an Expert on Skills and Labour Markets at Cedefop.

He leads the Agency’s Skills and Work team and is principal research manager of its Digitalisation and Future of Work and Skill Mismatch projects. His proudest achievement is the development of two waves of the Cedefop European Skills and Jobs Survey.

View more

He has been scientific advisor and author on skills anticipation and skill mismatch for the European Commission, the World Economic Forum, ILO and the Greek Ministry of Labour and is regular instructor for the ILO-ITC.

He is currently a core member of the scientific committee of Greece’s National Skills Commission.

Before joining Cedefop he held posts at the University of Aberdeen and the University of Cyprus and worked for the Bank of Greece and HM Treasury. He has been invited Professor at the Universita Degli Studi Roma TRE and Visiting Research Scholar at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He is Honorary Senior Lecturer at the University of Aberdeen Business School and IZA Research Fellow. He holds an M.Phil from the University of Oxford (St. Antony’s College) and a D.Phil from the Scottish Graduate Program in Economics.

He has published widely in peer-reviewed economics journals (e.g. Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Oxford Review of Education, Economica, Journal of Economic Surveys, Research in Labor Economics, Education Economics, International Labour Review).

Despoina Valassi is social scientist and scientific associate in the Small Enterprises’ Institute of the Hellenic Confederation of Professionals, Craftsmen and Merchants (IME GSEVEE).

With over two decades of research experience in the fields of education, employment, and labour market, she currently holds the position of coordinator of the "Research Mechanism of the Small Enterprises’ Institute" (2016 – 2023) which aims to systematically discuss issues related to employment policies, social policy, educational policies (with a particular emphasis on vocational education and training), and social and educational inequality.

View more

In addition, she is the scientific supervisor of the action "Social Partners' interventions for Skills' Foresight in the framework of the Labour Market Diagnosis System" (2018 - 2023), which looking into the role of social partners in skills policies and practices in Greece.

She had previously worked as a researcher at the Academy of Athens' Research Centre, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, and the National Centre for Social Research. Her studies are in the fields of Education and Sociology, and she has published numerous papers in Greek and international peer-reviewed journals, working papers, contributions in collective volumes, and international conferences.

Jasper Van Loo is coordinator of Cedefop’s department for VET and Skills.

He currently coordinates the labour market and skills analysis work of the agency. He is also part of the team investigating EU skills trends using online job vacancies.

View more

He has a master degree in quantitative and general economics and holds a Ph.d. in social sciences.

As a researcher and project manager at the Dutch research centre for education and the labour market (ROA) Jasper led research projects on labour market issues, skills, employability and obsolescence of knowledge.

He also worked on HRD and HRM, taking an economic perspective to human resources issues. Jasper started working for Cedefop in 2007. He led the centre’s early work on skill mismatch, coordinated the centre’s work on national VET systems and policies for several years, and led the centre’s skills governance work.

Leen_VerachtertLeen Verachtert is policy advisor at VDAB (public employment service Flanders).

In collaboration with the various Belgian public employment and training services ACTIRIS, ADG, Bruxelles Formation, Le Forem (united under the partnership SYNERJOB), VDAB developed and manages an occupational and competencies database, named Competent.

View more

Both input from experts from the sectors and data & AI insights, are used to determine the evolutions of the Competent database.

Competent is used by the public employment and training service providers to develop services and is also available as an open data database (API’s) to all interested customers for the development of tools.

Leen is a real all-round when it comes to competence profiles, version management, database management, partnerships, etc. 

/details>

 

-
In February 2024, Cedefop and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) organised the fifth Policy Learning Forum on upskilling pathways: a vision for the future. The event took place at EESC premises in Brussels, on 06/02/2024 (09.30–17.00 CET) and on 07/02/2024 (09.00–13.00 CET).  

In February 2024, Cedefop and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) organised the fifth Policy Learning Forum on upskilling pathways: a vision for the future.

The event took place at EESC premises in Brussels, on 06/02/2024 (09.30–17.00 CET) and on 07/02/2024 (09.00–13.00 CET).  

Policy Learning Fora (PLF) on upskilling pathways are a series of policy learning events on the topic aimed at providing a platform for countries to come together to learn from one another and explore common challenges in upskilling adults.

The Fifth Policy Learning Forum (PLF) on upskilling pathways is aimed at discussing support to lifelong upskilling pathways for all adults, also by exploring and discussing findings from Cedefop Thematic Country Reviews on Upskilling Pathways.

-
The workshop offered a platform for policymakers, stakeholders, experts, and researchers to engage in discussions and reflections on the interim findings of the Transparency and transferability of learning outcomes project (2021-2025), contributing to its ongoing developments. The event provided an opportunity to reflect o...

The workshop offered a platform for policymakers, stakeholders, experts, and researchers to engage in discussions and reflections on the interim findings of the Transparency and transferability of learning outcomes project (2021-2025), contributing to its ongoing developments. The event provided an opportunity to reflect on the progress made in the transparency, transferability and recognition of skills and qualifications over the past two decades, while reflecting on persisting obstacles that continue to exist for individuals.

 

Over the last two decades, significant efforts have been undertaken both at the European and national levels to promote a transition towards more flexible and open education and training systems, fostering lifelong learning and mobility of individuals.

These initiatives frequently revolve around the use of learning outcomes as a key principle for shaping education and training and for valuing learning taking place outside formal learning settings. Numerous policy tools and initiatives have aimed to enhance the transparency of systems and qualifications to facilitate transferability of learning outcomes across institutions, systems and countries, which has been addressed also through initiatives promoting cross-border recognition of qualifications.

Building upon the previous workshop of the Transparency and transferability of learning outcomes project, this second workshop aimed to foster a discussion about which policy tools and initiatives have supported individual citizens in entering, re-entering and combining education, training and learning, exploring the extent of synergies between these tools and initiatives and areas needing improvement. A central focus of the project is to analyse changes in individuals' circumstances from 2000 to 2020. The workshop was an opportunity to discuss and identify removed or reduced barriers as well as persistent and emerging obstacles to smooth transparency, recognition, and transferability of skills and qualifications within and across countries. Discussions also served to shape the last part of the project which will develop set of alternative policy scenarios towards 2040 pointing to alternative policy choices and their implications on lifelong and life-wide learning.

The event gathered policymakers, researchers, experts, and stakeholders involved in developing and implementing European and national policy tools and initiatives supporting transparency, transferability and the recognition of skills and qualifications.

Participation was by invitation only.  

 

Programme (CET time)

9.15-9.30 Online access - technical tests
9.30-9.45

Welcome and introduction

  • Loukas Zahilas, Head of department for VET and qualifications (DVQ), Cedefop

Opening address

  • Jürgen Siebel, Executive Director, Cedefop

9.45-10.15

Chair: Loukas Zahilas, Head of department, Cedefop

Keynote speech

Transparency and transferability of learning outcomes: a 20-year journey  

  • Zelda Azzarà, Expert, Cedefop
  • Iraklis Pliakis, Expert, Cedefop

10.15-11.15

Chair and moderator: Carita Blomqvist, Expert, Cedefop

Panel discussion

Transparency and transferability of learning outcomes: past achievements, current obstacles and way forward

  • Koen Nomden, Team leader, DG EMPL, European Commission –
  • Eduard Staudecker, Head of department, Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Research
  • Brikena Xhomaqi, Director, Lifelong Learning Platform
  • Lauri Tuomi, Executive board member of the European Association for the Education of adults (EAEA) Executive board and CEO of the Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation (KVS)

11.15-11.20

SLIDO
11.20-11.40 Coffee break
11.40-11.55

Chair: Zelda Azzarà, Expert, Cedefop

Ongoing work: changes for citizens in 2000-20 and future policy scenarios 

  • Kari Hadjivassiliou, Project leader, Tavistock Institut gGmbH
11.55-13.05

Parallel breakout sessions

Session 1: European policy initiatives on transparency and transferability of learning outcomes: synergies, success and future pathways
Moderator: Zelda Azzarà, Expert, Cedefop

  • Presentation: Giorgia Iacopini, Research team leader, Tavistock Institut gGmbH

Rapporteur: Maya Ivanova, Policy Officer, European Commission

Questions for discussion

  • To what extent have EU policies on transparency and transferability of learning outcomes been working in synergy? Which initiatives can be considered as successful and why?
  • Reflecting on past experiences, what fundamental lessons should guide and shape future policy choices? Which aspects and areas would require improvement or further cooperation to support lifelong and life-wide learning?
11.55-13.05

Session 2: Past and present barriers to lifelong and life-wide learning 

Moderator: Iraklis Pliakis, Expert, Cedefop

  • Presentation: Manuela Samek Lodovici, Research team leader, Istituto per la Ricerca Sociale

Rapporteur: Ernesto Villalba Garcia, Expert, Cedefop

Questions for discussion

  • Over the past 20 years, which barriers to lifelong and life-wide learning have European and national policy initiatives reduced, from a transparency of systems and transferability of learning outcomes perspective? Which policy initiatives have contributed the most?
  • Which barriers persist or have emerged? What aspects would need further attention in the future?
11.55-13.05

Session 3: Exploring past and present trends and their influence on future policy developments on lifelong learning

Moderator: Anastasia Pouliou, Expert, Cedefop

  • Presentation: Thomas Spielhofer, Research Team Leader, Tavistock Institut gGmbH

Rapporteur: Nicola Stokes, Deputy project leader, Tavistock Institut gGmbH

Questions for discussion

  • Reflecting on the past two decades and the current landscape at European level, what have been the prevailing trends and priorities in supporting lifelong learning? How might these past trends influence and shape future European policies on lifelong learning?
  • Reflecting on the past two decades and the current landscape at national level, what have been the prevailing trends and priorities in supporting lifelong learning? How might these past trends influence and shape future national developments on lifelong learning?
13.05-13.20

Chair: Zelda Azzarà, Expert, Cedefop

Report back from breakout sessions

Speakers: rapporteurs from breakout sessions

13.20-13.30

Concluding remarks and work ahead

  • Zelda Azzarà, Expert, Cedefop
  • Loukas Zahilas, Head of Department, Cedefop

 

-

The new ReferNet partners and national representatives were invited to attend the 21st annual plenary meeting of the network, which was the first annual meeting taking place under the new 2024-27 Framework Partnership Agreement.  

The aim of the meeting was to:

  • inform on the latest EU VET policy developments, the outcomes of the 2023 work plan and the preparation of the 2024 work plan;
  • introduce the new partners to the processes and procedures of the network;
  • reinstall a physical network dynamic of cooperation and shared reflection by convening in a physical open space, which will encourage creative reflection on how partners would like ReferNet to develop in the new 2024-27 period.
Working with us
Reference
GP/DVQ/ReferNet_FPA/001/23
Closing date
22/09/2023
Extended closing date
06/10/2023
Reference
CEDEFOP/2023/OP/0008
Closing date
06/10/2023
Reference
ECHA/2023/OP/0007
Closing date
16/10/2023