High level conference: “Strengthening European Cooperation in
Vocational Education and Training”

Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that I open this conference. This is one of my first official duties on the education and training front since taking office as European Commissioner. As I was getting familiar with my new portfolio, I realised that in vocational education and training things are moving fast and in the right direction.

Vocational education and training (VET) plays an important role in reaching the Lisbon goals. This was confirmed by the 32 Education ministers, the European social partners and the European Commission who met at yesterday’s ministerial meeting here in Maastricht.

I am addressing you today as the key actors – the policy developers, the decision makers and the practitioners – whose contribution will be vital to making Europe a world class economy with better jobs and a world reference for education and training by 2010.

The objective of this conference is to take stock of the progress that has been made and to look ahead at what still has to be done in the area of human resources development and vocational education and training to achieve the goals of Lisbon and Barcelona.

On this front, there are some positive developments:

¾ National priorities are, broadly speaking, coherent and compatible with European ones;

¾ The approaches and instruments developed in the Lisbon and Copenhagen processes for VET are gradually being taken on board at National level;

¾ Cooperation between European countries in VET has increased;

¾ Participation in Vocational Education is higher in Europe than in many of our competitors worldwide;

¾ This is an important factor in reaching the target of 85% of 18 to 22 year olds in upper secondary education by 2010; raising participation of young people in Vocational Education also helps to reduce school drop-out rates in many countries where this is the preferred route.

But the overall picture is not rosy.

If Europe wants to create an inclusive, cohesive society, with a highly skilled workforce responsive to the demands of the knowledge economy, we have much more to do and we have to do it better.

Our vocational education and training systems in Europe still have major shortcomings:

¾ Vocational education and training is failing to provide an alternative for the young unemployed. It is not open and flexible enough to attract young people who are disenchanted with school yet lack key skills. Vocational education schools, colleges and institutions often lack the essential links to the knowledge-based economy and the workplace.

¾ Our vocational education systems frequently fail to help students progress to higher education. As a result, Europe has a smaller percentage of higher education students enrolled in VET courses than do its competitors in North America and Asia.

¾ There is often a failure to anticipate skill needs early in order to provide companies with the human resources they need when and where they need them.

¾ In a knowledge economy that needs workers constantly to develop and adapt their competences, we are failing to lay the foundations for lifelong learning and above all we are failing to cultivate a strong demand for continuing vocational training.

¾ Our competitors have higher average levels of qualifications among adults. Yet continuing vocational training still plays a marginal role in many European countries. Participation in continuing vocational training is alarmingly low—only 9% in 2003—as is investment, especially private investment.

That is why the Maastricht Communiqué was agreed yesterday by 32 countries representing the EU Member States, EEA/EFTA and the candidate countries, together with the European Social Partners and the Commission. It sets out the priorities for action at European and national level to meet these challenges over the next two years.

The Communiqué emphasises two major challenges:

¾ There is an urgent need to upgrade and develop the competences of older workers in Europe’s ageing population;

¾ We must address the needs of low–skilled and disadvantaged groups in order to achieve social cohesion and increased labour market participation.

At present 80 million EU citizens are low skilled but by 2010 only 15 % of jobs will be for those with basic schooling.

Particular priority should be given to these and other groups at risk of exclusion, in formulating the lifelong learning strategies that are to be delivered by 2006.

The High Level Group chaired by Wim Kok (who will speak to you shortly) called on Europe to “unlock its entrepreneurial potential and offer its citizens new opportunities to develop themselves”. The key, of course, is developing our citizens’ competences, including the spirit of enterprise.

A key point in the Maastricht Communiqué is its emphasis on implementation and action at the national level. In its mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy, the High Level Group similarly called on Member States to take immediate action and commit themselves to delivering the agreed reforms.

I am pleased to see the national priorities highlighted in the Communiqué: strengthening links to work, open learning environments, developing flexible and individualised learning pathways, teachers and trainers, investment.

But we must also continue to build on European cooperation. Many of the tools that have been developed make a real contribution to achieving a European area of lifelong learning. The lifelong guidance principles and the forthcoming joint Commission/OECD handbook, and the common principles for validation of non-formal and informal learning are some of the essential building blocks. We will work further on developing these tools in a lifelong learning context.

In the Communiqué, the priorities at European level place renewed emphasis on achieving a genuine European labour market and removing all remaining barriers that prevent citizens from having their qualifications understood and recognised throughout Europe.

I am pleased to announce Europass, the first concrete step in this direction. Following adoption of the Council Position, Europass was pre-launched at a press conference yesterday evening.

Europass brings together five existing transparency documents, including the European CV and the Diploma Supplement. It will make it easier for citizens to carry all their qualifications and competences throughout Europe in a transparent portfolio.

A further step in reducing obstacles to mobility will be the development of a European Qualifications Framework (EQF) covering all levels of education and training and providing strong links to the labour market.

This instrument will be structured around a number of well-defined common reference levels covering all levels of qualifications and competences acquired through formal, non–formal and informal learning.

In relation to Credit Transfer, we need a system that specifically meets the needs of VET in terms of competences. This is the objective of the European Credit Transfer System (ECVET). It will facilitate the mobility of individuals during their vocational education and training—within a national system or between different national systems.

Accordingly, the system will help people build their individual learning careers and will give a value to the competences they have acquired, notably through mobility.

VET teachers and trainers are the key players in implementing change on the ground and it is important to bring them centre stage in this process. Over the next two years, one of the major ambitions for our work both at European and national level will be to get this process working from the bottom up.

Practitioners and providers also have a prime role in taking forward the reform agenda. The continuing training of practitioners will have to be reviewed in many countries to equip them for this new role. Typically, they should be acquainted with the Common Quality Assurance Framework, endorsed by the Council in May 2004. The framework is designed to help Member States and providers to develop, improve, monitor and evaluate their own systems and practices.

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In conclusion, progress towards implementing the Copenhagen and Maastricht priorities will be made at variable speeds. European countries will continue to implement reforms that are appropriate to their own diverse needs, challenges and goals.

However, Ministers, European Social Partners and the European Commission have all committed themselves to take action on a set of common priorities to steer our policies.

We are all here to discuss concrete steps towards wide-scale implementation of the tools that have been developed together.

We are here to look at how our European education and training programmes—the current Leonardo da Vinci programme and the future integrated lifelong learning programme from 2007—can contribute to this process.

We are here to learn from your experiences and hear your ideas and practical suggestions on how to ensure that we keep the ball rolling in the right direction.

We are here to launch the actions that urgently need to be introduced if we are to stay on track in achieving the Lisbon objectives.

Thank you.