The keynote speaker, Perttu Pölönen, opened the event. Mr. Pölönen is a Finnish futurist, inventor and author. He shared with us his view on the competences of the future, highlighting the importance of those which makes us humans, such as empathy, creativity, sense of humour or compassion: “Along history, we´ve gone from the era of the muscle to the era of the brain and now it´s the era of the heart”.

After such an inspiring speech, VET leaders attending the webinar were even more clear than ever on how important personal and social competences are in order to success in education, at work and in life.

Continuing the webinar, Mrs. Miriam Korstanje, from the Dutch organization Katapult, introduced the concept of Centres of Vocational Excellence and their role in the regional development, as an appetizer which led us to a panel discussion dealing with the four main objectives of the Osnabrück Declaration on vocational education and training: 1. resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive, and flexible VET, 2. establishing a new lifelong learning culture, 3. sustainability, and 4. European Education and the international dimension of VET.

Moderated by Isaac May, from Belfast MET, guest speakers from Tknika (Basque Country), Salpaus College (Finland), Belfast MET (Northern Ireland) and Rotterdam region (the Netherlands) shared their views on key questions such as the role of VET colleges in the dual transition, our capacity to adapt and anticipate change or our role in lifelong learning and training needs arising from workplaces.

Along an interesting and fruitful discussion, the main points highlighted by the panellists were:

• The necessity of cooperation with local and regional stakeholders.
• The necessity of skilling and/or reskilling people with green skills.
• The involvement of VET colleges in sustainability since the point of view of school management and the integration of sustainability skills in the curricula.
• The importance of the human dimension in education.
• The permeability between vocational education and higher education.
• And the necessity for companies to count with mechanisms to validate the learning outcomes acquired by their own workers as part of their lifelong learning and the role VET colleges play in this personal development plans.  

The whole content of the webinar is available in this link: https://partnersin.vet/webinars/

La entrada The Role of VET in Regional Development. Conclusions from the VET Leaders’ Webinar 4 se publicó primero en Network of Networks.

A recent publication from CEDEFOP is helping with this complex task by offering concise, clear and comprehensive snapshots of vocational education and training systems in EU, Iceland and Norway.

The publication is accessible in this link: https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications/4189 This may be a source of inspiration also for us in Network of Networks. Starting from here, we may develop something visual to locate our different qualifications in a common roadmap in order to compare just in one view!

La entrada Vocational Education and Training systems in Europe se publicó primero en Network of Networks.

• Learner centred approaches.
• Provision of several services in addition to initial training: training for workers, training for the unemployed, consultancy services, entrepreneurship services, etc.
• Alignment with regional strategies. RIS3 is mentioned several times.
• Collaboration with the key agents at regional level: companies, R&D, authorities, etc.

CoVEs work at local/regional level, with students and companies from their areas, and they should be encouraged to continue doing it. However, a challenge remains as these centres need support to be connected internationally. Connecting CoVEs through transnational platforms led the European Commission to launch calls for proposals to establish European Platforms of Centres of Vocational Excellence.

The goal is that each CoVE works in alignment with its regional policies, collaborates with the key agents and provides services for its area, but, as knowledge and technology are, at least to some extent, global phenomena, a regional approach is not enough and we need to connect CoVEs with other centres: by working at European level, we will be able to perform better at regional level. 

The initiative will be helpful for regional VET systems to be aware of the latest developments in their fields of interest and to connect with other agents with similar interests.

Following the definition of the European Commission, most Basque VET centres can be classified as CoVEs. Our centres follow learner centred approaches, provide several services in addition to initial training (training for workers, training for the unemployed, consultancy services, entrepreneurship services, etc.), are aligned with regional strategies, and collaborate with the key agents at regional level (companies, R&D centres, authorities, etc.).

They are working at regional or local level training students from the area, training workers from the area, training unemployed people and, in general, all their services are provided for the area. But, as globalisation continues advancing and as knowledge and technology are global phenomena, it is more and more necessary for them to be aware of what was going on in their fields at EU level. They need to connect with other VET centres and with other agents at European level to be aware, well connected and updated on the latest developments in their fields. 

The European initiative on Platforms of Centres of Vocational Excellence can help our VET centres to continue being excellent by being connected at European level.

Iñigo Araiztegui, Head of Internationalization at Tknika (Basque Country)

La entrada Excellence in VET and regional policies. The case of the Basque Country se publicó primero en Network of Networks.

Describing itself as an ambitious roadmap for vocational education and training in Europe until 2025t the Osnabrück Declaration sets out four objectives which it sees as the operational components of the European Council’s recommendation, of late 2020, on vocational education and training for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness, and resilience. These objectives are: 

1. Resilience and excellence through quality, inclusive and flexible VET 

2. Establishing a new lifelong learning culture – relevance of CVET and digitalisation 

3. Sustainability – a green link in VET 

4. European Education and Training Area and international VET 

It would be difficult to disagree with the Osnabrück objectives in determining the broad direction of skills education and training post-pandemic. However, to avoid a ‘one size fits all approach’, their interpretation and implementation, locally, is likely to benefit from the incorporation of some complementary and additional measures, which pay due heed to factors like demography, existing skill and qualification levels, the breadth of the local and regional economies, variations in wealth and deprivation levels, the availability and use of land, regional growth capacity, transport and digital infrastructure, potential vulnerabilities and shocks, and political imperatives. Whilst some lessons may be learned from previous economic and political shocks and pandemics, reviewing what has happened before is unlikely to offer perfect answers, but it does offer some useful learning for policy and practise. Therefore, if the future of vocational education and training is to take account of sustainability, competitiveness, fairness, and resilience whilst addressing climate change, the broadest possible range of stakeholders should be encouraged to contribute to shaping the most appropriate form for local, national, and global needs. Consequently, an open approach that welcomes and encourages debate and genuine engagement with citizens of all ages and backgrounds should be welcomed and fostered, and stretch beyond the “usual suspects”, “the great and the good”, or the most articulate and strident voices. Navigating the Covid pandemic has produced significant changes in the way we work and has generated better recognition of the social value of workers who pre-pandemic were unnoticed or ignored. Their voices and opinions are no less important than those of any career politician or policy officer based in a faraway capital city.  If we are serious about planning for a fairer, greener, more flexible approach to training and retraining, then it pays to remember that human beings have two ears and one mouth, which is the correct balance between listening and talking. 

La entrada The Osnabrück Declaration: a personal view from the grassroots se publicó primero en Network of Networks.