Ensuring appropriate vocational skills and training for adults
Services must be put in place to support adult vocational competence
The focus of training services on those who are already trained remains a persistent issue for adults and people in work. To overcome this, low-threshold services should be developed and greater consideration should be given to the needs of under-represented groups in education and training.
Objectives
- The skills level of low-skilled adults must be increased. More effective skills recognition services should be introduced, together with career guidance to ensure smooth transitions between work and training. A basic adult skills guarantee should also be realised to ensure that all workers are literate, with basic skills in mathematics and ICT.
- The focus of support grants for adult education should be shifted to favour low-income and low-skilled people.
- Funding for vocational and specialist vocational qualifications should be increased.
- Retraining, further training and career guidance services should be enhanced.
Grounds
In the sphere of lifelong learning, people in work are most readily left without support and guidance. This is particularly true of those in non-clerical occupations, who often enjoy fewer opportunities to develop personal competence than their clerical colleagues. Closer cooperation between the labour administration, educational institutions and workplaces can help to identify and fill skills gaps.
Adult education grants are more commonly taken up by high income graduates, even though the need is most acute among those with less education. This is often due to livelihood challenges and lack of information concerning the educational opportunities that are available to those in work. The system of adult education grants must be improved to favour greater use by low-income and low-skilled workers.
A balance must be reached in funding for vocational and specialist vocational qualifications and funding for basic vocational qualifications, so that adult vocational education and training becomes attractive and sufficiently available. Even though funding of vocational and specialist vocational qualifications has been increased in recent years, it still lags behind funding for basic vocational qualifications. This must be corrected to ensure that the provision of vocational education and training is not overly focused on entry-level qualifications, and that the skills needs of the working-age population can be adequately served.
Combining work and studies must be motivating, and in-service studying must be flexible and easy. This requires low-threshold vocational competence services, such as modules addressing needs for retraining and further training that are shorter than a full qualification. Career guidance must be available to all.
Other SAK objectives related to skills
- The quality and financing of vocational education and training must be guaranteed.
- Workplaces must become high standard learning environments.