The Commission calls on Member States to modernise their minimum income schemes as part of the ongoing pledge to reduce poverty and social exclusion in Europe. The proposed Council Recommendation, sets out how Member States can modernise their minimum income schemes.
With support from the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU), the ‘Solidarity’ project aims to help Ukrainians settle into Bulgarian life by making it easier for them to find a job.
The “E-vouchers” scheme developed by the City of Brescia, and supported by the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD), was a real success in its primary aim of delivering financial aid to the most deprived. Vouchers are distributed monthly, and the amount of financial help varies depending on the person’s family situation.
Meet the champions text
The European Commissioner for Cohesion and Reform Elisa Ferreira met participants in landmark youth and social inclusion projects, co-funded by the European Social Fund. Two of the projects included in the visit work to address poverty and social exclusion through innovative, locally-led approaches.
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Save the date
The Traineeship programme at Tallaght Training Centre in Dublin, co-financed by the European Social Fund’s (ESF), provides specific skills training and traineeships. Specific skills training helps those entering the job market for the first time, and people wishing to update or acquire new skills.
Your first EURES job’ (YfEj) initiative, provides employment and matchmaking services with small and medium enterprises, establishing cooperation with public employment services (PES) in EU countries, to improve the job-matching process.
5 new Flash Reports prepared by the European Social Policy Network (ESPN) are now available and provide information on recent social policy developments in Austria, France, Kosovo* and Poland.
EQAVET National Reference Points have been extremely busy in Summer 2022. Their activities include a national Peer Review with three VET schools and nine peers in Croatia and an international conference on models of consulting work for career counsellors in Poland. Germany has undertaken a study on ‘Quality initiatives of intermediate institutions – the offer of the chambers’, which looks at the quality-related activities of intermediate institutions such as chambers of commerce. In addition, Malta has organised a national competition for health and social care students.
In Malta and Gozo there are 20 secondary schools which offer the VET subject Health and Social Care to students aged 13 to 16 years. To make the subject more interesting and more age-appropriate, a Camping Health and Safety Challenge was organised on a national level for students. This was the first challenge to be organised for this subject since its initiation in 2011. The students who participated showed extreme creativity and amalgamated the leisure aspect of camping activities with the health and safety knowledge they learnt in school. Senior managers, teachers and students said that the activity was practical, useful and enjoyable. Visit the Government of Malta’s website for more information (the working language is English).
In Germany intermediate institutions, most prominently chambers of craft and chambers of industry and commerce, play a central role regarding the quality and implementation of VET. They have a legal mandate to fulfil as part of the governance structure of German VET, and they show further great commitment through a variety of activities in the field of quality assurance in VET. Those activities were the focus of the DEQA-VET study called ‘Quality initiatives of intermediate institutions – the offer of the chambers.’ The study looked at 192 quality initiatives offered by chamber organisations, covering 100 of the 132 chambers of craft and chambers of industry and commerce throughout Germany. The study highlighted five types of initiatives that offer different approaches to quality assurance and development – award, training, consulting, networking initiatives and working aids. Such quality initiatives by intermediary institutions offer a range of support for successful training practices. Visit the National Reference Point website to read the study (the working language is German, a English version will be available at the end of 2022) or visit the webpage to read a report summary (the working language is English)
As part of the EQAVET National Reference Point project, the Agency for Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education underwent a national Peer Review activity in collaboration with three VET schools (Medical school in Bjelovar, School of Industry and Craft in Slatina and Vocational school Vinkovci) and nine teachers who acted as peers. The Peer Review was aimed at schools who are improving their internal quality assurance processes, are undergoing self-evaluation and wanted feedback from colleagues on the quality of specific areas they are working on. Visit the website for more information about the Peer Review.
The European Commission has launched the new ALMA (Aim, Learn, Master, Achieve) initiative with the aim to support young people who are not in employment, education or training with entering the labour market. The initiative will offer participants a supervised stay abroad, for between two to three months, in another EU Member State and in-depth coaching and counselling support throughout a comprehensive project cycle. The objective is to improve their skills, knowledge and experience and to give them new opportunities and perspectives. ALMA will be implemented under the European Social Fund+, complementing other mobility programmes for young people. Click ‘Main URL’ to know more about ALMA.
The Directors General for Vocational Education and Training (DGVT) met in France on 16 – and 17 May to discuss the role of VET in the green transition, inclusive mobility and cooperation and internationalisation. The meeting brought together representatives from 23 countries, candidate countries, Norway, social partners, the European Commission and other European bodies. During the meeting, CEDEFOP (the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) highlighted its European green deal skills forecast published in late 2021. The forecast shows employment effects in sectors like extraction industries, construction and waste management and highlights the importance of upskilling, re-skilling and career guidance to help individuals make appropriate transitions in the labour market by changing occupation, sector or geographic location. Click ‘Main URL’ to read more about the meeting.
EU Member States have agreed on a common approach to design and use micro-credentials – the record of learning outcomes a learner has acquired from a small volume of learning. The Council of the European Union adopted a Recommendation on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability on 16 June 2022. The Recommendation aims to enable people to acquire the knowledge, skills and competences they need for the changing labour market. It allows for establishing a common European approach, common definition, standards and key principles for the design and use of micro-credentials. Click ‘Main URL’ to know more.
A Peer Learning Activity will take place in the autumn on the topic of micro-credentials and quality assurance. Watch this space for further details!
Members of the EQAVET Network took part in the second EQAVET Peer Review, virtually hosted by the National Pedagogical Institute of the Czech Republic, with the contribution of the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, on 13 – 14 June. Colleagues were joined by peers from Austria, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Slovakia. The Peer Review gathered feedback on how the Strategy for the Education Policy of the Czech Republic up to 2030 could strengthen the permeability and flexibility of learning pathways. Click ‘Main URL’ to learn more about the Peer Review.
