Birth of a new EU agency

© Belga Image Excellence: helping centres of vocational excellence build up or connect to local skills ecosystems and converge upwards through transnational platforms. “It’s all about skills, skills and skills!”, European Commissioner Marianne Thyssen hammered in an interview with Social Agenda just before the 2019 European elections. “It’s the essence of our social market economy” and this is why “we have put skills on top of the European Pillar of Social Rights [adopted in 2017, the European Pillar enshrines 20 principles and rights for fair and well-functioning labour markets and welfare systems in the twenty-first century]”. In October 2019, Marianne Thyssen took part for the last time as Commissioner responsible for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, in the European Vocational Education and Training (VET) Skills Week, in Helsinki. Forty European events – conferences, workshops, exhibitions, citizens’ dialogues, awards - took place in the Finnish capital from 14 to 18 October, attended by over 1 000 people. But the Week also served as a label that federated hundreds of grass-root initiatives that occurred all year round, right across Europe (see box). This year, in parallel to the European events in Helsinki, the local VET community in Finland joined the Week, strengthening the connection between the EU and national level initiatives. For all and for life The 2019 Week’s specific theme was “VET for All-Skills for Life”: VET is a great option for anyone, at any stage of one’s life. For example, apprenticeship can also be for adults, as is the case with the Finnair airline staff. Finland, which holds the Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers until the end of 2019, is renowned for both its lifelong learning and its VET system. The latter has recently been reformed, to make it easier to combine workplace learning and school education. Each person is entitled to individualised learning plans, which can be followed at any moment of the year, and at any time of the day. This is particularly relevant for adult upskilling and reskilling, as it provides themwith flexible opportunities to engage in training when it best fits their family and work schedules. International dimension In Helsinki, the 2019 Week also focused on the international dimension of VET. For a long time, the European Commission has been cooperating in this area with UNESCO, ILO, OECD and various development agencies of European countries. European Skills Week opens up new venues The 2019 edition of European Vocational Skills Week focused on learning at any age, with a strong international dimension, further boosting the vocational education and training community at all levels VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING 1 2 / SOC I A L AG E NDA / NOV E MB E R 2 0 1 9