The tri-partite Advisory Committee on Vocational Training (ACVT) adopted unanimously on 3 December an opinion on the future of vocational education and training post-2020.

The ACVT opinion sets a shared vision of governments, trade unions and employers' organisations from EU Member States and partner countries on how to make vocational education and training (VET) systems fit for addressing the future societal and economic challenges. 

The opinion stresses

• the dual objectives of VET for fostering social inclusion and excellence,
• the role of VET in supporting acquisition of job specific and transversal skills, and
• calls for a better balancing of investment and funding between initial and continuing VET.

The opinion calls for the set up of excellent, inclusive and lifelong VET and defines

• the building blocks of future fit vocational education and training
• three key objectives to achieve this vision related to the
  • content of VET,
  • provision of VET and
  • governance of VET systems.
• stakeholders views on the main features of the future European cooperation in VET and possible actions to be carried out at European level.

Background

The Advisory Committee on VET established by the Council Decision 63/266/EEC has the task of assisting the Commission in implementing a Community vocational training policy.

The Advisory Committee on Vocational Training decided in December 2017 to work towards an opinion on the future of VET to be addressed to the Commission as an input for its future proposals for a renewed VET policy framework, as successors of the current VET reform agenda defined in the 2010 Bruges Communiqué and the 2015 Riga Conclusions.

The opinion is the result of extensive consultation with both ACVT and Directors General for VET, as well as with a wider VET community in Europe since 2017. It builds on the available evidence, notably from the Commission, CEDEFOP and the European Training Foundation (ETF) and other sources.

EU social partners organisations (ETUC, SME United and BusinessEurope) and EU VET providers associations have contributed to the process with specific position papers.