The notion of "Bildung" has been booming in several European countries for almost twenty years now, but it has attracted little attention in vocational education. One reason for this is that "Bildung," the process of becoming human as a goal in itself, is understood in opposition to vocational education, which task would be to…

Competency-based training (CBT) is gaining popularity as an approach towards creating a highly skilled workforce while reducing the skill gaps faced by industry. Integrated within an organisation's management systems, it can lead to benefits such as increased productivity and strengthened employee engagement. While CBT of aviation industry…

This study examines the role of microcredentials in supporting learning for employment. The study collected information through an online survey among mostly European VET providers, national authorities, employee and employer organisations, in-depth country case studies and interviews, as well as Cedefop's ReferNet network. While the topic has…

Purpose: Preventive ergonomics is essential to protecting the health and safety of workers as is recognizing human variability. The purpose of this paper is to describe a Unity-based application designed for three-dimensional postural analysis and visualizations using motion capture data. Integration with virtual reality (VR) technologies allows…

The Industry 4.0 (I4.0) aims to develop a framework where the new technologies interoperate with each other and with employees, creating a smart and efficient environment. Although there are many public and private initiatives focused on boosting the deployment of I4.0 in all sectors worldwide, the adoption is slower than expected. One of the main…

Employability is a construct that includes soft and hard skills to prepare a person to gain employment, progress in it and sustain a career. The employability discourse, in the context of linking education with skills development, has gained increased attention globally. However, engagement with this agenda differs across countries, as it depends…

Purpose: Training cannot be effective if trainers are not pedagogically competent. However, the influence of trainers' pedagogical competencies on employees' knowledge and skill acquisition during training is not given the needed attention in the training literature. This study aims to examine the influence of trainers' pedagogical competencies…

COVID-19 and social distancing have crashed into the structural shifts brought about by the fourth industrial revolution. And while meeting skill needs has been on employers' and policy-makers' agendas for long, investing in people in a more comprehensive way is becoming more urgent: as European economies are picking up speed, the hunt for talent…

The shift to a knowledge society has transformed the way we live and work, which is especially challenging to adults with low education levels. Adult education could be the answer, but low-educated adults participate least in adult education. The present study uses data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies to…

Building on the findings of Cedefop's research project 'The changing nature and role of VET in Europe' (2015-18), this article outlines the development and transformation of European VET over the last two decades. Exploring change from epistemological-pedagogical, institutional and socio-economic perspectives, the research not only illustrates the…

Purpose: The study aims to investigate whether participation to massive open online courses (MOOCs) may lead to labor market returns and through which mechanisms such relative advantage may take place. Indeed, despite high figures of registered users, empirical studies on occupational returns are limited and MOOCs may represent a viable,…

The world of work is being impacted by a fourth industrial revolution, transformed by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. With forecasts suggesting large shares of workers, displaced by automation, in need of upskilling/reskilling, the design of active skills policies is necessary. Conventional methods used to anticipate…

On a daily basis, a deluge of academic studies, reports and news tell us that the Earth's ecosystem is in danger. They further warn that we need more than just information to address the climate crisis, protect the environment, and promote a sustainable way of living. We need action. Education plays a pivotal role in raising awareness and…

The world of work is being impacted by a fourth industrial revolution, transformed by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. With forecasts suggesting large shares of workers, displaced by automation, in need of upskilling/reskilling, the design of active skills policies is necessary. Conventional methods used to anticipate…

The world of work is being impacted by a fourth industrial revolution, transformed by artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies. With forecasts suggesting large shares of workers, displaced by automation, in need of upskilling/reskilling, the design of active skills policies is necessary. Conventional methods used to anticipate…