Apprenticeships for adults are one of the policy solutions to the need for supporting adults willing to train, while broadening the skills base of the working population across Europe. According to Cedefop estimates, there are around 128 million adults with potential for upskilling or reskilling in the European Union (EU). EU Member States have…

Concise, clear and comprehensive snapshots of vocational education and training systems in EU, Iceland and Norway: this is what the Cedefop Spotlight on VET series offers. Building on individual country Spotlights, this publication provides an overview of VET systems with their distinctive qualities, such as main accession and progression routes…

This research paper is the fifth in a series produced as part of the Cedefop project The changing nature and role of VET (2016-18). Based on comparative analysis of labour force survey data from 2014, the report analyses the vocational effect on labour market and education outcomes, asking whether any advantages conferred by vocational…

This report is the result of an explorative study, carried out at a time when interest in apprenticeship for adults was on the rise and research and evidence on the topic was scarce and fragmented. It has explored the topic from a conceptual and theoretical point of view, reviewing relevant existing research. It has also considered a practical…

This paper looks at the importance of mechanisms that give formal recognition to vocational skills acquired through work-based learning and how such mechanisms might be developed. It describes how skill recognition can benefit individuals, employers and society as a whole, and identifies in which contexts skill recognition has the highest…

Induction in enterprises is a crucial phase for each employee not only to become able to fulfil all relevant tasks but also to enable professional development as well as social and value-oriented integration into the new organisation. This is even more relevant for young people coming from initial vocational education and training with…

This report presents papers on the vocational qualifications systems in Sweden, France, the Netherlands, the Federal Republic of Germany, and England and Wales. An introduction (Russ Russell) looks at common themes. The paper on Sweden (Gun Cardell) addresses vocational education opportunities, curriculum and standards, costs, youth and…

In France, a "Very Small Enterprise" (VSE) is defined as a legally independent company with fewer than 10 salaried employees. VSEs are characterized by a great deal of movement in the creation, transformation, and disappearance of jobs and the extent of turnover, which seems tied with intensive use of public employment programs, notably…

In 1971, the French National Assembly adopted new legislation on Technological and continuing education which attempts to bridge the widening gap between classroom and career by extending effective career education to greater members of French citizens. To interest students in technological and vocational education and to dispel the prejudices…

Vocational teachers and trainers in France belong to four groups: teaching personnel employed by the Ministry of Education, teaching personnel in private technical education, teaching personnel in educational establishments accountable to other ministers, and trainers in other bodies (apprenticeship training centers and company training centers).…

A meeting was held to discuss the findings of case studies examining the role of companies in generating qualifications and the training impact of work organization in Germany, Denmark, Spain, and France. New forms of work organization (NFOT) were identified and examined from the standpoint of sources of organizational change, the main areas of…

This report examines the financing of the two components of France's vocational education and training (VET) system. They are initial vocational training (IVT), which includes upper secondary and short forms of higher education, and continuing vocational training (CVT), which aims to help workers adapt to changes in working techniques and…

A 2-day regional seminar was held to raise awareness of the problem of youth unemployment in Southeastern Europe and assist countries in the region to develop their own framework of action and concrete projects. The following were among the topics discussed: ways policymakers can help young people find valid employment opportunities within…