The COVID-19 pandemic has caused one of the worst economic crises since the Great Depression. Although countries responded quickly to support displaced workers with assistance packages and funding for education and training, additional measures might be needed. Each country's economic recovery will most likely depend on how well its workforce is…

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…

The combination of work and study has been hailed as crucial to ensure that youth develop the skills required on the labour market so that transitions from school to work are shorter and smoother. This paper fills an important gap in availability of internationally-comparable data. Using the 2012 Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC), it draws a…

Research tells us much about the effects of primary and lower-secondary schooling on skills inequality, but we know less about the impact of the next stage of education. This article uses a differences-in-differences analysis of data on literacy and numeracy skills in PISA 2000 and SAS 2011/12 to assess the contribution of upper-secondary…

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…

This article examines cross-country variations in adult skills inequality and asks why skills in Anglophone countries are so unequal. Drawing on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's recent Survey of Adult Skills and other surveys, it investigates the differences across countries and country groups in inequality in both…

In this era of global competition, human resources will play a decisive role in the battle for efficiency and competitive advantage, where nations and organisations with superior and quality-oriented human capital will soon outperform those with inefficient and quantity-oriented labour force. Rate of human capital formation will be more important…

In general the trade-school situation in Europe may be summed up very briefly. In France we find the all-day trade school in its highest development, with special schools established for both boys and girls. The aim of these schools is to intensify the idea of artistic expression as well as to improve mechanical construction and efficiency in…

This publication describes the education and initial vocational training systems for young people in the Member States of the European Community. The section for each country represents the particularities of the individual nation. In each case, the first chapter deals with the responsibilities for and administration of the education system. The…

This interim document provides the results of the joint activities of the Interinstitutional Terminology Group and the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training in developing a standard vocational training terminology within the European Community (EC). The document presents a selection of basic vocational training concepts in six…

This project aimed to develop a more comprehensive conceptual framework of school-to-work transitions in different national contexts and apply this framework to the empirical analysis of transition processes across European countries. It drew on these two data sources: European Community Labor Force Survey and integrated databases on national…