Newsletter 5/2020

Greetings again to our European Vocational Skills Week community! This time we feature the launching of the Awards for VET Excellence. We are conscious that you are perhaps waiting for news from us on how exactly the Week will take place for 2020. We will be informing you soon.

The 2020 VET Excellence awards are online! Apply now!

Each year the European Commission organises the Awards for Excellence in vocational education and training (VET) for the European Vocational Skills Week. The Award Nominees Celebration is one of the major highlights of the Week and is the opportunity to showcase examples of excellence in VET. Again this year, a series of awards will be given at the fifth European Vocational Skills Week in Berlin*.

As in the past, the idea of Awards is not aimed to single out the absolute best compared to any other possible alternative, but rather to showcase excellent examples of what happens across Europe and beyond in VET.

This year special attention goes to projects/activities that are in line with one of the two European Commission’s priorities for 2019-2024:

“A European Green Deal” and/or ‘’A Europe fit for the digital age”!

And given the exceptional circumstances we are facing right now, some of the awards will focus on “distance learning”.

The award-giving will motivate, inspire and showcase the excellence, quality, attractiveness and benefits of VET in Europe and beyond.

Most of the awards are organised by entities external to the Commission, although the European Commission will retain the overall management of the process as well as the final award ceremony.

Click here and find out more about the different award categories:

1. Company and Learner awards

• European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA)/Apprentices
• Training at Work

2. VET Innovators awards

• Innovative VET Provider +

!!!!Special award on distance and e-learning in VET

• Teacher and Trainer
• VET Researchers
• The Entrepreneurial School

3. European Funding for Excellence Awards

• European Social Fund
• Erasmus+

4. European Agencies Awards

• #CedefopPhotoAward
• European Training Foundation - Innovation & Skills

Fingers crossed!!!

“Horeca” and catering in Melilla

Here is a great ESF-funded example of trainee chefs enjoying their work and training in Melilla, Spain. Melilla is a town of limited professional opportunities. This project gives hope to its disadvantaged learners.

Our Public Employment Services are at work

In EU countries, public employment services (PES) are the authorities that connect jobseekers with employers.

Although structured differently in each country, all PES help match supply and demand on the labour market through information, placement and active support services at local, national and European level.

So they are interested in VET! Here are some sample projects they get involved in:

Identifying skills shortages by using big data in the Netherlands

To create reliable labour market information for prospective students of initial education, the Dutch PES, UWV, has established a graduate tracking system through collaborating with SEO University of Amsterdam. The labour market position of graduates can be examined also 10 years after graduation and gives insights into which skills are meeting labour market demands and thus are effectively used.

Up-skilling of at-risk employees in Estonia

The Estonian PES Work and Study Programme launched a broad range of measures aiming to prevent the onset of unemployment through supporting up-skilling of at-risk employees. These measures in general support up-skilling by giving access to financial aid for studying to the unemployed, employees, as well as to employers. The main aim of these programmes is to support training in (a) easily transferrable skills, such as Estonian language ability, or IT skills, or (b) the development of knowledge in professions for which there is increasing demand in the near future. Thus, these measures provide a steer to jobseekers by limiting eligibility to professions and skills that are likely to be in excess demand in the coming years. To better match the needs of jobseekers to the requirements of the labour market, personalised career counselling for applicants is compulsory.

VET Providers in the headlines again

VET providers - our heroes in COVID times - are helping their communities! Here are some examples:

SOSU H DK: the SOSU H VET Health college in Capital region of Denmark has provided a local hospital with protection gear for free, from all of their seven departments. The gear includes masks, gloves, aprons, hand-rubbing alcohol, protection suits and glasses (have a look). At national level, together with the national body of Social and Health Care education, they have developed a so-called AMU course. This is a job retraining course called “COVID-19”, that invites people with a non-health professional background to five-day online education in basic aid, care and hygiene to help primarily senior citizens in home care, and nursing homes in Denmark.

COMETA IT: VET providers in Italy are also in the forefront of ensuring the socio-emotional well-being of students. More info

Upper Secondary School of Chemistry Pardubice CZ: The Upper Secondary School of Chemistry Pardubice in Czech Republic started producing a disinfectant when the coronavirus appeared, as the need for disinfectants is growing dramatically in the Pardubice Region. The School has certification for the preparation of a disinfectant, and has agreed together with the governor's office to produce it, and at the same time distribute it. Teachers and administrative staff have turned the school gymnasium into a production and storage facility. In addition to providing online learning to students, several teachers are helping out in shifts to produce the disinfectant. More info

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