live&learn issue 3

June 2005, No. 3

and

THE ETF MAGAZINE

Education is apowerful tool instopping future conflicts

EU Commissioner:

The EuropeanTraining Foundationis the EuropeanUnion’s centre ofexpertise supportingvocationaleducation andtraining reforms inthe context of theEuropean Union’sexternal relationsprogrammes.www.etf.eu.int

Education is the keyto development.Economics, politics,culture and socialwelfare all dependon education. Goodeducation givespeople work, a voiceand the ability tomake qualifieddecisions.

HOW TOCONTACT US

Further informationon our activities,calls for tender andjob opportunitiescan be found on ourweb site:www.etf.eu.int.

For any additionalinformation pleasecontact:

ExternalCommunication UnitEuropean TrainingFoundationVilla GualinoViale SettimioSevero 65I – 10133 TorinoT +39 011 630 2222F +39 011 630 2200E [email protected]

CONTENTS

COVER STORY

Commissioner sets new priorities:

Education must be reoriented

towards actual demands.................................3

IN FOCUS

Learning and living democracy......................7

ETF launches new model

for partnerships .............................................10

ETF: Human resource development ............25

Preparing for accession................................26

HRD in companies in a

lifelong learning perspective ........................27

Reviewing progress

towards EU accession...................................29

FEATURES

Teachers and trainers:

the human factor in VET reforms .................13

Entrepreneurship in

education and training ..................................16

Opening up vocational pathways

for school students........................................20

The ETF looks to future changes .................31

2 LIVE and LEARN - The ETF MagazineCover photo: EUP-IMAGES

EDUCATION MUST BEREORIENTED TOWARDSACTUAL DEMANDSThe current trend in EU foreign policy converges on the traditional partner countriesof the ETF, the countries surrounding the European Union. This, together with theincreased role of human resources development (HRD) in EU foreign policy, pointstowards a larger potential role for the ETF in EU foreign assistance. With the newNeighbourhood instruments on the launch pad, Live and Learn has interviewed theEU Commissioner for External Relations, Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

Treading in the footsteps offormer Commission chief

Romano Prodi, CommissionerFerrero-Waldner has said thather top priority during her term inoffice will be to create, throughthe European NeighbourhoodPolicy (ENP), a ring of friendsaround the borders of ourenlarged Union. We asked herwhy she feels it is important toinvest so heavily in thedevelopment of our neighbouringregions.

“The enlargement of the EUhas contributed to the creation ofa large zone of democracy andprosperity in Europe,”Ms Ferrero-Waldner said. “Thepolitical, economic, social andenvironmental gaps between theUnion and its neighbours to theEast - Belarus, Ukraine, Moldovaand the Southern Caucasus -and to the South - in theMediterranean - are large,however, and in certain casesincreasing. We want to preventthe emergence of new dividinglines between the enlarged EUand its neighbours.”

“The EuropeanNeighbourhood Policy is ourmain strategic framework forpromoting stability, prosperityand European values betweenour close neighbours. The ENPrepresents a new approach inthe EU's relations with itsneighbours that goes beyondcooperation, giving added valueand enhancing our partnership.We want to draw our partnersinto an increasingly closerelationship with the EU usingthe jointly agreed action plans,

based on common values andinterests. The implementation ofthe action plans will besupported with significantfinancial and technical EUassistance.”

“The EU has a strategicpartnership with Russia, our

largest neighbour. We have justagreed on road maps for fourcommon spaces setting out jointpriorities in the fields of freedom,security and justice; externalsecurity; research, education andculture; and the economy.”

LIVE and LEARN - The ETF Magazine 3

COVER STORY

Ms Ferrero-Waldner is aveteran in foreignaffairs. From 1984, whenshe left a career in theprivate sector, sheserved the AustrianForeign Service inMadrid, Dakar and Paris,later as Deputy Chief ofProtocol in the AustrianMinistry for ForeignAffairs. In 1994, shebecame Chief ofProtocol of the UnitedNations in the ExecutiveOffice of the UN underSecretary-GeneralBoutros Boutros-Ghali.On 4 May 1995, shebecame the first femaleState Secretary in theAustrian FederalMinistry for ForeignAffairs, a position sheheld under thegovernments of bothVranitzky and Klima. InFebruary 2000, shebecame the first femaleFederal Minister forForeign Affairs of theRepublic of Austria.

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Cooperation ineducation andtraining is a way ofstrengtheningpartnership andmutualunderstanding andpromotingEuropean values

Investment in HRD

Recognition of theimportance of human capital indevelopment has increaseddramatically in the past fewyears. It is a priority within theEuropean Union but it also playsan increasingly important role inexternal relations. Asked whatpotential she sees for humanresources development in EUforeign policy, MsFerrero-Waldner said there is nodoubting the importance ofhuman resources developmentin our support to partnercountries, but that aims andways of working will varydepending on the level ofdevelopment of the partnercountry and region as well as thedegree of proximity and EUinterest. “For all of the regions,but in particular for the EuropeanNeighbourhood countries,” shesaid, “cooperation in educationand training is a way ofstrengthening partnership andmutual understanding andpromoting European values.Support for upgradingeducational systems concernsvarious levels. It includes basicas well as higher education and

demand-driven vocationaleducation and training. Supportfor educational exchanges andcooperation helps to spreadEuropean values and buildpeople-to-people partnerships.Several instruments need to beused in parallel to respond fullyto the needs of our externalactions. Sector programmesneed to be complemented byprogrammes that focus directlyon exchanges and partnershipbuilding.”

“Enterprises must beprovided with the right skills andtraining. Education must bereoriented towards actualdemand. This is a challenge andalready a major priority of ourNeighbourhood cooperationprogrammes. In the SouthernMediterranean countries, supportto education policy reform is amajor theme. To the East, wehave so far mainly focused onreform of higher educationthrough the Tempus programme.We have now also increased ouractivity in vocational education.Tempus is of course also activein the Southern Mediterranean.”

“Support to basic educationis a key priority in ourcooperation with the least

developed and other low-incomecountries. Achieving primaryeducation for all and eliminatinggender differences in educationare key Millennium DevelopmentGoals. Education is important inits own right - for example, forstrengthening democracy - buthas also been shown to be oneof the most effective ways ofpromoting development andreducing poverty.”

“With middle-income regionssuch as Asia and Latin America,we focus more on stimulating theexchange of knowledge andpromoting awareness ofEuropean education in order tobuild a partnership with thesecountries and regions. Anexample is the Alban programmeof scholarships for LatinAmerica. At the global level, theErasmus Mundus programmehas similar objectives. With ourclose neighbours, we willdevelop similar exchanges,building also on the successesalready achieved by suchprogrammes within Europe.”

Towards the fullpotential

Asked whether she feels thatthe potential role of humanresources development inexternal relations has been fullyexploited in recent years, MsFerrero-Waldner said: “Humanresource development is alreadya major component of ourcurrent cooperation with theNeighbourhood countries, butmore needs to be done.”

She believes, however, thatthe new instruments offer goodscope to boost recognition of theimportance of human capital tothe level that best serves theglobal aims of EU foreignassistance. “Education andtraining are important elementsof the ENP action plans,” shesaid. “In the Communication onthe Tenth Anniversary of theEuro-Mediterranean Partnership,which has just been adopted, thecommitment is made to increasethe proportion of bilateralassistance that goes toeducation and training by at least50%.”

4 LIVE and LEARN - The ETF Magazine

COVER STORYEDUCATION MUST BE REORIENTED

TOWARDS ACTUAL DEMANDS

In the Southern Mediterranean countries, support to education policy reform is a major theme.

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“The new EuropeanNeighbourhood and PartnershipInstrument will from 2007” giveus access to the full range oftools in the whole region. Theprogramming for 2007-2013should ensure thatcountry-specific sector reformprogrammes linked to policydialogue remain a major vectorfor support to the South and areintroduced in the East. Sectorsupport will be complemented bycooperation between the EU andpartner countries' educationalinstitutions as well aspeople-to-people exchanges,Tempus being a key programmefor the latter.”

“Mobility andpeople-to-people exchangesshould be strengthened furtherto aid these developments. Inthis context, the participation ofpartner countries in certainCommunity programmes thatpromote cultural, educational,environmental, technical andscientific links is beingconsidered.”

New instruments

Asked what she considersthe main priorities for DG Relexin the field of human resourcesdevelopment within her term ascommissioner, MsFerrero-Waldner said: “Todesign and implement a newgeneration of instruments andprogrammes to achieve ourobjectives; these includeinternationally establishedtargets, such as ensuring accessto primary education for all, andkey aspects of the EuropeanNeighbourhood Policy, such asenabling national universityqualifications to becomecompatible with EU standards.”

“As I mentioned, we willcontinue focusing our aid onsystemic reforms, but I would liketo stress the importance I attachto increasing the level ofpeople-to-people exchanges withthe Neighbourhood countries.Equally, it is clear that educationand training will remain vitallyimportant in our cooperation withall countries and regions.”

Human security

In her address to theEuropean Parliament of October2004, Ms Ferrero-Waldner spokeof “a broader agenda of humansecurity” that she was keen todevelop. We asked her how sheviews the link between humanresource development andsecurity.

“It cuts both ways,” she said.“In brief, human resourcedevelopment requires security,and security requires humanresource development. We needto develop the broader agenda ofhuman security to respond to thefull range of threats afflicting themost vulnerable in societiesacross the world - hunger,deadly diseases, environmentaldegradation and physicalinsecurity. This means alsoaddressing the root causes ofconflicts and terrorism. Poverty,alienation and lack of hope areamong the most important ofthese root causes.”

Developmentrequires security,and securityrequires humanresourcedevelopment


EDUCATION MUST BE REORIENTEDTOWARDS ACTUAL DEMANDSCOVER STORY

Education has shown to be one of the most effective ways of promoting development and reducing poverty.

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The EU is aleading example, ifnot the leadingexample, of how tobuild lastingpeace betweencountries andpeoples.

“Education and trainingbroaden horizons and increaseopportunities for participation insociety and the economy.Support to this area is thereforea key ingredient in a strategy forhuman security. Experience alsoshows, unfortunately, thateducation is among the sectorsworst hit by conflicts; thisunderlines the importance ofpost-conflict reconstruction and oflinking relief, rehabilitation anddevelopment.”

Conflict prevention

The European Commissionhas often voiced its strong beliefthat EU values can play a role inpreventing conflicts. But valuesare a sensitive matter - spreadingthe word should not be confusedwith preaching. We asked MsFerrero-Waldner how she feelsthe promotion of EU values cancontribute specifically in conflict

regions such as the Middle East.“Violence in the Middle East

continues, and the EU must stillplay its part in supporting conflictprevention efforts. The initiativeand ultimate responsibility rests ofcourse with the national actors inthe countries concerned,” shesaid.

“The list of the means wehave at our disposal for theprevention of conflict is long.

We have diplomaticinstruments and political dialogue,external assistance, humanitarianaid, trade, social and

environmental policies, andcooperation with internationalpartners and NGOs, as well asthe new instruments in the field ofcrisis management. Throughthese means, the EU is alreadyheavily engaged in conflictprevention based on thepromotion of European values.”

“On a more philosophicallevel, the EU is a leadingexample, if not the leadingexample, of how to build lastingpeace between countries andpeoples. Enlargement is but thelatest expression of this fact. TheEuropean Neighbourhood Policyaims to contribute to extendingthis zone of peace. The Europeanexperience is also one thatrecognises the importance ofprocess, of beginning with lesscontroversial but mutuallybeneficial steps and graduallybuilding confidence and creatingforces for further progress. I firmlybelieve that this experience canbe used in other regions too.”

“Resolving conflicts bypeaceful means is explicitlymentioned in the action plans.More broadly, the privilegedrelationship with neighbours thatthe ENP will create builds onmutual commitment to commonvalues such as the rule of law,respect for human rights,including minority rights, goodgovernance, good neighbourlyrelations, and the principles of themarket economy and sustainabledevelopment.”

“Commitments also relate tocertain essential aspects of the

EU's external actions - inparticular, the fight againstterrorism and the proliferation ofweapons of mass destruction, aswell as adherence to internationallaw and efforts to achieve conflictresolution. These values areessential to prevent conflicts andto build genuine peace. Theprocess of implementation andfollow-up of the action plans willcreate a strengthened dialoguebetween the EU and the partnercountries concerned.”

ETF involvement

Finally, we move our focus tothe European TrainingFoundation. The Commission hasinvested heavily in HRD expertisedevelopment at the ETF in Turinsince 1995, and we asked MsFerrero-Waldner how sheenvisages Commission servicesmaking use of this expertise inthe implementation of theEuropean Neighbourhood Policy.

“The neighbouring countriesclearly face major challenges inhuman resource development, inmodernising vocational educationand training in particular and inlabour market reform moregenerally; Europe has much moreexperience of these issues. Thereis a need for an interface betweenthe EU and the neighbouringregion, and this is the role of theETF.”

“Over time the ETF has builtup a solid knowledge ofvocational education, training andlabour market development in thepartner countries as well as in theEU. As a centre of excellence,the ETF regularly providesexpertise to Commission servicesin the design of cooperationprogrammes. The ETF is nowproviding DG Relex with a seriesof highly valued country analysesas support to the programming ofassistance for 2007-2013.Through seminars andconferences, the ETF also servesas an essential forum for EU andNeighbourhood professionals inthe field. These different roles willcontinue to be important, notleast for the Commission in thecontext of the NeighbourhoodPolicy, both at the programmingand operational levels.”


EDUCATION MUST BE REORIENTEDTOWARDS ACTUAL DEMANDSCOVER STORY

EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner foresees an important role for theETF in the context of the new Neighbourhood policy, both at the programmingand operational levels.

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LEARNING AND LIVINGDEMOCRACY

2005 - European Year of Citizenship through Education

Last year in June, voters forthe new, enlarged European

Union were asked to go to thepolls to vote for the people whowould represent them in theEuropean Parliament. It wasbilled as a great day - themoment when some formercommunist countries came intothe fold. But as the votes werecounted, it became obvious thatthe real winner was apathy. Onthe day, only 26.43% of peoplebothered to turn out.

Voter apathy is only onesymptom of a general lack ofinterest in democracy.The Council of Europe - not theEuropean Union but acompletely separate organisationof 46 European Member States -has taken up the challenge ofreasserting democratic valuesand promoting publicparticipation in democraticprocesses throughout Europe.

Democracy is one of thepillars on which the Council of

Europe was built. Along withprotecting human rights,safeguarding the rule of law andpromoting cultural diversity,democracy is one of our raisonsd'être. It is something to which wehave given great priority since1997, when we first pledged towork on education for democraticcitizenship. We have made 2005the European Year of Citizenshipthrough Education to spread ourmessage that democracy needsto be protected and fostered, andto plot a path for a future whereeach citizen of Europe is able totruly live and experiencedemocracy.

Democratic citizenship ismore than access to the ballotbox. It is the skill we need to livewell in a community. It shows ushow to resolve disputes in afriendly and fair way, how tonegotiate and find commonground, and how to make surethat everyone's rights arerespected.

Along withprotecting humanrights,safeguarding therule of law andpromoting culturaldiversity,democracy is oneof our raisonsd'être.


IN FOCUS

Mr Terry Davis (United Kingdom) took uphis duties as Secretary General of theCouncil of Europe on 1 September 2004,following his election by theOrganisation’s Parliamentary Assembly on22 June 2004.

Mr. Davis has been a member of theParliamentary Assembly for 12 years, andPresident of the Socialist Group in theAssembly (2002-2004). Furthermore he hasworked as the rapporteur on the conflict inNagorno-Karabakh for the Assembly’sPolitical Affairs Committee.

The Secretary General has the overallresponsibility for the strategicmanagement of the Council of Europe’swork programme and budget andoversees the day-to-day running of theOrganisation and Secretariat.

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A democratic citizen knowsthe ground rules of society andthe personal responsibilities thatneed to be respected.

These skills need to belearned, and this is why the roleof teachers is pivotal. Teachertraining is one of the main areason which our work will focusduring the next few months, witha teacher training seminar for120 teacher trainers from all overEurope organised to take placein Strasbourg in June. We arealso looking at the possibility ofsetting up a special Europeancentre for training the peoplewho train teachers in educationon history, human rights anddemocratic citizenship.

These topics, much broaderthan the classic ‘civics’education, can equip youngpeople to value our commonpast, better understand andappreciate different cultures andtake an active part in public life.The Council of Europe hasalready trained thousands ofteachers in human rights and

history teaching in Bosnia andHerzegovina, Serbia andMontenegro, Chechnya and theSouthern Caucasus and hashelped countries to rewritehistory books to ensure thatchildren see the past in a clearand non-prejudiced way; this is apowerful tool to stop futureconflicts by healing the woundsof the past.

Throughout the Year ofCitizenship, the coordinatingcommittees in each of theCouncil of Europe MemberStates are organising a widerange of activities based on thepriorities and concerns of theirown countries within a commonEuropean framework. To takeonly three examples: anall-Ukrainian children's forum,‘The State That Hears Children’,was organised in January by theUkrainian Ministry of Educationand Science, with the aim ofenhancing students' social andlegal activity; in March, aninnovative event, ‘EURU?’,organized in central London by

young people and for youngpeople for the purposes ofdiscussing Europe, featured agraffiti wall, electronic votingsessions, performances (rap,song, comedy and dance), avideo competition and a celebrityspeaker; and in November andDecember, Days of HumanRights Education - featuringeducation events, workshopsand exhibitions - will be held inAustria.

As Nelson Mandela oncesaid, education is the mostpowerful weapon we can use tochange the world. With theEuropean Year of Citizenshipthrough Education, the Councilof Europe aims to put thosewords into action.

Terry Davies,Council of Europe,Secretary General

Find out more:http://www.coe.int/eyce


LEARNING AND LIVING DEMOCRACYIN FOCUS

Through the European Year of Citizenship through Education, the Council of Europe will spread the message that democracyneeds to be protected and fostered.

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LEARNING AND LIVING DEMOCRACYIN FOCUS

Launching conference of the European Year of Citizenship through Education - Sofia, Bulgaria - 13-14 December 2004

New EC programme “Citizens forEurope” for the period 2007-2013

As part of the new generation of Communityactions programmes for the period 2007-2013, theEuropean Commission has adopted a newproposal for a programme for the promotion ofactive European citizenship. This programme, witha budget of EUR 207 million for the whole period,will take over the current programme coming to anend in 2006 and is a contribution to addressing amajor challenge of the European Union, namelyhow to bridge the gap between the citizens andthe European Union.

Commissioner Ján Figel’ has stressed the need toinvolve citizens in the development of the EU:“One of the major challenges of this Commissionwill be to have European citizens develop a senseof belonging and forge a European identity, sothat they can become more deeply involved in thedevelopment of the European Union” he said,adding : “I believe that the future programme onactive citizenship, rooted in our common historyand culture and promoting and celebrating ourshared values, such as freedom, fairness,tolerance and solidarity, will act as cementtowards a more citizen-friendly Europe.”

Find out more:http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/activecitizenship/new_programme/new_programme06042005_en.pdf

EU Commissioner Ján Figel' has presented the new programme“Citizens for Europe”

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IN FOCUS

ETF LAUNCHES NEWMODEL FORPARTNERSHIPS

‘The ETFdeveloped its ownunique expertise -a combinedknowledge ofEuropean policies[...] and theambitions andsensitivities of thepartner countries’

European Training

Foundation expertise is

primarily employed in support

of European Union policies.

But the services of the ETF

can also be called upon by

individual donors who wish to

add a European dimension to

their bilateral and multilateral

activities.Small countries or specialist

organisations may excel in onefield and seek specialistcomplementary knowledge thatis not available among their ownstaff. Others may seek a partnerto coordinate or evaluatemultilateral initiatives. The ETFcan help them to improve boththe content and management oftheir support to human resourcesdevelopment in the countrieswith which they work.

Old partnerships...

Obviously, the ETF is notnew to working in partnershipwith EU Member States. It worksfrom the premise that theEuropean Union is the world'sbest nursery for education andtraining policy developers. Noother region in the world canshowcase such a versatility ofsolutions to current, genericchallenges in education andtraining - how to keep adults in‘learning mode’, how to financecontinuing training, how toguarantee ongoing dialoguebetween employers and trainers.

This versatility is importantfor ETF partner countries.Although it is generallyacknowledged that policiescannot be copied, this doesn't

mean that every country tacklingtraining reform must reinvent thewheel. Good practice can betranslated, but translatingappropriately is a process ofmaking choices; the moreinformed these choices are, thebetter the end result will be.Making informed choicesrequires exposure to a variety ofsolutions. Providing theopportunities for this exposure iswhat ‘sharing expertise intraining’ has meant for the ETFthroughout the past ten years.

EU Member States havebeen instrumental to the ETF'sprime objective of sharingexpertise in training. Forexample, when the Phare VETreform programmes werelaunched in what today are thenew Member States, staff of thenational ProgrammeManagement Units met every sixmonths in whichever MemberState held the EU presidency.

Over a number of days, theytypically went through anintensive programme of studyvisits and seminars.The experience theyaccumulated over the years gavethem an insight into the diversityof European Member States thatfew even within the EuropeanUnion possessed. Today, manyof them have started to pass ontheir knowledge to those whoneed it in other partner countries.

Impending accession alsobrought an immense need forcapacity building in the candidatecountries. Access to theEuropean Social Fund (ESF)could only be exploited in ameaningful way by people whowere aware of how best to use it.Within the framework of the ESF

Special Preparatory Programme,the ETF fostered liaison betweenthose with experience of workingwith the ESF in the MemberStates who needed to learn howto use it in the candidatecountries. The ETF convenedregional workshops wherepeople who worked with the ESFon a daily basis shared theirexperiences and organised studyvisits throughout the EuropeanUnion for civil servants andsocial partners from thecandidate countries.

... new ways

During this time the ETFdeveloped its own uniqueexpertise - a combinedknowledge of European policiesand practice on the one hand,and the ambitions andsensitivities of the partnercountries on the other. It is thisexpertise that is now inincreasing demand amongMember States seeking toestablish a working relationshipwith the ETF. The ETF helpsthem to fit their bilateral supportactivities into the broaderframework of European externalsupport to human resourcesdevelopment.

The immediate benefits areobvious: the impact of smallprojects - targeting, for example,just one region or sector - islikely to be much higher whenthese are carried out within acooperative environment that, inparallel, sees activity in otherregions or sectors or by otherdonors.


ETF LAUNCHES NEW MODEL FOR PARTNERSHIPSIN FOCUS

Pooling expertise

Over the years, the ETF has demonstrated the capacityto link up multilateral teams with a collective expertisethat could not have been mustered by any of the EUMember States alone. A flagship example of this is theNorth-West Russia Project, a six-year undertaking thatcontributed to the reform of vocational education andtraining in four sectors crucial for the economy ofnorth-west Russia and involved a total of six EUMember States as well as the ETF and the InternationalLabour Organisation.

The original idea was that the involved Member Stateswould be responsible for sectors, while the ETF wouldtake responsibility for the horizontal issues. There wereserious communication problems among the differentproject teams, however, and in the first years progresswas slow. In the second phase of the project, the ETFtook over the project management. It coordinated theproject design, developed the framework andorganised a two-week visit to the region with 20 peoplefrom the participating teams. From there the projectgrew to become the flagship reform example it is today.

It is now one of the initiatives whose results are ingreatest demand throughout Eastern Europe and evenCentral Asia.

Tapping expertise

Each country has an interest in the development of itsneighbours. On the issue of migration pressure, forexample, Italy has worked on human resourcesdevelopment in Albania for many years. BecauseAlbania is one of the ETF partner countries, the Italiangovernment draws on ETF expertise in cases where itfunds activities that are within the remit of the ETF.Since 2000, the ETF has worked with the Italian Ministryof Foreign Affairs through a series of cooperationagreements that have broadened in recent years.

Under the first of these agreements, the Italianauthorities asked the ETF to implement a humanresources development project in the field of small tomedium-sized enterprise development in Albania ontheir behalf. Following a positive evaluation of this firstproject, the Italian authorities have recently asked theETF to help design and implement a follow-up project.The latter will be paid for through a bilateralcooperation agreement between Albania and Italy. It isa financial assistance programme supporting smallbusinesses in Albania through the establishment ofcredit and loan schemes to the tune of almost EUR 30million. The ETF will coordinate the required capacitybuilding for the successful implementation of theseschemes.

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ETF LAUNCHES NEW MODEL FOR PARTNERSHIPSIN FOCUS

‘From 2007onwards, many ofthe co-fundingopportunitiesmanaged by theEuropeanCommission willdemand a strong‘Neighbourhood’component’

Cooperating in clusters oflinked activities has the potentialto considerably streamlinemultilateral efforts, not onlybecause the ETF can liaise withdifferent partners but alsobecause the ETF can constantlykeep partners updated aboutother donor activity in the field orregion. At the very minimum, thiscan avoid duplication. Morepositively, however, it supportsmuch-needed synergy amongbilateral and multilateral supportactivities.

Strengtheningbilateral support

ETF expertise can beaccessed by Member States andemployed for the benefit of theirown bilateral and multilateralactivities. This may be suitablewhen an EU Member State hasprogrammes that complementboth EU external relationspriorities and the mandate of theETF. It may also be suitable

when an EU Member State hasidentified a key objective butlacks the required expertise andfield resources to design,implement, monitor or evaluatemeasures to reach theirobjective.

This approach has beenused by countries such asFrance, Italy and Switzerlandand by organisations such as theWorld Bank. The terms forcooperation agreements of thistype are negotiated on acase-by-case basis according tothe nature of the project and theexpected weight of the role of theETF in the project.

Neighbourhoodinstruments

With the new Neighbourhoodinstruments around the cornerand a bias in EU externalsupport that increasingly directsfunds towards human resourcesdevelopment, such cooperationbetween the ETF and EU

Member States may also proveto be instrumental in maximisingthe effect of multilateral supportto regions neighbouring theEuropean Union. From 2007onwards, many of the co-fundingopportunities managed by theEuropean Commission willdemand a strong‘Neighbourhood’ component.

Groups of Europeancountries and organisations whowish to be active players in thenew EU programmes will want tosecure expert knowledge ofeducation and training in theseregions. The ETF is prepared -and keen - to engage in suchpartnerships, be it for broadcoordination or as a contributorof just the sort of expertise thatcan make the difference betweena good consortium and anexcellent consortium.

ETF publicationdescribing the newmodel for partnershipsavailable fromwww.etf.eu.int

TEACHERS AND TRAINERSTHE HUMAN FACTOR IN VET REFORMS

Interventions in the VET reformprocesses of partner countries are

usually aimed at modernising theorganisational frameworks of VETsystems and bringing them in line withemerging labour markets. Schooldevelopment and teacher and trainertraining do not usually receive theappropriate amount of attention. Teacherand trainer training is very often sidelined;it is bracketed together with thedevelopment of standards andassessment procedures, and used as aninstrument for improving theirimplementation.

Even if there is a strong interest withina partner country in upgrading VETteacher and trainer training, the focustends to be on teacher training institutions.Sometimes groups of teachers areintroduced to new teaching methods butface huge difficulties using these methodsin their daily work because their schoolshave not developed an appropriateorganisational framework to facilitate thereform of teaching and learningprocesses.

The ability of the VET system to play acrucial role in society depends on whetherits institutions respond to change andwhether teachers are prepared toincorporate the complex reform measuresinto their daily work. A major challenge inthe reform of the VET system is thereforeto choose an approach that fully involvesteachers and trainers.

Teachers and policy

Systemic reform often assumes thatpolicy instruments will drive the necessaryreform in schools. But that remainsconjecture, for there is little evidence of adirect and powerful relationship betweensystemic policy initiated at the nationallevel and actual practice in schools.Moreover, systemic reform seems toassume that teaching is a relativelyhomogeneous activity that can be drivenby a small set of easily accessible policyinstruments. But experience shows thecontrary: learning is context-bound, andteaching takes place in the school, whichis a highly complex institution driven by acontext-specific mixture of interrelated

rules, values and beliefs. Individualschools are based in local environmentsthat vary widely, even within the sameregion or town. Different schools alsoattract different kinds of students withdifferent individual learning needs.

In spite of powerful forces for change,schools in partner countries appearremarkably untouched and exhibit manystructures and practices from years goneby. One reason for this might be thatchange has usually been something doneto teachers as opposed to something donewith them. But the overarching reasonseems to be that schools are seen onlyfrom the perspective of the classroom andare not viewed holistically as humanorganisations with their own structural andcultural rules. It is not enough to trainteachers in new methods and thedevelopment of standards; rather, it isessential to widen the strategic view,increase the focus on organisational goalsfor change, and view increasedorganisational capacity for change as oneof the central outcomes.

Theory and practice

In most partner countries the traditionalway of teaching divides the learningprocess into theoretical and practicalsubjects. The content of the old curriculawas - and often still is - systematicallybroken down into small basic units andterms that can be learned separately. The‘connection’ between learning and work isoften reduced to irrelevant theory orunrelated ‘doing’. The task of aligningteaching and learning processes with theneeds of the labour market is hamperedby a lack of real-life practical experienceamong teachers and trainers and byoutdated teaching and learning materialand VET school workshops.

ETF support for VETreform in partner countries

The ETF's work on developing teachertraining in the partner countries has beencarried out in the context of plans forbroader VET reform. Its main approach to


FEATURE

A major challenge in the reform of the VET system is to choose an approach that fullyinvolves teachers and trainers.

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VET reform has been curriculum-drivenand delivered through a pilot schoolmodel. ETF work on curriculumdevelopment, which started in themid-1990s, immediately led to a sharperfocus on the role of teachers. In 2000, aninternal ETF study group on VET teachertraining was set up, and in 2003 this wastransformed into a group on teaching andlearning processes that included teachersand trainers.

In its own work, the ETF aims to maketeacher and trainer training support astrategic goal of any VET system reformpolicy. Over time this perspective hasbecome more operational, and a numberof more specific principles have beendeveloped in order to guide and givebetter focus to the ETF's future work.

Development projects initiated in 1996aimed to pilot innovation through closecooperation between neighbouring partnercountries. The initial aim was not so muchlearning from each other but ratherlearning with each other.

Learning through pilots

Usually, the overriding aim of a pilotproject is to build regional or local capacityfor VET innovation. The ETF, however,took up the challenge of using the pilotapproach as a preparation for nation-widechange in teacher training. Workingalongside policymakers, project teams hadto develop measures for setting up anational structure on which theexperimental results could be generalised.

Launched in 1997, Integration of Workand Learning (IWL) was the first ETFproject of this type. It included cooperationbetween teams from Hungary andSlovenia, who worked on all core issues inVET reform: the project groups selectedschools that were aiming to overcome thegap between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’; theyidentified companies that were interestedin introducing learning processes in theworkplace; and they brought togetherschools and companies that wanted tomake a link between learning at schooland work in the company.

One lesson in particular wouldbecome decisive for the ETF's futuredevelopment work on the topic.Especially in Slovenia, it was felt thatcentralisation of the education andtraining system was the main obstacle toimproving the integration of work andlearning. More decentralisation wouldchallenge social partners to make betterlinks between work and learning and tosupport the mobility of teachers betweenschools and companies.

The most important challenge,however, related to teachers. Becausethey were mainly accustomed to workingwith predefined programmes, intensivework-based training would be needed toacquaint them with modern teachingmethods. In addition, the school itselfwould have to face new challenges withregard to its organisational culture, itsmanagement and its ability to define andimplement an innovative schoolprogramme, for which it would beaccountable.

Change agents

The project Reshaping the Focus andStructure of Teacher and Teacher TrainerTraining, which started in 2000 in Latviaand Lithuania and was funded by Finland,Denmark and the ETF, capitalised on thelessons learned in the IWL project. It tookinto account the importance of work-basedlearning for staff of an organisation andthe necessity of developing organisationallearning capacity in order to be preparedfor future socioeconomic challenges anddemands. Its focus was on teachers anduniversity educators, on VET schools andtheir interaction with teacher traininginstitutions, and on teacher-training policy.

A strategy had to be developed toinduce both individual and organisationallearning in such a way that the individualdevelopment of teachers and theorganisational development of the schoolcould complement each other. For thispurpose the project established a ‘drivingforce’ that could support this process. Theidea of using change agent teams (CATs)- in which key persons from the pilot VETschools worked together - as the coreelement of the project was an innovativesolution with very positive results. CATshelped participants to work moreeffectively within their home institutions.They lowered the threshold between VETschools and universities and increasedinteraction between them. New ideas andthe inspiration and motivation of CATswere transmitted further within the pilotVET schools, and some CATs have sinceorganised workshops for teachers of otherschools in their region.

Subsequent discussions reflected onwhat had been learned in terms ofwork-based learning and problem-solvingcompetences as key ingredients fordeveloping organisational learningcapacity in schools and as a condition fordeveloping a lifelong learning perspectiveamong teachers. However, despite thepositive results achieved in the projectthere remained a feeling that if schoolsand teachers were to play a truly activerole in the VET reform process, theyshould not simply adapt to change in theoutside world. Schools and teachers hadto be much more directly involved. Theyhad to be more proactive, creative andoutward-looking.

New work order

These discussions coincided with amore systemic debate. There were somedoubts as to whether existing VETsystems in partner countries really fulfilledthe demand of their societies to increase


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the employability of individuals, as thesystems were still shaped around classicalemployment concepts. Consequently theETF became concerned with thechallenge of developing a VET systemthat would prepare for both wagedemployment and self-employment, so thatgraduates would be capable of respondingto the demands of the market, whether asemployees or as employers.

Such a system should not simply beequipped to give its students the choice ofacquiring and maintaining competencesfor dependent employment. It should alsotake account of their lifestyles andpersonal interests, and empower them tomake broader employment choices, whichshould include setting up and running abusiness. Modern VET concepts andmethods, with such keywords as‘integration of work and learning’,‘problem-solving capacity’ and‘project-based learning’, as well as the useof CATs in VET school teacherdevelopment, could be linked to this newapproach.

Entrepreneurship

In order to achieve this it wasnecessary to transform the approach toVET from its traditional focus on trainingindividuals to follow the instructions ofothers, towards an approach promotingindividual creativity and the ability to copewith change and innovation involving higherlevels of uncertainty and complexity.

Piloting such a transformation is theaim of the ETF project Entrepreneurship inEducation and Training in Russia andUkraine. At its core the project is afundamental search for a reorientation ofschool culture and teacher behaviourwithin a lifelong learning perspective.Entrepreneurial learning differs from thetraditional approach in that its primaryfocus is on personal abilities rather thanfunctional competences. The learningapproach is more experimental andexperiential, and less oriented towards afixed routine. It is aimed not simply atimparting know-how for solving technicalproblems, but at assessing theuncertainties of real-life situations andeconomic developments, finding creativesolutions and implementing them.Accordingly, in order to promote apedagogy of entrepreneurship orenterprise, significant shifts of mentalityare needed from teachers, who areaccustomed to the command structures ofcentrally controlled schools. These shiftstowards broader competences areidentical to those advocated in new activelearning theories.

Lessons learned

The debate on which is more important- modernising the policy framework of theVET system or developing new practicesfor VET institutions and their teachers andtrainers - does not appear to move mattersforward. ETF projects and the discussionsduring related workshops have shown thatonly a triangular approach that integratesgovernment policy with the practice ofteacher training institutions and VETschools is capable of bringing aboutsustainable reforms. Teachers andtrainers need to be recognised aseducational professionals andstakeholders in education reform.

Scale does not seem to be the mostimportant issue. Medium-scale pilotprojects in which selected educationalinstitutions are involved together in aninnovative project, as well as large-scaleprojects which try to establish system-widechange, will only succeed if theyimplement this integrated approach.

If a new approach to teaching andlearning is planned, it is advisable to testthe water and pave the way through a pilotproject in which teachers can discover andexperience their own new role in thereform process before large-scalechanges are made. The projects inHungary/Slovenia, Latvia/Lithuania andRussia/Ukraine in particular haveproduced strong evidence that pilots cando much to change the behaviour ofteachers and directors and to makeimprovements in schools, especiallythrough the development of anentrepreneurial approach. They also helpto strengthen political awareness aboutthe important role of the teachingprofession in VET reform.

There is a clear potential in usingteachers as agents of change and notsimply as instruments in, or objects of,VET reform. However, this potential canonly be tapped if the focus and structure ofeducation and training are reshaped.There is also evidence that work ondeveloping permanent and institutionalisedcooperation between universities, VETschools and enterprises should beintensified.

The ETF projects demonstrate theimportance of intertwining teacherdevelopment with school improvement.Teachers learned that integrating newactive learning approaches in schoolsdemands organisational change, bothacross the school and in the classroom.

In order to overcome the high degreeof technical specialisation of teachers it isnecessary to get rid of the highlysubject-structured curricula. Teachersmust be encouraged to team up with other

colleagues. Last but not least, schoolsmust be open to partnerships withemployers in order to gain anunderstanding of the needs of modernwork processes.

The project in Latvia and Lithuaniaemphasised the importance of universitiesdeveloping a project-oriented approach toteacher education that should bridge thedifferent worlds. It also confirmed - as didthe IWL project in Slovenia and Hungary -the necessity of having sufficient researchcapacity to support the triangularapproach to reform.

All projects confirmed that the workenvironment of teachers should be seenas a learning opportunity. It should thus beorganised accordingly. This will be difficultto achieve, however, - schools, teachertraining institutions and companies musthelp to integrate learning into the dailywork of their staff.

Peter Grootings,Eastern Europe and CentralAsia Department, ETF andSøren Nielsen,Department for Enlargementand South-Eastern Europe, ETF


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There is a clear potential in using teachers asagents of change in VET reform.

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ENTREPRENEURSHIP INEDUCATION AND TRAINING

LESSONS LEARNED FROM AN ETF PILOT PROJECT

‘The EET projecthas renderedhighly relevantand useful resultsthat made a realdifference to thepilot schools’

Today, economic growth intransition and developed

economies is characterised by arapid product cycle, fasttechnological change and highcompetition among firms on aregional or global basis. Withinthis context, managers andworkers are challenged todevelop competencies andengage in continual learning inorder to maintain theirperformance in an era ofeconomic and technologicalchange. In addition tocompetencies aimed at workingeffectively within enterprises,specific knowledge and skills areneeded to establish a company

or for self-employment.

The concept ofentrepreneurship in educationand training (EET) refers to theneed for VET systems to adaptto these challenges. EET can becharacterised by two keyobjectives:� VET that imparts and

develops core skills andknowledge, such ascommunications ability,personal initiative, creativity,critical reasoning andadaptability;

� VET that develops skills andknowledge assisting thelearner to establish apersonal enterprise orsucceed in the process ofself-employment, such as

business planning, riskanalysis and opportunityanalysis.

EET is receiving increasingimportance at European Unionlevel. The Lisbon Agendaemphasises the need for makingEurope a global reference foreducation and training by 2010,and links progress in VET tooverall progress towards buildinga competitive, knowledge-basedsociety. The European Charterfor Small Enterprises (ECSE)reinforces this link, stating that:“Europe will nurtureentrepreneurial spirit and newskills from an earlier age.General knowledge about


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Interactive training in the classroom: learning circles, the Anton Makarenko Kiev Professional-Pedagogical College.

Photo: NAVIGATOR Consulting Group Ltd

business and entrepreneurshipneeds to be taught at all schoollevels. Specific business-relatedmodules should be made anessential ingredient of educationschemes at secondary level andat colleges and universities.”

Since 1999, the EuropeanTraining Foundation has beenmaking a valuable contribution tothe field of entrepreneurship ineducation and training in thepartner countries. Between 2000and 2003, a three-phase pilotproject entitled“Entrepreneurship in Educationand Training in Russia andUkraine” has been implementedby the ETF in conjunction withthe National Observatories, EUexperts and other partners inboth countries. This project hasrecently been evaluated byexternal evaluators1 , and someof the main lessons learned forthe ETF as well as other actorsin this field are presented here.

The project

The EET pilot projectoccurred in the regions ofnorth-west Russia and KievOblast between 2001 and 2003,and involved three phases. InPhase I, the ETF worked withschool administrators andteachers to develop personalenterprise and general businessunderstanding. Phase II providedinsights into working in an‘intrapreneurship’ 2 -drivenorganisation, while Phase IIIdealt with the creation ofcapacity to start new businessventures.

There were four main typesof project activities:� A total of six action-learning

training programmes wereheld for the VET schools byEU trainers. Subjectsincluded ‘Fosteringentrepreneurship in theorganisation of schools’ and‘Fostering entrepreneurshipin the classroom work ofteachers’.

� Extensive workshops andconsultations withpolicymakers andstakeholders were held tofurther define the concept ofentrepreneurship in the VETsystem.

� New methods and resourceswere developed, includingtraining approaches, newcurricula and options forclass organisation. Manualssuch as Principles ofEntrepreneurship and How toSet Up your Own Businesswere written.

� Small-scale surveys andlabour market analyses werecarried out to determinemethods of working moreeffectively with employersand determining curricularneeds.

A total of nine vocationaleducation and traininginstitutions took part in theproject, including initial,secondary and tertiary levels.

Key project elements

The EET project containeda number of elements andinnovative approaches thatcontributed to its success.

These included:� Preparation: The ETF

prepared extensively for theproject. Roundtables and aregional meeting onentrepreneurship were heldthroughout 1999 and 2000in the NIS region, with theattendance of EU andpartner country experts.

This enabled the detailedpreparation of a project logicalframework and terms ofreference that were grounded inspecific needs and expectations.The National Observatories andother project beneficiaries andactors were involved andconsulted at each stage ofpreparation.

1The complete

report is availablein English andRussian from theETF atwww.etf.eu.int

2‘Intrapreneurship’

refers to theprocess of actingentrepreneuriallywhen employed ina salaried position.


ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN EDUCATION AND TRAININGFEATURE

Interactive training in the classroom, the Anton Makarenko Kiev Professional-Pedagogical College.

Photo: NAVIGATOR Consulting Group Ltd

‘The EET projectmade a significantshort-term impact[...] within theRussian andUkrainian pilotschools’

� Focus on schools as the

loci of change: The fact that theproject focused on the level ofthe school provided a powerfulforce for change. Schoolsparticipated voluntarily, withvery little material funding. Overthe course of three years, it waspossible to achieve results atthe school level that led to asustainable change in learningmethods and schoolcoordination. This ‘bottom-up’approach enabled changes totake place in practice ratherthan focusing on the policylevel, where change may takelonger to implement.� Use of change agent

teams in schools: In order toembed the change processfirmly in schools, change agentteams (CATs) were developed.These comprise groups ofteachers and administratorswho attended EET projectactivities and trainingprogrammes, and were thenresponsible for disseminatingand cascading these in theirrespective institutions. Theteams were useful in that theyformed a traditional link with therole of school pedagogicalcouncils. When the evaluationwas implemented in late 2004, itwas found that the CAT groupshad continued their work, inmany cases through thepedagogical councils, and thatinnovations in teaching andlearning were well under way.� Use of innovative training

methods: The project was ableto successfully apply innovativeteaching methods in theclassroom. These includedlearning circles, virtual trainingcompanies, case studies, andproblem solving. Thesemethods placed the emphasison the student, and his/hercapacity to design and applysolutions. A major effort wasmade to find ways of enhancingself-confidence andcommunications ability, whichare vital for the modernworkforce.

The results of the projectwere supported by theappropriate context. VETschools in Russia and Ukraineare critically aware of the needfor change, and have carried outnumerous entrepreneurial orinnovative changes themselves.These include contracts withcompanies for continuing trainingof students, fundraising,introduction of new curricularfields to meet with demand, andparticipation in variousdonor-funded projects. This wasvery much the right project at theright time.

Project evaluation

The evaluation was carriedout by external consultants inconjunction with the ETF'sProject Monitoring andEvaluation Unit between October2004 and February 2005. Fieldvisits to St Petersburg, Moscowand Kiev were implemented bythe evaluation team, and adetailed evaluation report wassubmitted.

The evaluation found that theEET project made a significantshort-term impact in terms of itsLogFrame Objectives within theRussian and Ukrainian pilotschools. The pilot schools andteachers are disseminating theEET approach at conferences,educational events, and schooltraining events in Russia,Ukraine and other NIS countries.At the policy level, keystakeholders have becomeinformed and made familiar withthe subject of EET, whilerecommendations for integratingEET into national legislationhave been produced.

The evaluation report alsodrew the following conclusionsabout the relevance, efficiency,effectiveness, impact andsustainability of the pilot project:� Relevance: The EET projectcorrectly defined the need forsupporting entrepreneurship as akey focus of national economicdevelopment. It has defined theneed to reform VET schools as a

key driver of change, and withinthe schools it focused onadministrators, teachers andstudents. The project's externalemphasis on developingrelations with employers as wellas creating a common vision andunderstanding ofentrepreneurship are highlyrelevant to actual developmentneeds and potential in bothcountries.� Efficiency: There has beena strong delivery of results, andthe project was able to utilisesynergies between its activitiesand those of the ETF VETreform projects in Russia andUkraine. It is also noteworthythat the total budget disbursedwas only EUR 388,825, and thatin fact a higher budget allocationof EUR 425,000 had beenplanned. Future pilot projectsshould include a greaterallocation of resources requiredfor developing materials andsupporting pilot institutions andteachers, as their financialsituation and resource availabilityshould not be taken for granted.Future project efficiency shouldreview the possibility ofdeveloping a financial monitoringframework that includes costefficiency and benchmark ratiosbetween pilot projects. Theoverall time allocated by ETFstaff to a pilot project should alsobe reviewed.� Effectiveness: The projectachieved strong results in“LogFrame Objective 2: Revisingcurricula and introducingEET-based learning processes”,and “LogFrame Objective 3:Introducing an entrepreneurialapproach to teacher training”.Future project effectivenessshould be monitored morecomprehensively throughdefinition and analysis of keyperformance indicators. Futureeffectiveness initiatives shouldinclude the establishment of aknowledge management systemto ensure continuity ofperformance and learning withinthe ETF; this will ensure thatstaff turnover does not affectorganisational performance.



� Impact: A strong impact isseen on the pilot institutions andindividuals involved. There hasbeen a real change in mentality,curriculum structure and schooloperations. Schools andteachers continue to work withEET development, bothinternally through theirpedagogical or methodologicalcouncils and externally throughprojects, disseminationinitiatives and contracts withother schools. In order to assurea broader, societal or systemimpact, it will be necessary toactively link the EET project withlarger technical assistanceprojects such as the WorldBank-supported EducationalReform Project or the variousTacis initiatives. At the systemlevel, it will be necessary tocontinue the project of policyreform and to focus on keypoints in the system such asteacher training andcertification. EET does notfeature extensively in thecurrent national policy reformsof either Russia or Ukraine.� Sustainability: The policyinitiatives have met with generalagreement, but there has beenlimited support from nationaland regional policymakers.Changes in governments andcompeting VET prioritiesresulting from regionalisationplay a role here. Financialsustainability is high - theproject results and methodshave been integrated into VETschool operations withoutextensive funding and with noexternal financial changes (e.g.tuition raises, funding from otherdonors). The training materialsand methods are still being usedin the schools and further afield.The role of creativity, personalinteraction and personalanalysis should strengthen theability of men and women in thenational labour market, as wellas the national developmentcapacity of the countriesinvolved.

A further important findingwas that the number of pilot

schools, policymakers, teachersand students that haveparticipated is too small to makea sustained difference at thesystem level. Resources are toolimited, and there are too manychallenges to adaptation.Without additional supportdesigned to bring the lessons ofEET to a significantly largerpopulation of schools, teachers,administrators and companies,the societal and economicimpact of the project on the twotarget countries will be limited.

Conclusionsand futurerecommendations

This project illustrates thetransformation role that the ETFcan play in the larger world ofVET. The ETF has been able toleverage resources and define asmall-scale pilot project that has(a) correctly identified a thematicarea with critical application tothe NIS region; (b) mobilised theenergy and resources of expertsin the EU and in two targetcountries and implemented athree-stage project; and (c)gained valuable experience andknowledge on the institutionaladaptation of schools and thepersonal adaptation of teachersand administrators in the VETsystem.

The EET project hasrendered highly relevant anduseful results that make a realcontribution to the pilot schools.Valuable information and bestpractice has also beendeveloped for the wider teachingprofession, the VET system, andthe labour markets in eachcountry, although the impact inthese fields is limited. Theresources, results and bestpractice of the EET projectshould not be lost: the ETF,together with other internationaldonors and national authorities,should extend the work on anational scale in Russia andUkraine, and begin activities inother partner countries.

By Philip Ammerman ,NAVIGATORConsulting Group Ltd.,Greece

Philip Ammerman is abusiness consultant inthe field of enterpriserestructuring and humanresources development.He acted as evaluator forthe ETF’s EET project.



Virtual training company presentation: fashion design, the AntonMakarenko Kiev Professional-Pedagogical College.

Virtual training company presentation: travel agency, the AntonMakarenko Kiev Professional-Pedagogical College.

Photos: NAVIGATOR Consulting Group Ltd

OPENING UP VOCATIONALPATHWAYSFOR SCHOOL STUDENTS

A VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD

There's a city where the mainsquare was totally flooded

with Greek flags on the day ofGreece's triumph in Euro 2004. Inthe same city, the street that'slined with Italian restaurants wasawash with Ferrari flags on thenight of the recent Grand Prix.The same city has wide,tree-lined streets in its shoppingdistrict that are modelled on theboulevards of Paris. And,significantly for this article, thesame city has an education andtraining system that's modelledon its historical ties to Britain.

The city is Melbourne, thestate capital of Victoria, one of theeight states and territories thatmake up Australia's federalsystem. Victoria is thesouth-easternmost state on themainland of Australia, with apopulation of 5 million, of which75% live in Melbourne and itssurrounding suburbs. Melbourneis a very multicultural city - as wellas large communities from almost

every European background,there are sizable communitieswith cultural and familyconnections to South-East Asia,the Indian sub-continent and theMiddle East.

One of the penalties of aneducation system that draws onthe traditions of the countries ofthe United Kingdom is thatacademic success seems to bevalued much more highly thanvocational success. Thiscontrasts with the tradition inmany parts of mainland Europe ofseeing vocational schools andapprenticeships as high-statuspathways. In Victoria, and inAustralia more generally, therehas been a steady change in theexpectations of school leavers asthe proportion of the populationenrolling in universities has risen.The value system that seesacademic pathways as superiorto vocational pathways hastherefore been reinforced, despitethe fact that the majority of schoolleavers in Victoria do not enteruniversity. The other options opento them, such as studying at avocational college, taking up anapprenticeship or findingemployment, have not carried thesame status or respect as auniversity course. This createstwo challenges.

First, there is growingevidence in Australia of skillshortages, especially in thetraditional areas covered byapprenticeships such as theconstruction crafts, manufacturingand automotive engineering.Could a stronger vocational focusin schools encourage moreyoung people to take uppathways involvingapprenticeships in thesetraditional skills and therefore

help deal with these skillshortages?

Second, too many youngpeople in Victoria have beenfailing to complete their seniorsecondary school certificates,with many leaving school evenbefore the beginning of study forthe certificate. This was an issueof great concern to the currentVictorian government when itcame to power in 1999 becauseall the evidence suggested thatsuch students put themselves ata major disadvantage in theirfuture education and employmentoptions. So the new governmentset a target - to increase thenumber of young Victorians who


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successfully completed theirsenior secondary certificate or itsequivalent from a little under 75%in 1999 to 90% by the year 2010.

However, the existingVictorian senior secondarycertificate was unlikely to beattractive to such a wide range ofstudents because of its perceived

academic focus. So how couldmany more young people beattracted to stay on in educationand training if an academiccourse didn't meet their needs?And, if the answer was to offer amore vocational approach, howcould it be designed to be highlyrespected and highly valued,rather than being seen as secondclass?

That existing Victorian seniorsecondary school certificate is theVictorian Certificate of Education- or, to most Victorians, simply‘the VCE’. The VCE is one of thefamily of senior secondary schoolcertificates in the Australianfederal system. It was originallydesigned to provide options for awide range of students but, ratherlike its equivalents in the otherAustralian states and in thecountries of the UK, it hasbecome dominated by its use asa pathway into university.

Victorian QualificationsAuthority

The Victorian QualificationsAuthority (VQA) was set up bythe Victorian government in 2001.

Its first task was to review theoptions available to youngVictorians to see if changes couldbe made that would encouragemore young people to stay ineducation and training andcomplete their secondary schoolcertificate. One option was tochange the design of the VCE -but because of its strong links touniversity entrance, any changeswould have required extensiveconsultation and might havetaken many years to implement.A quicker solution was needed.

So, in late 2001, the VQAproposed to the Victorian Ministerof Education and Training, LynneKosky, that a new seniorsecondary certificate beintroduced to sit alongside theVCE as an alternative option. Theproposal arose from the VQA'sobservation that many Victoriansecondary schools had alreadyintroduced their own alternatives -and these alternatives had manyfeatures in common. In particular,these included a vocationalorientation, strong links with localemployers and communityorganisations and a significantproportion of the learning takingplace outside the school.

‘The aim of thismix was to ensurethat studentswould develop thebacis skills toprogress in thefuture’


OPENING UP VOCATIONAL PATHWAYSFEATURE

Chris Gates – a senior secondary school student atDoveton Secondary College, Dandenong, Victoria

Chris Gates, who is 17 years old, always wanted tobecome a mechanic but was unsure how to achieve hisgoal. “I was going to try to get an apprenticeship butdidn’t know how I would go. But then I found out aboutthe VCAL.” Chris believes the hands-on experience inhis VCAL course will help him achieve his dream ofbecoming a mechanic. “I feel really lucky to be able to dothe VCAL,” he said.

As part of his VCAL course, Chris studies AutomotiveTechnology and additional modules in light vehicleautomotive and panel beating, which are being offeredby Chisholm Institute, a vocational college inDandenong. To complement this learning, he isundertaking two weeks work experience with the town ’sFord dealership.

Doveton Secondary College is in Dandenong, a town onthe southern edge of Melbourne. “Our VCAL studentswork one day per week in industry throughout theircourse”, said Trevor Crellin, Assistant Principal at theschool. “The VCAL enables students like Chris to gain abroad range of skills before leaving school and entering

the workforce,” Mr Crellin said. For example, Chriswill be able to show employers that, through hisVCAL course, he had developed skills and knowledgeof the automotive industry, including parts,component manuals and servicing

Des Piggott, operations manager at the Forddealership, believes that the VCAL’s applied learningprepares students for the workplace. “They’ve gotrealistic expectations about what the job involves,”he said. “The training and work experience theyreceive in VCAL gives them a clearer understandingof the job role, so there will be fewer surprises andthey’ll be more likely to stick with it.”

Doveton Secondary College has been providingvocational training for students for several years. Butaccording to Trevor Crellin the VCAL offers studentsand employers even greater benefits. “It allowsstudents to study a program that directly links workexperience with apprenticeship modules and withsubjects offered by the school,” he said. “The VCALis helping make students feel good about themselvesand their future,” he said. “A number would have leftschool if they hadn’t had the option of the plannedpathway VCAL offers.”

Dr Dennis Gunning is the Director ofthe Victorian Qualifications Authorityand is a former DevelopmentDirector of the Scottish QualificationsAuthority.

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But the schools involved saidthat these courses, althoughbeneficial to the young peopleinvolved, lacked incentivebecause they did not lead to aformal, state-wide certificate thatrecognised the students'achievements.

So the VQA designed a newcertificate around thesesuccessful local initiatives. Inrecognition of the new certificate'sdifferent approach to learning, itwas called the VictorianCertificate of Applied Learning.Like the VCE, the new certificatehas quickly become known justby its initials, VCAL.

Questions

This was a radical step for anumber of reasons. Victoriawould be the only state inAustralia offering two differentsenior secondary schoolcertificates. How would students,parents, teachers and employersreact to a certificate based onapplied learning and onvocational purpose? Would thesuccesses of schools' existing

alternative courses be enhancedby having a state-wide certificateavailable? Would other schoolsbe able to develop the successfulpartnerships with employers andcommunity organisations neededto provide real-life relevance forthe studies?

To try to get answers to thesequestions, the VQA set up pilotsof the new certificate, involving500 students in 20 schools andtwo vocational colleges. The newcertificate was designed to beavailable on three levels, in orderto cater for the range of abilitiesof students that might enrol in thecertificate - these were called‘foundation’, ‘intermediate’ and‘senior’. Each level was designedto take a full year to completesuccessfully - and each level wasdesigned around the samestructure. This required eachstudent to have a course built offully accredited and qualityassured units and moduleschosen to meet their needs andlevel of achievement so far.

The choice of units andmodules in VCAL courses had tofollow specified design rules. Theunits and modules had to cover

four curriculum areas - andachievement to the appropriatelevel in each of the four was arequirement for successfulachievement of the certificate.The four areas wereliteracy/numeracy, personaldevelopment, generalpre-employment skills, andindustry-specific skills.

The aim of this mix was toensure that students woulddevelop the basic skills necessaryfor progress in the future, such asliteracy, numeracy, personalconfidence and the ability to workwith other people, and at thesame time gain experience ofwork in specific vocations, suchas hospitality, tourism,manufacturing, multimedia andthe automotive industry.

So VCAL was not intended toproduce young people with fullworkplace competencies. Instead,the aim was to equip studentswith the basic skills necessary forall workplaces and give them arange of workplace experiencesso that they would be able tomake better-informed choices ofpathway. For VCAL, these futurepathways for students were either



Duncan Storr – a senior secondary school student at Corio Bay SeniorCollege, Geelong, Victoria

Duncan, who is 16 years old, didn’t think that the VCE would help him get a jobas a landscape gardener and so he thought he might leave school as soon as hecould. “I like physical hard work and hands-on learning, and I didn’t think theVCE was going to suit me,” Duncan said. “But when I heard I could do the VCALI decided it would be worth staying at school,” he said. “I thought I would have abetter chance of getting an apprenticeship if I completed Year 12 and left with aqualification.”

Corio Bay Senior College serves an area of Geelong, Victoria’s second biggestcity and an important industrial centre. Duncan’s VCAL course at the school isdesigned to give him practical hands-on experience in horticulture and a chanceto learn some of the technical skills required to become a landscape gardener.Duncan already works one day a week in a local nursery doing manual jobs. Aspart of his VCAL course he is working on a local landscaping and horticultureproject where he is learning the technical side of the job through a structuredlearning program. In the Personal Development Skills part of the course, he isdoing voluntary work with the Australian Conservation Volunteers Program.“I have voluntarily helped out on the revegetation project at the Bowen Riverand worked with animals at the Serendip Sanctuary,” he said.

With his interest in learning renewed, Duncan is keen to go on to vocationalcollege and do further training in order to complete an apprenticeship inlandscape gardening.

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further learning (such as ahigher-level VCAL course or acourse at a vocational college) oremployment (such as anapprenticeship or a job).

Above all, VCAL was intendedto show young people who hadnot responded well to anacademic curriculum that theycould achieve success through adifferent, more practical approachto learning - and that this successwould encourage them to look for,and achieve, more success.VCAL, therefore, aimed to provethat the old saying ‘successbreeds success’ could work forthese young people.

The results of the pilot ofVCAL in 2002 were simplyamazing. The independentevaluation of the pilot carried outby one of Victoria's universityeducation faculties showed thatmany of the young peopleinvolved had boosted theirconfidence, their skills and theirchances in life through the newcourses.

It showed that schools hadrisen to the challenge of buildingstrong partnerships withemployers and community

organisations and adopting moreflexible timetables and rules. Itshowed that parents who had, insome cases, given up on theirchild as far as school wasconcerned were overjoyed thatthe same child was nowachieving success and openingup new doors for the future. Itshowed that employers weredelighted with their experience ofyoung people in their workplaceand were prepared to offerapprenticeships or jobs to thoseyoung people.

Many of the young peopleinvolved in the trial had beenready to leave school but haddecided to give VCAL a try. At theend of the trial year, only ahandful of these young people didnot have a positive outcome.

To some parents'astonishment, some youngpeople who had been ready toleave school at the end of theprevious year now wanted toenrol for a second year of VCAL.To other parents' delight, youngpeople who had been destined forunemployment were beingoffered jobs or apprenticeships. Intrying to analyse what made

VCAL such a success, thestudents themselves saw it as asimple answer - “VCAL is ahands-on course”. That seemedsuch a perfect message that theVQA has used it ever since asVCAL's slogan on publicationsand publicity material.

With such great results, theVictorian government decided tomake VCAL available right acrossthe state in a phasedimplementation programmebacked by nearly AU$50 million(EUR 30 million) to support thedevelopment of VCAL courses inschools and the development ofpartnerships with local employersand community organisations.Now, in 2005, thatimplementation programme isnearly complete, with 350secondary schools running VCALcourses. Vocational colleges andadult and community educationcentres have also taken upVCAL, bringing the total numberof VCAL centres to nearly 400.And the total of 500 students in2001 is likely to grow to over10,000 VCAL students this year.



Rhonaleigh Ryman – a senior secondary school student at EumemmerringSecondary College, Victoria

At age 16, Rhonaleigh thought she was ready to look for work, but employerstold her she didn’t have high enough qualifications. “Employers wanted peoplewho had a recognised qualification, which I didn’t have,” Rhonaleigh explains.“I didn’t want to do the VCE, but I didn’t want to be unemployed either,” shesays. “I heard about the VCAL and thought it would be really good because itinvolved practical work experience and I’d have a chance to find out more abouta variety of jobs.”

Rhonaleigh began studying her VCAL course at Eumemmerring College, ssecondary school in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Her VCAL courseincluded work experience in retail and office administration roles where she haslearnt cash management and developed telephone and computer skills.Meanwhile, she has continued to improve her literacy skills and numeracy skillsby undertaking modules in English and Mathematics. Rhonaleigh also studiesone day a week at Chisholm Institute, a vocational college, and has completedhospitality modules which also count towards her VCAL. However, she sayshospitality is only a back-up option for the future.

“I’ve discovered I really enjoy office administration and would really like to get ajob in that area.” Rhonaleigh’s enthusiasm and developing office skills havehelped her to secure a part-time role as office administration assistant with alocal employer one day a week. “I’ll gain my VCAL certificate at the end of thisyear,” she says. “If I don’t get a full-time job next year I’ll either come back anddo a higher level VCAL course or go onto to further training in business andoffice administration at the vocational college.”

Photo: VQA

Interestingly, there areconsiderably more male thanfemale VCAL students - andtwice as many VCAL students perhead of population in rural partsof Victoria than from theMelbourne conurbation. Thatbalance reflects the fact thatsecondary school success rateshad previously been much lowerfor males and for students in ruralVictoria.

The VQA hasn't rested on itslaurels, though. Instead, itworked on another old adage -‘develop or die’! So variations onthe VCAL theme have beendeveloped - for adult learners;for indigenous peoples, whosechildren tend to have very pooreducational outcomes; and forstudents who want to specialisein one vocational area. All ofthese have been independentlyevaluated - with positive results -and have now been implementedalongside the original VCALdesign. The VQA is now workingon new pilots designed to buildeven better pathways from VCALinto apprenticeship - anddiscussing with universities howopportunities might be createdfor VCAL students whosenew-found success encouragesthem to aim for a universitycourse.

VCAL has continued to beevaluated and monitored veryclosely, as is appropriate for anew senior school certificate.The VQA has collecteddestination data on the 5,000students enrolled in VCAL in2002 and the 8,000 enrolled in2004. Remarkably, despite theincrease in scale compared tothe pilot year in 2001, thesuccess rate of VCAL hasremained very high, with around90% of VCAL students going onto further learning or employmentin the following year. For the2004 VCAL cohort, the mostcommon student pathways wereto the highest level of VCAL(over 1,000 students), to anapprenticeship (over 1,000students) and to full-timeemployment (over 800 students).

The variety of pathwaystaken up by the rest of thestudents was wide, including theVCE, courses at vocationalcolleges, part-time work and, fora few students, university.

Despite all this continuousdevelopment and huge increasein the number of students, thecore features of VCAL havestood the test of time and theregular independent evaluations.VCAL remains a coursedesigned to open up vocationalpathways for young people intofurther courses, anapprenticeship or a job. VCALremains a course designed togive students the crucial basicskills and experience of the worldof work so that they have moreself-confidence and are betterinformed when they come tomake their choice of pathway.VCAL remains a course builtaround partnerships betweenschools and local employers andorganisations.

As everyone discoverssooner or later, networks are areally important feature ofworking life. For many students,VCAL helps build a networkbetween them, their school, localvocational college, localemployers and localapprenticeship centres. Theresult is often an offer of a placeon a course, or a job orapprenticeship. This is anothercore feature of VCAL - it is acertificate that opens up localpathways for young peoplebecause generally, for studentswith vocational pathways inmind, it's local knowledge andlocal networking that opens thedoors.

So, in Victoria, students cannow choose a course that suitstheir favoured approach tolearning, whether it's academicor applied, and their chosenpathway, whether to university orthe world of work.

Inevitably, there's atemptation to compare the twoVictorian senior secondaryschool certificates - VCE andVCAL - and to ask if they are‘equivalent and have parity ofesteem. The VQA's answer tothat question has been to ask if abanana and an orange areequivalent and have parity ofesteem. The key question thatneeds to be asked, in making ajudgement of status and value, iswhether the certificate is welldesigned to, and whether itactually does, create pathwaysfor young people.

The VCE is a well-designedcertificate that has been usedsuccessfully over many years toopen up pathways for youngVictorians into universitiesthroughout Australia and beyond.It is fit for its purpose and shouldtherefore have a place in theVictorian education system. Itsyounger sibling, the VCAL, hasbeen shown in every year sinceits launch to open up pathwaysfor young Victorians intovocational courses,apprenticeships and jobs. It isalso fit for its distinctivelydifferent purpose and shouldalso have a place in the Victorianeducation system.

So, just as Victoria is a verydiverse state, it now offers adiversity of certificates to itssenior secondary schoolstudents. Whether VCAL willchange the culture that putsacademic success abovevocational success, only time willtell. In the meantime, though,VCAL has made an importantcontribution to achieving theVictorian government's target ofhaving more young peoplesuccessfully completingsecondary education.

And what is undoubtedly trueis that VCAL has given hope toparents who had thought thattheir children had failed. It hasconnected schools andemployers in a way that might beat least part of the answer tosolving employers' skillshortages. And, above all, VCALhas opened up pathways foryoung people that they didn'tthink were possible and hasimproved their commitment tolearning and their future chancesin life. That's not a bad start for anew certificate that's still lessthan four years old!

Dr Dennis GunningDirector, VQA,Australia



For furtherinformation:

The VictorianQualificationsAuthority (VQA)

� ContactAnnette Whiter,VCAL SeniorPolicy Officer,33 St AndrewsPlace, EastMelbourne,Victoria 3002,Australia,or visit the VQAwebsite atwww.vqa.vic.gov.au

The VictorianCurriculum andAssessmentAuthority (VCAA)

� ContactDavid Gallagher,VCAL Manager,41 St AndrewsPlace,East Melbourne,Victoria 3002,Australia,or visit the VCAAwebsite atwww.vcaa.vic.gov.au


IN FOCUS

ETF: HUMAN RESOURCEDEVELOPMENTA PRIORITY FOR THE ENP

If you give people access to education,you are giving them hope for a better

future and a stake in the presentwell-being of their societies. In countriesunder the strains of transition, investing ineducation and training is particularlyimportant as it can help increaseemployability and social cohesion. For thisreason, the European Commission haslong seen human resource development(HRD) as an essential ingredient inunderpinning development in transitioneconomies. With the coming of theEuropean Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in2006, HRD can be expected to play evenmore of a key role.

With the details of how the ENP willwork still being decided, the ETF hascontributed to the debate by publishing aposition paper on the role of humanresources development in the ENP. “HRDrepresents a strategic investment sectorfor the EU to achieve its policy priorities inneighbouring countries,” says the ETF inthe paper. “HRD is not only an essentialelement in the process of economicdevelopment in partner countries, but alsoa prerequisite for providing the countries

and their citizens with the competences toaccess the EU internal market and benefitfrom cross-border cooperation. It isfundamental for fostering activecitizenship, promoting social cohesion andcombating discrimination.”

The ETF firmly believes, however, thatinvesting in HRD is not so much a matterof what you do but how you go about it.The draft instrument of the ENP outlinesseveral broad areas in which HRD isexpected to make a contribution. In itsposition paper, the ETF puts some fleshon these bones by suggesting specificways in which HRD can help meet thepolicy goals of the ENP.

First, HRD can contribute to thedevelopment of the market economy. Forinstance, lifelong learning strategies cankeep young people learning aftergraduation and help them acquire newskills in line with changes in the labourmarket. Another area is that of migration -as well as producing positive effects athome, efficient education and trainingsystems in Neighbourhood countries canhelp lessen skills shortages within the EUby preparing future migrants properly.

Thus, HRD investment should focus ondeveloping transparent systemsbenchmarked with EU schemes and onensuring that competencies arerecognised across borders.

HRD can also act as a key tool in thefight against poverty. Boostingparticipation rates in basic educationclearly benefits young people, giving thema better chance of finding work. The ETFbelieves efforts should be made toincrease average attendance inNeighbourhood countries to meet theEU/OECD standards of nine years ofobligatory schooling. For adults, activelabour market policies such as retrainingor job creation through supporting thedevelopment of small to medium-sizedenterprises can be very effective. HRDcan also help improve the poorinstitutional capacity that plagues manyNeighbourhood countries - benchmarkingagainst European standards can be usefulin developing the institutional capacityrequired to manage the education andtraining systems of these countries.

Finally, Tempus has shown its worth inpromoting cooperation between highereducation institutions and understandingbetween cultures. Thus, the ETF believesthat Tempus should be reinforced andused to consolidate links between peoplein the EU and their neighbours.

For all these reasons, the ETFbelieves that HRD in Neighbourhoodcountries is indeed a strategic investmentfor the EU. It will benefit not onlyNeighbourhood countries but also the EU.The ETF position paper says: “HRDrepresents an attractive win-win field ofinvestment through which both the EU andthe partner country can agree on clearlong-term benefits.” If the return oninvestment is to be maximised, HRD mustbe fully integrated into broaderdevelopment policy, especially in areassuch as migration, reducing poverty andcross-border cooperation. This is thechallenge facing everyone involved indeciding the details of how the ENP willwork.

HRD can contribute to the development of the market economy.

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PREPARINGFOR ACCESSIONTHROUGH HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT

With the Lisbon agenda taking an evermore prominent role in European

social and employment policydevelopment, developing human capitalhas become a key priority both within theEuropean Union and in external support tothe EU's neighbouring countries. One ofthe proposed new EU instruments forexternal support, the Instrument forPre-Accession Assistance (IPA), offers anexcellent opportunity to capitalise on theextensive experience of preparing foraccession through human resourcesdevelopment that the ETF has developedover the last ten years.

Policymakers see human resourcedevelopment as an essential ingredientunderpinning the development oftransition economies. In countrieswith relatively weak education andlabour market systems, the returnon investment in human capital canbe especially high. A number of thecountries aspiring to EUmembership still have education andlabour market systems that requireintensive development. In the newset of instruments that from 2007will come to govern EU externalsupport, these countries will receiveEU assistance through theInstrument for Pre-AccessionAssistance.

“Experience in the new MemberStates has amply demonstrated thathuman resources development canmake a considerable contributiontowards achieving the broader goalsof European pre-accessionassistance,” says Muriel Dunbar,Director of the ETF. “It is thereforeconsidered an important ingredientin the current draft proposal for thenew instrument.”

In April, reacting to the broadpolicy objectives outlined in thecurrent version of the IPA proposal,the ETF published a backgroundpaper with a set ofrecommendations outlining how themeasures proposed in the draft IPAcan be implemented to ensureeffective and sustainable reform,and what contribution ETF

experience and expertise could make tothis process.

Summarising the results of the ETF'scountry monographs and its 2003publication Thirteen Years of Cooperationand Reforms in Vocational Education andTraining in the Acceding and CandidateCountries, the paper highlights the positivecontribution that human resourcedevelopment has made to the accessionprocess in the countries that became fullEU members in 2004. In its overview ofthe current state of affairs, the paperleaves no questions about the enormity ofthe task faced by some of thepre-accession countries. Employmentrates are still far below those in the EU 25.

In education - with the exception of Croatia- the gap between EU benchmarks andthe reality in the pre-accession countries isalso still very wide.

The core message of the paper is thatimportant lessons have been learned inthe past ten years and that these must notbe wasted. The paper highlights inparticular the need to approach reforms inhuman resource development in acomprehensive and systemic way,involving all sectors and aspects ofeducation and training.

In the paper, the ETF recommendsthat comprehensive and integrated lifelonglearning strategies be designed for allcountries and that these include adequate

resources for the differentcomponents of such a strategy,especially adult learning andwork-related training. Theselifelong learning strategies aremade a key component ofemployment action plans based onthe European EmploymentStrategy.

Referring to successful pastpractice, the ETF recommends thecontinued use of instruments,principles and referencesdeveloped by the EU and itsMember States, as well as EUeducation benchmarks andemployment targets in educationand training reform inpre-accession countries.

“We believe that, as the maininstrument supporting thedevelopment and implementationof education, training andemployment policies inpre-accession countries, thebenefit of the Instrument forPre-Accession Assistance can beoptimised with targeted help fromthe ETF,” says Muriel Dunbar.

Finally, the ETF recommendsan increase in the proportion ofresources devoted by the IPA tohuman resources development to25% for the candidate countriesand 15% for the potentialcandidate countries.


IN FOCUS

The ETF recommends in its position paper that comprehensiveand integrated lifelong learning strategies be designed for allcountries.

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IN FOCUS

HRD IN COMPANIES IN ALIFELONG LEARNINGPERSPECTIVERECENT TRENDS AND CHALLENGESIN THE EU AND ITS PARTNER COUNTRIES

On 17-18 January 2005, the ETF held aseminar in Turin on ‘HRD in

companies in a lifelong learningperspective: Recent trends and challengesin the EU and its partner countries’. Theaim of the seminar was to update ETFstaff on some of the recent developmentsin Europe concerning HRD in companies,particularly in small to medium-sizedenterprises (SMEs), and to open thediscussion between EU and ETF expertson the specific challenges appearing andon possible approaches to be taken whendesigning and implementing activities inour partner countries.

The EU approach was put forward byPascaline Descy from Cedefop, as well asby Petri Lempinen from the EuropeanTrade Union Confederation and HeikkiSuomalainen from the Union of Industrialand Employers' Confederations of Europe.Particular focus was put on EU countries'experiences in France (with FrançoiseDavesne from the Union des IndustriesMetallurgiques et Minières, PhilippeMehaut, researcher at the Laboratoired'Economie et de Sociologie du Travail,and Jacques Terrenoire, expert from theconsultancy company Bernard BrunhesAssociés), Ireland (with Lucy Fallon Byrnefrom the National Centre for Partnershipand Performance and Mary Fitzpatrickfrom the University of Limerick), Norway(with Sveinung Skule from the FafoInstitute for Labour and Social Research)and Spain (with Ricardo Guisado from theFundacion Tripartita).

This seminar was seen as a goodopportunity to learn from a range of ETFprojects and initiatives alreadyimplemented, design projects and betterprepare further actions. Particular focuswas put on initiatives taken by enterprises,at company or at sector level, on the roleplayed by public policies and by the socialpartners when supporting or initiating suchactivities, and on the impetus given by EUpolicies in education and employment.Two aspects received particular attention:the SME sector, and the identification and

Experience in lifelong learning in the EU Member States can be widely disseminated and used in apolicy learning perspective in EU neighbouring countries.

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IN FOCUS

validation of non-formal and informallearning (and their complementing rolewith training activities). During two days,presentations and debates were structuredalong the following challenges andquestions.

At company level, the main challengeis to move from the need to have skilledworkers to the need for workers to developtheir skills, competences and employabilityin a lifelong learning perspective, and forcompanies to contribute to this byinvesting in human resources as the mostrelevant factor in improving their owncompetitiveness - in other words, changingthe perception of training from cost toinvestment for employers and employees.Key questions were: How can we increasecompanies' awareness of the benefits ofinvesting in skills development? How dowe remove barriers to training? How dowe develop and spread the practice ofcompetence development plans for allemployees in the workplace?

At the public policies level, the mainchallenge for most ETF partner countriesis to move from an administrativeapproach - organising things centrally, aswas done previously with largestate-owned companies - towards afacilitating role, setting the right incentivesand ensuring an optimal mix of public andprivate involvement and resources. Keyquestions were: How do we set up andimplement comprehensive policies basedon partnerships and aimed at promotingboth competitiveness and employability,combining financial with non-financialincentives including validation ofnon-formal and informal learning? Howcan we increase the quality of educationand training systems and make them moreflexible and responsive to the needs of thelabour market, individuals and society?

At the social partners level, thechallenge is to enhance their involvementin education and training and to supportthe development of a real socialpartnership at company level as well as atthe sectoral, local, regional and nationallevels. Key questions were: How can wedevelop social partners' professionalism inissues linked to human resourcesdevelopment in companies, particularlySMEs? What is the best way to set up areal dialogue between employers'organisations and employees' unions onissues linked to training in the workplace?

The main findings and lessons for theETF centred on the fact there is no EUmodel for skills development in companiesto be disseminated to other countries, buta series of good practice developed innational contexts according to differentcultural, social and economicbackgrounds. Nevertheless, globalisation,

developments in the EU labour market,preparation for the knowledge economyand achievement of the Lisbon objectivescreate common goals for all companies.Learning in the workplace, skillsdevelopment in SMEs, specific actions forlow qualifications, and validation andrecognition of prior learning areincreasingly receiving attention frompolicymakers.

A specific problem for the ETF is that itacts in countries where, in most cases,there are no traditions of industrialrelations as developed in the EU.Governments in these countries play aleading role in all matters related toeducation and training; they are the focalpoint for technical assistance and policyadvice. Thus, the formal education systemis dominant and social partners are weakand not well structured. It is crucial thatthe ETF insists on involving socialpartners as much as possible incooperation with ministers and other stateagencies. Actions must be taken step bystep, by identifying the key stakeholdersand involving them in projects at national,sectoral or regional level, aimed atawareness raising and capacity building.

The Copenhagen and Maastrichtmessages and related documents,particularly the document on promotingthe work environment as a “learningconducive environment”, as well as thefollow-up reports of the EU social partnersframework of actions for the lifelongdevelopment of skills and competencies,are important tools. They can be widelydisseminated and used in a policy learningperspective in the candidate countries aswell as in the pre-accession countries andother countries involved in the EuropeanNeighbourhood Policy.

Jean-Raymond Masson, ETF,Department for Enlargementand South-Eastern Europe

HRD IN COMPANIES IN ALIFELONG LEARNING PERSPECTIVE

At company level, the main challenge is to move from the need to have skilled workers to the needfor workers to develop their skills, competences and employability in a lifelong learning perspective.

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REVIEWING PROGRESSTOWARDS EU ACCESSION

Regional cooperation and theintegration of European policy

developments in vocational education andtraining into national structures are integralparts of South-Eastern Europeancountries' preparation for accession to theEuropean Union.

South-Eastern European countries'progress towards EU accession hasrecently been reviewed by a pioneeringETF initiative known as Peer Reviews.The ETF Peer Review programmeinvolves experts from old and new EUMember States pooling their skills andexperience with leading representativesfrom South-Eastern European countries.In small teams, these experts visitneighbouring countries in order to assessprogress on vocational education andtraining reforms and recommend newdevelopments.

To ensure the continuing relevance ofthe initiative to South-Eastern Europeancountries and to keep the highly complexprocess on track, the ETF took the bolddecision to ‘take a cold look in the mirror’and commission an external evaluation ofthe Peer Review process by theParis-based Institute for Education andSocial Policy (IESP).

The results of the Peer Reviewevaluation were presented to ministers,international experts and delegates fromeighteen countries at a conference inZagreb on 17 and 18 February 2005. Theconference, entitled ‘Outcomes of ETFPeer Reviews on implementation of VETpolicy in South-Eastern Europe anddissemination of the Copenhagenprocess’, had the feel of something specialabout it. The unique convergence of somany high-level participants at an ETFconference - with the important opportunityto judge how far their countries had movedtowards EU targets - served to underlinethe significance of the event.

The conference was held against thebackdrop of a call to the Western Balkancountries by members of the EuropeanParliament to coordinate their regionalinfrastructures more effectively in order tofacilitate EU integration. This co-working

approach is to be underpinned by aphilosophy known as the ‘open method ofcoordination’, the purpose of which is toprovide a coherent strategy while at thesame time respecting the subsidiarityprinciple.

There have been some very positivesigns. One idea for greater regionalcooperation, for example, has emergedfrom Croatia, Romania, Serbia andMontenegro. Among their joint proposalsis the development of regionalqualifications in professions such astourism and construction. The formerYugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Bosniaand Herzegovina and Bulgaria, on theother hand, have proposed greaterco-working between countries on thedifficulties faced in adopting theCopenhagen principles. “We must notthink too much about how far we are fromthe benchmarks,” said one representativefrom Bosnia and Herzegovina, “but focus

on our priorities and keep encouragingeach other.”

It is true that the Copenhagen processhas introduced challenging andhard-edged EU benchmarks, such as theaim of reducing the percentage of earlyschool leavers to 10% by 2010. But thesebenchmarks - which are currently somedistance away for the majority of WesternBalkan countries - are useful formeasuring exactly how countries areprogressing.

The EU is strongly committed tomaking its support to Western Balkancountries more responsive through, forexample, organising national seminars,helping countries prepare action plans andcreating national monitoring committees.

These events and the CopenhagenDeclaration in general are especiallyrelevant for South-Eastern Europe,because the guidance can be used asorientation for national policy. Additionally,

“We must capitalise on the richness of the debate,” Muriel Dunbar, ETF Director, stated at theconference attended also by (left to right) Zelimir Janjic, Secretary of State for SecondaryEducation, Dr. Dragan Primorac, Minister for Science, Education and Sports, and EnriqueAguado-Asenjo, EC Delegation in Croatia.

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“South-Eastern Europe can nowparticipate in EU programmes as part ofits preparation for accession,” explainsJean-Raymond Masson from ETF.

But how well is the ETF's Peer Reviewprocess contributing towardsSouth-Eastern European countries'progress? This was the questionaddressed by researchers from the IESPwho were asked to carry out an evaluationstudy of the process. Their overallconclusion was that the ETF hadundertaken “a highly complex exercise inchallenging local contexts with objectivesat different levels.” Despite the technicaland political difficulty of the task, theresearchers found that the overallconceptual framework was well definedand that crucially, Peer Reviewsresponded to a need identified by thebeneficiary countries. The process had,they concluded, provided value for moneyas it had stimulated debate, establishednew networks and developed capacity.

A number of recommendations weremade for improvements, however. Theyincluded the need to:� ensure that Peer Reviews are

undertaken with groups of partnercountries that have comparabledifficulties;

� time reviews to dovetail with eachcountry's budget or policy reviewcycles;

� produce better written briefing on theroles of members;

� ensure that key stakeholders back thePeer Reviews;

� give a realistic timeframe for producingthe reports;

� increase the impact of reviews byholding more regional workshops;

� monitor outcomes more closely.

At the ETF conference in Zagreb,countries were given their first opportunityto give feedback on the Peer Reviewinitiative and its evaluation. What did theythink of the process and its outcomes?Their overwhelming response was thatPeer Reviews are “significant, importantand useful”. One sign of South-EasternEuropean countries' enthusiasm for thewhole project was that in addition to theresearchers' recommendations, they wereeager to contribute actively towardsimproving the process.

Among the suggestions made was astrong desire to see a ‘variety of owners’of the Peer Review process at the outsetbecause, without this, key initiatives couldeasily be lost in times of political change.To ensure the implementation of therecommendations, it was strongly

suggested that countries should have toprovide feedback to the ETF - perhapsafter two years - on what has beenachieved in relation to the previous PeerReview report.

Another suggestion in order to ensurethat maximum benefit was gained from the“excellent model” provided by the PeerReviews was for countries to use themethod to carry out self-assessment.Additionally, many thought that eachcountry's National Observatory could playa much bigger role in monitoring progresstowards the stated objectives.

The importance of bringing in newpartners, such as representatives of theunemployed and NGOs, was alsostressed.

“We must capitalise on the richness ofthis debate,” said ETF Director MurielDunbar. “The ETF will take on board theserecommendations when we start the nextround of country reviews in 2006.” But shealso had a challenging message for theSouth-Eastern European countries: “It isup to you to look for answers and respondto the challenges that Copenhagenposes.”

Paul Rigg, InternationalCorrespondents in Education


REVIEWING PROGRESS TOWARDS EU ACCESSIONIN FOCUS

Participants in Zagreb follow the discussions on the Peer Reviews

What exactly is the CopenhagenDeclaration? Copenhagen wasan agreement made by ministersin November 2002 to enhanceEuropean cooperation on VETand help meet the Lisbonobjective to “make Europe themost competitiveknowledge-based society in theworld by 2010”. The declarationprioritises a series of actionsthat include: a single frameworkfor transparency; cooperation inVET quality assurance; a VETcredit transfer system; commonprinciples for validation ofnon-formal learning;strengthening lifelong guidancepolicies and practices;addressing the learning needsof teachers and trainers; andincreasing support to developqualifications and competencesat sectoral level.

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THE EUROPEAN TRAINING FOUNDATION

LOOKS TO FUTURECHANGESThe ETF today is quite a different institution than it was 10 years ago. In its firstyears, it suffered from arriving too late at a scene that was already set. Much hasalready been written about this, most notably in our publication Ten Years of the

ETF, published in conjunction with our tenth anniversary in 2004. Today, almost11 years after its establishment, we can be proud that the ETF is recognised asthe European expertise centre in its field: cooperation with third countries inHRD for social and economic development.

One decisive developmenthas contributed very much

to this result: the changing roleof education, training andemployment promotion within theEuropean Union and in thecontext of the European Union'sexternal relations policy.

In the first years of Europeanintegration, education andtraining was almost exclusivelythe responsibility of the MemberStates. Over the years, this haschanged - most dramatically inLisbon in 2000, when EU headsof state and government

formulated the common goal tomake the EU the mostcompetitive and dynamicknowledge-based economy inthe world by 2010. They freedthe way for education andtraining to move to the forefrontof European policy developmentand gave education and trainingdue recognition not only as keypromoters of economicperformance, employment andsocial inclusion, but also as thecore investment in eachindividual citizen's quality of life.

The strategy for lifelonglearning was revitalised andbecame the leading concept fordevelopment in education,training and employmentpromotion. Concrete action planswere developed, both in Brusselsand in the individual MemberStates. Developing humanresources became a focal pointof EU policy - recognised as aninvestment, not a cost.

‘The strategy forlifelong learningwas revitalisedand became theleading conceptfor development ineducation, trainingand employmentpromotion.’


FEATURE

Dr Ulrich Hillenkamp willretire from the ETF in June2005. He spent nearly 11years of his career in Turin,where he was DeputyDirector since 1994. His lastarticle for the ETF magazineis both reflective andforward-looking, describingrecent changes to the EU'shuman resourcesdevelopment (HRD) policyand the resultingdevelopment of the ETFmandate. Dr Hillenkampcloses the article with somemore personal conclusionsfrom the time he described as“the most challenging andexciting of my working life.”

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Around the same time,and partly as a result of thesedevelopments, EU MemberStates agreed to look at theperformance of their educationand employment systems in apolicy coordination approachusing what is called an ‘openmethod of coordination’, withinstruments like benchmarksor Peer Reviews. The purposewas to learn by looking forbest practice and todisseminate that best practice,and thereby achieve commonpolitical goals like reducing thenumber of early school leaversor increasing the participationof adults in education andtraining.

A changed role forHRD within EUexternal relations

The higher political profile ofeducation and training had adecisive impact on the work ofthe ETF. Within the EU, theapproach to innovation andreform in education and trainingbecame more comprehensive,no longer focused on just onepart of the education system butincreasingly on human resourcesdevelopment as a whole.

It was only logical that overtime, EU support to educationand training in the ETF's partnercountries would be broadenedand would come to cover the hot

topics in European humanresources development: thelifelong learning agenda,employment promotion andactive labour market policies,social inclusion and personaldevelopment.

Indeed, current EU externalrelations policy increasinglytakes education and training as asubject of priority for cooperationwith the outside world. There aretwo main arguments for this.

The first concerns theEuropean profile in a globalcontext. The European ambition,evident in the Lisbon andBarcelona aims, is to make theEU “a world reference for qualityand relevance of education andtraining”, attracting scientists,

LOOKS TO FUTURE CHANGES


FEATURE

researchers and talented youngpeople from all over the world tostudy and work in the countriesof Europe.

The second isoutward-looking in a doublesense, and is somewhat differentfor candidate and potentialcandidate countries, the ‘ring offriends’ - the countriessurrounding the European Unionthat are the main target ofEurope's new NeighbourhoodPolicy and other developmentcooperation.

Actual and potential candidatecountries must adopt what isknown as the acquiscommunautaire. In education andtraining, this term was used tenyears ago only with reference to

legal obligations, such as thoserelated to mutual recognition ofdiplomas. Increasingly, however,alignment efforts in the candidatecountries have come to coverless clearly stipulated areas: theEU's lifelong learning andemployment strategies,employment promotion througheducation and training, thepromotion of economic and socialcohesion, and active citizenship.These are often referred to as thesoft acquis. In practice, candidatecountries were included not onlyin EU education and trainingprogrammes like Leonardo daVinci but also in importantEuropean policy developmentssuch as the Lisbon andCopenhagen processes. The soft

acquis sets much of the agendafor ETF work in Romania,Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey andin the potential candidatecountries in the Western Balkans.

In countries targeted by thenewly defined NeighbourhoodPolicy, the European Commissionwants to improve access to ‘EUadded value’ or EU achievements- EU targets, approaches andexperience in education, trainingand employment that draw on thediversity and richness of EUMember States as well as oncollective political decisions,capitalised experience andagreed approaches, frameworksand actions. “Progressiveeconomic integration” and“developing a zone of sharedstability, security and prosperity”are key aims in this region. Theywarrant a far more prominent rolefor cooperation in humanresources development andexchange of experience in futurecooperation.

The Neighbourhood countriesthemselves have obviousreasons to follow EUdevelopments closely. Thesecountries may want to strengthenlinks with the EU for improvedcooperation, mobility, migrationand trade, but they also have aninterest simply in makingbetter-informed decisions in theirown development processes.

In developing countries -some of the Neighbourhoodcountries and others further afield- the situation is somewhatdifferent, but these countries toohave an articulated interest inbeing informed andunderstanding Europeanapproaches. They too areaffected by the globalisationprocesses that have increasedmobility of capital and labour. Forthese countries, the EuropeanUnion has made education andtraining, human and socialdevelopment and povertyreduction political priorities goingbeyond the MillenniumDevelopment Goals. The furtherdevelopment of these aims willlikely reinforce the importance ofhuman resources and skillsdevelopment beyond universalprimary education in the contextof poverty reduction.

‘Indeed, currentEU externalrelations policyincreasingly takeseducation andtraining as asubject of priorityfor cooperationwith the outsideworld.’

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For both groups of countries -Neighbourhood and developingcountries - it is important tounderline the fact thatcooperation has to follow asystemic approach that looks atthe whole of the education andtraining system and the way itlinks to other policy areas.Top-down and bottom-upapproaches must be combined.

What are these EUvalues?

Without quoting or repeatingall the political processes anddecisions linked to cities likeLisbon, Barcelona, Luxemburg,Copenhagen, Maastricht andBologna, I would like to add aword of explanation on what is orcan be seen as EU values orachievements in education,training and employmentpromotion. I am thinking ofachievements related toeducation, training, employment,social cohesion and personaldevelopment. Some are linked topolitical targets, such asbecoming the most dynamicknowledge-based economy in

the world or reaching maximumemployment levels in Europe.Others are politically agreedbenchmarks to measure thequality, performance andachievements of the nationaleducation or employmentsystems, such as the benchmarkof 85% of youth in the 20-24 agebracket having completed atleast upper secondary educationby 2010, the benchmark of 12.5% of the adult working-agepopulation having participated inlifelong learning by 2010, and thebenchmark of 70% employmentby 2010. All of thesebenchmarks demonstrate theimportance of skills andqualifications for young peopleand adults. They alsodemonstrate the buddingdevelopment of a Europeanmodel of cooperation,increasingly building on mutualtrust.

Perhaps the most importantpoint of value for our partnercountries is the agreed strategyon lifelong learning in itsbroadest sense. It requirescoherent and comprehensiveapproaches in education andtraining and includes objectives

like employability andentrepreneurship, socialinclusion and personaldevelopment for active andcreative citizens. An importantpillar of this strategy is the needfor a substantial increase ofpublic and private investment ineducation and training. Thereturn on such investment is highand visible. Another pillar is thevalidation of non-formal andinformal learning - people learnat different places throughouttheir lives, and all learning isvaluable for work and personaldevelopment.

Further important commonissues in the European Unionare providing access toeducation for all; linking schooland the workplace for learningpurposes; establishing openpathways in education andtraining throughout life; improvingthe quality and attractiveness ofvocational education and training;improving the responsiveness ofeducation and training to labourmarket needs; investing in earlyidentification of skill needs (with aspecial focus on theknowledge-based society);strengthening lifelong guidanceand counselling; enablingteachers and trainers to act aschange agents; promotingmobility through transparency;and strengthening the role ofsocial partners in all aspects ofeducation, training andemployment promotion.

Policy learning

In providing access toEuropean experience, values,innovation and best practice, theEuropean Training Foundationremains committed to the ‘policylearning’ approach it launched atits Learning Matter conference inlate 2003. This is particularly truefor our cooperation with theNeighbourhood and developingcountries, but as a principalapproach also for candidatecountries defining their nationalpolicies. This approach aims tohelp relevant actors in partnercountries to make informeddecisions on policy formulationand the implementation of reformobjectives by sharing knowledgeand experience. The approach


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Deputy Director Ulrich Hillenkamp and Director Muriel Dunbar welcome EU Commissioner Ján Figel' at hisvisit to the ETF in February 2005

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duly recognises national contexts,cultures and traditions, thenecessary involvement of publicand private stakeholders, and theprinciples of ‘embeddedness’,ownership and sustainability.Policy learning also takes intoaccount that reform is a long-termprocess that needs time andcontinuing commitment from allsides. The ETF acts as acollective memory of reformprocesses, as a network builderand a network member and evenas an institution that can enrichEU reform processes byproviding insight into innovativeprocesses in the partnercountries.

The European TrainingFoundation finds itself an activepartner in the middle of theseexciting developments. Its work inthe past 11 years has enabled theETF to play a prominent andunique role in cooperation withthird countries.

A changed rolefor the ETF

The ETF has a proven andacknowledged track record inpromoting and employing ‘EU

added value’ outside theEuropean Union by sharingexperience in support ofinnovation and reform. This isdemonstrated by an increasingnumber of substantial requestsfrom Commission services and bya growing interest amongindividual EU Member States touse the ETF's expertise andservices for the benefit of theirown bilateral and multilateralcooperation targets in partnercountries. The ETF's track recordis also acknowledged by thepartner countries themselves,who increasingly ask for policyadvice in their reformendeavours.

The ETF has proven that it isable to act as the Europeanknow-how centre in and quite farbeyond its originally envisagedfield of work. It has consolidatedits way of working. Its lean andefficient administration hasproven its worth and the ETF hasprovided reliable technicalassistance to the Tempusprogramme, through which it hasgained an insight into highereducation reform processes.

The ETF has also gainedvaluable experience in workingwith the target countries of all of

the three new Commissions'instruments and already providesinput into the programmingprocesses of these instruments.

The time has therefore cometo acknowledge thedevelopments described above inclear terms and adapt the ETF'sCouncil Regulation accordingly,changing the mandate of the ETFto include the whole field ofhuman resources developmentand related issues of employmentpromotion and labour marketpolicy, and - with reference to thethree new instruments - offeringan opening to developmentcooperation. The consequencesof this have to be reflected in theETF's work programme andbudget, and in the mid-termperspective for the year 2007onwards.

Leaving the ETF, I am happyto state that this institution wasand is able to strengthen andenrich cooperation between theEU and its partner countries in afield that I firmly believe to be themost important one for the futureof citizens in the partnercountries. I credit the ETF staffwith this and am grateful for thetime I have been allowed todevote to this real challenge.

UlrichHillenkamp


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The ETF has proven that it is able to act as the European know-how centre

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HOW TO CONTACT US

Further information can be foundon the ETF website: www.etf.eu.int.

For any additional information, please contact:

External Communication UnitEuropean Training FoundationVilla GualinoViale Settimio Severo, 65I – 10133 Torino

+39 011 630 2222+39 011 630 [email protected]

TFE

Publications Office

Publications.eu.int

live&learn issue 3

Documents

eu foreign policy

andthe etf magazineeducation

etf magazinecover photo

eu foreign assistance

ms ferrerowaldner

human resource development

progresstowards eu accession

europeanneighbourhood