Making all skills count through the European Year of Skills
On 8-9 June, the European Commission organised the first, major gathering of the European Year of Skills 2023, titled Making Skills Count. The event brought together over 200 participants onsite (and many more followed online), representing public authorities, ministries, EU institutions, but also civil society organisations, companies, and training providers.
The skills first approach
One message was loud and clear: the EU is committed to help filling vacancies relying on skills rather than on formal qualifications or job titles. Recently, this approach has been gaining momentum in recruitment and talent management contexts, because it represents a more practical, viable solution to short-term issues. The European Union itself has been advocating for this approach for a number of years through its skills policy agenda and supporting tools; at the same time this raised a number of questions during the event: are we getting rid of qualifications? Who is competent enough to judge skills acquisition without a formal recognition? What consequences for employment policies? The debate remains open, and education stakeholders are on the listening side.
Skills development and learning environments
A lot of parallel workshops deepened (and multiplied!) topics of discussion. For instance, some devolved into the validation of skills and competences acquired outside of formal education - a circumstance to which many adult learners are faced. Unlocking skills and recognising qualifications in a cross-border context was also addressed, highlighting the efforts of the EU through its EU Skills Profile Tool for Third Country Nationals. In these discussions, many highlighted the role of Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, and even business representatives acknowledged the importance of transversal skills in workplace contexts.
Another question that got well-deserved prominence was where is best to acquire the skills needed for the jobs of the future - including for greener and more digitally-oriented jobs. In-company training was rightfully spotlighted, but non-formal learning environments were also on the rise as a preferred setting to prepare adults for the challenges ahead.
EU stakeholders: the floor is yours
The event offered EU stakeholders in education and employment sectors the possibility to showcase inspiring practices in a market fair, ranging from assessment tools to virtual reality and to the validation of transversal competences: among these, EPALE was also there!
The EPALE stand at the Making Skills Count Conference, with representatives from the EPALE CSS, NSS Latvia, Belgium DE and Belgium Flanders.
