New initiatives in vocational education and training
Another conference organised by the Czech Presidency on issues in the field of education was held at the Kaiserstein Palace on 20 May 2009.
Under the leadership of the Czech Presidency new initiatives in secondary and post-secondary vocational education are becoming the focus of representatives of the social partners, the European Commission, the European Parliament and research institutes from the whole of Europe.
Today, only a few days after the official adoption of two strategic documents, “Recommendation of the European Parliament and the EU Council on the Establishment of the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework (EQUARF)” and “Recommendation of the European Parliament and the EU Council on the Establishment of the European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET)“, the Czech Presidency initiated another phase of cooperation in the field of vocational education and training.
Today’s conference was launched by Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Miroslava Kopicová, who spoke in favour of mobility in the field of vocational education in her opening remarks. The conference was chaired by Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Jakub Dürr.
“It is becoming more and more obvious that education plays a key role in our competitiveness. International cooperation to improve the match between supply and demand for vocational training also facilitates access to lifelong learning and mobility. We are interested in increasing the competitiveness of graduates of vocational secondary and post-secondary schools. In the present economic situation this approach is of key importance and we cannot limit expenses in this area,” stated Minister Kopicová at the conference.
EVCET as a methodological framework is a new European tool that should facilitate identification, assessment and recognition of results achieved at secondary and post-secondary vocational schools and easier transferability between national educational systems. This framework thus significantly contributes toward the creation of international mobility as well as national mobility within individual countries.
EQUARF focuses particularly on improvement and evaluation of “output” and “target” indicators of vocational education and training in the context of three EU policy priorities: increasing employability, improving the match between supply and demand for training and promoting better access to lifelong training.
contact:
- Tomáš Bouška, Spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports for the Czech Presidency
- tel.: +420 257 193 426, mobile: +420 724 374 245; e-mail: tomas.bouska@msmt.cz
Last update: 16.8.2011 15:20
