Brussels, 02/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - An education that is better adapted to the needs of the labour market, including sandwich courses, more access to professional training and informal training development, is necessary in Europe. This constitutes the main thrust put forward by participants attending a public hearing jointly organised on Thursday 26 February by the culture and education (CULT) and employment and social affairs committees (EMPL). The hearing focused on sandwich courses and vocational training as keys to tackling poverty and youth unemployment. MEPs played host to a number of representatives from organisations and institutions working in the non-formal education area, who came to express their experiences in this field.
Marita Ulvskog (S&D Sweden), vice-president of the EMPL committee, highlighted the increasing contradiction affecting employment in the European Union, where there is a market demand for increasingly qualified personnel, alongside poor qualifications among jobseekers. Ulvskog explained “These dysfunctions need to be solved… There needs to be an exchange of experiences to see what works best… Greater cooperation between universities and businesses, monitoring of permanent education… Better systems and services for career development”. The chairperson of the CULT committee, Silvia Costa (S&D, Italy) echoed this point of view and stated: “Without significant investment and adaptation of the education systems, there will not be inclusive and sustainable growth… We have to ensure that increasing numbers of member states invest in different areas and eradicate inequality in education and the lack of education by promoting know-how”. The MEP also called for greater recognition of skills acquired in informal areas, as well as reciprocal transparency regarding qualifications.
The representatives of the organisations attending all emphasised the importance of education systems that facilitated the acquisition of theoretical and formal knowledge but particularly the gaining of new skills currently needed on the labour market: digital skills, social skills and ability, as well as communication skills and entrepreneurship. According to these representatives, these elements are crucial if poverty and youth unemployment are to be prevented, which are mainly caused by the mismatch of education with current market requirements. Other essential elements emphasised during the debates included partnership and collaboration between business and social actors in an effort to create and implement training systems in the workplace or sandwich courses to avoid early school leaving, or to promote reintegration into training systems. (Isabelle Lamberty)