Education ministers want greater collaboration for vocational training
On 7 December the Education Council reached an agreement on the way in which Europe can enhance collaboration in the future in the area of vocational education and training. At an informal Council meeting the education ministers set the priorities and goals for the next 10 years in the Bruges Communiqué.
The agreement is the result of what is known as the Copenhagen process that was started up in 2002. That trajectory is marked by voluntary collaboration in the area of vocational education and aims, in the first place, to create greater common confidence in one another's vocationally oriented education and training systems.
The key priorities of the Bruges Communiqué are:
- There needs to be greater attention paid to the educational results and competences, and efforts must be made to recognise skills acquired outside of education (APL or accreditation of prior learning).
- There needs to be greater collaboration between education providers (including teachers) and the business world, including the social partners.
- Vocational education and training must be regarded as a fully fledged means for learning a trade, but also for acquiring the skills necessary to proceed to further education, potentially at the higher education level.
- Information on career prospects and the needs of the labour market must be put to good use.
- Appropriate counseling must be provided to pupils, students and employees.
- There needs to be sufficient investment in vocational training.
- Students and course-takers must be encouraged to study or work abroad.
- There will be collaboration on concrete objectives in the area of vocational education.
Flemish Minister for Education and Chairman of the Education Council Pascal Smet was particularly happy with the agreement that was reached: “A unified Europe must also become a reality for people with practically-oriented skills. In a globalised world with very rapid technological evolution and a green economy that is developing at increasing speed, there is a need for people with solid vocational training.”
Joint declaration
One of the key goals of the Bruges Communiqué is that all stakeholders must be closely involved in the Copenhagen process. That is why the four leading European associations of providers of vocational training were also involved in creating the joint declaration of the Bruges Communiqué. In addition, the European organisations of the social partners (Business Europe, UEAPME, CEEP and ETUC) have been involved in the consultations from the very start.
Background
The Copenhagen process was launched in 2002 by the 27 current EU-member states, the candidate member states and the members of the European Economic Area. The objective of the Copenhagen process is to create a common European area for vocational education, just as the Bologna process does for higher education.
The Copenhagen process has origins in Bruges. During the previous Belgian EU-presidency (2001) it was there that the seeds were sown for the Copenhagen Declaration. It was therefore also symbolic that this new agreement was achieved in Bruges.
The Bruges Communiqué was prepared during the conference on quality assurance and transparency as interface between Vocational Education and Training, Schools and Higher Education to enhance mobility and to support easier pathways to lifelong learning. More information is available on the website of the Belgian EU presidency for Education
The Bruges Communiqué on enhanced European Cooperation in Vocational Education and Training
