Commission staff working document
CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPING COMPETENCES
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CHAPTER 2: DEVELOPING COMPETENCESSkills and competence development is central to the successful anticipation and management of restructuring and to the future development of the EU’s economy and its workforce. If the EU is to remain competitive on the world stage, it is vital that the workforce keeps pace with the skills and competences that will be needed in a globalised and changing world. During the economic downturn, promoting mobility within the EU single market can contribute to tackling mismatches between skills and labour market needs. Each Member State is free to make access to a particular profession legally conditional upon the possession of a specific professional qualification. Across the 27 Member States, the Professional Qualifications Directive applies to about 800 categories of regulated professions. The regulation of access to a profession can be a major obstacle for the free movement of workers. The active working population in many Member States is shrinking, but the demand for a highly qualified labour force remains a key source of future growth. From a market standpoint it is essential that qualifications of mobile EU professionals are recognised in a fast, simple and reliable way if we are to meet this surge in demand. Dealing with labour supply shortages will require a well-functioning system for recognising professional qualifications. On 19 December 2011 the European Commission adopted a proposal to modernise the Professional Qualifications Directive in order to adapt it to an evolving labour market. For example, the legislative proposal introduces an obligation for Member States to list and describe the professions they regulate and explain why the regulation is necessary. In addition, the Commission will launch a mutual evaluation of the national legislations regulating the professions. Central to competence development is the concept of lifelong learning, which focuses on encouraging workers to develop their skills and competences throughout their working life. This will also ensure that they retain high levels of employability, making them more resilient to future waves of restructuring, both within their specific sector and more broadly across the whole economy and maybe even across national borders. Employees therefore need to possess a set of skills that are easily transferable, which will equip companies with a more flexible, adaptable and mobile workforce, while at the same time facilitating worker mobility occupationally and geographically. The EU's Lifelong Learning Programme supports these goals by funding innovative cooperation between education and training institutions to support the learning mobility of both students and staff. The Commission's proposal for the future "Erasmus For All" Programme builds on this experience, helping education and training systems to work together across borders to deliver the knowledge and skills needed in an increasingly globalised labour market. In a quickly changing environment, people need not only basic skills such as literacy and numeracy, but also competences in learning to learn, in analyzing complex information in the media (digital and media literacy), in being able to adapt and to seize new opportunities in a global world (entrepreneurship, foreign language). Job and sector-specific skills are equally important for employability. Skills connected with new technology and green technology, and a range of management competences and innovative skills will also be crucial. There is a need for a range of actors to cooperate in helping workers to gain the skills they need in the future. These actors include the workers themselves, their employers, public placement bodies, regional and local bodies, and the education sector. It is important that all actors also work closely with local industry to make sure that skills provision is adapted to ever-evolving business needs. The validation of non formal and informal learning is also a crucial piece of the jigsaw, as is ensuring that skills are transferable, as this will aid movement between companies and between sectors if necessary. Initiatives such as the EU’s Europass system and a Recommendation on the validation of informal and non formal learning can help in this respect. The EU naturally has an important role to play in providing a framework within which skills and competence development at national level can take place. In 2009, the Council set up a Strategic Framework for European Cooperation in education and training ("ET 2020") that will support such development. EU institutions have been active in initiating a range of activities and programmes designed to enhance skills development, including targeting policy at young people and focusing on specific sectors. Central to policy in this area is the creation of European sector councils on jobs and skills, briefed to gain insight into likely developments in employment and skills needs, with the aim of assisting policy making in a specific sector. They are also intended to function as a platform in which at least two types of stakeholder are involved. A number of pilot councils have so far been initiated in sectors such as automotive and textiles. The automotive sector in particular needs to ensure that the skills of its workers are updated, in order to keep pace with the particular demands placed on this sector, as a key driver of innovation. A European sector council on jobs and skills in this sector would, it is hoped, help existing national observatories on skills and qualifications in the sector, facilitate the exchange of information between them, and allow its dissemination to a wider audience. SMEs face particular challenges when trying to ensure that the skills of their workforce are up to date, and the Commission is developing a policy aimed at encouraging skills development in SMEs. Overall, a lack of financial means and organisational reasons are the first obstacles to training faced by many SMEs, and the EU is working to disseminate good practice examples of how these obstacles can be overcome. Directory: pub -> ECD ECD -> Commission staff working document ECD -> Table of contents I instruments Error: Reference source not found ECD -> Table of annexes annex I: Glossary 4 ECD -> En commission of the european communities brussels, 12. 12. 2008 com(2008) 853 final annex annex II to VIII ECD -> Report from the commission to the european parliament and the council european community safa programme aggregated information report ECD -> Report from the commission european community safa programme ECD -> Commission of the european communities brussels, 24 2008 ECD -> Commission staff working document ECD -> Communication from the commission to the european parliament, the council, the european economic and social committee and the committee of the regions ECD -> Annex I iccat species Download 1.43 Mb. Share with your friends:
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