European Training Foundation sets work programme

Citation

(1999), "European Training Foundation sets work programme", Education + Training, Vol. 41 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/et.1999.00441hab.016

European Training Foundation sets work programme

European Training Foundation sets work programme

Keywords: Europe, Self development, Vocational training

The European Training Foundation, which supports the reform of vocational education and training in central and eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and the non-EU Mediterranean partner countries, has published its work programme for the period up to 2001.

Peter de Rooij, director of the Turin-based foundation, said the aim was to "create qualified and competitive labour, which is the most effective strategy in the fight against unemployment and social exclusion and which will promote increased employability".

The foundation will concentrate on meeting skill needs, improving qualifications and training methods and forming institutional agreements.

The foundation will seek to ensure that the training systems of the various countries link well with the labour market and promote employability and adaptability; support the development of vocational training and lifelong learning; establish flexible and recognized vocational standards; ensure that teachers and trainers deliver experience-based training which makes full use of modern methods and tools; promote management training; and encourage partnerships between the key actors in vocational education and training.

In central and eastern Europe, the foundation says specific training needs must be met for the long-term unemployed, drop-outs and ethic minorities. In addition, targeted training is needed to combat the growing disparities in training between rich and poor regions in the various states.

The foundation sees vocational education and training as a way of reintegrating different ethnic groups in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia.

The foundation calls for "fundamental reform" of the systems of vocational and management training in the newly-independent states of the former USSR and Mongolia.

Meanwhile, in a report entitled Integration of Work and Learning: a Cross-Country Analysis of Curricular Reform, the foundation suggests that individual self-development should be a priority when reforming curricula. Central and eastern European nations also need to reform local mechanisms for analysing training and teacher-training methods. The foundation wants to ensure that teachers in these countries are more in touch with the world of work.

Copies of the report may be obtained from Tristan Macdonald, on +39 11 630 2305.