This 168-page research report from CEDEFOP focuses on the ways both initial (IVET) and continuing (CVET) components of the VET system “interact to support the learning of adults, so facilitating lifelong and life-wide learning” across a range of eleven EU countries.
It can also cover how shorter courses or second-chance education opportunities can support upskilling and reskilling by “providing the skills needed for individuals to maintain employment, improve their employment opportunities, or, more generally, to meet skills-related challenges in life.” This can include the acquisition of key competences, or socially relevant adult learning such as basic skills training.
The report points out that:
“Looking more holistically at how VET systems provide learning to adults … sheds important light on developments over time within the VET system as well. Through looking at a more secondary task of VET systems, it becomes clearer how they change to accommodate the learning of target groups that are not the primary focus. It can show, for instance, how VET systems are opening to work with employers, offer more work-based learning and tailored provision, take into account prior experience, and include less traditional/classroom-based pedagogies.”
IVET and CVET links
In CEDEFOP’s study “CVET is conceptually approached as the learning of adults; this learning can relate to obtaining occupation-related learning outcomes, or more generally, generic or basic skills-related learning outcomes. It can also relate to provision leading to full qualifications and certificates or only attestations of completion.”
At the other end, they point out that:
“IVET is approached as the provision offered mainly to young people before, and as preparation for, entering the labour market. The link between IVET and the learning of adults can then be characterised in different ways. First would be to look at the number of adults (age 20+ or 25+) that participate in programmes leading to a formal VET qualification. Second would be to look at ways adults, after entering the labour market, re-engage with IVET providers to upskill or reskill. This they can do while being in a job, updating their skills or obtaining new skills by which they can pursue career progression or another job; or while being unemployed, enlarging their skills-set, by which they increase their opportunities on the labour market. Finally, it can relate to people that need to acquire basic skills or obtain a general education qualification allowing them to pursue further learning.”
And now, Australian work on the topic
A 2020 paper from NCVER took a look at this IVET/CVET issue too. Its key finding was that:
“more is needed than just a straightforward differentiation between IVET and CVET. A far more nuanced and sophisticated classification approach is required, one that accounts for both the learner — as they move through their life and work journey — and the types of learning they undertake at the various points along this journey. In essence, a classification approach or framework that truly encapsulates the concept of lifelong learning, rather than lifelong education, becomes necessary.”
A broader concern with policy change
CEDEFOP’s research reports that:
“It is difficult to see radical changes across countries and the reforms largely showcase that the systems alter through incremental changes; reforms generally did not fully deliver on their promises. This is largely due to the short duration of reform implementation (around 5 years): reforms of this scale often need much more time to settle.”
This reflects what happens in Australia as well, coupled with reform fatigue! However, the message is that key reforms need significant time to bed down and, in a system like ours that time is not available before the next ‘flavour of the month’ reform attracts all the attention.
