Enlargement is a high priority for the EU’s external relations policy and for the ETF as an EU agency. EU assistance related to enlargement covers two groups of countries, which will also be the beneficiary countries of this project: • Candidate countries (Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Turkey) • Potential candidate countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia).
Due to changing labour market requirements individuals must nowadays be in a position to absorb, select and process larger amounts of information and knowledge. They must be capable of using this knowledge to solve work problems together with others, to learn and acquire new competences throughout their lives and apply them in ever new contexts. Education systems respond to these challenges with more individualised learning paths, new learning offers and arrangements, an optimisation of learning processes and institutions, a new focus on learning outcomes, as well as an increasing and better use of resources. A key issue in the transformation of education systems is the extent to which political actors and strategies can steer and increase the impact of such changes. One instrument put in place by the EU in the areas of education and employment policies is the so-called Open Method of Coordination (OMC). It uses methods of comparison, progress reporting and policy recommendations (for employment policy), the illustration of best practice examples, as well as peer learning as possible ways of influencing national policy goals.
No scientific evidence has been gathered to date as to whether this has had an impact on national policy setting and implementation. National policies are, as we know, context-bound, firmly embedded in existing routines and institutions and the result of what could be achieved at a certain moment in time rather than a straightforward process. Nevertheless, the ‘softer’ policy instrument of promoting dialogue between relevant actors, which includes expert exchanges, argumentation and negotiation, can have a positive impact in terms of changing national policy priorities or informing existing ones. EU Member States and other participating countries are asked to cooperate on EU and national policy priorities in education and training in the interests of further European integration.
See Annexes 1 and 2 for a more detailed presentation of the Copenhagen/ Maastricht process and the priority areas subsumed under the Education + Training 2010 agenda.
The main thrust of the ETF’s work has so far been put on disseminating information about key EU policies and instruments in VET (Copenhagen/ Maastricht process). National Copenhagen process coordinators were appointed who managed to establish dissemination structures in some countries. A series of regional and national events were held which stimulated debates on key reform issues of mutual partner country/ EU interest. In addition, the ETF produced several newsletters to keep counterparts up-to-date on EU policy developments.
From 2007 onwards the ETF has been trying to move from a phase of ‘disseminating information’ to embedding related debates into ongoing reform discussions and activities, as well as establishing better links with EU projects and the IPA programming framework in the countries. In this context, in 2007, the ETF’s work shifted to the support given to each individual country in preparing the implementation of specific activities related to EU policy developments. A particular focus was given to NQF preparation. Furthermore, the ETF organised a regional workshop on social partnership in VET in Turin.
The ETF Work Programme 2008 establishes that the ‘facilitation of access by policymakers and stakeholders in the IPA region to systematic information on the purposes and developments of the EU policy priorities subsumed under the so-called Education & Training 2010 agenda’ will remain a priority area for the forthcoming years. This project will make information and expertise available to support policy learning initiatives in the beneficiary countries by accounting for respective experts, time, project and mission budget inputs. In this context, the project will have five main components as outlined below under scope of the project.