Solidarity in skills and lifelong learning: EU initiatives inspiring beyond borders

Internal European Union policy measures and actions to support lifelong learning and skills development and the experience accrued from their implementation are fast reaching beyond its borders, as with the Youth Guarantee and the European Alliance for Apprenticeships which feature in this month's edition of Learning Connects.

Targetting young people, and particularly those not in employment, education or training (NEETs), the Youth Guarantee is a commitment by governments to ensure that all young people under the age of 30 receive a good quality offer of: employment, continued education, apprenticeship, or traineeship within a period of four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education.

An interview with the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, by ETF Director, Pilvi Torsti, gives insight into the motivation and practical steps taken to ensure the Youth Guarantee's success within the context of the Commissioner's portfolio.

The Youth Guarantee also acts as a powerful driver for structural reforms and innovation giving impetus to public employment services to improve and expand their services for young people. Measures to support the Youth Guarantee and its apprenticeship and work-based learning components are currently being implemented in the Western Balkans with ETF support. Similar arrangements are foreseen in the Eastern Partnership and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean regions.

Exchange of experience on the Youth Guarantee is also taking place with countries further afield, as recently occurred with the peer learning visit of a government delegation from the Kingdom of Thailand to the ETF premises, regional authorities and workplaces in Italy this month featured here.

The ETF supports apprenticeship and work-based learning reforms more widely within a lifelong learning perspective, particularly in partner countries in the EU’s neighbouring regions which are also European Alliance for Apprenticeships (EAfA) partner countries that joined in the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the Alliance high level event on 26 and 27 June.

Alongside Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Türkiye, by 2022 three additional ETF partner countries, Georgia, Israel and Moldova, also became EAfA partner countries bringing to 38 the total number of participating countries to the Alliance. Here below you can find details of the key discussions of the event with particular focus on adult apprenticeship. 

The next event on apprenticeships will be the EAfA-ETF seminar for candidate countries and EAfA partner countries in Turin, Italy, on 11 and 12 October. So stay tuned to all our channels to find out more!