Innovation and Digitalisation - A report from the ET2020 Working Group on Vocational Education and Training (VET)

The main purpose of the activities of the Working Group on VET was to examine innovation and digitalisation with the goal of creating a more flexible and modern high quality European VET. The report’s authors analysed the challenges and opportunities of teaching, the role of partnerships and cooperation in VET, and the governance and financing frameworks of VET within the context of the latest global trends such as ageing populations, globalisation, social inclusion and the circular economy. The report also examines the unprecedented economic and social effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the opportunities with regard to digital technology fuelled by this crisis.

The report presents a vision that promotes reforms and investments which will help to:

• better anticipate and integrate innovation and digitalisation,
• drive innovation and digitalisation beyond the VET sector.

It also points to eight insights:

1. Embracing the benefits of innovation and digitalisation and spearheading more advanced innovation, e.g. by stepping up the pace of adopting more advanced innovations.
2. Encouraging innovation in teaching and the training needs of innovative teachers and trainers, g. through collaborative platforms, appropriate career structures, and new models such as ‘hybrid’ professionals.
3. Integrating digitalisation in work-based learning in a smart way, e.g. by making more use of immersive tech: virtual and augmented reality, artificial intelligence, etc.
4. Enabling effective governance and management arrangements and strong leadership, e.g. by enabling bodies to intermediate with the growing market of education technology (‘EdTech’) companies.
5. Providing strategic and flexible funding, e.g. by weighing the risks involved in innovation as well as the costs and the wider investments needed.
6. Boosting learner diversity and inclusion through innovation and digitalisation, e.g. by better understanding how social background, ethnicity and gender can affect digitalisation.
7. Implementing new approaches for VET excellence, e.g. by driving high quality forward at higher educational levels and through centres of vocational excellence.
8. Developing skills for mastering innovation, digital and green transitions in a global world, e.g. by using ICT to deliver cost-effective CVET, green digital skills modules and virtual mobility.

The Working Group on VET also examined several good practices in digitalisation (Flemish Region of Belgium, Malta, Italy, Spain), innovation (Finland, Ireland, Poland, Romania) and promoting social/green objectives (Flemish Region of Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Portugal).

The full report: https://europa.eu/!dF68qC

Sources:

https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=8365&furtherPubs=yes

https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=738&langId=en&pubId=8367&furtherPubs=yes