The most recent issue of the quarterly Education focuses on vocational education. The articles on VET include Iga Magda’s analysis of the qualifications upgrading among adults with basic vocational education reported in the Determinants of Educational Decisions study (2013 and 2014) carried out by the Institute of Educational Research.

The fourth article on the outcomes of the European skills and jobs (ESJ) survey, just published by Cedefop, analyses the determinants of adult workers’ skills development.

The ESJ survey data showed a positive relationship between the number of years in a job and a person’s skills development, which confirms the well-known thesis that skills building needs time. But even more interesting is the conclusion that the period in which workers continue to develop their skills is long: skills development is still positive after 15–20 years with the same employer.

The survey also showed the influence of organisational resources on workers’ skills development: employees who were able to benefit from multiple ways of developing their skills at work had higher levels of skills than those who had a more limited array of skills development opportunities.

More information is available at the Cedefop website

Cedefop has just published a report on the governance and financial aspects of  apprenticeships in Spain, Italy, Latvia, Portugal and Sweden. The report presents normative model arrangements of apprenticeships’ governance and financing, guaranteeing effectiveness and high-quality. Against this benchmark, the situation in selected countries is assessed and recommendations are formulated to ensure further development of the scheme.

More information is available at the Cedefop website

The 30 ReferNet partners from all EU Member States, Iceland and Norway inaugurated a new, four-year partnership agreement (2016-2019) with Cedefop in January 2016.

The meeting was an opportunity not only to discuss implementation of the 2016 work plan, but also to present the results of the study “European skills and jobs survey” and discuss the „Initial VET mobility scoreboard” project.

During the current cooperation period, ReferNet has eight new member institutions from the countries of: Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Hungary and Poland.

More information is available at the Cedefop website

Cedefop, the European Union agency supporting vocational education and training, has chosen the Educational Institute as ReferNet’s Polish partner for the period of 2016 – 2019. The aim of ReferNet is to provide information and monitor changes in vocational education and training (VET) of EU Member States, Iceland and Norway.

During the current cooperation period, ReferNet has eight new member institutions from the countries of: Bulgaria, Estonia, Spain, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Hungary and Poland.

More information is available from the Cedefop website