COUNCIL RESOLUTION of 5 December 1994 on the quality and attractiveness of vocational education and training (94/C 374/01)

INTRODUCTION (1)

1. Full employment, economic growth and an innovative and competitive economy are key goals of the European Union and of each Member State, to the achievement of which vocational education and training can make an important contribution.

2. Increasing complementarity and cross-fertilization between general education and vocational training are now an established fact.

3. Furthermore, vocational training should not be seen solely in terms of its economic and employment objectives as it also contributes to the development of personal and professional competence; this principle also corresponds to future developments in qualification requirements on the job markets of the Member States of the European Union.

4. According to many forecasts, the proportion of jobs for unskilled labour will drop considerably, whereas on the other hand the proportion of jobs requiring high-quality education and training will continue to grow in many areas.

5. Because of rapid structural and technical changes and changes in the organization of work, the qualification profile of workers who have acquired skills through training is also changing in almost all spheres of activity, with the proportion of skilled jobs involving a comprehensive range of tasks and requiring greater practical and theoretical knowledge together with the ability to apply new subject-related technologies continuing to grow. Furthermore, general 'key skills' such as initiative, a willingness to take decisions and assume responsibility, communication skills and teamwork will become ever more important.

6. At the same time, professional knowledge and skills remain of practicable value for a shorter and shorter time, requiring an ability and willingness constantly to update professional skills and further develop general qualifications by means of continuing vocational training throughout a whole career.

7. In addition, the European internal market is leading to an increase in the number of jobs requiring a knowledge of foreign languages and cultures.

8. These challenges can only be met by high-quality vocational training which responds to the needs and aspirations of all young people and adults. This means training courses at different levels. It is also vital that vocational training should attract the most hard-working and capable people.

9. Although the task of creating the conditions for achieving this is a matter for the vocational training policies of the Member States, the European Union supports and supplements these efforts in the framework of its policy, with strict regard to the responsibilities of the Member States. Such policies are the basis for action at Union level aimed at improving the exchange of information and promoting cooperation between Member States. The Union can therefore provide considerable impetus for new channels and common innovative developments, helping to enhance the quality and attractiveness of vocational training in all the Member States.

10. The efforts to improve the quality and attractiveness of vocational training may also be backed by a dialogue between social partners at European level. Both sides of industry can make a vital contribution at national level.

11. Using the means available in each case, the Member States and the Union are pursuing the goal of providing sufficient high-quality and highly attractive vocational training in all the European regions. Without such a basis it will not be possible in the long run to ensure sustained economic development, social cohesion and social progress in Europe. Technical and vocational training should therefore be constantly improved, particularly in the less developed regions of the Union, in order to give young people more choice in the type of training they opt for and make the careers guidance services more effective.

Having regard to these considerations, THE COUNCIL hereby adopts the following resolution:

PRINCIPLES

1. All young men and women should have access to recognized basic vocational training. In the transition from basic training to working life, men and women should have equal opportunities.

Equal opportunities for all as regards access to and obtaining high-quality vocational training means in addition a multiplicity of structures and establishments offering such training. Action to achieve this should be intensified, particularly in the less developed regions where the lack of such structures seriously affects young people's training and entry into employment as well as economic potential. The use of modern teaching methods, educational media and new technology could also facilitate access to vocational training.

2. High-quality vocational training should prepare young people for skilled employment, and open up job opportunities while meeting their preferences and aptitudes and giving them the desire and ability to undertake continuing vocational training throughout their careers. Such training should therefore be widely based, provide transferable skills and broaden young people's general education.

In parallel, young people in the Community who so wish should have the opportunity of receiving one or if possible two or more years of basic vocational training in addition to their compulsory full-time education, leading to a vocational qualification recognized by the competent authorities of the Member State where it was obtained.

3. The job market requires a wide spectrum of differentiated vocational training opportunities, available as part of a flexible and open system of basic and continuing education and training, and thus at the same time meeting the needs of young people. On the one hand, training programmes should be available - if necessary with the help of additional support - which enable young people with learning and motivation difficulties, individual or social problems, or young people with disabilities, to take up vocational training and gain a recognized qualification. On the other hand, basic vocational training should remain attractive to highly able and motivated young people and lay the foundations for a successful career. Careers guidance, information and counselling should be available to all young people.

4. The prospect of a fulfilling job is a vital incentive for young people to take up vocational training. The main indication of quality and attractiveness in vocational training is a successful transition from training into working life. Essential factors in this are the continual updating of vocational training programmes, their suitability for the employment market and the guarantee of a high level of quality in each Member State.

Procedures which provide in national regulations and practice for appropriate participation by the two sides of industry in the development, recognition and modernization of vocational training programmes have proved successful in this connection, and can encourage the acceptance of vocational training in industry and amongst young people.

Responsible participation by undertakings in vocational training, in alternating, 'sandwich' or integrated schemes, can be another favoured method of encouraging vocational training programmes to keep up-to-date and relevant to practical needs.

5. In order to provide a constant supply of highly qualified employees with wide practical experience, vocational training should become more attractive to the most able and ambitious young people and thus lose its image as a second-rate alternative in the eyes of those young people who are now in increasing numbers aspiring to university or further education. This would mean high-quality vocational training with a substantial practical and industrial component.

It is also important to encourage men and women to choose training opportunities which break with traditional labour market patterns and focus on equal opportunities training for men and women.

To achieve this, the aid should first be sought of the undertakings, firms and public administrations which require this continuing supply of skilled workers. They should, by dint of appropriately targeted measures, offer suitable career prospects and attractive opportunities for male and female employees who have successfully completed their training and who are willing to undergo further training at a later stage of development equivalent to those open to higher education graduates.

At the same time, the vocational education and training opportunities for such young people and young adults should be extended. For example existing vocational training programmes could be broadened to cover appropriately targeted higher qualifications recognized as such. The adequate training of instructors may help considerably in this area. Links between basic and continuing vocational training could, moreover, create new recognized channels offering access to attractive employment. In addition, types of skills-based alternating training courses could be developed at an advanced level, combining industrial training and higher education.

6. In addition, the attractiveness of vocational training and its social prestige are largely dependent on recognition of the equal value of general educational and vocational training and society's recognition of skilled occupations. For this reason also, vocational training should be more than just 'making you suitable for employment'. Vocational training should be developed as an equally valid component of the education system and accordingly, like general education, should have the constant objective of promoting general qualifications and personal and social skills in general as well as their professional competence. Vocational training therefore needs to be broadened but its intrinsic nature should remain unchanged.

Equivalence between vocational training and general education also means that there should continue to be opportunities for graduates of vocational training courses to gain access on an equal footing to further training programmes. For example, basic or continuing vocational qualifications should thus open up opportunities for university study. Recognized channels between vocational training and general education should also be developed.

Recognition by society and the attractiveness of training courses also depend on the support such courses receive. Vocational training should therefore be given an appropriate status in the promotion schemes of the Member States and at Community level.

7. The possibilities for advancement which continuing training offers workers who have acquired skills through training make vocational training highly attractive. Existing, recognized continuing training schemes offering possibilities for advancement should therefore be extended, in particular to enable more workers to obtain jobs traditionally reserved for graduates of other forms of education, especially higher education.

It would be desirable to press for continuing training with accompanying possibilities of advancement to be accepted by industry and for its attractiveness and value for trainees to be increased. The measures required to achieve that aim should be planned with the participation of both sides of industry in accordance with the Member States' laws and practice, should meet clearly accepted quality standards in each Member State and deliver recognized qualifications.

8. In the European internal market, having a skilled job increasingly means being able to communicate and cooperate across borders. The teaching of skills appropriate for European and international work is therefore, increasingly, a further important factor in the quality and attractiveness of vocational training. Learning foreign languages should as far as possible be part of basic and continuing vocational training. Periods of education and vocational training in other Member States, including those for instructors, and the integration of such periods into national vocational training programmes should be intensified.

9. Vocational training policy should play an important part in bringing about the freedom of movement and promoting the mobility of workers in the European internal market. This is also an important element in a policy for increasing the attractiveness of basic and continuing vocational training. It includes not only the imparting of 'European skills' but also the possibility of using national vocational certificates and diplomas across borders in the European job market.

National regulations which make access to professions conditional on the formal recognition or equivalence of vocational qualifications should therefore be kept to a necessary minimum. Skills and knowledge which may be acquired and also authenticated by certificate outside the educational system should be taken into account as well in access to jobs and professions throughout Community territory. This means establishing transparency in national training diplomas and encouraging cooperation on the part of those involved in the training market.

10. The appropriate way to create transparency is the development and introduction of internationally comprehensible vocational certificates and diplomas for workers wishing to apply for jobs in other Member States. Ways should be devised of describing in several languages the vocational skills acquired in basic or continuing training in such a way that they are clearly recognizable and can be compared with the requirements of the job advertised. Efforts should be intensified to examine whether it is possible to create an individual 'portfolio', following the Council resolutions of 1990 and 1992 on the transparency of qualifications.

It would also be necessary to step up national and Community-wide efforts to improve information and advice for persons wishing to study or work in another Member State and to further encourage cross-border cooperation between the bodies dealing with this in the Member States.

THE COUNCIL, with a view to promoting these principles, calls upon

the Member States, taking into account the areas of responsibility of the competent authorities, of undertakings and of the two sides of industry respectively, and taking into account national laws and practice:

- to increase their efforts at both national and Community level to improve the quality and attractiveness of vocational training and in particular to endeavour to secure the participation of undertakings in the vocational training of young people,

- to take account of measures to improve the quality and attractiveness of vocational training in the reports they submit in the European context,

the Commission to give lasting support to the efforts of the Member States and the two sides of industry with a view to achieving these goals, in particular by making use of education and training programmes, including those of the European Social Fund, as well as promoting dialogue on these matters within the European Union.

(1) This resolution takes into account the Council's conclusions, resolutions, recommendations and decisions concerning vocational training, in particular:

Council conclusions of 9 March 1987 concerning vocational training for young people in the European Community; OJ No C 73.

Council resolution of 5 June 1989 on continuing vocational training; OJ No C 148.

Council Decision of 28 July 1989 establishing an action programme to promote foreign language competence in the EC (Lingua); OJ No L 239.

Council conclusions of 14 December 1989 on technical and vocational education and initial training; OJ No C 27.

Council Decision of 29 May 1990 establishing an action programme for the development of continuing vocational training in the European Community (Force); OJ No L 156.

Council Decision of 22 July 1991 amending Decision 87/569/EEC concerning an action programme for the vocational training of young people and their preparation for adult and working life (Petra II); OJ No L 214.

Council resolution of 3 December 1992 on transparency of qualifications; OJ No C 49.

Council resolution of 11 June 1993 on vocational education and training in the 1990s; OJ No C 186.

Council recommendation of 30 June 1993 on access to continuing vocational training; OJ No L 181.