General guidelines for drawing up a Community programme on vocational training (adopted at the 162nd session of the Council held on 26 July 1971)

I. GENERAL 1. One of the key factors affecting the future development of the European Community is the scope and quality of the vocational training both of young people and of adults at the various professional levels. In view of the constantly changing needs of the economy the aim should be to offer everyone the opportunity of basic and advanced training and a continuity of in-service training designed, from a general and vocational point of view, to enable the individual to develop his personality and to take up a career.

2. The European Economic Community's work in the field of vocational training is based on Article 128 of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, which comes under the Chapter on the European Social Fund; it provides that general principles be laid down for implementing a common vocational training policy capable of contributing to the harmonious development both of the national economies and of the common market. Its work is also related to Article 118 of that Treaty, which comes under the Chapter on Social Provisions and which calls for close cooperation between Member States and assigns to the Commission the task of promoting this particularly in matters relating to basic and advanced vocational training.

A study of these provisions reveals that they take account both explicitly and implicitly of the close links which exist between every aspect of economic policy. on the one hand, and social policy, particularly vocational training policy, on the other. Therefore the vocational training policy which the Community must pursue and implement anew in accordance with the social objectives of the Treaties of the European Communities should be planned in such a way that it will fulfil the aspirations of the six peoples of the Community as they continue to develop socially and economically. It is obvious, moreover, that vocational training must not and cannot be an isolated and independent project but should be based on the achievements of a general education adapted at all its levels to the requirements of modern society.

3. The previous work undertaken pursuant to the EEC Treaty has been based mainly on the 10 general principles laid down by the Council pursuant to Article 128 of the EEC Treaty in a Decision of 2 April 1963 and which concern young persons and adults in posts up to supervisory level.

The Commission stated that the work undertaken by virtue of that Decision had not yielded the expected results, in particular for the following three reasons:

- experience of methodology was necessary at the outset if abstract principles were to be successfully converted into working projects,

- short-term projects (for example, exchange of information had not been sufficiently distinguished from more long-term objectives (for example, alignment of training standards and systems, mutual recognition of diplomas, compilation of statistics),

- the available resources were inadequate.

4. Therefore, renewed effort must be made at Community level in all aspects of vocational training, including vocational guidance and information, in order to reinforce and render more effective the work already undertaken.

Such renewed effort is all the more essential since the main problems in the field of vocational training are to a certain extent different from those which existed at the outset of the common market. Economic, social, technical and educational progress in the Member States have led the experts to present training problems in new terms and to aim at creating teaching systems and vocational guidance and information facilities based on methods better adapted to workers' aspirations and aptitudes taking into account the nature of the jobs available. There is now greater awareness of the importance of relating education to the economy and of developing systems for post-school and continuing in-service training.

Numerous measures laid down by law or regulation, and, in some Member States, agreements between the two sides of industry are evidence of considerable progress.

5. In order to carry out its ideas the Commission would, after consulting the Advisory Committee on Vocational Training, draw up a new programme and submit it to the Council for adoption by mutual agreement.

This programme, the final objective of which must be to develop a common vocational training policy, should form part of an increasingly active Community employment policy of which the European Social Fund among others is an instrument, while at the same time fulfilling the need for general education and social betterment of the workers. This programme should aim at gradually aligning training standards within the Community and be based on the following guidelines.

II. GUIDELINES AND SCOPE OF THE COMMUNITY PROGRAMME 6. In general, the projects undertaken in this programme should be carried out within a framework and at a level corresponding to the aspirations of the Member States, irrespective of whether the Governments or the two sides of industry cooperating in this work and sharing a practical interest in its outcome are concerned. They should touch upon any level of training at which action is needed, from the most basic to the most advanced.

7. Particular effort should be made to improve the technical standard of the Community's work and its effectiveness in regard to the present and future state of Community development. The programme should enable pragmatic solutions to be adopted, thus avoiding the risks which prevented certain projects from being completed in the past.

It should take account of the conclusions adopted by the Council in the past on vocational training(1), of the studies previously carried out by other bodies at Community level (right of establishment, Working Party on Scientific and Technical Research Policy, etc.) and particularly of those undertaken pursuant to the ECSC and Euratom Treaties.

8. The new programme should, therefore, be based on a review of the work previously undertaken at Community level pursuant to the Treaties.

9. It should determine priority projects concerning

- current problems and problems which the Community expects to encounter in the short-, medium- and long- term as a result of policies and projects carried out or planned at Community level and of technological changes, and

- the most up-to-date educational ideas and techniques.

It should set out in the necessary detail the means needed for its implementation.

10. The programme should be implemented according to a timetable which it will lay down for the short-, medium- and long-term objectives. This programme could of course be adapted to meet any urgent needs arising at a later date.

The programme should relate essentially to training problems:

- which are of general concern to all the countries of the Community and in the solution of which action at Community level could make a real contribution,

- which affect the whole Community and

- which are linked with the most up-to-date economic and technological development,

- which are closely related to important structural changes taking place in the economy, particularly in employment within the Community, or which arise with particular urgency in the underprivileged areas of the Community, often the areas where agriculture is the main occupation,

- which are affected by modern educational technology.

Accordingly the programme should take account of developments:

- in the technological field, not only as a result of advances and the resulting needs in industry and other sectors but also of the considerable effects of technical progress on the training itself: teaching techniques are now giving rise to problems whose scope sometimes transcends national boundaries,

- in the policies and projects carried out at Community level pursuant to or as an extension of the three Treaties (industrial development, regional policy, agricultural structure, transport, technology, European Social Fund, free movement of workers, etc. ).

11. The main problems which arise not only for workers and employers but also for teachers and careers counsellors as a result of rapid economic and technological changes and their social effects, and which concern the Community institutions, are as follows:

- shortage of skilled labour, acute shortage of highly skilled labour and of technicians (for example, in data processing),

- shortage of suitably trained supervisory and management staff,

- training of the most deprived social groups,

- the great need felt by all bodies concerned, in particular those responsible for vocational training and guidance, for information on educational ideas and new methods: so great is the need for training that it is becoming increasingly necessary to apply highly efficient procedures yielding far-reaching results.

- the ever-increasing need for teachers and careers counsellors.

More particularly, the programme should take account of new training methods (both of young persons and adults) and be directed towards new educational techniques which present problems sometimes too difficult to resolve at a national level; the necessary decisions could thus be made at Community or national level as appropriate, concerning the alignment which might be necessary in regard to national training systems and methods, taking into account technical, economic and social developments within the Community.

This alignment should be carried out on two levels:

- it should be directed in general towards the basic and advanced training of certain groups of people: young persons - whose training should be versatile enough to enable them to adapt more easily later if this should prove necessary - adults, instructors and teachers, etc;

- it should, moreover, be carried out with due regard for the needs of the various economic sectors.

12. Accordingly, the programme should cover in particular the points set out in the following chapters:

- development in the exchange of information and in cooperation at Community level,

- special action aimed at aligning training standards.

III. DEVELOPMENT IN THE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION AND IN COOPERATION AT COMMUNITY LEVEL (a) Vocational training, changing job patterns and training needs 13. There should be exchange of information at an advanced technical level and:

- while taking account of the most immediate needs, it should relate in particular to:

(a) the current position under laws and regulations in order to enable comparisons to be made of those relating both to general education and to vocational training.

(b) the current state of research in respect of training needs and change in job patterns,

(c) up-dating systems of apprenticeship,

(d) in-service training of staff,

(e) aid to those taking vocational training courses (paid leave, etc),

(f) measures to provide language training for immigrant workers and to help them adapt,

(g) study of the costs and benefits of vocational training and of the problems of financing it,

(h) the current state and needs in respect of training for teachers and carcers counsellors;

- it should enable a comparison of experience gained from reforms that have been or that are being carried out in the various Member States;

- it should facilitate knowledge of the situation in the Member States by improving or, where necessary, by initiating data processing in the field of vocational training in general and that of adults in particular.

14. To this end, information procedures should be developed and seminars and visits relating to vocational training arranged for those concerned, including the teachers. Moreover, and this has been sought for some time, an information bulletin should be published.

(b) Educational techniques and methods 15. The programme should be aimed at intensifying and updating studies of educational techniques and methods undertaken by the Commission.

The purpose will be to improve education. Accordingly, new educational methods and new teaching principles should be worked out, modern educational facilities should be provided and their use made casier (for example, correspondence courses, programmed learning, use of computers in instruction and training) and teaching and training equipment and aids should be designed at Community level.

In particular the various teaching systems and aids currently on the market should be examined (audio-visual equipment, computers, cassette tape-recorders, etc).

16. The work to be undertaken for this purpose should take account of the experience gained and the efforts made in the Member States and in other industrialized countries.

17. In this context it should be examined whether projects could be carried out in stages in respect of:

- educational equipment the production of which requires international cooperation and an international market (for example teaching machines, computers, simulators... );

- collaboration or exchange in respect of radio and television programmes,

- the laying down of minimum standards in certain sectors for Community training programmes for occupations which give rise to new problems the solution of which is vital for industrial development (for example data processing, electronics, etc).

(c) Correlation between general education and vocational training 18. In future projects the importance of the growing interdependence between general education and vocational and technical training should be fully recognized.

There are in fact two tendencies: extension of the schoolleaving age and the need to ensure a continuing in-service training. Thus, taking account of the studies carried out in the various international organizations, the following points should be examined:

- measures designed to facilitate transition from general education to vocational training,

- provision of more and better facilities for careers information and vocational guidance,

- reforms in the education and vocational training systems that are being carried out in the Member States.

19. In this field the programme could adopt the measures already referred to above under section 14: where necessary the help of specialist organizations or consultants could be enlisted.

Moreover, the programme could provide for an examination into the the conditions of operating a European educational information service.

(d) Cooperation in the field of research 20. Within the framework of cooperation to be established at a Community level appropriate methods must be developed in order to promote, intensify and coordinate research carried out by various bodies and institutions of the Member States relating to:

- the various occupations and their quantitative and qualitative development so that in due course the training facilities necessary to meet the various requirements can more easily be determined;

- educational methods and teaching aids;

- correlation between general education and vocational training;

- the training of teachers.

(e) Immigrant workers 21. With particular regard to the workers referred to under Articles 48 and 49 of the Treaty, the programme must take account of the need to develop suitable vocational training projects not only to ensure a better balance between offers of employment and applications for employment in the Community but also to integrate these workers more easily into the host country and ensure their social advancement.

(f) Pilot schemes The programme could, if necessary, provide for the implementation of pilot schemes in appropriate fields.

(g) Other projects 22. In addition to these research projects it will be possible, in particular as a result of a greater exchange of information, to adopt further joint projects, the implementation of which shall be decided in each individual case.

IV. SPECIAL ACTION AIMED AT ALIGNING TRAINING STANDARDS 23. The alignment of training standards within the six Member States must be one of the activities provided for in the vocational training programme. These activities should, on the one hand, aim at aligning present training standards in so far as such alignment is considered necessary, suitable and feasible in the interests of the Community's economy and of those who have received training. This alignment should be planned with the dual aim of improwing training and making it as relevant as possible and of facilitating the free movement of persons in Member States and in the Community as a whole.

Projects for the alignment of training standards should also take account of the fact that in the long term new training structures and methods will be necessary to meet the requirement arising from the need to provide facilities for further education which is an essential condition if people are to continue their work and improve themselves professionally and socially. These new structures should relate not only to opportunities for adult training but should also provide a through and more versatile training for young people taking up a career.

24. Action concerned with this alignment should include a general study taking into account the short- and long- term prospects referred to above - of the actual significance of the various diplomas for the career of the person concerned, and a method should be sought of facilitating mutual recognition of diplomas certifying the attainment of a certain level of training.

In the short terms, efforts should be made for the mutual recognition of diplomas rapidly enough to meet the practical requirements arising from the functioning of the Community, for example in respect of the free movement of workers and the right of establishment, allowing in the latter case that the use of some diplomas for public administration purposes constitutes a special facet of this problem; reference should here be made to the provisions of Article 45 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68(2).

25. The initial measures to be adopted for this purpose should include in particular the following:

- establishment of a common terminology which will be necessary in projects to be carried out at Community level;

- analysis of vocational training according to standards and according to general categories of occupation;

- analysis of the nature and standard of qualifications required in the various branches of the economy;

- survey of the main facilities for advanced vocational training and continuing in-service training and analysis of the effects on existing vocational training systems of the need for ensuring a continuity of in-service training;

- development of modern educational and technical concepts based in particular on an up-to-date description of the development of methods and terminology;

- development of suitable methods of aligning training standards.

26. In respect of the last point, the European vocational profile for the training of skilled machine-tool workers, submitted by the Commission and approved by the Council on 29 September 1970(3) is aimed at aligning training standards within the group of occupations to which it refers. Before a decision can be made on the suitability of applying this method in the future the following questions must be answered:

- Within which group of occupations or activities would such profiles fulfil the real needs of the workers and of the economy?

- how can account be taken suficiently rapidly of the technical and structural development affecting these groups of occupations or activities?

- what steps would be necessary for the drawing-up of new vocational profiles and according to what time- table could they be adopted?

The programme should provide for the examination of these questions so that the Council can vote with full knowledge of the facts.

27. A certain number of preliminary measures to be implemented progressively should be taken on the basis of the aforementioned guidelines. After analysis of the results obtained by these measures it should be possible to take the necessary decisions to determine further action.

(1)In respect of these conclusions, some of which are included in this document, particular attention should be given to those concerning certain aspects of adult vocational training which are given in the Annex.(2)The provisions of Article 45 of Council Regulation (EEC) No 1612/68 are as follows: 'The Commission shall submit to the Council proposals aimed at abolishing, in accordance with the conditions of the Treaty, restrictions on eligibility for employment of workers who are nationals of Member States, where the absence of mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates or other evidence of formal qualifications may prevent freedom of movement for workers'(3)OJ No L 219, 5.10.1970.