COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 
Brussels, 30.04.1997 
COM(97) 180 final 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 
on access to continuing training 
in the Union 
(Council Recommendation of 30 June 1993) 
(Presented by the Commission) 

Table of contents 
INTRODUCTION 
Chapter 1 8 
Progress on access to continuing vocational training 
1.1 
The Community process based on the Recommendation 8 
1.2 
National reports show a wide range of national initiatives 10 
1.3 
Diverging positions of the Social Partners 26 
Chapter 2 31 
Towards a more ambitious venture for the Union: 
accessing skills 
2.1 
No alternative to narrowing the major disparities within the 
Union 31 
2.2 
Towards readjustment of priorities in vocational training 
policies 33 
2.3 
Increased role for competitiveness and employment 36 
Chapter 3 39 
Conclusions and guidelines 
3.1 
Conclusions as to approach 39 
3.2 
Conclusions as to objectives 40 
3.3 
Pointers for further action 41 
i-^ 
Introduction 
The vital nature of continuing training and the 
promotion of access thereto were highlighted by 
the European Commission at the beginning of the 
1990s. Its Memorandum on vocational training in 
the EC in the 1990s^ stressed that the combined 
effects of accelerating technological and 
organisational change and of demographic 
developments would confer a central role on 
continuing training policies. There was broad 
support for this proposal during the discussion 
this memorandum prompted with the Member 
States. The Commission also advocated an 
approach whereby continuing training, 
underpinned by a solid corpus of basic training, 
would be pursued throughout life. 
The Community advanced further in this 
direction when on 30 June 1993 the Council 
adopted a Recommendation on access to 
vocational training,^ thus allowing the 
Community's collaborative endeavour over the 
years to promote access to continuing training to 
be pursued around a common reference 
framework. 
In parallel with this, the discussions on 
employment, triggered by the economic situation 
and globalisation, have pushed to the top of the 
agenda the issue of the skills of employees and their enhancement. And in the wake of the 
Commission's White Paper Growth, 
competitiveness and employment, the Essen 
European Council of December 1994 put forward 
investment in training as one of five priorities to 
be pursued. 
The reforms of the structural funds, the European 
Social Fund in particular, which took place for 
the 1994-99 period, place skills enhancement at 
the forefront. The new Objective 4 in particular, 
concerned to "facilitate workers' adaptation to 
industrial changes and to changes in production 
systems", underlined the importance of 
maintaining skill levels and placed the Social Fund 
for the first time at the service of workers in 
employment (as compared with the unemployed). 
Other Community programmes like FORCE3 
(1991-1994) and more recently the Leonardo da 
Vinci (1995-1999)4 are also community 
instruments aimed at providing access: they expect 
to stimulate innovation in vocational training while 
contributing particularly to development of new 
approaches and methods of training which 
facilitate access to training and competencies. 
3OJNo. L 156/1 of 21° June 1990 
COM(91)397 final of 12 December 1991. 
OJ No L 181/37 of 23 July 1993 (see Annex). OJ No. L340/1 of 29° December 1994 
The proclamation of 1996 as "the European Year 
of Lifelong Learning", made it possible to make 
European citizens profoundly aware of the need 
to enhance their skills throughout life. 
This discussion has shown that there is a very 
high level of aspiration to get into training, but 
that there was seen to be a gap between this 
aspiration to lifelong training and the actual 
opportunities afforded Europe's workers and 
citizens. 
The Commission accordingly opened up a new 
perspective in which an even more vital role is 
given to the development of access to training: 
that of the learning society. In its White Paper 
Teaching and learning: towards the learning 
society? the Commission proposes that "access to 
training should be developed throughout life. 
While this is a need stressed all round by public 
authorities and the business sector alike, progress 
in this direction is slow and all the more 
inadequate as the changes in work organisation 
stemming inter alia from information technology 
are making training in these new tools very 
urgent". 
Available skills can no longer be renewed 
through the succession of generations of workers, 
but has to be done within a cycle which is 
constantly accelerating under the combined 
pressure of two factors: 
• the shortening of the horizon of technological 
change and changes in work organisation, 
• the inversion of the age pyramid of the active 
population, the growing participation of 
women in the labour market, which is 
bringing about a shift in training requirements 
notably towards women and older workers . 
Vocational training policy, particularly that which 
the Community is responsible for implementing 
under Article 127 of the Treaty EC, must be 
pursued within these structural trends and must 
place greater emphasis on the continuing training 
of workers. 
Under the various actions which are part of the 
confidence pact for employment launched by the 
Commission in April 1996, the European Council 
of Florence in its conclusions (June 1996) 
confirmed at the Dublin Council (December 
1996): "The European Council underlines that the 
educational and training systems in the European 
Union will need to adapt profoundly. It takes note 
of the Commission intention to present a proposal 
on the access to, and the recognition of, skills 
acquired from lifelong learning". 
In their joint declaration on employment 
preparatory to the European Council of Dublin, 
the social partners gave pride of place to lifelong 
training along the priority themes. They pointed 
out that: 
"Economic change, the employment situation and 
the emergence of new technologies, particularly 
information technologies mean deep-seated 
changes on the employment market and in society 
in general. These trends bring out the need to 
expand individual skills, and this means a 
change of attitude to lifelong training. Moreover, 
access to vocational training throughout 
working life should be improved. Lifelong 
training will become increasingly important to 
the competitiveness of companies, as it will for 
employees when it comes to geographical and 
professional mobility. " 
In the same way the Council decision on a third 
multi-annual programme for small and medium 
sized enterprises (SME) in the Union (1997-
2000)6 gives an impetus to the importance of 
training to improve the management capacity of 
managers and reinforce the competitiveness of 
SMEs. 
Within this Community process, this Report on 
Access to Continuing Training has as to principle 
objective the evaluation of the progress made 
globally in the application of the Council 
Recommendation and the presentation of 
proposals of new avenues for reinforcing 
community action on access training regard to the 
real challenges which have to be faced to achieve 
it. 
The Commission has opted not to limit itself to a 
descriptive report based on a simple stock-taking 
exercise. The Commission is keen to make this 
report an instrument for framing the debate on 
access to continuing training in the EU seeking to 
enquire : what the exact situation is, where are the 
major disparities like, how progress can be 
made? 
5 COM(95) 590 of 25 November 1995. 6 OJ. L6/25 of 10 January 1997 
The Commission thus also hopes that this report 
will provide the basis for a genuine in-depth 
debate on the policies to be pursued in this area 
with a view to lifelong training. The 
Commission's hope is that this report should also 
open on to new avenues for more ambitious 
action on widening and raising competencies . It 
sees these as a step towards an open debate on 
the learning society. 
The Commission attaches great importance to this 
report and the contributions made to its evaluation by the Community authorities. It 
underscores the points that: 
• a Community report in the area of vocational 
training is being submitted for the first time, 
• training is playing an increasingly important 
role in all discussions to do with employment, 
competitiveness, our model of society and in 
the construction of a learning society. 
Chapter 1 
Progress on access to continuing vocational training 
1.1 The Community process based 
on the Council's 
Recommendation 
The starting point: the Social Charter 
.The question of access to vocational training 
often came up in Community texts. Then in 1989 
when the European Council of Strasbourg and 11 
Member States adopted of the Charter of 
Fundamental Social Rights for Workers the 
debate on this issue really got under way. Article 
15 of the Charter states that "every worker of the 
EC must be able to have access to vocational 
training and to benefit therefrom throughout his 
working life. The competent public authorities, 
undertakings or the two sides of industry, each 
within their own sphere of competence, should set 
up continuing and permanent training systems 
enabling every person to undergo retraining, 
more especially through leave for training 
purposes, to improve his skills or to acquire new 
skills, particularly in the light of technical 
developments ". 
Subsequently, the action programme for the 
implementation of the Social Charter, confirmed 
the increasing importance of new ways of access to training and called upon the Member States, 
the business sector and the social partners to take 
action so that each worker could pursue his 
training throughout his working life. 
This programme also foresaw the submission by, 
the Commission to the Council of a proposal for a 
Community instrument on access to vocational 
training. The Community institutional debate on 
The Community Charter of Fundamental Social 
Rights for Workers was, in effect, the catalyst 
which led to the adoption of the Recommendation 
on access to continuing training. 
The Social Dialogue 
In recognising the growing importance of better 
access to vocational training for the 
competitiveness of the business sector and for 
social cohesion, the partners involved in the 
European social dialogue (UNICE, CEEP and 
ETUC^) placed this issue within the body of 
1 UNICE - Union of Industrial and Employers' 
Confederations of Europe 
CEEP - European Centre of Enterprises with Public 
Participation 
ETUC - European Trade Union Confederation 
work of the social dialogue on education and 
training and in December 1991 adopted a "Joint 
opinion on ways of facilitating the broadest 
possible effective access to training 
opportunities", in the preamble to which, they 
state that: 
"a large proportion of the adult population left 
school without adequate qualifications for 
today's demands or has never attended any 
systematic, continuing training; their level of 
qualification results in a paradoxical situation 
where many of the training courses on offer are 
not open to them owing to a lack of basic skills 
and knowledge", and, furthermore, that: 
"competitive and success enterprises are those 
which implement, with proper consultation of 
employees and/or their representatives, 
vocational training programmes that are the most 
relevant and of the best quality standards ". 
They also stress that: "the social partners have an 
important role to play in setting up partnerships 
at regional level to promote greater synergy 
between company training programmes and 
forecasts of future demand for certain 
occupations and skills at regional level". 
Significantly, the guidelines of this joint opinion 
have by and large been incorporated into the text 
of the Council Recommendation. 
At sectoral level, in joint committees or informal 
working groups, the social partners have adopted 
a certain number of common opinions concerning 
access to vocational training and lifelong 
learning. In particular: 
• the Joint Opinion on improved access to 
vocational training for women in the textile 
and clothing sector (16 June 1994); 
• The Opinion on the VT of ground engineers 
and maintenance staff (15 September 1993); 
• The negotiation of the framework agreement 
for employment in agriculture, which is to be 
signed in June 1997, where continuing 
vocational training plays a central role and 
where the social partners seek further 
agreement especially on this subject 
The adoption of the Recommendation by the 
Council in June 1993 after and in-depth debate on 
the content by the Community authorities (EP, 
ECOSOC) and the social partners (particularly 
within the ACVT) marked the launching of a Community process on three complementary 
levels: 
a) The definition of a general objective 
stemming from the Social Charter according 
to which: "every worker of the EC must be 
able to have access to vocational training and 
to benefit therefrom throughout his working 
///e".(Art. I). 
b) The definition of 15 specific objectives which 
would make it possible to attain this 
overarching objective while leaving the 
decision on the ways and means for doing so 
up to the Member States and the social 
partners (Art. II). 
c) The establishment at the Community level of 
a system to monitor developments on access, 
in the Member States and at the Community 
level (Art. Ill & IV). 
This system is based on a triple process: 
1. the drawing up of national reports by the 
Member States on the implementation of 
the recommendation and its objectives 
(Article ÏV.1) 
The Member States were asked to agree on a 
common structure for drafting their national 
reports in particular on measures taken since 
1993 to promote access to continuing training. 
They were also asked to prepare these reports in 
conjunction with the social partners, - a procedure 
which was followed by many Member States. 
2. Setting up a social dialogue support system 
on continuing training (Article III.3) 
The Recommendation called upon the 
Commission to support the dialogue between the 
social partners on this theme. It accordingly set 
up a "support system for the social dialogue on 
continuing training" in close conjunction with the 
European organisations involved in the European 
social dialogue, the UNICE, the CEEP and the 
ETUC. 
This made it possible to take stock in the EU 
Member States of steps taken by the social 
partners to develop continuing training. Often this 
in itself, had a direct impact on access to such 
training. 
Two "Compendia" were published on this in 
1994 and 1996, in order to illustrate ten themes of 
common interest to the social partners, noting 
tangible initiatives taken at company, branch, 
sector, regional or national levels. 
The two seminars organised by the social partners 
(October 1994 and May 1996) to examine the 
results illustrated the worthwhile nature and 
added value of this instrument as an instrument of 
collection, observation, analysis and 
dissemination of innovatory and wide-ranging 
initiatives for a better understanding of what was 
happening in the field in the Member States. 
The ten themes identified by the social partners 
broadly follow the key aspects set out in the 
objectives of Part II of the Council 
Recommendation. 
THE THEMES OF THE SOCIAL DIALOGUE 
SUPPORT SYSTEM a) the national reports drawn up by each of the 
Member States pursuant to Article IV. 1 of the 
Recommendation;** 
b) the reports drawn up by the Community 
organisations of social partners, i.e. the ETUC 
and the UNICE/CEEP, pursuant to Article 
IV.2. 
The Commission has also drawn substantially on: 
1) The first comparable figures from the 
Community CVTS9 and the LFS.10 
2) The results of the support structure for the 
social dialogue and vocational training set up 
in conjunction with the social partners 
(UNICE, CEEP and ETUC) published in the 
two compendia in 1994 and 1996. 
Theme 1: 
Theme 2: 
Theme 3: 
Theme 4: 
Theme 5: 
Theme 6: 
Theme 7 
Theme 8 
Theme 9 
Theme 10 Planning of training within the 
company 
SMEs 
Organisational development 
Specific types of employment 
Occupational integration of young 
people 
New forms of 
regional level co-operation at 
Certification/recognition 
Means and methods 
Allocation of resources 
New responses to 
requirements individual 
3. Preparing a Community report on 'Access 
to continuing training in the EU' in order 
to take stock of progress and put forward 
proposals to strengthen Community- action 
(Article IV.2). 
The main point of this report is to assess overall 
progress made and to illustrate the trends under 
way, taking due account of the diversity of the 
national systems. It should also illustrate the 
value of efforts made by the Member States and 
the steps taken by the social players in general 
and the social partners in particular. 1.2 National reports show a wide 
range of national initiatives 
1.2.1 Introduction 
The report is based on: The reports prepared by the Member States form 
an interesting basis of information and analysis 
on trends and progress with regard to access to 
continuing training, and on the way in which 
access is organised in the different Member 
States. 
Many reports provide comprehensive descriptions 
of the support systems for continuing training. 
The following points arise from an overall 
examination of the national reports: 
1. The EU countries are all determined to find 
new solutions to the challenges posed by the 
need for continuing training and the direct or 
indirect promotion of access to training., 
Nearly all of them provided examples of new 
° The information contained in these reports have also been 
supplemented by elements from the multiannual programmes 
established under the follow-up process to the conclusions of 
the Essen European Summit on employment. 
" Continuing Vocational Training Survey 
10 Labour Force Survey. 
10 
measures,- introduced in the 1990s,- which 
have a bearing on access to continuing 
training. 
2. Most of these measures are however, part of 
action for general 'reform' of training 
systems in the Member States, thus limiting 
the scope for more detailed analyses of the 
impact of the measures. 
3. On the other hand, many promising initiatives 
escape the attention of a purely systemic 
administrative scrutiny, because they were 
undertaken at company or branch level.( a 
certain number of very promising initiatives 
were spotted in the reports of the social 
partners in the course of doing the 
Compendia of support systems in the Social 
Dialogue. ) 
Implementing the objectives 
As noted earlier, the national reports very often 
describe the developments in systems and 
measures to promote access, but without 
providing any great detail in relation to each 
single objective of the Council Recommendation 
of 30 June 1993 
It was therefore considered more worthwhile to 
analyse national trends for certain themes. 
• A first theme relates to access and company 
policy. This covers mainly Objectives 1, 2, 6, 
8 and 9 of the Recommendation. 
• The second relates more specifically to access 
requirements of individuals (Objectives 3 and 
7), i.e. examining initiatives for individuals 
access to training. 
• The third theme relates to the retraining of 
workers (Objective 4). 
• The fourth deals with access to training for 
specific target groups such as the less-
qualified workers (Objective 11), women 
(Objective 12), young people (Objective 13) 
and the long-term unemployed (Objective 14). 
• A fifth theme will consider access and new 
partnerships (Objectives 5 and 15). 
• A sixth theme will deal with new technologies 
and access (Objective 10). Major developments and pointers for action and 
initiatives need noting for each theme. 
A final theme will deal with the use of 
Community funds in support of local 
initiatives. 
Following analysis major themes are 
illustrated by actions and initiatives. 
1.2.2 Access and company policy 
This is a vast theme which groups together 
initiatives on measures to make provision for 
non-active status for workers, promote 
information and consultation at company level 
and anticipation of training requirements and the 
development of plans notably the development of 
training plans for workers, information and 
consultation in enterprises or the forward 
planning of training needs. 
The national reports confirm that it is enterprises 
which take responsibility for policy on continuing 
vocational training of their employees. They are 
the main and frequent initiators of action and it is 
they who mainly fund such training. 
The exercise of this responsibility by companies 
is supported in certain Member States by binding 
systems, e.g. France is distinctive by its system 
of a generalised obligation to contribute 
financially to training under the terms of the law 
of 16 July 1971. But France is not alone in having 
a potentially binding arrangement on companies. 
These obligations may come from the 
compulsory'payment into a solidarity fund, such 
as a recent measure to establish funds for high-
risk groups in Belgium, or the system of 
taxes/subsidies in certain sectors in Ireland, or 
legislation on training leave as adopted by 
Finland, Sweden, certain Lander in Germany, 
etc. In Spain, on the other hand, there is an 
indirect system of contributions to finance 
vocational training. The money is collected 
through Social Security payments and is 
calculated at 0,7% of the rate of contributions for 
occupational accidents and illnesses. 
Certain Member States make the valid point that 
access to continuing "ocational training is 
unevenly distributed among companies (size, area 
of activity, etc.), but also among workers (socio-
professional status) in companies, irrespective of 
the binding nature of the arrangements. 
11 
The right to information 
Certain Member States have practices designed to 
encourage information and consultation on 
company training policy by worker 
representatives. 
A definitive model of an obligation to provide 
information was not provided by any Member 
State. Information policy clearly builds up on an 
ad hoc basis and varies according to the 
providers and recipients. Germany feels that 
employees and workers often receive information 
on training opportunities during recruitment 
interviews. Information may also be given in 
contracts of employment or collective 
agreements, or be published by the Chamber of 
Trades or the Chambers of Commerce and 
Industry. The social partners in particular seek to 
improve channels of information. In December 
1996 key players agreed to develop an 
information system within the Federal Vocational 
Training Institute, to which training committees 
could refer. 
Member States have also stepped up their efforts 
to raise awareness through general and targeted 
campaigns. For instance, a note entitled "Kennis 
in beweging" was published in the Netherlands 
in June 1995. In France, major organisations 
such as the FONGECIF publicise their 
arrangements on individual training leave by mail 
and in the press as well as by audio-visual means. 
Finland successfully launched a vast campaign in 
1994 to inform companies of the opportunities 
available on apprenticeship based training 
contracts. 
The information campaigns in the UK are 
targeted at companies through programmes such 
as Investors in People and Small firms initiatives. 
The same is true in Ireland where the new 
project called Excellence in People was set up in 
1995. These are projects aimed at achieving high 
quality standards by investing in human 
resources. The objective is to create a link 
between the company's strategic objectives and 
the vocational training policy objectives. 
Similarly, Denmark organises public information 
campaigns, notably targeted at SMEs. It is 
noteworthy that the information drive is pursued 
not only by the public authorities and the business 
sector, but also by the trade unions. In this regard, 
the Danish report makes a note of the activities 
on information which has to be put at the service of the social partners particularly at the regional 
and local levels. 
Efforts to channel information and raise 
awareness of opportunities on the vocational 
training market are also supported by vocational 
counselling sectors, sometimes combined with 
activities such as skills assessment exercises. In 
Norway, for instance, a system of contact points 
has been set up in order to ensure that training 
providers are put into direct contact with the 
consumers, companies and individuals. Many 
Member States mention the setting up of 
databanks or guides, and/or Points of 
Information. The United Kingdom, Ireland and 
Luxembourg, as well as others, see this as a way 
of securing better information flow and thus 
better access to vocational training. 
Portugal recently set up a programme entitled 
Training for micro enterprises and small 
enterprises in an attempt to promote information 
and raise awareness among entrepreneurs and 
employees as to the need to develop their human 
resources through vocational training. 
Consultation at company level 
There is a growing trend towards more 
involvement in and responsibility being taken for 
training by the social partners in general. In the 
Netherlands, for instance, the social partners are 
being given more say in the context of the 
revision of the law on vocational teaching and 
training (WEB) which came into force in January 
1996. National bodies, comprising representatives 
of employers' organisations and trade unions co­
operate with the educational establishments in 
drawing up exit qualifications for each sector of 
industry, group of sectors, or occupational 
category, applicable to all types of senior 
secondary vocational education. The social 
partners are also given a role as providers of 
resource centres for the distribution of 
information, for motivating companies to identify 
their own skills requirements, and for organising 
the necessary measures. In Finland, the role and 
development of employee training are currently 
being examined during tripartite negotiations as 
part of the Council of Ministers employment 
programme for 1996-99. Italy and Portugal also 
stress the growing importance in this context of 
the social partners. The latter, through their 
sectoral organisations, co-operate with the public 
authorities in defining, shaping and implementing 
training policies. In an increasing number of 
cases, collective agreements set out the general 
12 
principles applicable to the sound management of 
vocational training at sector and company level. 
In Spain, the role of the social partners is written 
into the national and tripartite agreements on 
vocational training and is reflected by their 
involvement in the FORCEM continuing training 
foundation, -a tripartite body established for the 
organisation, management and implementation of 
action decided under these agreements with 
support from the ESF. 
In France, the law requires workers' 
representatives to be informed and consulted on 
the drafting and implementation of training plans 
and programmes. It is compulsory for the works 
council to be consulted at least once yearly on the 
guidelines and the vocational training plan. In 
Germany works councils also have the right of 
information . 
Collective agreements which become the forum 
for consultation on vocational training are a 
further strong development. Tripartite 
consultation and co-operation are part of the 
Danish model and collective agreements are the 
main regulatory instrument (covering over 90% 
of the Danish labour market). Germany opts for 
a similar solution and feels that it is neither 
necessary or wise to legislate on the matter, if the 
continuing training market is to remain very 
flexible. For both initial VT and continuing 
training, German companies, namely the 
employers and trade unions, have traditionally 
been committed to the qualifications of their 
workforce. But the individual and the State also 
have a share in this responsibility. The State 
fulfils its role through various laws, e.g. the, 
Berufsbildungsgeset - the 1969 legislation on 
vocational training, 
Berufsbildungsfôrderungsgesetz - the 1994 
legislation on the promotion of vocational 
training, Arbeitsforderungsgesetz - the 1969 
legislation on the promotion of employment, 
Aufstiegsbildungsforderungsgesetz - legislation 
on the promotion of continuing vocational 
training, and in the Lander through the 
Bildungsurlaubsgesetze - legislation on the 
training leave (various dates), Weiterbildungs-
und Erwachsenenbildungsgesetze - legislations 
on the continuing training for adults (various 
dates). 
The increased importance of collective 
agreements is noted by the Netherlands, Sweden 
and Norway. In Sweden matters relating to 
continuing training are often settled by the sector. Central collective agreements propose 
recommendations, but it is increasingly common 
for the examination of the subject to take place at 
the regional level. 
Finland states clearly that the general trend is for 
training-related matters to be negotiated within 
the company. 
However, training remains a matter for dialogue-
based negotiation on which there is not always 
unanimity, particularly on matters like the 
objectives of training and who pays. This point is 
made by Denmark. Talks on these matters are in 
progress in several Member States. They are a 
central preoccupation for the Luxembourg 
government in its preparation of a framework law 
on continuing training. 
Germany raises inter alia the question of 
responsibility for funding and considers that the 
trend is towards making individuals more 
responsible. 
This trend is also apparent in the UK where 
increasing numbers of employees and other 
individuals are taking more responsibility for 
their own learning. Encouraging individuals to 
become more pro-active in meeting their learning 
needs is a major component in the UK 
Government's strategy for skills. 
Belgium notes that consultation on training takes 
place only for high-risk groups, and is low on the 
agenda during negotiations at company level. 
The strategic importance of training plans 
One of the main operational instruments of 
training at company level is the implementation 
of training plans. 
In France, the training plan is the principle way 
in which the employer is accountable in terms of 
actual expenditure and in relation to employees 
affected. Training plans are also an integral part 
of the Finnish strategy. Under the law on 
consultation in companies, those having over 30 
employees are obliged to establish a personnel 
and training plan every year on the' basis of 
negotiations with the employee representatives. 
In Portugal, the granting of financial and 
technical aid under the second Community 
Support Framework (CSF), which has legal 
validity, obliges companies to prepare and make 
known the human resource development plans 
13 
they intend to pursue. Under the national tripartite 
agreement of 1992 in Spain, funding of VT 
essentially concerns company training plans, 
individual training leave and the theory- based 
training which apprenticeship contracts cover. 
Denmark notes that the "size of company" factor 
often determines whether or not there is a training 
plan as such. The Ministry of Labour accordingly 
set up two funds, both of which can pay subsidies 
for programming activities. The major elements 
in the Danish approach are "funding measures", 
"proximity" (by delegation of responsibility to 
the regions) and "awareness raising campaigns". 
The Netherlands recently launched the IMPULS 
programme in a number of sectors. This consists 
of an integrated approach in each sector, which 
must open on, through a strategic plan, to 
activities for achieving a structural improvement 
in matching vocational training to the 
employment market. 
With regard to training plans, France is 
innovating by increasingly gearing these plans to 
the changing technologies and changing markets. 
This is encouraged by contractual policy which is 
based in part on a planning instrument, the CEP 
{Contrat d'études prospectives) which seeks to 
define developments in trades. The CEP is 
becoming increasingly frequently a basis for the 
conclusion of training development 
commitments. France: 
The Contrats d'études prospectives 
Although it dates back to the 1980s, the CEP is 
still an effective system for analysing training 
requirements and assisting action which is 
steered through co-operation with the social 
partners. 
The CEP is based on two principles: 
• It is a contract which binds the social partners, 
the state and one or more operators, private 
consultants or public establishments, in 
carrying out prospective studies. The state 
provides half the budget. 
• The operators are chosen jointly by the social 
partners and the state within the framework of 
a public tendering procedure based on 
specifications. A tripartite steering committee 
sees that the specifications and deadlines are 
respected, monitors the work and validates 
the results. 
In the UK a company training plan linked to 
business objectives is a key feature of "'Investors 
in People". Companies are increasingly adopting 
the "Investors in People Standard' as a 
framework for effective investment in training 
and the development of a learning culture. 
To raise awareness in enterprises of the 
link between workers' current skills and 
their competencies 
Some Member States are promoting awareness 
of the business sector of a link between workers' 
skills and company competitiveness. Germany 
has a specific programme entitled 'Consolidating 
the industrial fabric by building up occupational 
skills'. ESF Objective 4 funds are used for 
measures to raise awareness in enterprises of the 
link between competencies and current skills. 
The UK and Ireland likewise have specific 
programmes, and Belgium has set up one on the 
quest for quality. 
The distinguishing feature of the UK's system is 
the presence and implementation of numerous 
initiatives and programmes designed in general to 
improve individual access to training. Mention 
must be made here of programmes like Investors 
in People whose purpose is to improve the 
economic performance of companies by 
14 
establishing the relationship between training and 
the development of employees and the company's 
strategic objectives. The delivery is via the 
Training Enterprises Councils (TECs) and, in the 
case of Scotland, Local Enterprise Companies 
(LECs), providing a framework which makes it 
possible to develop human resources in 
companies and to structure training activities as 
economic investments. More flexible 
arrangements will be introduced in 1997 as part 
of Local Competitiveness Budget to improve co­
operation between local partners supporting 
training and firms and thus attain the objectives 
set out in the Investors in People programme and 
enhance the economic performance of the 
business sector. A second initiative which will 
continue to obtain this objective is National 
Training Awards. This is a prize awarded to 
employers, training providers or individuals in 
respect of measures which have proved 
particularly effective by having an immediate 
effect on the company's economic performance 
or the fulfilment of the individual. 
The Walloon region in Belgium has focused its 
support on tangible action to make employers and 
workers aware of quality by labelling products 
and certifying companies. Germany also notes 
that there is a trend towards an increasing number 
of certified training establishments. It is 
becoming increasingly important for several CVT 
players to co-operate in mastering more complex 
tasks/subjects. Another major trend sees some big 
companies starting to shift VT outside - partly for 
financial reasons - and leaving it up to those 
involved in training to improve provision on the 
training market (outsourcing). 
The crucial importance of qualifications 
One trend which is emerging strongly is that of 
access and recognition of qualifications. The 
awareness of workers and companies as to the 
importance of continuing vocational training 
opening on to qualifications which are relevant 
on the employment market has become a prime 
objective in the fight to remain competitive. between work and education/training. New 
methods and new forums of training are therefore 
needed if better quality is to be achieved. 
It is symptomatic that most Member States 
acknowledge the importance of discussions on 
qualifications. The Netherlands in 1993 set up 
the Commission for the recognition of 
qualifications acquired (EVK). The system of 
diplomas for professional studies for the adults 
came into force in 1994. The vocational studies 
diploma system in Finland makes it possible to 
obtain paper qualification based on acquiring 
occupational know-how irrespective of its 
method of acquisition.. Since 1995 this has been 
carried forward by the ALVAR project on the 
control of the quality of documents used for 
vocational examinations. 
Finland: 
The national language diploma 
The national language diploma (set up by the 
legislation of 1994) splits up language 
proficiency into nine levels. Any person who so 
wishes can take a test to verify his/her 
knowledge, irrespective of how it was acquired. 
This is an official diploma and is checked by the 
authorities. Nine languages are currently 
involved: Finnish, Lapp, English, Swedish, 
French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish. 
French legislation has always stressed the need 
for continuing vocational training leading to 
qualifications which are relevant to the 
employment market. The CEP reflects the same 
concern. In Denmark, also aims to make training 
pathways open on to qualifications. 
Germany observes that today's jobs increasingly 
call for key skills, language and communications 
skills, a capacity for creativeness and innovation, 
and multi skilling, in other words, a far broader 
spectrum of occupational ability. This is reflected 
by developments in CVT, e.g. decentralisation, 
client-oriented approaches, involvement of staff 
and workers, incorporation as part of the 
employee's career progression, closer links 
15 
United Kingdom: 
National vocational qualifications 
(NVQs) 
The UK in 1986 introduced major changes to 
rationalise its very diverse system in the area of 
vocational qualifications, by establishing an 
overall framework of NVQs. A parallel system of 
Scottish vocational qualifications (SVQ) was 
introduced for Scotland. 
The NVQ and SVQ provide a yardstick of the 
skills and aptitudes which employers have 
defined as necessary for today's jobs. They are 
based on national performance standards at 
work established by the employers for the 
employers. They reflect real employment 
requirements by ensuring a multi-skilled and 
flexible workforce with broad-based knowledge 
as required by today's highly competitive global 
market. Finland: 
The "skilled Finland" project 
Recently launched (1996), the "skilled 
Finland" project is a co-operation project 
between the social partners, certain 
ministries and the Directorate-General for 
Education. The objective is to develop the 
know how for staff and subcontractors of 
SMEs by understanding how diplomas 
arising from the 1994 legislation could better 
serve the specific requirements of those 
enterprises seeking to improve the 
competence of their employees. The 
specialists recruited for the project assist 
companies in evaluating the present level of 
know-how of employees and their future 
requirements in this area, and in finding the 
right establishments to organise training. In 
co-operation with all those in the world of 
work the Finns wish to make a concrete 
reality of the principle of the lifelong 
apprenticeship 
Member States are seeking operational 
instruments in their efforts to improve the 
current level of recognition of qualifications. The 
Netherlands, for instance, have set up a fund for 
innovation in technology and vocational training. 
Belgium is planning to set up an observatory for 
the labour market and qualifications. 
Efforts targeting the SMEs 
It is well known that there are problems of access 
to continuing training for the SMEs and their 
employees. The Member States have logically 
•enough stepped up aid programmes targeted at 
SMEs. Assistance is aimed at training 
counselling, the analysis of training requirements, 
etc. 
The Finnish project entitled "a skilled Finland" 
clearly illustrates the ambitions and the 
challenges. The general trend is towards the preparation and 
testing of specific programmes, the mobilisation 
of awareness-raising and empowerment 
campaigns, and the creation of specific 
institutions. There is also a trend towards a more 
flexible, more adaptable and more customised 
training provision. 
The UK has introduced a number of initiatives 
like "Skills for Small Businesses", and "Skills 
Challenge", to help small firms to overcome 
barriers to training. The "Small Firms Training 
Loans" scheme is designed to provide funding 
for these companies with a view to training. The 
Netherlands launched a specific programme -
VRIJMARKT - in 1994, targeting the SMEs.. 
Several types of sandwich training are also being 
tried out, such as the SME-based training targeted 
at pupils in higher vocational education. Actions 
targeting the SMEs are also a priority in Spain. 
Germany underlines the need for regional co­
operation to ensure qualitative and quantitative 
provision for meeting demands, especially from 
the SMEs, and boost interaction between 
economic development and the labour market. To 
meet the needs of the SMEs training methods are 
designed to be integrated into work, i.e. the 
business sector, and continuing vocational 
training dovetail. 
France has also intensified action, although it 
acknowledges that success of some of these 
16 
measures have been modest, e.g. the system of 
government aid for the replacement of certain 
employees undergoing training. Other measures 
are strictly financial in nature such as tax credit 
for training to act as a tax incentive to companies 
to increasing their training expenditure annually.. 
Austria also notes the importance of fiscal 
measures. 
Luxembourg: 
Preparation of a new framework law on 
CVT The SMEs can send their employees for training 
at short notice. This approach makes for optimum 
use of the equipment of training establishments as 
the rotation of training takes place in a continuous 
and differentiated manner at the same time. 
The importance of the regional dimension is 
illustrated by Finland with its regional bureaux 
which are answerable to the Ministry of Industry 
and Commerce and which provide counselling 
and service on the basis of a range of 
programmes such as "ProStart, Kunto", etc. 
The Luxembourg government is setting up 
new structures to address continuing 
vocational training. The government's view is 
that general provisions are needed and that 
care must be taken not to stifle the emerging 
momentum of this market by excessively 
centralised and excessively binding 
measures. The government has therefore 
opted to play a role to co-ordinate and help 
define a framework within which the market 
can develop. 
On the basis of an opinion drafted by the 
Economic and Social Council, an 
interministerial group is in the process of 
preparing a bill of law which will lead to 
overall provisions for the continuing 
vocational training market in Luxembourg on 
four fundamental points: 
• the funding of continuing vocational 
training by the company, by employees 
and by the State; 
• the conditions of access to continuing 
vocational training for everyone; 
• methods of protecting investment in 
continuing vocational training for 
companies to avoid poaching by non-
training enterprises; 
• certification of training modules. Germany: 
Lern-Netzwerk - a CVT network for 
Bavaria 
Bavaria is currently setting up a Lern-
Netzwerk, i.e. A CVT network, using modern 
information and communication technology, 
for medium-sized metal-working and 
electronics companies. This model project 
involves the preparation installation of 
distance teaching applications in local firms. 
The aim of the network is to move the burden 
of in-house training, outside .Rural areas 
which have problems of access to CVT 
provision are a particular focus. 
Another interesting initiative is that undertaken in 
the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium and which 
is based on a government agreement spanning 
1995-99 and involving financial incentives to 
encourage the investment of private and 
Community finds in vocational training measures 
at company level. 
Lastly, multi-media teaching and, to some extent, 
distance teaching are frequently mentioned as 
ways of catering for the specific needs of the 
SMEs. 
Denmark considers that it is essential, if the 
SMEs are to take up the training opportunities 
available by the public authorities, to structure 
training provision in a more effective, more 
flexible and more customised manner thanks to 
better management of the market and increased 
competition between vocational training 
providers. 
The "job rotation" projects are part of this 
approach, as are the "open workshop models" 
which are currently being developed and which 
will be the precursors of individualised training. A new strategic role for continuing 
training. 
Legislation L236/93 introduced a contribution of 0 
.03% of the enterprise wage bill for the 
development of vocational training. The recent 
1996 agreement, concluded between the 
government and the social partners, further 
specifies the role and position of vocational 
training. 
" continuing training provides a new strategic role 
for training and affirms the citizen's right to 
17 
qualifications and to the enrichment of their 
proper vocational competencies. " 
• The agreement specifies general goals for 
creating the right conditions for ensuring 
access to lifelong learning. The agreement 
foresees: 
• The gradual introduction of a levy of 0.03% of 
the wage bill to develop continuing training in 
co-operation with the social partners. 
• Creation of new possibilities of adaptation by 
insertion of national level agreements and 
annual plans of the social partners, into the 
level of the enterprise. 
• Reaffirmation of the right to education and 
training for adults, by optimising the current 
contractual instruments on training leave and 
sabbaticals. 
Reorientation , remotivation, and training 
measures, which address the needs of the 
unemployed and those threatened by exclusion, 
and also the need to improve of the employment 
services are also foreseen. 
A further very interesting innovation is the 
establishment of alternating training and work, 
(work and apprenticeship contracts), introduced 
within a clear and coherent strategy of promotion 
and support of employment. The double status of 
these contracts helps in making the distinctions 
between initial vocational training and continuing 
training at work, less limiting. 
Another trend is to set up institutions, very often 
quasi-public, to provide support and backup for 
these companies in order to promote more 'tailor-
made' solutions. In 1992, Luxembourg, for 
instance, set up on a legal basis the INFPC, a 
national institute for the development of 
continuing vocational training. Similarly, 
Ireland, on the basis of the labour law of 1987, 
set up the FAS (national training and employment 
authority) in order to promote the training of 
employees in Ireland and provide the training 
needed by unemployed persons. A similar 
approach is being pursued in Portugal where 
tripartite public institutions such as the Institute 
for Employment and Vocational Training (IEVT) 
or the Observatory for Employment and 
Vocational Training, provide support for the 
business sector in human resource planning and 
in implementing a vocational training policy. National strategies on these points, especially in 
the Cohesion countries, have in many cases 
drawn in the support of the European Social 
Fund, especially in relation to the impact of 
industrial change on workers skills. Objective 4 
of the structural funds in particular (including the 
ADAPT Community Initiative), is providing 
about 4 Bio ECU during 1994-99 for training and 
re-training actions, development of training 
systems, and mechanisms for the anticipation of 
the skills and training implications of industrial 
change. 
1.2.3 Access taking account individual 
requirements, Access to training 
through individual initiatives 
Matching training to individual worker 
requirements is another crucial factor. It raises 
several problems. How to stimulate continuing 
vocational training by companies while at the 
same time taking account of the specific situation 
of the workers of these companies (Objective 3)? 
How to allow workers to assess their training 
requirements (Objective 1)1 and lastly what 
opportunities are there for individuals to organise 
their training on their own initiative? 
It must of course be pointed out that throughout 
the Member States every employee can at his/her 
own expense enrol for all sorts of training. This 
training very often corresponds to leisure 
activities and is organised by cultural associations 
or local education authorities. Language training 
is one example. Other typical examples, which 
have long tradition, are activities organised by the 
Volkshochschulen in Germany or the Open 
Universities in the United Kingdom or the 
Netherlands, adult education in Luxembourg 
and United Kingdom, the second qualifying path 
way in Austria or the senior citizens university in 
France. Such cases can entail vocational training 
and may link with occupational activities but will 
not necessarily have a direct impact on career 
progression. 
In the UK, within the Employee Development 
Scheme, employers (c. 800 companies) provide 
additional funding for employees to undertake a 
learning activity of their choice. These schemes 
.are often set up by employers as a means of 
attracting people who generally get least training. 
It should be noted that the above analyses only 
covers vocational training activities, from the 
18 
point of view of the occupational needs of the 
individual. It is worth pointing out that the 
tangible opportunities for personal initiative in 
completing one's training are small. More often 
than not the training decision lies with the 
employer. 
Training leave as an instrument to 
promote access to continuing training 
Training leave is commonly presented as part of 
the main arrangements in favour of access to 
continuing training. Some Member States thus 
provide for the possibility of non-active status in 
the form of training leave on a legal basis 
(France, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, certain 
Lander in Germany, etc.) or through collective 
agreements (Denmark,). 
Non-active status may take the form of training 
days, or be based on more ambitious models such 
as systems of job rotation as practised in certain 
Scandinavian Member States. 
Not all configurations of training leave are a 
success. Belgium, for instance, looks to improve 
the efficiency of its paid training leave system 
which was set up by the Law of 22 January 1985. 
The provision has therefore been amended by 
fixing a ceiling on remuneration payable and a 
reduction in the number of hours of leave. There 
are also strong reservations on training leave in 
Germany. 
In Denmark, the right to (unpaid) training leave 
for a maximum of two weeks yearly emerged 
from the 1993 agreements in the private 
employment sector. Under agreements with the 
State, training leave on full pay was introduced in 
1993 and 1995. Also noteworthy is the system of 
150 hours in Italy. This measure dates back to the 
1970s and provides for an hourly budget for each 
worker for his own training. Those targeted are 
mainly the less qualified. Similarly, the 1992 
agreement in Spain provides for a system of paid 
training leave to cater for individual needs. 
Well-established in certain countries, but openly 
criticised in others, paid training leave as a way 
of increasing access to training is debated in 
Member States. Discussions were launched in 
September 1995 in the Netherlands on "Utility 
leave: an investment for the quality of work and 
care in the community". The Employment 
Foundation has yet to give its opinion on career 
breaks. The same is true in Luxembourg. An 
opinion has been drafted by the Economic and Social Council for final Government 
consideration. 
Assessment of skills 
The up-and-coming trend is towards recognition 
of skills. Mention has already been made of the 
UK's NVQs/SVQs. In 1997 the current 
assessment bodies will be merged into a 
"Qualifications and Curriculum Authority", with 
a view to generating consistency and quality in 
the approach to academic and vocational 
qualifications. 
Norway, in the meantime, has just set up skills 
assessment systems which provide certification 
irrespective of how the skills were required. The 
emphasis here is placed on the development of 
models for the assessment of skills as the basis 
for improving access to vocational training 
activities. Italy stresses the worthwhile nature of 
a Community project: "individual skills 
portfolio". 
In Belgium, promotion of civic teaching is used 
to develop a system of tests which will make it 
possible to enhance the skills acquired through 
work experience and to help workers attest to 
their real level of qualification. In Norway, with 
the reform of the higher secondary cycle, the 
importance of the 'master tradesman's certificate 
has also been increased. It is thus possible to 
have one's level of skill recognised on the basis 
of occupational experience in a practical or 
theoretical branch. 
Ireland has set up a national system, TEASTAS, 
designed to create a national certificate structure 
covering all non-university higher-level training 
and continuing training. 
Developments covering definition of individual 
requirements and the assessment of such 
requirements are leading to the establishment of 
centres for the assessment of individual training 
requirements. A approaches exist, the most 
common being skills assessments. 
In certain Member States like Belgium and 
Luxembourg, training establishments have 
started offering this type of service to the 
business sector and to individuals. The trade 
unions apparently are increasingly supporting this 
approach, particularly in the case of people who 
have just lost their jobs. 
19 
In order to facilitate the assessment of workers' 
continuing vocational training requirements, 
France's law of 31 December 1991 introduced 
the skills assessment as an instrument at the 
service of companies and workers alike. Nearly 
five years on, this service is gradually gathering 
pace in the world of vocational training, 
particularly with the availability of the 
opportunity for employees to have their skills 
assessment funded individually and outside 
working time. 
Denmark has adopted a slightly different tack. 
Since 1995 the AMU'* has been proposing a 
completely new type of activity which consists of 
clarifying individual skills, an activity which can 
be incorporated into the follow-up of long-term 
training leading to qualifications. Similarly, as 
previously mentioned, "open workshop courses" 
have been introduced, and these start with an 
assessment of the levels and continue with an 
tailored learning. 
The TECs12 and the LECs13 in the UK have, in 
the interests of regular assessment of training 
requirements, instituted programmes such as 
Gateways to Learning in order to have a network 
of guidance organisations - the purpose being to 
promote supply and demand for guidance. 
Another programme, Skill choice, uses a system 
of a recognition and accreditation of 
qualifications and prior guidance measures. 
1.2.4 Access and retraining of workers 
In the interests of a proactive approach, 
Finland's Law on the contract of employment 
stipulates that employers must organise training if 
this makes it possible to avoid redundancy or 
laying off an employee by redeployment within 
the company. In Sweden the Employers' 
Organisation and the General Labour 
Confederation have stepped up their 
arrangements and set up a reserve fund to 
increase training which target workers facing a 
risk of unemployment. 
' AMU = Adult Vocational Training. 
12 TEC = Training and Enterprise Council. 
'-* LEC = Local Enterprise Council. By way of illustration, France provides support 
for projects which are part of a strategic 
development approach. These are negotiated 
mostly between the social partners at 
occupational branch level where the questions of 
modernisation and competitiveness can be raised 
globally and coherently. They run for several 
years so as to form part of training within a 
medium term plan. They can also be concluded at 
local level, particularly with inter-sectoral 
organisations as part of a local economic 
development approach. The system is based on 
State aid. 
Portugal has introduced a number of 
programmes and actions to adapt the active 
population to technological and organisational 
change, and to develop retraining of unemployed 
persons or employees facing the risk of 
unemployment. Such action is usually prepared 
jointly by the companies and by the Institute for 
Employment and Vocational Training and is 
supported by the second CSF and the multi-
annual employment programme. 
In the United Kingdom the promotion of training 
is done at sector level through the Industry 
training organisations (ITO). They are intended 
to monitor future skills and training requirements, 
develop occupational standards and provide 
encouragement for employers with regard to 
training. 
The Netherlands ESF Objective 4 especially 
targets less-qualified workers and activities to 
encourage this group of employees to participate 
in training. 
1.2.5 Access to training for a specific 
target groups 
It is very significant that the Member States 
appear to have opted for specific programmes 
targeting population groups like the least-
qualified, women, young people and the long-
term unemployed. 
ESF Objective 4 programmes in seven countries 
specifically target those most at risk of exclusion 
from ongoing training. Here we see for example (i) 
the French accent on identifying those most at 
risk, whether because of their low qualification 
level, those whose job functions are disappearing, 
and those at mid-career point; (ii) the Dutch 
targeting non-indigenous workers with language 
20 
weaknesses in view of the increasing importance of 
communication skills in our complex industrial 
environment; and (iii) the Finnish targeting 
outdated skills within the older age groups. 
Specific measures targeting the least 
qualified 
All Member States are introducing specific 
measures and specific teaching tools targeting a 
range of groups, e.g. the functionally illiterate, 
low-schooled adults or the disabled. The steps 
taken to promote access to vocational training 
reflect a concern among political decision-makers 
and workers' representatives alike to give priority 
to the vocational training of the least-qualified 
categories. The trade unions are also anxious to 
give preferential access to training to workers 
facing the risk of unemployment or workers 
whose employability is low. In 1995 Finland, for 
example, set up a tripartite committee to find 
answers which would involve all the players. 
The UK government feels that the acquiring of 
basic skills is the foundation for satisfactory 
subsequent occupational development. 
Substantial financial resources are earmarked 
annually to fund initiatives and infrastructures, 
under the aegis of the Department of Education 
and Employment. The aim is to encourage the 
acquisition of basic skills by population groups 
facing the risk of exclusion from the labour 
market. The Basic Skills Agency is one such 
example, the idea being to establish a national 
strategy to rise to this challenge. This initiative 
was in 1995 expanded to cover basic training at 
the place of work for the unemployed and for 
young people, and also includes a Family 
Literacy Initiative. 
Along similar lines, the measures, programmes, 
initiatives, regulations and legal provisions in the 
various Member States, e.g. support schemes for 
the unemployed in Belgium or the personalised 
teaching workshops in France. Their task is to 
provide every school-leaver additional, general or 
technological basic or individual training leave 
for those who wish to obtain a basic qualification. 
Substantial effort is being made in Denmark 
inter alia to improve the living conditions of 
people with reading difficulties. The National 
Education Ministry now offers reading tuition 
free of charge to these people. 
There are short-term and long-term measures, 
updating of knowledge or basic qualifications, which are part-financed from the Structural 
Funds, notably Portugal. 
In the Netherlands the combination of training 
and working experience is considered a very 
effective instrument in the effort to upgrade 
qualifications. For example, a level will be 
created under elementary apprenticeship, the 
assistant-level, because this can be helpful for the 
least qualified to attain an elementary level 
(notably, with a view to their position in the 
labour market). 
Specific measures targeting women 
Specific measures for this target group are 
organised generally by the public authorities, 
local agencies, social institutions or third sector 
organisations, and are intended to create 
appropriate structures to facilitate the access and 
involvement of women in vocational training. 
These measures include vocational guidance, 
preparation for working life and the organisation 
of child-minding facilities. 
In most Member States, these measures are 
publicly funded and/or part-funded by European 
programmes and initiatives targeting women 
facing the risk of unemployment, unemployed 
women, and women in the process of being 
occupationally integrated. 
There are different models for the management of 
all these actions. Belgium, for instance, has 
adopted legislation in this area (Royal Decrees of 
14.07.87 for the private sector and 27.02.90 for 
the public sector), and in France equal access for 
men and women to vocational training is one of 
the points on which the social partners are 
obliged to negotiate at least every five years. The 
UK and Ireland also earmark special funds for 
the development of programmes for women 
returners, including child-minding arrangements 
for parents who intend to return to work, and 
loans to women to pay the cost of courses and 
crèche facilities. In Norway, equal opportunities 
is one of the fundamental premises of the law on 
adult education. Spain has set up an institute to 
address issues specifically affecting women in 
this area. 
21 
Ireland: 
Action programme targeting 
women, initiated by the FAS 
The National Training and Employment 
Authority (FAS) first started up its action 
programme for women in 1990 in an 
endeavour to redress the labour market 
balance which was largely unfavourable to 
women. 
It has subsequently been adapted yearly. 
The programme sets out to: 
1. improve and broaden out the range of 
job opportunities open to women; 
2. help women to solve specific problems 
they face on the labour market; 
3. minimise all existing practices which 
hitherto generated inequality between 
men and women. 
The FAS 1995 action programme shows 
that the involvement of women in training 
and employment programmes has 
increased everywhere and a further 
progress has been made in new areas of 
training and in the involvement in 
employment in collective enterprises. In 
1996-97 the FAS will continue to adopt 
measures to increase the take-up by 
women of training in areas where they are 
under-represented and to raise the current 
level of women's qualifications. also making an important contribution in this 
area. 
Specific measures targeting young people 
Three major trends emerge here: the development 
of types of apprenticeship to encourage 
occupational integration, increased responsibility 
devolved to the regions and to local level, and 
measures targeting companies which give young 
people contracts. Lastly, it is worth stressing that 
the concept of 'second chance' schools has got 
off the ground. 
Encouraging access of and participation by young 
people having insufficient or inappropriate 
qualifications remains a major concern for all 
Member States, many of which have instituted 
reforms on apprenticeship in recent years which 
have often led to the introduction of new 
sandwich training channels, and to the raising of 
the age of the apprentices. One of the trends to 
watch is the gradual opening out of the 
apprenticeship system to all levels of technical 
diplomas, particularly at post-secondary level. In 
most cases, the education world makes proposals 
on the access of young people to vocational 
training, but tangible achievements are 
increasingly often obtained with the support and 
co-operation of the business world. 
Germany: 
Action programme targeting young 
talent/grant-holders 
Some Member States, e.g. Denmark, point out 
that the debate on equal opportunities for men 
and women is changing nature. The general level 
of training shows that women are now better 
trained than men. However, Denmark continues 
to organise a whole range of actions targeting 
specifically the female public as part of general 
basic training for adults, e.g. day schools for 
women, open data consultation rooms, etc. 
Finland shares this analysis. Equality would 
appear to be ensured under support measures for 
social policy. 
It should also be noted that Member States 
generally co-finance actions in favour of 
women's access to vocational training by way of 
the structural funds whose regulations envisage 
and reinforce respect for and promotion of the 
principle of equal opportunities between men and 
women. Complementary to this, the NOW strand 
of the EMPLOYMENT Community Initiative is In 1991 Germany introduced the 
Begabtenfôrderung berufliche Bildung 
programme for skilled young persons and 
young employees who are particularly 
good at their jobs. Upon completion of 
their VT under the 'dual system', those 
awarded a Begabtenfôrderung grant can 
broaden their occupational knowledge 
according to their requirements through 
continuing VT (e.g. language tuition, 
computer skills, politics, economics). 
Spain encourages in-company placements as a 
way of promoting the occupational integration of 
young people. 
The third sector, it has to be said, also plays a 
vital role when it comes to young people, by 
contributing to the promotion of various solutions 
for combining work experience and socio-
occupational integration. 
22 
In this way several projects in the various 
Member States seek to set up procedures for 
vocational guidance and training leading to 
qualifications for jobless young people, many of 
them from high-risk inner-city areas. Procedures 
to develop and improve training and integration 
pathways for young people through specific 
vocational curricula also exist. 
Other Member States, e.g. Greece, have 
introduced education and training channels of the 
'second chance' type, targeting young people 
who left the school system without any basic 
qualifications. 
The Brussels region in Belgium has started up a 
system of vocational transition payments in order 
to encourage the recruitment and training of job 
seekers aged under 26 who have no higher 
secondary school qualification or who have been 
unemployed for a minimum of six months. 
This trend has also emerged in France, where 
there are specific measures for young people aged 
16-25 through the 'qualification contract' 
intended for those who were unable to obtain a 
qualification during their school careers or whose 
level of qualification would not get them into a 
job. 
Many Member States have specific measures to 
ensure that young people who had no training can 
do so in order to give them occupational skills. 
These measures are part of broader employment 
programmes, e.g. Denmark. 
There has been a wide range of approaches 
developed on this front in the UK, which in 1995 
launched the Modem Apprenticeship, an initiative 
based on a partnership between the government 
and the business sector with the objective of 
improving the occupational, technical and 
managerial skills of young people. It is planned to 
start up a programme entitled "Relaunch 
Strategy" in 1997 to encourage young people 
from age fourteen upwards to take part in local 
partnership projects, to encourage them to stay in, 
or come back in to learning. 
Under the Youth Work Guarantee Act in the 
Netherlands, people under 23 who have been 
unemployed for a period of six months are 
offered a temporary job, training or a 
combination of both. In order to make the 
apprenticeship system more attractive to 
companies as the intake dropped considerably 
since 1991, a new measure was introduced in 1996. The measure provides companies with a 
grant for every apprentice they agree to train. 
This is paid indirectly by means of a reduction in 
the social insurance contribution for the 
apprentice. 
In Italy legislation on apprenticeship is in 
progress, which establishes a link between 
external training leading to a qualification, and 
training within the enterprise with the help of a 
tutor. State aid is limited to seeking evidence that 
training is taking place. 
Specific measures targeting the long term 
unemployed 
Finland, for instance, notes that vocational 
training for workers is a major tool in an active 
employment policy which it is financing through 
the employment administration. 
The long-term unemployed or unemployed 
persons aged over 50 have been the focus of 
special attention. Several programmes attempt, as 
in France, to combine training measures with 
occupational integration measures, more often 
than not through work placements in companies. 
This is one way of acquiring new qualifications, 
which in many cases are basic qualifications, 
combined with some work experience. Specific 
measures have also recently been introduced for 
the supervisory categories. 
Finland two years ago introduced the KEKO 
training whereby an unemployed person can 
undertake 6-9 months training while continuing 
to receive his/her unemployment benefit. This is 
undertaken within a regional context., The worker 
can thus have the advantage of a grant to pursue 
studies under a training and redundancy fund. A 
recent trend seeks to encourage employers, 
through financial incentives, to recruit people or 
job seekers, by getting them to contribute to their 
training. In Belgium, France and the 
Netherlands, employers can benefit from a 
reduction in social charges in the event of 
recruitment of unemployed persons. 
In Denmark, special attention is also given to 
training which provide unemployed persons with 
skills. The Danes concentrate on the quality of 
such training, the way in which this action is co­
ordinated and on individual action plans. This 
basic approach goes hand in hand with a range of 
facilities. Another feature is that the fight against 
unemployment is increasingly regionalised and 
placed in the hands of regional and local 
23 
institutions. In Denmark, the labour market 
regional councils decide on which facilities to 
use. These include the job rotation or substitution 
system which is often used in Denmark and the 
Scandinavian States, Sweden and Norway. 
Greece and Luxembourg have vocational 
training centres whose tasks include the provision 
of long or short-term training programmes, 
training actions leading to a qualification or 
retraining actions, school actions and work 
placements. In many instances, the activities 
undertaken in this area by the public authorities 
are supplemented by measures by the employers 
federation, the trade unions or the third sector 
associations. Specific arrangements for certain 
types of unemployed persons are usually 
provided for. The same is the case of Portugal 
where the second CSF provides for support 
measures for the reintegration. of unemployed 
people on the labour market, such as the 
INTEGRAR programme which is designed to 
achieve the socio-occupational integration of 
long-term unemployed people through specific or 
additional training actions. This second CSF also 
makes provision for specific measures for other 
target groups facing the risk of being excluded 
, from the labour market. 
Several initiatives have been set up in the UK in 
order to increase the level of employability of 
unemployed people. An example is the Training 
for work programme which targets the long-term 
unemployed and the objective of which is to find 
them a job, improve their occupational skills, and 
provide them with a mix of skills which includes 
those ' linked with national and vocational 
qualifications. A similar approach Community 
employment has been pursued in Ireland. It is 
based on neighbourhood projects for unemployed 
people and provides part-time jobs mainly for the 
long-term unemployed and gives an opportunity 
for all those who are the worst placed in relation 
to the labour market. 
In the Netherlands, a couple of measures has 
been taken to improve the labour market position 
of the long-term unemployed. Within the 
Employment Service there is a measure 'Sectoral 
Training for Unemployed Grants Scheme'' 
(BBSW) which provides grants to enable 
jobseekers to train for work in specific sectors. 
The sector in question has to provide a training 
plan to the Central Employment Service Board. 
Some Member States also have programmes 
designed to provide training and assistance to unemployed persons intending to set up in 
business. 
1.2.6 Access and the new partnerships 
This developments are characterised by 
decentralisation as reflected by increasing 
responsibility at the regional and local levels. It 
entails adjusting vocational training provision to 
the specific requirements of the regional and local 
companies ana also the setting up of appropriate 
arrangements and infrastructures. The advantage 
of this approach is also that it permits much 
closer co-operation between the local authorities, 
the training organisations, the teaching and 
research establishments and companies, 
particularly the SMEs. For many Member States, 
the approach also means setting up regional 
training networks, partly in order to provide the 
information and instruments needed for the 
smooth development of training measures in 
companies. 
Decentralisation of continuing vocational training 
is thus a major trend in Germany. 
Furthermore, continuing vocational training as a 
factor of regional and local development naturally 
fits into the framework of the general instruments 
represented by the regional vocational training 
development plans. Analysis of local 
requirements and dissemination of information 
are tasks which in certain countries, e.g. France 
and Greece, are carried out by regional 
employment observatories generally jointly 
organised and funded by the government and the 
regional authorities. The structures also have to 
act as back up organisations for training 
establishments in order to match up training 
provision and the specific local and regional 
requirements. 
The active labour market policy in Denmark, 
Finland, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Belgium and 
the Netherlands shows a similar trend towards a 
régionalisation with the setting up of regional 
labour market councils combining occupational 
integration measures and training. These councils 
are more often than not made up of 
representatives of the social partners, the 
municipal authorities and prefectures, and their 
task is to organise the efforts being made on the 
Jabour market front. These committees ensure 
that companies have the labour force they need 
and contribute to preventing and reducing long-
term unemployment. The arrangements available 
24 
include training, guidance and preparation for 
employment. 
Denmark: 
(Social partners' initiatives 
In order to step up continuing training in 
the SMEs, the social partners in Denmark 
have set up a range of training planning 
models such as "AIDA", "VIRUM", 
"MEKHON" or "SUM" through collective 
agreements. 
The trade unions have thus developed 
and funded jointly the SUM concept 
(strategic development of labour), an 
instrument to analyse qualifications and 
training planning in companies. The SUM 
method is frequently used as a planning 
tool in Denmark. A secretariat has been 
set up to sell these tools and also to train 
"SUM consultants" who are selected from 
the trainers of the vocational teaching 
establishments and the AMU centres 
before receiving spécifie training and then 
sent to companies where they propose 
training planning in order to adjust 
provision as closely as possible to actual 
requirements. 
The SUM system is based on two 
fundamental principles: 
1. co-operation between management 
and employees and jointly taking on 
board of the SUM method, 
2. a relentless drive to bring the SMEs 
and training providers as close 
together as possible through the SUM 
consultants and thus set up 
partnerships. These consultants are 
also called upon to take part in 
creation of networks of SMEs so that 
the latter can together make the best 
use of the training on offer. 
Similarly, Portugal has set up a network of local 
consultants to promote the industrial development 
of the SMEs through training programmes 
leading to qualifications adapted to their actual 
needs. 
This same route is being followed by the UK 
through the setting up locally of the TECs/LECs 
which can adapt the national programmes 
instituted by the government to the local level, and even organise local measures which are 
particularly adapted to local requirements. In the 
Flemish-speaking part of Belgium new players 
are emerging on the scene, mainly private 
initiatives acting as an interface between the 
world of work on the one hand and the training 
organisations and teaching establishments on the 
other. Generally speaking, the establishment of 
networks is a major component in the building up 
of the vocational training system in Flemish-
speaking Belgium, bringing together the 
activities of training organisations, teaching 
establishments and companies in order to provide 
added value through joint projects. 
Flemish-speaking Belgium: 
An example of inter-company training 
Alcatel's further technical training 
('postgraduate technique') is primarily 
intended for highly qualified employees 
who have held a diploma for a number of 
years. This intensive and comprehensive 
programme gives them the opportunity to 
update their knowledge as a function of 
what is taught today in higher education 
and universities. The training is module-
based: those taking part themselves 
decide on the programme they wish to 
pursue as a function of the subject area 
selected. These cycles are also accessible 
to the employees of other companies and 
may be undertaken on the spot or on a 
distance basis through a video-conference 
system. 
1.2.7 Access through new technologies 
The principle of open, flexible and individualised 
training is on the political agenda in nearly all the 
Member States as a way to improve access to 
training to a broader public. Efforts are being 
stepped up to develop self-training methods at the 
place of work and open and distance learning, 
making increasing use of new technologies such 
as computer-assisted teaching or multimedia 
learning systems. Needless to say, the potential of 
an Internet-driven learning system is being 
analysed more or less everywhere, along with 
other measures to incorporate the new 
technologies in the distance learning process. 
Accordingly, several Member States (Norway, 
UK, Flemish-speaking Belgium,...) have put 
distance education and the use of information 
25 
technologies at the top of their agendas. The 
Finnish Directorate General of Education 
undertook between 1991 and 1995 an ambitious 
project (OPINNET) aimed at establishing more 
open, more flexible and more technology-attuned 
environments for adult training leading to 
qualifications. 
In order to secure the success of the introduction 
of new technologies into the training process, the 
development of teaching and learning methods 
which are more appropriate is a concern which is 
being taken over particularly by distance teaching 
and training organisations which already exist, as 
in France, where mention should be made of the 
work of the National Distance Teaching Centre. 
This establishment organises basic training 
courses and continuing vocational training 
courses. Many Member States have just set up 
specific institutions with this in mind. In this 
connection. It can thus be claimed that virtually 
all training practitioners employed in teaching 
research centres, technological transfer 
establishments, teaching, universities and trade 
unions, are busy designing computer-assisted 
courses or courses designed using other 
multimedia techniques. From a technical 
organisation point of view, it is worth mentioning 
endeavours made to make available premises 
equipped with computers which are open to 
everyone and which have software suitable for 
self-tuition, as in Belgium with the FORESPACE 
in Brussels which provides opportunities for 
computer-assisted self-tuition for workers and job 
seekers in the region. In addition, the Flemish 
Ministry of Education intends to overhaul 
distance teaching by supporting a new open 
university consortium bringing together the main 
higher education establishments in order to 
develop a new approach and a new methodology 
in this field. 
In Denmark, the Centre for Technology-Assisted 
Training (CTU) set up in 1995 provides support 
for the transition of training establishments, 
collecting and disseminating information and 
experience, and contributing to the emergence of 
decentralised expertise. The AMU system has 
developed and implemented an extensive training 
system in and with information technology. The 
development of new multimedia and innovatory 
tools is in many instances supported by the public 
authorities and recognised as an advantage when 
it comes to earmarking funds, as is the case in 
Greece. Many sectors of activity are also developing tools 
.which use the new technologies. The services 
sector, particularly with banks as in 
Luxembourg and Portugal, is a good example. 
The preference in Portugal is to introduce new 
technologies as training tools, particularly as part 
of the new training programme for the SMEs or 
through the employment and vocational training 
institute by setting up new teaching software and 
multimedia methods. 
Since the early 1980s, the UK has also been 
building up an efficient open and 'distance 
training infrastructure in order to broaden out the 
opportunities for access to distance training by 
establishing wider provision in support of training 
investment both by companies and by 
individuals. The main examples are the National 
Extension College, The Open College and The 
Open University. The British Government is also 
provided support in recent years for a large 
number of research initiatives and programmes in 
order to further open up distance learning 
opportunities, particularly by using the new 
technologies in an educational context. 
1.3 Diverging positions of the 
social partners 
The Recommendation introduced a major 
innovation as regards methods. In parallel with 
the Member States, the social partners 
organisations within the Community social 
dialogue are also involved in the process of 
preparatory reports for the Commission 
assessment. 
Procedures 
ETUC and UNICE-CEEP - have quite 
independently defined the process and 
methodology for their report. It is interesting to 
note that arrangements for consultation of the 
national organisations have been made for 
employers and employees organisations alike. 
This consultation process has proved largely 
positive and the reports drawn up at Community 
level provide useful pointers in appreciating the 
links between Community action and the 
development of action by the social partners at 
Member State level or, to a lesser extent, 
company level. 
26 
Moreover, the two reports have sought to make 
the best use of the common tool introduced at the 
Community level in the form of the social 
dialogue support arrangement on vocational 
training (cf. Chapter 1). The results of this 
arrangement have been used to frame the 
assessment of the social partners on sensitive 
points concerning developments in continuing 
training arrangements, notably in areas of 
common interest defined by the arrangement, and 
in case where promising cases of innovation can 
be highlighted. 
It has to be borne in mind, however, that 
information on the analysis of initiatives by the 
social partners within each Member State could 
not be comprehensively and systematically 
collected for this first reporting exercise, even 
though significant innovations would seem to be 
emerging. 
ETUC report 
• With regard to the impact of the 
Recommendation, the ETUC concludes that 
"in most Member States, the Council 
Recommendation is not well knowvH\ It also 
points out that it saw no evidence of specific 
government steps to implement the 
Recommendation. As regards the nature of the 
Community instruments, the ETUC states: 
"the Recommendation has had no direct 
impact". increased take-up of training. The report here 
makes a direct link with changes in work 
organisation at company level and the general 
trend towards quality. The report quotes a 
number of agreements signed at company 
level which tend to confirm this. 
The enterprises cases 
(support arrangements) 
Unibon-ltaly 
Continuing training requirements linked to 
the application of ISO 9 000 standards 
and keener competition. Application of a 
multiplier principle whereby the group 
leaders develop quality ideas and pass on 
their experiences to the members of the 
daily working groups. 
Lansfôrsakringer Uppsala (Sweden): as 
part of a new client-and quality-orientated 
configuration of work organisation, all the 
employees of the department concerned 
undergo informal continuing training and 
even organise this process themselves. 
ABB Motorenfabrik (Denmark): 
securing competitiveness by introducing 
working groups which manage themselves 
by developing skills which overlap and by 
making training mandatory for al! 
employees. 
• With regard to the general appreciation of 
trends, the ETUC report concludes: "in most 
Member States, no real progress concerning 
access to training seems to have been made". 
The ETUC recognises that there is a.greater 
level of awareness on the issue but that access 
has not become a common and strategic 
political question. The report adds that in 
many Member States, "public funds for 
training activities have been cut back so that 
conditions for access have deteriorated'. 
• On a positive note, however, the ETUC states 
that "in some countries important movements 
with impact to improve access to training 
have taken place'". The report thus identifies 
around 10 countries (S, DK, Finn, E, F, A, D, 
P) in which it can be considered that 
significant initiatives have been taken on 
promoting access. 
• The ETUC report also observes that in certain 
sectors or at company level, there has been The report also highlights the fact that 
arrangements to assess employee training 
needs are inadequate in most Member States, 
and that the opportunity to obtain formal 
qualifications or some kind of - even partial -
recognition of achievement is an essential 
factor of motivation for and take-up of 
training. 
The report also reviews point by point the 
results for each of the Recommendation's 15 
objectives. The salient features of this detailed 
examination are: 
only a minority of companies implement 
formal training plans, but there are many 
experiments to prepare such plans and involve 
the employee; 
the existence of support or incentives for the 
SMEs or companies undergoing industrial 
change; 
the existence, particularly at regional and 
local levels, of information on the 
27 
requirements of companies and workers, even 
if partnerships to analyse these requirements 
are still far few and far between; 
arrangements exist to provide a flow of 
information to workers but they need to be 
made more widespread and more efficient; 
the inadequacy, particularly in the case of 
employees, of arrangements to assess 
individual requirements; 
all too frequently the vision of the links 
between training and changes in work 
organisation is excessively narrow; 
promising developments on training and 
teaching methods; 
a broadly shared concern for training the least 
qualified even if things are still slow to move; 
substantial effort to promote equal 
opportunities in continuing training; 
there are still considerable problems of access 
for young people who have no qualifications 
and no jobs; 
a decline in public training endeavour in 
respect of unemployed persons; the good 
example of the practice of job rotation; 
an intensification of transnational co­
operation on continuing training, stressing the 
problems for individual workers in gaining 
access to transnational courses. Denmark: 
job rotation 
With the Danish model of job rotation, 
employees following a continuing training 
course are replaced by job seekers 
recruited on a fixed term basis. This 
arrangement applies both under the 
company training plan and under the 
various opportunities for employee leave 
(parental leave, training leave and 
sabbatical leave). 
The procedure involves giving an 
unemployed person the job of a person 
undergoing training for the duration of the 
training. The objective is twofold: firstly to 
facilitate the task of workers wishing to 
take part in training and secondly to give 
unemployed persons the chance to 
replace a worker when the employee is 
undergoing training. These measures are 
funded either by direct grants or by 
reducing charges. But the fact remains is 
that it is mainly the public organisations 
which use the replacement system during 
training and preferably in the care and 
welfare sectors. The small companies in 
the private sector need to.take on board 
the benefits of using this system of 
replacements. 
As a general conclusion, the ETUC report 
identifies four major points with regard to follow-
up: 
• the progress achieved relates more to 
collective objectives of companies and not the 
individual needs of workers; 
• the ETUC's renewed resolve to develop the 
European Social Dialogue on access to 
continuing training; 
• in view of the low impact of the 
Recommendation, the Commission should be 
asked to submit a directive on access. This 
request is warranted by the developments and 
challenges Europe has to face: information 
society, new forms of work organisation, new 
technologies, the high level of unemployment 
and demographic change; 
• Member States should be urged to support the 
social partners at the national level in 
establishing arrangements and conditions 
28 
whereby open access to training may be 
achieved. 
UNICE/CEEP report 
• A general comment made by the employers' 
organisations is that "considerable progress 
has been made both at national and European 
levels within the last decade". 
• The report of the employers organisation 
stresses the objective set out in their many 
statements and declarations in order to "obtain 
and maintain a highly skilled and motivated 
workforce". It. also reiterates that the 
employers allocate "a huge amount of time 
and resources in training throughout the 
working life of an employee". 
• The report also stresses that the pre-report 
consultations highlighted many examples of 
different types of national co-operation 
between employers, workers and public 
authorities to promote access, and stresses the 
benefits of working together in this area. 
• The report points to the major contribution 
made by the joint opinions in this context and 
the fact that the most significant of these joint 
opinions relates to "the ways of facilitating the 
broadest possible effective access to training 
opportunities". The employers consider that 
this joint opinion is a framework within which 
current and future progress on access to 
continuing training can be achieved. 
• However, the report by the employers 
organisation also stresses that the scope of the 
Council Recommendation was very limited 
and had no influence on the substantial efforts 
made by the employers. The latter 
nevertheless are encouraged to see that certain 
points of the joint opinion have been reflected 
in the Recommendation. 
The consultation of the national organisations 
also provides useful pointers: 
• It is generally agreed that training is "an 
essential part of a company's strategy to be 
competitive in the market place". This trend is 
the result of market pressure, technological 
change and new working methods. 
• There is a consensus that "access to training 
has grown significantly throughout the 
Community". It needs to be emphasised that the general appreciations contained in the 
reports of the employers and the employees 
are diametrically opposed on the 
fundamental issue of how much progress 
has been achieved. 
• The employers' report contributes another 
fundamental dimension, i.e. the sectoral 
dimension. It concludes - on the basis of 
answers from the national federations - that 
many sectors have observed an increase in 
training both in public and private companies. 
In addition, the report finds that the 
deregulation in the public sector has led to 
increased competition and thus a rise in 
training. 
• An important point in this analysis relates to 
the drafting of training plans and programmes. 
The report maintains that if training is to be 
effective there must be clear objectives set in 
the training plans and programmes. 
Employers accept the idea that work still 
needs to be done for these plans to cater 
simultaneously for the immediate 
requirements of the business sector and the 
longer term requirements of human resource 
development. 
• Much progress seems to have been made on 
the information front, thanks to a variety of 
arrangements which include: "training 
committees, co-operation committees, 
collective agreements, works councils, and 
internal and external publicity". 
• The problem of the SMEs is stressed, pointing 
out that they have only limited internal 
resources to develop training and that they 
depend largely on outside assistance to 
facilitate training. The answers from the 
national organisations show that much 
progress has been made on this: many 
Member States have taken action to transfer 
expertise in forecasting, planning and delivery 
of training to the SMEs. Other Member States 
have earmarked a percentage of the national 
budget to develop training in the SMEs even 
if the latter frequently are unaware of the 
opportunities available to them. The report 
stresses the communication drive needed here. 
• The report stresses the endeavours made to 
cater for industrial change. 
• The report stresses that the results obtained in 
tailoring training supply and demand to the 
29 
regional and local levels are deemed 
unsatisfactory. Steps have been taken to 
institute joint work between companies and 
training organisations, national and/or 
regional observatories have been set up and 
information campaigns have been conducted. 
• Employees, according to the report, are 
increasingly becoming players in assessing 
their own training requirements. They can 
thus express their own needs, for instance 
through course assessments, surveys, in work 
circles and through performance assessments. 
• Training, production and the organisation of 
work must be constantly interlinked, 
according to the report, which points out that 
training methods are an ideal pathway for 
progress in companies, particularly by opting 
for modular-based training, multimedia tools 
and implementation of on-the-job training 
opportunities. 
• The problem of low-qualified workers is 
acknowledged. Employers accept the idea of 
specific actions to motivate and inform, but 
realise that much work is needed from those 
who have responsibilities for the development 
of individuals in this position to help them 
achieve their full potential. 
• The employers recognise that much progress 
has been made in recent years in opening up 
access to training for women in employment, 
as well as for those wishing to return to the 
labour market or enter it for the first time. 
Employers are co-operating increasingly 
closely with training providers in developing 
training leading to recognised qualifications 
for young people. Similarly, the report 
stresses that employers are playing an active 
part in the occupational integration of the 
unemployed by offering broad access to 
training. A wide range of arrangements are 
used in this connection. 
• The employers' report lays emphasis on five 
major issues they consider to be key issues in 
increasing access: the setting of quality 
standards, qualifications, vocational guidance, 
information and motivation. 
The report offers conclusions and 
recommendations urging employers and Member 
States or the Commission to focus their attention 
on certain matters: employers should continue to develop access 
to continuing training as a strategic part of 
company policy, to continue co-operation 
with the Member States and relevant 
organisations in developing training policies, 
to explore and develop good practice with the 
support of the appropriate organisations 
nationally and at the Community level. 
Member States should develop suitable 
training policies in conjunction with the 
employers and provide support for co­
ordination and dissemination of good practice 
nationally and at the European level. 
the Commission should work with the 
employers in opening up access to 
Community programmes, reduce the 
administrative burden, undertake studies for a 
better understanding and dissemination of 
good practice, follow up the work undertaken 
on vocational guidance and qualifications, and 
organise seminars on good practice with the 
support of the employers. 
30 
CHAPTER 2 
Towards a more ambitious venture for the Union: 
accessing skills 
2.1 Alternative to narrowing the 
major disparities within the 
Union 
1. Since the Council adopted the 
Recommendation in 1993 much new data 
has emerged to enhance our knowledge of 
the actual continuing training situation 
Union-wide and in Member States. This 
information, which is helping to fuel a new 
Community debate in this field, comes from 
two sources mainly: 
• the Community's Continuing Vocational 
Training Survey (CVTS), which was 
conducted in 1994, covered nearly 50 000 
firms and provided - for the first time ever -
comparable statistics on company policies in 
this field; 
• the national reports, drawn up by Member 
States in the course of implementing the 
Recommendation, mostly containing figures 
taken either from specific national surveys 
or from the national part of the Community 
survey. 
2. This report is limited to analysing the 
figures as they relate to the guidelines and 
aims set out in the Council Recommendation, i.e. general workforce 
access to continuing training, making 
continuing training more widespread in 
businesses, the nature and type of training 
used, differences by company size or 
activity sector. 
CVTS: 
main features 
This survey of continuing training in Europe was 
undertaken in 1994, taking 1993 as the reference 
year. Near-on 50 000 enterprises employing over 
10 people were sample-surveyed, excluding the 
sectors of agriculture, public administration, 
health and education, households employing 
domestic staff and extra-territorial bodies. In 
companies which organised training for their staff 
in 1993, the survey collected data on the 
participants and the courses involved. 
Average access rate 
3. The main finding is that given the 
Recommendation's general aim, i.e. "every 
worker of the European Community must be 
able to have access to vocational training 
and to benefit therefrom throughout his 
31 
working life", a lot remains to be done in 
respect of access to continuing training. The 
fact is that in 1993 - the reference year for 
the European survey - only slightly more 
than one worker in four (28%) underwent 
some kind of continuing training. 
Huge differences between Member 
States 
4. It should also be noted that the 
abovementioned Community average 
conceals widely divergent national access 
rates, ranging from 13% (P-GR) to 43% 
(IRL). 
Position in terms of 
access 
Above 
average EUR 12 
Near EUR 12 average 
Far below EUR 12 
average 
EUR 12 
28% average = Member 
States 
IRL, UK, F, 
DK 
NL, B, D, L 
E, I, P, GR 
5. The 1994 Community survey covered the 
EUR 12 countries. It is therefore more 
difficult to obtain a corresponding picture of 
the situation in the three new member 
countries Sweden, Finland and Austria. 
Nevertheless, the national reports these three 
countries drew up as part of implementing 
the Recommendation contain some data 
based on national statistics showing that: 
• Sweden and Finland are in the upper band 
of the first group of countries with 
participation rates greatly exceeding 40%^; 
• Austria is near the EUR 12 average. 
Therefore, annual participation in continuing 
training varies from one worker in eight for 
Member States where access is not so well 
In EUR 15 terms therefore, the upper access band 
should be above 50%. developed (P-GR), to one worker in two for 
Member States where access is more 
widespread (S-FIN). 
Company policies 
6. Further light is shed on these two general 
findings by the data available on company 
policies. After all, Objective 1 of Article 2 
of the Recommendation itself refers to 
company implementation of training plans 
and programmes as a key element in 
determining access results. 
On average across the Union 
implementation of training plans and 
programmes by firms, in other words the 
existence of a corporate policy on 
continuing training, has not yet become a 
generally widespread feature. The 
Community survey indicates that only 58% 
of companies - i.e. far less than two 
companies in three - can be considered to 
be of the "training" type, irrespective of 
the kind of training provided. 
Position in terms of 
corporate policy 
More or less a general 
feature 
(3 firms in 4) 
Near EU 12 average 
(about 2 firms in 3) 
Far below EUR 12 
average 
(less than 1 firm in 3) Member 
States 
DK, D, UK, 
IRL 
F, L, NL, B 
E, I, P, GR 
EUR 12 average: 58% 
1. Companies' policies on continuing training 
should draw on a combination of different 
types of training courses - sub-contracted 
out, in-house, on-the-job, seminars, self-
learning, etc. 
A more detailed analysis by type of training 
reveals that to about the same degree most 
enterprises (some 2/3 of "training" 
companies) either purchase outside training 
services or provide on-the-job training, 
Company size - a decisive factor 
32 
8. In most Member States, the rate of access 
to continuing training is directly related 
to company size. In EUR 12 terms, this rate 
varies progressively from 13% for firms 
with a workforce of from 10 to 49 
employees, to 43% for firms with over 1 000 
employees. This means that a worker in a 
company with over 1 000 employees is 
three times more likely to take part in 
some type of training than a worker in a 
firm with 10 to 49 employees. 
This considerable disparity is greater in 
countries such as Italy (from 2% to 31%), 
Spain (from 7% to 45%), Portugal (from 
5% to 32%) or even France (from 11% to 
54%). There is, however, one quite 
remarkable exception to the 
abovementioned positive correlation 
observed throughout the Union 
(EUR 12).This is Denmark, where the trend 
is turned upside down (a 37% access rate for 
companies with 10 to 49 employees 
compared with rates of around 34% for 
firms with 250 to 999 employees and a rate 
of 28% for firms with over 1000 
employees). Therefore, in Denmark 
company size does not appear to affect the 
probability of taking part in training^. 
Different sectoral policies 
9. The analysis of the level of access to 
continuing training also shows important 
disparities between sectors. Service sector 
activities, Banking, insurance, Post & 
Telecommunication, Water gas, 
Electricity showed higher percentage of 
workers undertaking training 57%, 53% and 
49% respectively. This contrasts sharply 
with the very low participation rate found in 
service activities such as Hotels and 
Restaurants, where the corresponding 
figure was approximately one in five. In the 
industrial sector the participation rate never 
rose above 35%, dropping to 15% in 
Construction and 8% in Textiles. 2.2 Towards readjustment of 
priorities in vocational training 
policies 
1. A great deal has changed since the Council 
Recommendation on access to continuing 
vocational training was adopted. The current 
and foreseeable economic, demographic and 
social developments in Europe make this 
issue much more important than it was when 
the Council adopted the Recommendation, 
even though only four years have elapsed 
since then. 
An ageing active population 
2. In this context, the impact of demographic 
and ageing trends among the active 
population in most European economies is a 
cause for further concern. The seriousness of 
these trends must be recognised, as must the 
need to radically rethink our present-day 
preconceived ideas on renewing the stock of 
available skills. 
More specifically, although one major factor 
at the moment - and in the future too - is to 
have young people with better training 
entering the job market, companies can no 
longer view this as the main way of injecting 
new skills. On the contrary, training 
approaches must be radically changed, with 
increasing attention being paid to older 
workers. 
The importance of this is illustrated by the 
following three indicators: 
a) the median age^°, of the labour force, which 
rose less than five years between 1960 and 
1995 (from 31.4 to 35.4) will increase by 
nearly 10 years in the next 35 years (1995 to 
2030) from 35.4 to 44.317. 
b) the proportion of 20-29 year-olds in the 
active population remained unchanged 
between 1960 and 1995 (at approximately 
27%) but will drop to 23% in 2030. 
The Danish report makes some very interesting points 
regarding SMEs. '" The median age divides the population into two halves. 
17 Source: Eurostat. 
33 
c) 50- 59 year-olds currently account for one 
worker in five (20.8%) but this will increase 
to more than one worker in four (27.2%) in 
2030. 
Likelihood of access to training greatly 
depends on age 
3. This deformation in the age pyramid of the 
active population has direct repercussions on 
the development of continuing training. As 
things stand now, the probability of gaining 
access to training falls sharply with 
increasing age. In spring 1994 the likelihood 
of 35-44 year-olds receiving job-related 
training in the four weeks prior to the survey 
was no more than 5.8%. The only countries 
with an access rate significantly higher than 
this Community average are Denmark, the 
Netherlands and the United Kingdom, 
while in all other Member States - apart 
from Germany which is near the 
Community average - the probability of 
people in this age range taking part in some 
kind of study course or training is down to 1 
or2%18. 
Change in the nature of work itself 
4. Changes in the nature of work itself is 
relentlessly continuing to become non-
physical by nature. Ever increasing numbers 
of jobs are coming to involve more and 
more tasks connected with design, creation, 
manipulation of indicators or displays and 
the use of "smart" equipment. The debate 
about skills development now hinges on this 
trend. The way work is evolving means it is 
less definable in terms of trades or functions. The resources 
6. When discussing ways of enhancing 
continuing training, resources naturally play 
a primordial role, and it is very telling 
indeed that the social partners chose this as 
one of their topics of common interest 
within the social dialogue framework. It is 
clear that in order to meet the need for 
enhanced skills one cannot bank on a model 
which involves repeating or reproducing 
"schooling" during working life. The very 
development of our societies, as was shown 
by the White Paper on "Teaching and 
Learning - Towards the Learning Society", 
provides an opportunity we must grasp with 
both hands: "training" environments and, 
concomitantly, training resources are 
diversifying and multiplying and everyone 
must be given a chance to make full use of 
them. 
Our societies must proceed along this path if 
individuals' access to continuing training is 
to be improved, but this immediately leads 
on to the question of individuals assuming 
responsibility for defining their own needs, 
choosing the routes to take and selecting the 
arrangements which suit them best. This 
should also make it easier to examine in 
greater depth an issue which, in some 
people's minds, is a fairly sensitive one -
that of how far individuals should contribute 
(in terms of time and/or money) to getting 
the best out of such access. 
Towards firms which graft on skills 
5. More and more firms are switching to the 
"learning environment" approach as the 
preferred way of enhancing skills in parallel 
with formalised training. On-going 
upgrading of skills therefore has a knock-on 
effect in the shape of changes in work 
organisation itself, job content and 
hierarchical structures. Austria: 
Savings account for training 
(Bildungskonto) 
This scheme, launched in 1994, involves a 
personal education and training account. It 
forms part of a worker advancement scheme 
under the Upper Austrian federated budget 
instituted at the Land Government's initiative in 
collaboration with the social partners. Workers 
are entitled to a 50% reimbursement of the 
money spent on vocational training (maximum 
20 000 shillings). 
Labour Force Survey. Towards a redivision of time 
34 
7. The issue of time - and dividing it up 
between that spent working and that devoted 
to skill enhancement and training - is more 
delicate given the tentative nature of the 
debate about reducing and reorganising 
working hours. Nevertheless, certain 
company policies or certain agreements 
between the social partners make a link 
between rearrangement and/or reduction of 
working hours and time spent on training. 
Certainly, this approach is a "reservoir" of 
both flexibility and resources which ought to 
be explored. Increasing the time spent on 
training along lines yet to be defined, 
especially between the social partners, could 
be seen as a supple and flexible 
counterweight to reorganisation of working 
time and could make changes easier. It is 
important that the principle of creating a 
better balance between working and family 
life, which is of most relevance to women, is 
built in to whatever methods are adopted in 
this area. 
Skill accreditation the key factor 
8. The issue of validating skills acquired in 
different ways is central to this. In its White 
Paper the European Commission proposes 
introducing new approaches to skill 
accreditation which are directly accessible 
to/usable by individuals. This is not only a 
new avenue which ought to be explored in 
depth, both as regards design of the 
necessary instruments and their application 
as well, but also one which goes to the very 
heart of the matter. The aim is to give 
individuals the wherewithal for making 
progress in acquiring knowledge by 
measuring - in a supple and objective 
manner - the level they have reached. 
The impact of the European Year of 
Lifelong Learning 
9. The various activities pursued as part of the 
European Year of Lifelong Learning 
confirmed the tremendous importance 
European citizens accord this matter and 
helped get the message across on a broad 
front. Some important aspects should be 
noted here: 
35 
a) Backing from European citizens A key ingredient in competition 
The Eurobarometer survey conducted in 
connection with the European Year clearly 
reveals European citizens' keen interest in 
lifelong learning. Seven Europeans out of ten 
wish to continue their education. More than 
80% of men and 70% of women believe that 
education and continuing training will very 
likely improve their job prospects. However, on 
the downside, the survey also shows that barely 
one European in five had undergone training in 
the past 12 months. 
b) Time now ripe for action by those on the 
ground 
And as regards lifelong learning directly, over 
5 000 projects were undertaken, 2 500 events 
organised, 3 500 press articles published and 
80 000 visitors to the Year's Internet site 
logged. The European Year really helped to 
lend a high profile to the issue of lifelong 
learning. 
c) Plenty of original initiatives 
A passing mention should be made examples 
which illustrate efforts to find innovative and 
original solutions, e.g. the "Learning 
Boutiques" in Denmark, "Adult Learners' 
Week" in the United Kingdom and the "Train 
to Knowledge" in Finland. 
2.3 Increased role for 
competitiveness and 
employment 
1. From an economic angle, reversal of the 
trend observed in the early 90s means we 
have to look for ways of underpinning the 
European economies' strong points in a 
general context of globalisation of 
economies and sharper competition. From 
the corporate and macro-economic angles it 
is now acknowledged that the quality of 
human resources in Europe, workers' skills 
and on-going uprating of such skills are 
decisive factors in achieving the 
productivity and competitiveness goals so 
vital if Europe is to maintain its positions 
on the world markets. 2. In its recent communication on 
competitiveness^ the Commission referred 
to several factors decisive for performance 
and competitiveness, noting: 
"Effective use of human resources remains a 
key element for gains in productivity and 
also for internal flexibility. An increasing 
volatility of employment bears the risk that 
the investment in human capital, notably 
through training, required for long-term 
growth and competitiveness will not take 
place. Training and continuous upgrading 
of skills is (and in future will become even 
more so) intangible investment with real and 
increasing benefit for industry and 
employers alike. A high skill, high quality, 
high productivity industrial strategy will 
enhance industry's competitiveness and 
employees ' employability..." 
Stronger link with employment 
3. Analyses on the functioning of the European 
labour market also show a strong link 
between the level of skills and qualifications 
and the risk of unemployment, even if this 
relationship is not found in all Member 
States. Available findings show, among 
other things, that there is a threshold effect 
with regard to levels of education/training: 
completing higher level education or 
training only gives a marginal advantage in 
terms of protection against unemployment 
as compared with completing secondary 
level education. Furthermore, this 
relationship tends to diminish with regard to 
young people under 25 years. If, for 25-34 
year-olds, gaining a vocational qualification 
reduces the risk of unemployment by half, 
for those, under 25 years, who have only 
completed compulsory education the risk of 
unemployment is only reduced by a third as 
compared to those who have only completed 
compulsory education and those who have 
completed secondary or higher education or 
training. Studies of long-term employment 
among older workers also show that there is 
"Benchmarking the Competitiveness of European 
Industry" - COM(96) 463 final. 
Source: Report on Employment in Europe - 1995. 
36 
a very strong correlation between their 
having no (or low-level) qualifications and 
their chances of getting back into the job 
market. 
Analysis of the multi-annual programmes 
adopted by Member States in applying the 
conclusions of the Essen European Council 
(December 1994) illustrates the efforts made 
by Member States to improve the quality 
and relevance of training for those in 
employment as well as for those without a 
job. Such analysis also shows that if raising 
the level and broadening the scope of 
workers' skills, notably those least qualified, 
can be considered as the most cost effective 
investment to prevent unemployment, it is 
not clear that enterprises and governments 
are sufficiently developing efforts to reskill 
those in work so as to respond to the 
growing demand for qualified labour. The 
Joint report on Employment also underlines 
the great effort still to be make for the 
employability of long term unemployed 
people of which only 7% at European Union 
level benefit from training activities. 
4. Current debates on competitiveness and 
employment are placing more and more 
importance on the question of competencies, 
alongside the efforts being made to reduce 
indirect labour costs for non-qualified work. 
After the Florence European Council had set 
out the terms of a strategy of continually 
raising the level of competencies as the 
central element of an integrated strategy for 
competitiveness and employment, the 
Dublin European Council identified 
investment in human resources as one its 
recommendations for taking forward the 
strategy. It is of fundamental importance for 
Europe to see this process through.. Labour 
markets in Europe are still marked by 
relatively low mobility and decreasing 
recruitment of young people. Boosting the 
skills of the workers already in situ, who are 
on the front line of the socio-organisational 
changes now affecting enterprises, therefore 
forms a key element in competitiveness. 
Skills - on the 
"flexibility/security"? road to market flexibility combined with maximum 
use of skills and human resources. Seen in 
this light, continuing training can be viewed 
as a decisive factor in bolstering individuals' 
employability. Some company policies and 
agreements are taking this path in order to 
turn access to continuing training into a 
factor for enhanced employability, 
something companies can give their 
employees even if they can no longer 
guarantee them a job for life. 
Towards a services economy 
6. The structural transformations taking place 
in Europe's economies moving them 
towards a service-based economy is also 
increasing the need for continuing training. 
As the Commission indicated in its 
Communication to the European Council 
headed "Putting Services to Work"21, this 
move to a services economy involves an 
ever greater need of quality and 
professionalism. The future of the European 
service sector depends very much on the 
quality and permanent nature of the services 
on offer. In the Communication, the 
Commission pointed out that a key factor 
which distinguishes services from other 
sectors of the economy is that labour is 
generally the main input, adding: 
"The development and renewal of human 
resources is essential to maximise the 
employment potential that services offer. 
The ability of businesses to manage and 
release the potential of their workforce is 
critical for successful business development. 
80% of high-growth businesses in Europe 
consider that employee training has played 
a crucial role in their success. Training will 
become even more important in the future 
The advent of the "learning society". 
7. The Commission's Green Paper, adopted in 
July 1996, Living and Working in the 
Information Society: People First (COM 
(96) 389) sought to promote awareness and 
stimulate debate on the labour market and 
social issues involved in the Information 
5. Here one should note the public debate 
around the notion of "flexibility/security", 
which endeavours to merge two crucial 
elements in labour market operation - labour 2' Communication from the Commission to the European 
Council, CSE(96) 6 final of 27 November 1996. 
37 
Society. It recorded that there is universal 
agreement that the human resource base is 
fundamental in an Information Society, but 
there remains a skills gap and knowledge 
gap to overcome both in order to remain 
competitive and in order to promote equality 
and solidarity. Amongst the key areas for 
actions it identified are: 
moving towards fostering learning skills 
(notably via more responsive partnership 
with economic life); 
achieving "learning employment", involving 
all people in work, especially those outside 
traditional full-time work in sizeable 
organisations; 
a special effort to re-integrate the 
unemployed through active policies for 
skills; and 
overall, the provision of a new architecture 
for lifelong learning, encompassing life 
inside and outside work (not forgetting life 
after retirement) and with a special emphasis 
on maintaining employability. 
Sweden: 
Commission for Enhancement of 
Knowledge 
In 1995 the Swedish Government set up the 
Commission for Enhancement of Knowledge, 
its task being to define the goals pursued in 
enhancing knowledge nationally as part of a 
strategy founded on lifelong learning. This 
Committee presented a preliminary report in 
which it presents the three pillars of its 
strategy: the training of young people, the 
development of skills and knowledge of 
adults, and lifelong learning. 
For the adult learning objective, the aim is to 
provide an adequate training base for 
facilitating lifelong learning. This involves 
learning at primary and secondary level. With 
reference to the third pillar, the Committee 
proposes that each individual should have the 
possibility of participating in training through 
their whole life provided by the social partners. 
The State and local authorities should reinforce their co-operation with a view to 
intensifying their efforts on vocational training. 
Netherlands: National debate on 
knowledge 
Last spring the Netherlands launched a 
national debate on knowledge. The aim is to 
pinpoint the role knowledge could and should 
play in the years to come, so as to give Dutch 
citizens some idea of what the world will look 
like in 2010 and what they will have to know 
and be able to do in order to fit in to such a 
society. 
We should not lose sight of the long-term aim, 
that of the learning society, the fundamental 
policy goal at the heart of all analyses of 
access to continuing training. 
Through its White Paper on Education and 
Training published in November 1995 
("Teaching and Learning: Towards the 
Learning Society"), the Commission set out to 
make European citizens, stop and think about 
the type of society to be built in Europe and 
about the role of education and training 
therein, the aim being to draw up a blueprint 
for society based on goal-oriented choices and 
measures. 
Starting from this premise, the White Paper 
indicated that the issue of access to knowledge 
and know-how would dominate developments 
in our societies. Social relations, labour 
relations, individuals' interaction with 
information networks and electronic media 
will be increasingly shaped by access to 
knowledge and know-how. Therefore, the 
way individuals relate to knowledge must be 
thought through afresh. Lifelong training is 
not just an element accompanying social 
change, it is the engine of change and the 
guarantee that citizens will not be left by the 
wayside. 
38 
Chapter 3 
Conclusions and guidelines 
The findings in this report on implementation of 
the June 1993 Council Recommendation should 
provide all players with new food for thought 
and discussion.. The comparative reference data 
should assist in formulating their goals more 
precisely and update their policies. believes that the process of drawing up and 
comparing national reports constitute a useful 
initial step for national players, both as 
regards defining the "state of play" of the 
various systems and according them an initial 
ranking. 
In this chapter the Commission presents the main 
conclusions and findings drawn from the overall 
process the assessment of the implementation 
of the Council Recommendation of June 1993. 
The conclusions deal mainly with the aims which 
are considered to be beneficial for pursuit at 
Community level, to consolidate positive action 
and to respond to the new challenges facing 
continuing training which have been identified in 
the report. 
Nevertheless, in order to give some impetus to 
the debate, the Commission also provides a few 
pointers on the type of instrument which would 
help achieve each of the objectives. 
3.1 Conclusions to approach 
• The Commission views the exercise of 
drawing up national reports on access to 
continuing training very positively. It The Commission welcomes the fact that in 
several Member States the exercise of 
drawing up the report engendered joint 
examination and debate by all the parties 
concerned, in particular the social partners, 
thus adding to the quality of the report. It 
believes that this national consultation 
process should be continued and enhanced. 
The Commission is very much in favour of 
the two-pronged approach whereby reports 
are drawn up not only by the Member States 
but also by the social partners' organisations 
at Community level. This dual approach 
gives a more comprehensive overview of 
developments in progress, allowing the 
various players to express their positions and 
thereby make a useful contribution. Further 
progress could be achieved in this connection 
through improved consultation at national 
level and by cross-fertilisation of the 
Member States' and social partners' reports. 
39 
• The Commission notes with satisfaction the 
rich variety - as the reports reveal - of new 
approaches and initiatives for promoting 
access to continuing training, both in terms of 
Member States' public policies and of the 
social partners' or corporate policies. It also 
notes the considerable impetus given to 
innovation and reform through the structural 
fund interventions, especially under 
Objective 4 and in Community Initiatives 
concerned with industrial change and on the 
other hand by Community programmes such 
as LEONARDO da VINCI and FORCE. 
• The Commission is of the opinion that having 
quantitative indicators, especially those 
produced on a standardised basis through 
Community surveys like the CVTS22, helps 
to improve very significantly our knowledge 
of the real situation regarding access across 
the Union and within Member States. It 
believes that this approach, should be 
continued and further perfected in respect of 
continuing training, that it should also be 
extended to cover the corresponding data on 
initial training soon to become available. 
During 1997, the Commission will publish 
the first keys statistics on vocational training. 
These two sets of data should provide a better 
idea of how training systems and practices 
are evolving in connection with lifelong 
learning. 
• The Commission confirms the usefulness of 
co-operation and joint deliberation with the 
Member States on introducing a set of 
indicators, to be based on the initial findings 
of the training section contained in the 
employment "Tableau de Bord". It will be 
making proposals to this end in order to make 
the most of the programme of Community 
surveys on training which it intends to 
undertake. 
• The Commission believes that the reports 
drawn up by the Member States, the social 
partners and the Commission should be 
viewed as joint capital and, as such, used (in 
line with an approach to be jointly defined) to 
improve the debate on continuing training 
between the various players and to seek out 
ways of improving access at all appropriate 
levels. For its part, the Commission will 
Continuing Vocational Training Survey of 1994 ensure that the corresponding analyses and 
results are published and the appropriate 
proposals made for making the best use of 
them. 
• In the light of the results of the reporting 
exercise under review here, the Commission 
believes the Council Recommendation has 
proven itself to be a valid springboard from 
which to launch the Community approach on 
continuing training. Given the instrument's 
legal nature, the Commission believes the 
exercise has generated significant initial 
results. * ' 
• The Commission believes that this initial 
stage should lead to more substantial debate 
on the nature of the instruments required to 
pursue Community action in this field, 
instruments which will meet the challenge of 
ensuring improved access to continuing 
training. For its part, the Commission will 
submit proposals in this spirit. 
3.2 Conclusions as to objectives 
• The Commission shares the opinion that 
access to continuing training, and more 
broadly to lifelong training for all workers in 
the Union, is crucial in determining workers' 
opportunities for developing their skills and, 
as a corollary to this, companies' competitive 
edge and employees' degree of 
employability. 
• With this in mind, the Commission believes 
that the level of access to continuing training 
for workers hitherto achieved is encouraging 
but marked by major inequalities. It feels that 
major efforts are required to raise the access 
level very significantly in order to meet the 
challenges thrown up by technical, economic, 
sociological and - probably most of all -
demographic developments. 
• The Commission notes that the huge 
diversity, if not to say tremendous disparity, 
observed on the access front - not only 
between the Union's member countries but 
also inside Member States among the 
different categories of companies and 
workers - causes harmful inequality between 
European workers in terms of the 
opportunities they enjoy for upgrading their 
40 
skills, and thus for protecting themselves 
against high risks of unemployment. 
The Commission, in keeping with its 
proposal concerning the European Year of 
Lifelong Learning, believes that promoting 
access to continuing training plays a vital role 
in attaining the broader goal of lifelong 
learning. Against this backdrop, it notes with 
satisfaction that several Member States have 
embarked along this path in a determined 
fashion. 
The Commission notes that the most 
significant initiatives and the extension of 
continuing training to include lifelong 
learning, are taking place in Member States 
which are already fairly well advanced in 
terms of access. This draws attention to the 
risk of a growing gap developing between the 
different countries, and the need to take this 
into account in structural fund programming, 
especially in relation to the Cohesion 
countries. 
The Commission notes the fact that, as a 
general trend, access to continuing training is 
being developed through diversification and 
exploitation of different opportunities and 
approaches rather than through focusing on 
one particular pathway. 
In the Commission's view, this overarching 
trend makes it more difficult to demonstrate 
and measure the progress achieved. Still, the 
Commission does not share the ETUC's 
opinion that no progress has been made on 
access to continuing training, nor UNICE's 
view that developments have been very 
favourable. It does believe that substantial 
progress has been made on access but that 
this is obscured by the diversity of 
approaches. 
The Commission believes that, while this 
trend to diversification provides an 
interesting opportunity for improving access 
for all workers, a special and substantial 
effort is needed to inform workers and enable 
them to make maximum use of the different 
access arrangements. In this context, the 
Commission views as very positive the 
different initiatives taken to enable workers 
to evaluate their skills. 
The Commission believes that all the players 
concerned, the social partners in particular, have a new role to play in regulating and 
overseeing the aforementioned arrangements 
to ensure, through various types of 
partnership, true equality of access to lifelong 
learning and new skills. 
3. 3 Pointers for further action 
In order to provide fresh fuel for discussions 
with the Community bodies concerned, the 
Commission provides below a - limited - number 
of pointers or guidelines it considers relevant for 
pursuing and advancing Community action in the 
continuing training field so as to meet the needs 
and challenges highlighted by the foregoing 
analysis. 
Taking into account the discussions on this issue, 
the Commission will present, as conditions 
warrant and in due course, its proposals for 
turning these ideas into reality and introducing 
the legal and operational instruments required. 
To this end, the Commission will take account of 
proposals submitted in response to the White 
Paper entitled "Teaching and Learning: Towards 
the Learning Society" and under the procedures 
for reviewing action programmes, Leonardo da 
Vinci in particular. The Commission will also 
rely on the results of research projects being 
taken forward within the programme for socio­
economic research finalised in the 4th R&D 
programme which aim to identify and evaluate 
possibilities for lifelong learning. 
Action guideline No 1 
Finding 
• While substantial progress has been made on 
access to continuing training, it is not 
enough, given the technological and socio­
economic changes taking place. What is 
more, glaring inequalities are opening up in 
this process between the various categories of 
workers, depending on their country or type 
of company. 
Community objective 
• To press ahead in developing access to 
continuing training while narrowing 
inequalities in worker access so as to promote 
a Union-wide skill access strategy. 
41 
Action proposai 
• To establish at Community level common 
conditions for facilitating access, also at 
sectoral level. These conditions will be 
established through consultations with the 
social partners at Community level which 
will also deal with the type of legal 
instrument required. 
Such consultation will aim in particular to 
ensure that the Community objective is 
extended to embrace access to skills, as set 
out in the Confidence Pact for Employment. 
Action guideline No 2 
Finding 
• Despite the advances made and the 
introduction of promising innovations in the 
continuing training field, the various actors 
involved - firms, public authorities, social 
partners - are finding it difficult to formulate 
and implement a real strategy in this domain, 
something which is a must given that our 
world is changing, especially on the 
demographic side. 
Community objective 
• To provide the various actors, public 
authorities and social partners, with a 
permanent frame of reference which will 
keep them abreast of the continuing training 
access situation and the progress made, thus 
allowing them to size up the situation and 
define their goals better. 
Action proposals 
• To make the continuing training access 
reports a regular feature and simultaneously 
refine them so as to ensure that the national 
reports and the social partners' reports are 
uniformly drawn up on common criteria. 
• To help enhance the said reports by 
periodically conducting the continual 
vocational training study (CVTS) and 
Community survey programmes on 
qualitative aspects as well as by the 
production of comparable statistical 
information on active employment policies covering notably training provided for 
unemployed people. 
The Observatory for industrial relations 
established within the Dublin Foundation 
could usefully complete the available 
information by way of collective conventions 
passed at Member State level. 
Frequency: it appears from the exercise 
undertaken on the basis of the 1993 
Recommendation that having Member States 
draw up reports every three years, with an 
aggregated Europe-wide report' being 
produced one year later, would be 
appropriate. 
This plan of action would allow us to 
"benchmark" (comparative evaluation) 
progress made in respect of access to 
continuing training, using an array of 
common indicators such as participation rate, 
company policies, innovations, etc. Such 
national and Community data would flow 
into the debate between the various players, 
thus helping them to determine new ways of 
promoting access as well as to utilise and 
harness Community data derived from 
progress in comparative evaluation of 
performance through Community-level 
benchmarking, sound national practices, 
initiatives by social partners to encourage 
debate between the players concerned. This 
benchmarking process should be taken 
forward in synergy with similar steps being 
taken by the Commission and Member States 
in the domain of competitiveness and 
employment. 
Action guideline No 3 
Finding 
• The continuing training field is witnessing 
numerous innovations with the potential to 
enlarge access quite considerably. This trend 
will be boosted by development of new 
training or skill-evaluation tools based on the 
new information technologies. 
• Furthermore, changes in work organisation 
and the introduction of different approaches 
to arranging working time are opening up 
new and major opportunities for developing 
novel forms of access to continuous training. 
In this context, the Commission's Green 
42 
Paper on "Partnership on a New Organisation 
of Work" also deals with training aspects. 
Debates and initiatives will follow the 
adoption of the Green Paper and should take 
strong account of the training dimension of 
this issue. 
Nevertheless, the transfer of innovative 
practices inside the European market is 
neither fast enough nor intensive enough. 
Community objectives 
• To foster the development of a European 
industry covering multimedia tools for use in 
continuing training and individual evaluation 
of skills. To give preference to transnational pilot 
projects centring on new access factors, in 
particular rearrangement of working hours 
and new work organisation methods; to 
exchange approaches and to try out -
transnational ly - new approaches to factors 
likely to contribute substantially to widening 
access, viz.: 
1. Projects linking development of access 
with adaptation/reduction of working 
hours, preferably involving industrial 
sectors. 
2. Projects linking new types of work 
organisation with development of access, 
in particular through individualised 
training-and-work contracts, preferably 
involving innovative companies. 
To encourage the development of innovative 
practices and their incorporation into new 
approaches for accessing continuing training 
linked with changing industrial relations. 
Action proposals 
• The presentation in 1997 of a plan for action 
on vocational training "Learning in the 
information society ". 
• To extend the pilot projects for skill self-
accreditation to occupational fields involving 
both technical and horizontal skills. In the Commission's view, the complex of 
analysis and guidelines for action which have 
been developed in this report, press home the 
priority which it gives to the promotion of 
vocational training and access to 
competencies. These are important advances 
which have to be made particularly with 
regard to competitivity, employment and 
social cohesion to ensure the construction of 
a learning society and make progress 
towards a knowledge based union. 
43 
23. 7. 93 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 181/37 
II 
(Acts whose publication is not obligatory) 
COUNCIL 
COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION 
of 30 June 1993 
on access to continuing vocational training 
(93/404/EEC) 
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European 
Economic Community, and in particular Article 128 
thereof, 
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), 
Having regard to the opinion of the European 
Parliament (2), 
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social 
Committee (3), 
"Whereas the first principle established by Council 
Decision 63/266/EEC of 2 April 1963 laying down 
general principles for implementing a common vocational 
training policy (*) states that every person should receive 
adequate training, with particular reference to the need to 
promote basic and advanced vocational training and, 
where appropriate, retraining suitable for the various 
stages of working life, and the need to offer to every 
person, by means of permanent facilities for vocational 
advancement, the opportunity to gain promotion or to 
receive instruction for a new and higher level of 
activity; 
Whereas, under the terms of Decision 63/266/EEC, it is 
the responsibility of the Member States and the 
(') OJ No C 23, 27. 1. 1993, p. 8. 
(2) OJ No C 150, 31. 5. 1993. 
(3) OJ No C 129, 10. 5. 1993, p. 57. 
O OJ No 63, 20. A. 1963, P. 133S/63. competent institutions of the Community to apply such 
general principles within the framework of the Treat)'; 
Whereas the development of. human resources by means 
of vocational training is one" of the essential elements in 
increasing the competitiveness of the European economy; 
whereas, as affirmed by the European Council meeting in 
Hanover on 27 and 28 June 1988, the achievement of the 
Single Market must be accompanied by increased access 
to continuing training; 
Whereas technological developments, their impact on 
employees' skills and the growth of unemployment make 
it necessary to develop access to continuing vocational 
training; 
Whereas point 15 of the Community Charter of the 
fundamental social rights of workers, adopted by the 
Heads of State and Government of 11 Member States at 
the European Council meeting in Strasbourg on 
9 December 1989, states in particular that: 
'Every worker of the European Community must be 
able to have access to vocational training and to 
benefit therefrom throughout his working life. In the 
• conditions governing access to such training there may 
be no discrimination on grounds of nationality. 
The competent public authorities, undertakings or the 
two sides of industry, each within their own sphere of 
competence, should set up continuing and permanent 
training systems enabling every person to undergo 
retraining, more especially through leave for training 
purposes, to improve his skills or to acquire new 
skills, particularly in the light of technical 
developments.'; 
14M 
No L 181/38 Official Journal of the European Communities 23. 7. 93 
Whereas vocational training remains of constant concern 
to both employers and workers in the context of the 
dialogue between the two sides of industry ('); market, which, together with changes in the working 
environment, must lead to an updating and greater 
adaptation of skills among the working population; 
Whereas the Economic and Social Committee adopted a 
report on 22 October 1992 on vocational training as a 
means of promoting vocational qualifications and a 
strategic instrument for the economic and social 
development of the European Community; 
Whereas on 21 April 1993 the European Parliament 
adopted an own-initiative report on vocational training 
policy in the European Community for the 1990s, in 
which the subject of access to continuing training is 
considered; 
Whereas transnational cooperation measures have been 
undertaken at Community level (2); 
Whereas demographic trends will significantly reduce the 
number of young people entering the Community labour 
ind (') Sec following texts: 
— joint opinion of 6 March 1987 on training 
motivation, information and consultation, 
— joint opinion of 13 February 1990 on the creation of a 
European occupational and geographical mobility area 
and improving the operation of the labour market in 
Europe, 
— joint opinion of 19 June 1990 on basic education and 
initial, vocational and adult training, 
— joint opinion of 21 September 1991 on ways of 
facilitating the broadest possible effective access to 
training opportunities, 
— agreement of 31 October 1991 between the two sides of 
industry at European level, 
— European Framework Agreement of 6 September 1990 
between the European Trade Union Confederation 
(ETUC) and the European Centre of Public Enterprises 
(CEEP) on training in public enterprises. 
(2) Sec following texts: 
— Council Decision 90/267/EEC of 29 May 1990 
establishing an action programme for the development of 
continuing vocational training in the European 
Community (Force) (OJ No L 156, 21. 6. 1990, p. 1), 
— Council Decision 89/657/EEC of 18 December 1989 
establishing an action programme to promote innovation 
in the field of vocational training resulting from 
technological change in the European Community 
(Eurotecnet) (OJ No L 393, 30. 12. 1989, p. 29), both as 
amended by Decision 92/170/EEC (OJ No L 75, 21. 3. 
1992, p. 51), 
— Council Decision 89/27/EEC of 16 December 198S 
adopting the second phase of the programme on 
cooperation between universities and industry regarding 
training in the field of technology (Comcn II) (OJ No 
L 13, 17. 1. 1989, p. 28), 
— Council Decision 91/387/EEC 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) (OJ No 
L 214, 2. 8. 1991, p. 69), 
— Council Regulation (EEC) No 4255/88 of 19 December 
1988 laying down provisions for implementing 
Regulation (EEC) No 2052/88 as regards the European 
Social Fund (OJ No L 374, 31. 12. 1988, p. 21). Whereas it has been noted throughout the Community 
that the problems faced by women in gaining access to 
employment are largely attributable "to their limited access 
to vocational training; whereas particular attention must 
be devoted to ensuring that women have effective access 
to continuing vocational training; whereas the increase in 
the number of working women should also be taken into 
account (3); 
Whereas cooperation in the field of continuing vocational 
training should also be based on existing provisions in 
force in the Member States, while respecting the diversity 
of national legal systems and practices, the powers under 
national law of the parties concerned and contractual 
autonomy; whereas the initiatives taken at national level 
by the Member States and the two sides of industry arc 
many and varied; whereas it appears, as regards the 
Community Charter of the fundamental social rights of 
workers, and taking into account the international 
dimension of the action, that they should be supported at 
Community level; whereas, finally, it is essential to 
encourage a synergy of resources and promote 
partnerships between the public and private sectors; 
Whereas the Advisory Committee on Vocational Training 
has been consulted; whereas it has recognized the 
strategic importance of the question of continuing 
vocational training in undertakings, for the Member 
States and for the Community, and the necessity for the 
Community to be seen to play an active role in this 
area, 
I. RECOMMENDS that Member States, taking into 
account the resources available and the respective 
responsibilities of the competent public authorities, 
undertakings and the two sides of industry, while 
respecting the diversity of national legal systems 
and/or practices, gear their vocational training 
policies to ensuring that every worker of the 
Community must be able to have access to 
continuing vocational training without any form of 
discrimination and to benefit therefrom throughout 
his or her working life; 
II. RECOMMENDS that, in order to provide easy access 
for as many employees as possible, Member States: 
1. raise awareness among undertakings about the 
links berween workers' skills and the 
competitiveness of undertakings to encourage 
them to give priority to improving the quality 
and skills of their employees and to establish 
(•') Commission of the European Communities: Eniplowu'nr n 
Europe (1992). 
"[<) 
23. 7. 93 Official Journal of the European Communities No L181/39 
training plans and programmes appropriate to 
their size and business objectives, making their 
managers aware of requirements in this respect 
and informing them accordingly. 
These plans and programmes may be 
established by taking into account available 
human and financial resources, the organization 
of work, future skill requirements, the need to 
anticipate industrial and technological change 
and the transnational dimension of continuing 
vocational training; 
2. make provision for specific incentives and 
technical support measures for small and 
medium-sized undertakings. 7. support initiatives which enable workers who so 
desire to assess their continuing vocational 
training needs. 
This assessment should be carried out within or 
outside the undertaking and/or in partnership 
with specialized institutions. 
The use of the results must be confidential: 
8. encourage the information and consultation of 
employees' representatives or, in the absence of 
such representatives, the employees themselves 
on the development and implementation of the 
training plans and programmes of the 
undertaking concerned; 
These could include, for example, assistance 
with regard to advice on training and assistance 
with regard to analysis of training needs; 
encourage undertakings to give impetus to the 
continuing vocational training necessary for 
their development, taking account of the 
particular situation of the employees of the 
undertakings, particularly in order to promote, 
where appropriate, the measures described 
below; 
4. make provision for specific incentives and 
technical support measures which are 
appropriate, necessary and adequate for 
undertakings facing industrial change, in order 
to encourage vocational training and retraining 
for their employees; 
5. develop continuing vocational training in order 
to make it an important feature of regional and 
local development, taking into account the 
specific needs of employees and undertakings; 
support the establishment of partnerships, 
particularly at regional or local level, to analyse 
the requirements of undertakings and employees 
and to provide up-to-date information on 
training opportunities in order to match supply 
and demand as closely as possible; 
impress on employers that they should inform 
their employees as soon as possible and, if 
necessary, at the time of their recruitment, 
about the undertaking's policy and activities in 
the field of continuing vocational training and 
staff development and about the terms of access 
to continuing vocational training, including the 
possibility of being assigned non-active status 
for the purpose of continuing vocational 
training; 9. make employees and undertakings more aware 
of the importance of continuing vocational 
training leading to qualifications relevant to the 
employment market. 
To this end, it should be ensured that training is 
not directed specifically towards the post in 
question alone but that it provides the means of 
anticipating and mastering developments in 
production systems and the organization of 
work in order to strengthen the competitiveness 
of undertakings and improve employees1 job 
prospects; 
10. encourage the development of the most suitable 
teaching and learning methods in continuing 
vocational training which will facilitate access 
to continuing vocational training for employees, 
e.g. methods of self-training on the job, distance 
learning, media-assisted learning, etc; 
11. help less-qualified employees, whatever their 
status, to benefit from continuing vocational 
training measures enabling them to achieve a 
basic level of qualification and giving them the 
basis for mastery of new technologies. 
Particular attention should be paid to providing 
access to continuing training for employees or 
groups of employees who have not benefited 
from training for a certain length of time or 
who have limited opportunities for employment 
and job prospects; 
12. encourage access for, and effective participation 
by, women in continuing vocational training. 
This may in particular help to open up new 
professional fields to women and encourage the 
resumption of a professional activity alter a 
break in such activitv; 
*i(fi 
No L 181/40 Official Journal of the European Communities 23. 7. 93 
13. promote access to continuing vocational 
training for young people with a vocational 
qualification or work experience, whatever their 
level of skills, and encourage their participation 
therein, in order to enable them to realise their 
full potential and acquire skills for the present 
and the future; 
14. encourage access to, and participation in, 
continuing vocational training by the 
unemployed. 
Particular attention should be paid to the 
long-term unemployed with inadequate and/or 
unsuitable qualifications, in order to improve 
their occupational integration or reintegration. 
The continuing vocational training of the 
unemployed which involves action by 
undertakings is particularly suited to promoting 
reintegration into the labour market; 
15. encourage, in policies on access to continuing 
vocational training, a transnational dimension, 
in particular to assist the free movement of 
workers; 
III. 1. INVITES the Commission to reinforce 
cooperation with Member States and the two 
sides of industry, in particular within the 
Advisory Committee on Vocational Training, in 
order to support the implementation of 
point II; 
2. INVITES the Commission to this end, in concert 
with the Member States and by utilizing the 
existing Community action programmes and 
initiatives in, the field of training including, 
where appropriate, the European Social Fund, 
and specialized bodies within the Community 
such as the . European Centre for the 
Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), 
to: 
(a) disseminate and add to the body of 
comparative information on continuing 
vocational training systems, including 
existing provisions and methods for 
integrating young job-seekers and the 
long-term unemployed into the labour 
market; 
(b) facilitate suitable exchanges of experience 
in and methods for significant innovations 
in continuing training; (c) support transfers of know-how between 
Member States, which are important for 
implementing point II, by means of 
transnational partnerships and networks 
especially for the benefit of regions, sectors 
types of undertaking and groups of 
employees for whom access to continuing 
training is least developed; 
Also INVITES the Commission to support moves 
by both sides of industry at Community level, 
within the dialogue between them, to discuss 
access to continuing training in greater depth; 
such dialogue could, if the two sides consider it 
desirable, lead to relations based on agreement; 
IV. 1. INVITES Member States to provide the 
Commission, three years after the date of 
adoption of this recommendation^ with a report 
setting out the measures taken under the terms 
of points I and II; 
2. INVITES the Commission: 
(a) on the basis of the reports from the 
Member States and the results of the 
dialogue between the two sides of industry, 
to draw up an assessment report on 
progress made on the basis of the 
recommendation in points I and II in the 
sphere of access to continuing vocational 
training in the Community; 
(b) to submit this assessment report, not later 
than one year after the date referred to in 
point IV.1, to the Advisory Committee on 
Vocational Training; 
3. INVITES the Commission to submit this report 
to the European Parliament, the Council and 
the Economic and Social Committee and to 
send it to the two sides of industry at 
Community level. 
Done at Luxembourg, 30 June 1993. 
For the Council 
The President 
S. BERGSTF.IN 
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