Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on: - the 'Communication from the Commission on Promoting an apprenticeship training in Europe', and - the 'Draft Decision of the Council on the Promotion of European pathways for work-linked training and apprenticeship'
Date: 1998-03-12
Institutions: European Committee of the Regions
Subjects: action programme, apprenticeship, vocational training

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Official Journal of the European Communities

C 180/43

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on:

— the ‘Communication from the Commission on Promoting an apprenticeship training in

Europe’, and

— the ‘Draft Decision of the Council on the Promotion of European pathways for

work-linked training and apprenticeship’

(98/C 180/08)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS,

having regard to the Commission Communication on Promoting apprenticeship training in
Europe (1) and the Draft Decision of the Council on the Promotion of European pathways for
work-linked training and apprenticeship (2);

having regard to its Bureau decision on 11 June 1997, in conformity with Article 198C fourth
indent to draw up an opinion on this subject and to attribute its preparation to Commis-
sion 6 ‘Education and Training’;

having regard to the Draft Opinion (CdR 431/97 rev) adopted by Commission 6 on
16 January 1998 (Rapporteur: Mr Axel Endlein);

whereas the Committee in its Opinion on the White Paper on education and training (3)
pointed out that apprenticeship trainee schemes should be looked upon as an integrated part
or a complement to the education system;

whereas the Committee in its Opinion on the European Commission Green Paper on Education
— Training — Research: the obstacles to transnational mobility (4) called for legal recognition
for trainees on placements and apprentices and supported the development of mobility
programmes for apprentices. It also called for measures to improve the comparability,
transparency and recognition of vocational skills and qualifications;

whereas the extraordinary European Council meeting on Employment of 20-21 November
1997 highlighted the commitment of Member States to ensure that they equip young people
with greater ability to adapt to technological and economic changes and with skills relevant
to the labour market, where appropriate by implementing or developing apprenticeship
training,

unanimously adopted the following opinion at its 22nd plenary session of 12 and 13 March
1998 (meeting of 12 March).

1.

Introduction

1.1.1.
Chapter 7 of the 1993 White Paper on Growth,
Competitiveness and Employment — The Challenges
and Ways Forward into the 21st Century refers to the
importance of apprenticeship training and the greater
involvement of business in initial and further vocational
training. At the Florence European Summit of 21-22 June
1996 the Commission was asked to undertake a study
on the role of apprenticeship training in job creation in
the Member States.

1.1.2.
The study, entitled ‘The role of apprenticeship
in enhancing employability and job creation: the signifi-
cance of apprenticeship in training for the labour
market’, and drawn up by the Netherlands Economic

Institute, was available in April 1997. This opinion takes
accounts of its findings.

1.1.3.
In June 1997 the Commission issued a Com-
munication entitled Promoting apprenticeship training
in Europe, which inter alia proposes five areas for
action.

1.1.4.
In November 1997 the Commission adopted a
Draft Decision of the Council on the promotion of
European pathways
for work-linked training and
apprenticeship, containing measures to facilitate cross-
border mobility for apprentices.

1.2. Results of the study on the importance of appren-

ticeship training in the Member States

(1) COM(97) 300 final.
(2) COM(97) 572 final - 97/0321 (SYN); OJ C 67, 3.3.1998,

p. 7.

(3) OJ C 182, 24.6.1996, p. 15.
(4) OJ C 215, 16.7.1997, p. 1.

1.2.1.
The study has five parts. The first part suggests
a practicable definition of apprenticeship and describes
the training systems existing in the Member States.
Typically apprenticeships combine primarily theoretical

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tuition in college with practical training in the workplace.
To qualify as an apprenticeship, training must be for a
minimum period ending with the award of a certificate,
and there must be strong emphasis on both part-time
tuition in the classroom and practical experience in the
workplace. Full-time tuition with occasional work
experience thus does not fall under the definition of an
apprenticeship.

1.2.2.
Using the study’s definition, the following types
of training can thus be regarded as apprenticeships in
the broadest sense:

a) What the study describes as the traditional or
regular form of apprenticeship — a continuation of
education after the end of compulsory general
schooling. This mainly concerns 15 to 18 year-olds.
Apprenticeships play a quantitatively and qualita-
tively important role as a continuation of secondary
education in Denmark, Germany and Austria. The
percentages of young people leaving school after
initial secondary education are 56 % in Denmark,
and 42 % in Germany and Austria. In other countries
too apprenticeships are an important part of initial
training: Belgium and France 11 %,
vocational
Ireland 10 %, Luxembourg 13 %, the Netherlands
20 % and the United Kingdom an estimated 16 %.
In these countries however, as in Sweden and Finland,
full-time vocational training colleges predominate.
Apprenticeships also exist in the other Member
States, but only to a limited extent.

b) Apprenticeships at higher educational level (techni-
cal training, universities). This type of apprenticeship
is seen more as a reform measure (with a view to
extension of apprenticeships to other areas and
stages of training). This form of apprenticeship so
far exists in only a few Member States, and even
there is seen as an exception or a pilot action.

c) Apprenticeships intended as short-term/job-creation
measures aimed at improving opportunities for
disadvantaged school leavers. The main objective
here is to help young people prepare for work and
make the transition to normal vocational training or
a first job.

d) Apprenticeships (also of the job-creation type) for

women wishing to recommence work.

e)

(Job-creation-type) apprenticeship for the long-term
unemployed.

1.2.3.
Type a) is what is normally understood by an
apprenticeship in the narrower sense. An essential
feature of this type of apprenticeship is that, as a period
of training following compulsory schooling, it is part of
an individual’s education rather than a job-creation

measure. The study shows that these basic principles
also apply to other areas of training and target groups.
But the Commission’s communication and this opinion
concentrate mainly on the first type.

The study discusses other aspects and problems
1.2.4.
of apprenticeships, such as difficulties experienced by
young people completing their apprenticeships
in
moving on to other/more advanced training. Obviously
this reduces the attractiveness of apprenticeships. The
degree of involvement of employers’ associations, trade
unions, educators and administrators varies greatly from
one Member State to another, with involvement being
greatest in those countries with a strong tradition of
and
apprenticeships. This
acceptability of apprenticeships in the labour market.
The same applies to the degree of decentralization of
decision-making to regional and local bodies.

enhances

status

the

1.2.5.
The proportion of time spent in the workplace
is about three quarters in the countries with a strong
apprenticeship tradition, and less elsewhere. But the
way in which training in the classroom and in the
workplace are combined varies greatly. The importance
of certificates and their actual recognition in the labour
market also vary greatly in practical terms and in degree.

1.2.6.
The study’s assessment of the labour-market
effectiveness of apprenticeships is positive. It confirms
the potential of apprenticeships for developing employa-
bility. For many, apprenticeships, with their high pro-
portion of practical work, facilitate the transition to
working life. Young people completing apprenticeships
are more successful in finding work than their contem-
poraries who have attended technical colleges. The
higher the level of participation in apprenticeship
schemes, the lower the level of youth unemployment in
relation to the general unemployment rate. In countries
with a well developed system of apprenticeships the
capacity to react to technical change is good.

There are however difficulties with apprentice-
1.2.7.
ships in a number of areas. There is obviously a danger
of the number of training places available in industry
being cut in times of recession. The Committee also
feels that it should be pointed out that the balance
between supply from industry and demand from school
leavers is necessarily less favourable in rural regions
with low concentrations of industry and services and
relatively high birth rates and regions in industrial decline
than in economically stronger areas. The involvement of
industry in apprenticeships varies greatly, with the
danger of a mismatch between training and employment.
Competition between the different
types of post-
compulsory schooling (continuing general education,
apprenticeship, technical college) can lead to competitive
pressures and distortions in the demand for education.

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1.2.8.
It should be recognized that employers provid-
ing apprenticeships can sometimes be discouraged by
European laws and regulations. These can mitigate
against the ongoing employment of a trained young
person and therefore prove to be a dis-incentive for
employers.

In many countries with a mainly academic
1.2.9.
tradition of vocational training politicians are nowadays
paying a great deal more attention to apprenticeships.
The last few years have seen many reforms and much
investment in developing and — particularly in the
southern European countries — setting up apprentice-
ship systems.

1.3. Commission Communication

on

Promoting

apprenticeship training in Europe

1.3.1.
The communication is the first document
which the Commission has devoted to the question of
apprenticeships. At nine pages, it is a brief document
setting out the underlying assumptions (part 1, Appren-
ticeship training launches working lives), current
examples of reform in the Member States (part 2,
Dynamic reforms with similar objectives) and rec-
ommendations/areas for action (part 3, Five keys to
more effective apprenticeship training).

1.3.2.
ticeship training can be summarized as follows:

The recommendations for promoting appren-

E x p a n d
t r a i n i n g

a n d

d e v e l o p

a p p r e n t i c e s h i p

Apprenticeship training must adapt to newly emerging
occupations and growth areas. To ensure that industry
provides sufficient training places, the Member States
incentives. The Commission
should offer financial
will be combing Europe for models and innovative
approaches in this area worthy of imitation.

R a i s e t h e q u a l i t y o f

t r a i n i n g

It is recommended that
the Member States adapt
curricula to narrow the gap between initial and continu-
ing training. For its part the Commission will place
more emphasis in the Leonardo da Vinci European
vocational training programme on improving appren-
ticeship training by means of the exchange of trainers.

of European pathways for work-linked training and
apprenticeship, considered below. When revising the
Leonardo da Vinci action programme, the Commission
will place special emphasis on a mobility scheme for
apprentices along the lines of Socrates/Erasmus.

T o w a r d s
t i c e s h i p t r a i n i n g

r e a l

s t r a t e g i e s

f o r

a p p r e n -

The Commission, with the contribution of the Member
States, could draw up regular reports on apprenticeship
training in the Member States. The Commission also
recommends a benchmarking system for apprenticeship
training. On-going monitoring, as required by bench-
marking, could contribute to the development of new
strategies for apprenticeship training.

1.4. Draft Decision of the Council on the promotion
of European pathways for work-linked training
and apprenticeship

1.4.1.
This proposal contains the first detailed work-
ing out of areas for action mapped out in the Commission
Communication entitled Promoting apprenticeship
training in Europe, particularly with a view to facilitating
the cross-border mobility of apprentices.

1.4.2.
Article 1 sets out the objectives of the decision.
Thus the curriculum and other requirements, which
European work-linked training and apprenticeship
schemes are required to meet, are set out in the form of
a document know as EUROPASS training, which attests
to knowledge gained in the course of training undertaken
in another Member State.

1.4.3.
Article 3 sets out the organizational arrange-
ments. Thus the Member States are required to take the
necessary measures to ensure that undertaking part of a
training course in another Member State is both legally
and practically feasible. These components of training
are to be treated as an integral part of the national
training scheme. This can only be achieved via a
partnership between the organization responsible for
training in the original Member State and the host
partner in the other Member State. Suitable arrange-
ments should be made for supervision. The part of
training undertaken abroad must be of a certain mini-
mum duration.

E n c o u r a g e t h e m o b i l i t y o f a p p r e n t i c e s

The differing status of apprentices in the Member States
hampers mobility in the EU and recognition of training
undertaken in another Member State. Following the
communication, the Commission has put forward a
proposal to develop a common legal framework to
promote apprenticeship training in Europe in the form
of the Draft Decision of the Council on the Promotion

1.4.4.
Article 4 sets out the nature, duration, content
and partnership arrangements for EUROPASS training
undertaken in another Member State. Article 5 is
concerned with the job of the Commission, which is
responsible for ensuring overall consistency of the
measure and links with the Community’s vocational
training programmes. Article 6 discusses support and
flanking measures, for example the technical implemen-
tation of EUROPASS training, quality control issues

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and the promotion of equal opportunities. The appendix
deals with technical data to appear in EUROPASS and
questions of layout.

in training mobility and European training programmes.
This is important both for the young people themselves
and for the firms providing the training.

2. General comments

2.1. Reasons for the communication

2.1.1.
The Committee welcomes the recommen-
dation, as it picks up on current reform endeavours in
many Member States and expands them with a view to
the European dimension and the transnational exchange
of experience. In so doing the document does justice to
the wording of Article 127. The Committee considers it
all the more necessary for it to deliver its opinion, as the
Amsterdam Treaty makes consultation of the Committee
on vocational training policy obligatory.

2.1.2.
The Committee sees the communication as
ushering in a discussion which will be prolonged at both
national and European level. The Committee assumes
that the brief communication will be supplemented by
a green paper, developing in greater detail the issues and
requirements set out in the communication and thus
facilitating broader discussion and consultation on the
questions raised.

The Committee is glad that a thorough study
2.1.3.
has been carried out of the actual
importance of
apprenticeship training in Europe. On the one hand the
study comes to the expected conclusion that only in
some Member States are apprenticeships the dominant
component of the initial vocational training system. On
the other hand it shows that, in the countries (apart
from Sweden) where training has so far been purely
academic, reforms have been carried out and investment
made in apprenticeship training. The development of
apprenticeship training has thus become a issue of
European importance.

2.1.4.
Against this educational policy background, it
is to be welcomed that as a result of this Commission
initiative experience of apprenticeship training in the
Member States can be more effectively processed and
disseminated. This will be useful to Member States
seeking to add apprenticeships to their training system.
For Member States with a tradition of apprenticeship
training the attraction is the opportunity to secure
Europe-wide recognition for apprenticeships and the
corresponding qualifications and to strengthen the
European dimension and the mobility of apprentices.

2.1.5.
In this connection reference should be made
to the initiative on European status for apprentices
announced by the Commission. Apprentices can enjoy
freedom of movement only by invoking freedom of
movement for workers. It is a regular occurrence,
particularly in frontier areas, for apprentices or young
people applying for apprenticeships to face difficulties
when beginning training or work experience as part of
their course in another country. A European status for
apprentices would help to remedy this situation. This
will also make it possible for young people preparing
for a career as skilled workers or technicians or in
medium-skill service functions to participate more easily

2.2. Significance for regional and local authorities

2.2.1.
Apprenticeship training is strongly charac-
terized by, and differs according to, economic sector
and geographical location. It is based on the willingness
of firms to become involved in their catchment areas in
providing training and later jobs, and that of regional
and local authorities to provide schools and to staff and
equip these. In this connection, agreements should be
negotiated between the local and regional authorities
and the firms or groups of firms concerned by the
apprenticeship scheme so as to respond as closely as
possible to the skills needed by the local economic fabric.

2.2.2.
Apprenticeship training will succeed only if a
finely woven local network of this kind exists. The
participation of regional and local authorities is thus an
essential condition and not just an empty aspiration.
Necessarily, apprenticeship training is built from the
bottom up. Rules must take account of this, for example
in not limiting the scope for geographical solutions (for
firms and schools).

2.2.3.
The study does not pay sufficient attention to
this aspect of institutional involvement in apprenticeship
training. The Committee calls for this shortcoming to
be remedied in the planned future studies. Moreover,
no consideration is given to this subject in the communi-
cation.

2.2.4.
In the Member States with a tradition of
apprenticeship training, it is an important instrument of
regional economic development, which is known to be
driven more by social and vocational skills (i.e. by
human capital) than by physical investment. This applies
to disadvantaged regions which must create more jobs,
as well as to regions with a technological lead. This
aspect too is only touched on in the study and not dealt
with at all in the communication. In the 1980s CEDEFOP
did important pioneering work in this field with a series
of regional case studies; this work should now be
reactivated. The Committee feels that this subject should
be studied further in relation to the geographical impact
of vocational training, and particularly apprenticeship
training. It is the responsibility of the regional and local
authorities to draw attention to the importance of this
aspect of human capital policy for regional development,
and to provide material support.

2.2.5.
It is therefore appropriate to point out at this
stage that this issue should be considered in the discussion
of the further development of the Structural Funds
which is already in progress. Without the participation
of the regional and local authorities the European

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dialogue called for on apprenticeship training and its
promotion would be empty of purpose.

3. Specific comments

3.1. Opinion on the call to expand and develop new

forms of apprenticeship training

The call to expand and develop new forms of
3.1.1.
apprenticeship training by increasing the number of
training places (above all in growth sectors and new
areas of employment) and by the use of new technologies
is right. Particularly important factors here are winning
over firms (including SMEs) and developing and finding
different ways of using schools and other forms of
support. Experience in countries with a strong tradition
of apprenticeship training makes it clear that a favour-
able institutional environment in this area is particularly
important. It must be made clear to firms that investment
in apprenticeships is worthwhile as it will facilitate the
recruitment of new workers and adaptation to new
technologies, marketing strategies and product inno-
vations.

3.2. Opinion on the call to raise the quality of training

3.2.1.
Apprenticeship derives its value from the multi-
plicity of experiences garnered from its social and
work-related requirements, practical qualifications and
theoretical underpinning in colleges. An apprenticeship
must be founded on a coherent concept of the vocation,
rather than a jumble of unconnected skills. Only if this
is taken into account can we move closer to the
legitimate objective of making apprenticeship training a
preparation for lifelong learning. The Commission’s
intention to open up the Leonardo programme (exchange
of trainers) in order to promote this objective is to be
welcomed.

3.2.2.
training staff must not be forgotten.

In calling for improved quality, the training of

3.3. Opinion on the call to encourage the mobility of

apprentices

3.3.1.
The call for transnational mobility of appren-
tices is supported wholeheartedly. This is a natural area
for European action. The same applies to the collection
and processing of information on apprenticeship training
in the Member States. The Committee welcomes future
proposals for a European status for apprentices which
will reduce hindrances to mobility (including those
occurring in internal and external frontier areas).

3.3.2.
It is still unclear to what extent the Commission
thinks that the proposal for EUROPASS-training is
sufficient to give apprenticeship training a European
status. The Committee feels that the proposal can only

be a first step towards achieving for apprenticeship
training the objectives set out in the Commission Green
Paper on Education — training — research: the obstacles
to transnational mobility. In this context, reference is
made to the Commission Communication Towards a
Europe of knowledge, which refers, inter alia, to the
importance of apprenticeship training for promoting
knowledge and employment.

3.3.3.
The Committee supports the Commission’s
Draft Decision of the Council on the Promotion of
European pathways for work-linked training and
apprenticeship because in this way the Member States
and the European Community will be required to
reinforce cross-border mobility for work-linked training
and apprenticeship. EUROPASS-training is a suitable
instrument for formally attesting to knowledge gained
in the course of training undertaken in another Member
State.

3.3.4.
It should be considered however whether Euro-
pean pathways is a suitable choice of term. These are
not self-contained training courses, as the term might
lead one to suppose, but rather segments of a larger
training course undertaken in accordance with the
training arrangements of the relevant Member States.
(Translator’s note: the term used in some of
the
languages, e.g. German ‘Bildungswege’, is more specific
than the English ‘pathways’.)

It is welcome that in drawing up the proposal
3.3.5.
care has been taken to ensure the highest possible degree
of flexibility, e.g. with regard to duration. Only in this
way can it be ensured that partners (firms, vocational
training institutions,
the responsible administrative
bodies, the social partners, etc.) can find an appropriate
solution.

3.3.6.
The Committee points out that training in the
host Member State should take place not only in
firms but also in vocational training institutions, or a
combination of both.

The Committee points out that it is to be feared
3.3.7.
that small firms may, for a variety of reasons such as
the absence of an apprentice when training allowances
are paid, participate less in cross-border mobility than
larger firms or firms with branches in other Member
States. Appropriate solutions are needed to the problems
facing small companies. Thus, in Denmark for example,
there is a legally guaranteed right to undertake part of
a training course abroad, backed by a fund from which
the training allowance is paid during the trainee’s
absence.

3.3.8.
As the internal market develops into a single
social and economic area, cross-border mobility and
training partnerships between firms are becoming
steadily more important. Language acquisition during
vocational training, the ability to cope outside one’s
home country, and knowledge of the social and economic
conditions of work in other countries are becoming
important components of the curriculum for vocational
training, alongside theoretical, practical and technologi-

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cal skills. These components of training must also
become an integral part of apprenticeship training.
The EU’s future vocational training programmes must
therefore take suitable account of apprenticeship
training.

3.4. Opinion on the call to involve the social partners

3.4.1.
For the reasons set out above the regions and
local authorities must be included in the circle of social
partners and responsible bodies.

3.5. Opinion on the Call to move towards real strate-

gies for apprenticeship training

The call for more systematically processed
3.5.1.
information (including information on regional dispari-
ties in vocational training for 15-24 year-olds) is support-
ed, as only in this way can the desired European dialogue
be set in motion. The proposed system of benchmarking
in view of the current
elicits scepticism, however,
disparities in the degree of development of apprentice-
ship training systems. It is also open to question whether
Article 127 of the European Community Treaty covers
demands of this kind on national education policy.

3.6. Other issues

3.6.1.
The question of the status and recognition of
apprenticeship training in relation to competing forms
of education has not been touched on. Young people
having completed apprenticeships must have the oppor-
tunity to progress further — either horizontally or
vertically. Only then will apprenticeship training be
assured of an equal place in the system of continued
secondary education and of a future (with a view to the
falling birth rate).

3.6.2.
Regional disparities in vocational training in
general and apprenticeship training in particular have
also not been dealt with. The same is true of the role of
qualifications in giving an impetus to regional economies
differentiated by their strength and local conditions.

3.6.3.
The same is also true of disadvantaged people,
for whom apprenticeship training — if it is properly
adapted — is often a very successful form of training.
Other subjects which have gone unmentioned include

Brussels, 12 March 1998.

the qualifications of training staff, the encouragement of
preparation for work in secondary education, changing
career choices (including those made by women) and
issues relating to the social orientation of apprenticeship
training. It is a feature of apprenticeship training that it
embraces the whole spectrum of work from high
technology to less demanding vocations and thus has
something to offer to young people with widely differing
interests and opportunities.

3.6.4.
Further work is needed on the question of
qualifications and their mutual recognition throughout
Europe, on language learning in the course of training
and the acquisition of basic knowledge of European
industry and integration. The Committee feels that, as
suggested in the study, further discussion is needed of
ways of transferring the basic principle of apprenticeship
training, a combination of work and schooling, to
educational sectors other than initial vocational training.

3.6.5.
Against the background of the current dis-
cussion of the future of the Structural Funds, thought
should be given to the funds’ contribution to strengthen-
ing apprenticeship training. The regional fund could be
used for physical infrastructure and the social fund for
training measures.

Another subject for discussion is the situation
3.6.6.
of apprenticeship training in the Phare and Tacis
countries and in the future Member States.

4. Conclusions

4.1.
As stated above, the Committee sees the com-
munication as the first contribution to a European
discussion of apprenticeship training, which ought to be
followed up by a green paper and further empirical
studies.
the Commission’s Draft
Decision of the Council on the Promotion of European
pathways for work-linked training and apprenticeship
can only be a first step towards achieving a European
status for apprentices and welcomes future proposals
which will reduce obstacles to mobility in this field.

It also feels that

4.2.
The members of the Committee are willing to
contribute to this discussion, which the Committee
considers particularly important for the achievement of
the objective of free and effective access to vocational
knowledge throughout the EU and the future Member
States.

The Chairman

of the Committee of the Regions

Manfred DAMMEYER