(θ) προώθηση της ισότητας πρόσβασης στην αρχική και τη συνεχή κατάρτιση των ατόμων που βρίσκονται σε μειονεκτική θέση λόγω κοινωνικοοικονομικών, γεωγραφικών ή εθνοτικών παραγόντων, ή σωματικών ή πνευματικών αναπηριών. Ειδική μέριμνα πρέπει να ληφθεί για τα πρόσωπα που εκτίθενται σε διάφορους κινδύνους που ενδέχεται να προκαλέσουν τον κοινωνικό και οικονομικό αποκλεισμό τους,
(a) improving the quality and innovation capacity of Member States' vocational training systems and arrangements; (b) developing the European dimension in vocational training and vocational guidance; (c) promoting lifelong learning training so as to encourage ongoing adaptation of skills to meet the needs of workers and undertakings, contribute to reducing unemployment and facilitate personal development; (d) giving all young people in the Community who so wish the possibility of one or, if possible, two or more years of initial vocational training after their full-time compulsory education, leading to a vocational qualification recognized by the competent authorities in the Member State in which it is obtained; (e) encouraging specific vocational training measures for adults without adequate vocational qualifications, in particular adults without adequate education; (f) enhancing the status and attractiveness of vocational education and training and promoting parity of esteem for academic diplomas and vocational qualifications; (g) promoting vocational training for young people and preparing young people for adult and working life, taking account of the requirements of society and technological change; (h) encouraging specific vocational training measures for disadvantaged young people without adequate training and, in particular, young people who leave the education system without adequate training; (i) promoting equality of access to initial and continuing training for persons disadvantaged by socioeconomic, geographical or ethnic factors or by physical or mental disabilities; special attention must be given to persons affected by several risk factors likely to cause their social and economic exclusion; (j) supporting vocational training policies in such a way that all workers in the Community have access to continuing vocational training throughout their working life without any discrimination; (k) promoting equality of opportunity as regards access for men and women to vocational training and their effective participation therein, in particular so as to open up new areas of work to them and encourage them to return to work after a career break; (I) promoting equality of opportunity as regards access for migrant workers and their children and the handicapped to vocational training and their effective participation therein; (m) - promoting cooperation on skill requirements and training needs, and - encouraging the acquisition and transparency of qualifications and an understanding of the key skills relevant to technological development and the functioning of the internal market, including the free movement of goods, services, persons and capital, the competitiveness of undertakings and .the requirements of the labour market; (n) promoting vocational training in the light of the results of technological research and development programmes, particularly by means of cooperation between universities and undertakings in the sphere of training in technologies, their application and their transfer; (o) promoting the gradual development of an open European vocational training and vocational qualifications area, particularly through the exchange of information and experience on obstacles to application of the free provision of services by training bodies; (p) supporting activities aimed at developing linguistic skills as part of vocational training measures; (q) promoting the development of vocational guidance facilities with a view to providing every individual with the opportunity to have lifelong high-quality vocational guidance; (r) fostering the development of methods of self-training at the workplace and of open and distance learning and training, in particular to facilitate access to continuing vocational training; (s) encouraging the development and integration of key skills in vocational training measures, with the aim of promoting the acquisition of flexible qualifications and personal skills necessary to worker mobility and the needs of undertakings.