How to encourage young people and provide them with adequate support so they remain interested in learning in a global context that is particularly challenging? AER is proud to announce two webinars, which will provide an opportunity to share regional experiences and hear about support initiatives at EU level.

Enthusiasm for technical & vocational training

One of the challenges in Technical and Vocational Education and Training is that it is often associated with negative representations such as the difficulty to follow general education or attend university.

The objective of the first webinar, which will take place on 27 January 2021 at 10:00 CET, is to learn about regional policies and practices aimed at making young people more aware of the opportunities related to Technical and Vocational Education and Training, in order to:

• avoid early school leaving because of the inadequacy of training pathways and the risks associated with the feeling of failure
• encourage young people to see Technical and Vocational Education and Training as a pathway for success: for the Technical and Vocational Education and Training choice to be a positive choice
• recruit talented young people in Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Kjerstin Torpmann-Hagen, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (EMPL) will provide an overview on existing support and funding opportunities for Vocational Education Training and initial training.

Boosting self-confidence

In order to help young people to thrive and prevent early school leaving, boosting self-confidence is instrumental as confirmed by projects such as JET-CD and detailed in the CEDEFOP VET toolkit for tackling early leaving under the intervention approach “Building motivation to learn“.

Trust is also essential to make positive choices or to believe that existing opportunities are actually accessible. In fine, that success is available. This is why self-confidence will also be addressed during the webinar.

Vocational Training in Times of Lockdown and Pandemic

In the context of the pandemic, it is not just learning modalities, which have been dramatically changed, it is the role itself of schools and teachers which was challenged. With lockdowns episodes across Europe, vocational education and training (VET) schools had to convert physical classrooms and work-based learning spaces into digital learning environments overnight. In this context, the virtual class became a place for community. Keeping the attention, motivation and good spirit of students became a major focus of teachers as global events increased uncertainty especially for young people.

Since Septembre European countries have implemented different measures to ensure the continuation of education and training. Teachers are faced with unprecedented challenges, as the abrupt move to digital environments increased social inequalities and the digital divide and often made learning particularly difficult for students with special needs.

This is why the second webinar AER is organising on 28 January at 10:00 CET, will focus on Vocational Training in Times of Lockdown and Pandemic. Experiences from the regions will be shared, with a focus on preventing early school leaving during the pandemic.

A toolkit to tackle early school leaving

The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) is one of the EU’s decentralised agencies. It supports the development of European vocational education and training (VET) policies and contributes to their implementation. The agency is helping the European Commission, EU Member States and social partners to develop the right European VET policies.

Early school leaving has impacts in many aspects of life, including employment but also health, happiness, or civic participation.

In order to support stakeholders to address early school leaving adequately, Cedefop developed a VET toolkit for tackling early leaving. This toolkit is a source of support to policymakers as well as education and training providers. Irene Psifidou Expert at the Department for Learning and Employability of Cedefop will present this toolkit at the 28 January webinar. Indeed, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic the risk of early school leaving increased substantially. A recent article by Cedefop underlines the impact of the pandemic and distance learning on dropout risk for vulnerable learners. The good practices, publications, toolkits, and recommendations of the Cedefop Toolkit for tackling early school leaving are therefore all the more relevant.

The leaflet about the Cedefop toolkit is available in seven languages.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash