CEDEFOP Calls for a Shift from Traditional VET Policy to Integrated VET and Skills Development (VET-S)

CEDEFOP Calls for a Shift from Traditional VET Policy to Integrated VET and Skills Development (VET-S)

In May 2025, celebrating its 50th anniversary, CEDEFOP, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, published a report on the evolution of vocational education and training (VET) in Europe and its vision for the future.

The report’s main messages include the following:

• To make the technology, demography, and green transitions work for everyone, Europe needs to embed lifelong and lifewide learning into all systems and remove the barriers that prevent people from getting ahead in work and life.
• Inclusive VET and skills development (VET-S) systems proactively reach all learners, especially those facing multiple vulnerabilities, through outreach, guidance, and community-based ecosystems.
• Skills, learning and employability are multidimensional. Next generation skills intelligence needs to capture the challenges and opportunities surrounding skills issues comprehensively and facilitate the design of targeted solutions.
• Quality assurance needs to encompass new learning formats and providers, building trust through transparency, robust assessment, and shared responsibility.
• Innovation in VET-S systems integrate work-based, digital, and experiential learning, creating responsive, dynamic and inclusive learning ecosystems.
• Innovative VET-S systems gradually move beyond academic-vocational divides, with permeability between pathways and attractive societal narratives around vocational learning.
• Skills policy must be strategically embedded across all EU policy domains, aligned with new institutional initiatives and major strategic reports.

CEDEFOP report “Shaping Learning and Skills for Europe” available here.