Meeting with ETUC and BusinessEurope on ILAs
Ref. Ares(2021)3025474 - 06/05/2021
12.4.2021, 11:30, CAB SCHMIT/633
Commissioner Schmit
Jobs and Social Rights
Meeting with ETUC and BusinessEurope on ILAs (together with
VP Schinas)
Online (Webex), 12 April 2021, 12.00-13:00
(12:00 to 12:30: ETUC; 12:30 to 13:00: BusinessEurope)
Member of Cabinet in charge:
Main contributors:
Anouk FABER
Christoph NERLICH
EMPL.E2
Briefing coordination:
EMPL.01
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• Point out that it aims to
strengthen the role of social partners by promoting
effective cost-sharing between all stakeholders, including by mobilising
additional public investment
• Highlight that it is also in the
interest of employers to empower individuals to
proactively seek training and facilitate professional transitions
• Emphasise that individual learning accounts can be a
tool to also improve the
provision of guidance and validation, and an effective take-up of educational
leave provisions
• Invite BusinessEurope and ETUC
to shape the content of this initiative with
us in the upcoming consultations, as we see ample links to their demands
voiced in response to the European Skil s Agenda
Table of Contents
Speaking points ................................................................................................................... 4
Background: next steps, position of BusinessEurope and ETUC on ILA,
summary of ILA forum, initiative on micro-credentials ................................................... 7
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Speaking points: ETUC
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Speaking points: Business Europe
[Speaking points for VP Schinas]
• Acknowledge the
crucial role that employers play in training the workforce:
around 9 out of 10 job-related trainings are employer sponsored in the Member
States
• Emphasise that we see
skil s development as a col ective challenge. The
Skil s Agenda wants to further strengthen training provision by employers - for
instance through the Pact for Skil s.
• However, point out that more than
4 in 10 workers in the EU are in atypical
work2 nowadays. This means
we need to consider updates to how we
organise collective action on skil s to
ensure everyone is covered.
• Point out that the
current access to training is unequal: more than 1 in 2
employees of large companies participates in training every year- but for
instance only 1 in 3 among employees of micro-enterprises, and 1 in 4 among
the unemployed.
• Point out that across all groups on the labour market, there is currently also
too
little support for training to prepare for professional transitions. However,
such support is needed to help people manage the digital and green transitions
and prevent skil s gaps
• Highlight that improving access to training is also important to
improve the
competitiveness of Europe’s companies in light of the important skil gaps on
our labour markets:
o 77% of employers report difficulties in finding candidates with the right
skills
3
o 73,5% of companies consider the availability of staff with the right skil s
to be holding back their investment
4
[Speaking points for Commissioner Schmit]
• Propose that individual learning accounts can be a tool to
empower all
individuals to maintain and enhance their employability. They can integrate
financial support with other support such as career guidance
• Highlight that they can
improve transparency on the training market by
establishing a registry of recognised and quality-assured training opportunities,
making it easier for individuals and companies to navigate the training offer
2 Defined as employment relationships that do not conform to the model of ful -time, regular,
open-ended employment with a single employer over an indefinite time.
3Joint report CDEFOP and Eurofound, European Company Survey 2019, p.61
https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/sites/default/files/ef publication/field ef document/ef20001en.pd
f.
4 EIB Investment Survey 2020 https://data.eib.org/eibis/graph
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• Point out that they can
promote an effective cost-sharing by al
stakeholders, and mobilise additional public investment in skills. The
recent high-level forum on individual learning accounts gave the examples from
France and Singapore and many other initiatives, including by social partners
•
Acknowledge the concern by employers that they may be asked to fund
individual learning accounts without having control over the training. Explain
that we are
exploring options:
o Point out that this concern could be addressed either on the funding
side: for instance through a
greater role for public investment, with
mainly voluntary contributions/top-ups by employers and social partners
o It could also be addressed through the
governance of eligible training
opportunities: for instance by ensuring a strong link to skills
intel igence and employers’ needs
o Propose that it is also in the
collective interest of employers if
individuals are proactive and can consider the broader skills needs on
the labour market when they choose training
o Propose that empowering individuals to be proactive in seeking training
and improving the transparency of the training market is particularly
important for SMEs, who often cannot dedicate significant own
resources to staff development
• Highlight that the impact assessment – to accompany the proposal - wil provide
a
thorough analysis of what currently exists in the Member States and
around the world. It wil look at a
broad range of initiatives that give
individuals a budget to spend on training, including those by social partners,
to identify innovative approaches to address the current challenges
• Invite Business Europe to
contribute to shaping the content of this initiative
in the upcoming consultations
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Defensive: Micro-credentials initiative
[Speaking points for VP Schinas and/or Commissioner Schmit]
•
Micro-credentials certify the outcomes of
short learning experiences. These
so-called “alternative credentials” are growing exponential y to respond to
specific skills needs in the labour market. They are issued by a wide range of
providers: not only by traditional providers such as universities and vocational
schools, but also – and increasingly so - by private providers, companies,
chambers of commerce, industry organisations.
• This supply has an enormous potential in offering quick and targeted upskilling
and reskilling of adults. However, there is a
lack of clarity and trust among
the stakeholders about the content and the quality of these credentials.
• While micro-credentials should by no means replace state-recognised
qualifications, it is clear that there is a gap between the skills and qualifications
people possess, and the match with the jobs on offer.
• With the European Approach to Micro-credentials, we aim to respond to these
issues in order to harness the ful -potential of micro-credentials.
• With the definition of
common standards, we aim to contribute to an increased
trust and transparency of the micro-credential offer, independently of the
provider.
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Background
Next steps in the initiative
• A dedicated social partner hearing wil take place on 15 April
• The feedback on the
inception impact assessment is ongoing on the Better
Regulation Portal and it wil end on 20 April
• The Open Public Consultation wil start in the second half of April for a period of
12 weeks
• Additional targeted stakeholder consultations wil take place before the summer
(including Employment Committee, Committee of the Regions, Economic and
Social Committee, Advisory Committee & Directors General for Vocational
Training, PES network)
• The impact assessment wil be submit ed to the Regulatory Scrutiny Board in
September 2021, with the view to adopting a possible Commission proposal in
Q4 2021.
Likely legal basis and instrument of the initiative
The legal basis of any Union measure, and therefore the legal instrument, is to
be determined on the basis of the ‘context, content and aims’ pursued by that
measure. The aim of the measure is to promote a skil ed, trained and adaptable
workforce. In terms of content, it should include provisions for Member States to set up
individual learning schemes, which provide all working-age individuals (notwithstanding
their current position on the labour market, i.e. employed, self-employed, unemployed,
inactive, etc.) with a budget for training. The wide scope, which covers all working age
population (as opposed to just workers) is essential in order to support individuals to
manage current and future transitions. The ongoing impact assessment analysis wil
help determine dif erent variables of the schemes such as accumulation of entitlements
over time, dif erentiated level of entitlement for dif erent groups, etc.
In light of the above, the most relevant legal basis is article 149 (Employment
policy), which seeks to promote “action in the field of employment” in particular by
“promoting innovative approaches”. Article 145 TFEU further specifies that action in the
field of employment entails “developing a coordinated strategy for employment and
particularly for promoting a skil ed, trained and adaptable workforce and labour markets
responsive to economic change”.
The most appropriate legal instrument under article 149 for this initiative is a
Council Recommendation. This is possible thanks to combining article 149 and
article 292. The Council Recommendation is considered an appropriate instrument
because this innovative scheme is based on limited experience in the Member Stat
es5:
a non-binding instrument is most appropriate and politically realistic at this stage.
5 Individual learning accounts covering al working-age adults exist only in France (and
Singapore outside of the EU). The most common way of providing training entitlements to
individuals in the Member States are training voucher schemes, which existed in 14 of 27 EU
Member States in 2020- however usual y with a much smaller target group.
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A Directive, would need to be based on article 153, which does not al ow to fully
reach the objectives of the initiative as presented above. Indeed, under article 153
the initiative would need to focus on paragraph 1) b. ‘working conditions’. This means it
could only cover workers, and not self-employed, unemployed, and inactive people as
mentioned above. It could potential y (to be checked with LS) also be extended to 1) d.
‘protection of workers where their employment contract is terminated’ but that would
mean only covering employed and unemployed, and this point requires unanimity in
Council. Lastly, article 153 1) b. could be combined with article 153 1) h ‘the integration
of persons excluded from the labour market’ however this only applies ‘without
prejudice to article 166’ on VET policy and the latter excludes harmonisation measures,
so extending the scope to those not in employment would mean that a Directive is not
possible. Moreover, a Directive is not recommended because it seems politically
dif icult to achieve, considering individual learning schemes with broad coverage would
be a novelty in most Member States. Finally, a Directive under article 153 would
require a two-stage social partner consultation.
Other potential legal instruments (Decision, Regulation) are discarded because
they are not appropriate in view of the future content of the initiative, which is not
about setting an EU level instrument or a EU level new fund. A Commission
Recommendation is also discarded as it does not commit political y the other
institutions or the Member States.
Articles 165 and 166 (education and VET policy) are discarded because the
centre of gravity of the initiative is around the skil s of the workforce, and not the
provision of education and training. In any case, it would not have any impact on the
choice of legal instrument because they both exclude harmonisation and hence would
also mean a Council Recommendation.
Position of ETUC on ILA initiative
Position of BusinessEurope on ILA initiative
From their position paper on EU Skil s and Youth package (Sept 2020):
“BusinessEurope notes the ongoing exploratory work on individual learning accounts. It
is important that these considerations pay attention to the diversity of national systems
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and approaches and the role that social partners play therein. It is questionable if a
blanket approach towards individual learning accounts at the EU level wil reach out to
those people that are most in need of further training and sufficiently address the
problem of low motivation among certain workers to participate in training. For
instance, in its proposal for a reinforcement of the Youth Guarantee the Commission
acknowledges that a number of different factors (low skil s, living in a rural or remote
area, belonging to ethnic minorities, low socio-economic background etc) create
barriers to employability. Young people who have had limited success in the education
system previously are much less likely than those, who have been successful to seek
additional training on their own, even if they need it. Therefore individual learning
accounts could actually result in less upskil ing of the people in the work force that may
need it the most. We are convinced that a broadly social partner led approach to
employee training and dual learning wil deliver more effective and efficient outcomes
than a purely individualised support mechanism, such as a learning account.”
More recent Business Europe statements point to
links between Business Europe
priorities and the initiative on individual learning accounts:
• In the autumn newsletter on the Pact for Skil s, Maxime Cerutti calls for
more
public investments in skills and to promote the notion that
individual
workers have a personal responsibility to maintain their employability.
• At the recent high-level forum on individual learning accounts, he highlighted
the importance of
promoting efficient cost-sharing and pointed to
the
current complexity of the market for CVET in the Member States.
Flash report from the high-level forum on ILAs on 4-5 March
This two-day online High-level forum of 4-5 March 2021 aimed at debating the concept
of individual learning accounts (ILA) as part of a solution to the EU objective of
increasing adult participation in up- and reskil ing, through learning from existing
practices and discussing the challenges and factors for success. The conference is
part of a broader stakeholder consultation process to investigate whether individual
learning accounts can be useful tool to support the upskil ing and reskil ing. This
especially given the many skil s challenges Europe is facing, related to the Covid-19
pandemic and the digital and green transformations.
The High-level forum brought together nearly 800 participants from 48 countries. The
audience consisted of stakeholders including social partners, industry and business,
NGOs, education and training providers, national public authorities, international
organisations and EU agencies, researchers and many more.
The speakers included European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas
Schmit, the French Minister of Labour, Employment and Economic Inclusion Élisabeth
Borne and the Director General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion Joost
Korte. The floor was given also to speakers from international organisations, social
partners, business, Cedefop, as well as experts on diverse national approaches.
Opening the Forum, Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social
Rights underlined “Today, the digital and green transitions rapidly change the world of
work. How many of us wil retire in the same job in which we started our career? We
need to manage this change to protect the individual workers. And the way to do this is
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to regularly up and re-skil . I am excited to learn how individual learning accounts can
play a crucial role in this”. The first panel discussion with representatives from
UNESCO; OECD; Jacques Delors Institute, presented the current state of research on
ILAs. The second panel discussion, with panellists from Slovakia, the Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Denmark and the Adecco group showcased practical experiences from
Individual Learning Schemes on the ground and discussed opportunities and
challenges. The first day was concluded with a key note from Élisabeth Borne (Minister
of Labour, Employment and Economic Inclusion, France), who reviewed experience of
the
compte personnel de formation in France.
The second day started with a presentation on the Singapore Skil sFuture Credit
system. After this, the first panel with experts on ILA and skil s development and with
social partners discussed funding and governance arrangements of ILAs. A second
expert panel discussion focused on enabling factors for ILAs (guidance, validation of
skil s, transparent information on quality assured training opportunities). The high-level
forum was closed by Joost Korte (Director General, DG Employment, Social Affairs and
Inclusion, European Commission) stressing the need for collective action to respond to
the needs of individuals and the developments in the labour market.
The high-level forum resulted in the following key take-aways:
•
The time is right for individual entitlements to learning and ILAs: ILAs can
play an important role in providing an additional impetus to re -and upskilling,
reaching out to disadvantaged adults, and through this contribute to the fair,
just, and innovative recovery of Europe. The Recovery and Resilience Facility
of 672.5 billion Euro can have an important role in financing skills development
and supporting the green and digital transitions, for instance through ILAs.
•
ILAs will have to be based on universality, support inclusiveness, and
different learning types: While there are different possible options, generally,
the high-level forum supported the idea that ILAs should be open to everyone
(as an individual entitlement), to be used for formal and non-formal learning,
also responding to the need for adults to enrol in more concise learning
pathways leading to partial qualifications and/or micro-credentials.
•
ILAs can only function in wel -governed and designed systems: ILAs
should be seen as an additional instrument to support individuals in engaging in
learning that can complement existing instruments and arrangements for re-
and upskil ing. ILAs should therefore be designed together with social partners.
Furthermore, as ILAs support developing training markets in the countries, a
careful consideration needs to be given on how public and private training
providers operate within this market.
•
Effective ILAs need to be embedded in well-functioning adult learning
systems: ILAs, individual entitlements and in general demand-side funding can
only be effective when it is embedded in effective adult learning systems. These
systems will need to have in place mechanisms, for instance concerning
guidance; validation; outreach to disadvantaged groups; quality assurance of
the training provided; solid IT systems to support the take up of ILAs. These are
especially important to make ILAs support those adults that need re- and
upskilling the most and are less-likely to claim their individual entitlements. At
the same time, ILAs can foster the development of such systems: by
strengthening transparency and quality assurance for non-formal learning
offers, and by making guidance and validation offers eligible for ILA funding.
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AOB: Micro-credentials initiative
Position
by Business Europe: “BusinessEurope sees good potential in basing VET
programmes on modules or units of learning outcomes and with particular reference to
the development of micro-credentials. Micro-credentials are a flexible, demand-driven
and complementary approach for training to be undertaken in way that responds to
companies and workers’ needs.”
Background information:
The European Skil s Agenda proposed to work on a European approach for micro-
credentials. Meanwhile, the Communication on achieving a European Education Area
by 2025 announced a proposal for a Council Recommendation in 2021 to support
building trust in micro-credentials across Europe and to aim at having all the necessary
steps in place by 2025 for their wider use, portability and recognition. This is a joint
initiative with Commissioner Gabriel and DG EAC.
The initiative wil aim to develop European standards on micro-credentials, with the aim
to facilitate transparency, trust, portability and stackability of credentials. This means
that micro-credentials should have the same value and respond to the same European
standards independently of their level, content or provider (company, chamber of
commerce, university, VET institution). This includes, but is not restricted to higher
education institutions entering the world of lifelong learning/upskil ing and reskil ing.
Today, the majority of short-courses leading to micro-credentials are on ICT or other
emerging needs in the labour market.
The objective of the initiative is to empower individuals to participate in up- and
reskil ing as a crucial element to foster lifelong learning. This can be for personal
development, but, more importantly, for the skil s needed in the labour market.
Clear standards wil support the development of short courses, which allow for a
targeted acquisition of skil s needed in the labour market. In addition, micro-credentials
allow for skil s to be more easily recognised in the labour market, including by
employers. Thus, micro-credentials increase the incentives for participating in up- and
reskil ing, addressing one of the main barriers to individuals’ uptake of training. The
initiative wil also facilitate workers’ and learners’ mobility across the EU, as employers
and education and training institutions wil find it easier to understand and compare
these credentials.
For these reasons, the initiative should be based on Articles 149 and 292 of the Treaty
on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) [Employment], as advised by the
Commission Legal Service. The narrative should focus on the individual, reflecting with
equal importance the need for lifelong learning, personal development and
employability, as also expressed in the title of the initiative.
It should be noted that the Recommendation (by definition a voluntary tool) wil not aim
at regulating national education and training systems or creating additional layers of
bureaucracy to the training market. It is also to be stressed that micro-credentials are
not intended to replace full or partial qualifications issued by the formal education and
training system, but constitute an add-on to existing qualifications in the course of up-
and reskil ing needs. Member States and stakeholders (notably social partners) have
already expressed concerns about these points in various consultations.
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The proposal for a Council Recommendation on micro-credentials for lifelong learning
and employability was packaged together with the one on individual learning accounts
by the College in the Commission Work Programme for Q4, given the labour market
focus of both initiatives.
With regards to timing, to allow for the planned work underway in DG EMPL (targeted
consultations including with social partners, Open Public Consultation, Cedefop study
on micro-credentials in VET and labour market) to be incorporated in the initiative,
adoption should not take place before 8 December 2021. Sufficient time is needed to
bring partners and national authorities on board social, as preliminary discussions
show resistance and concerns, especially from the formal VET sector and trade unions.
A full and open dialogue needs to take place to fully show the benefits of the initiative
and address concerns where possible. Moreover, the timing of the initiative should take
into account the proposal for the Council Recommendations on ILA, which cannot be
moved forward due to the timing of the impact assessment.
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Electronically signed on 06/05/2021 12:04 (UTC+02) in accordance with article 11 of Commission Decision C(2020) 4482