We will develop and implement a new toolkit to enable national, regional and local labor market forecasters to ensure that they are able to support the alignment of VET policy and economic development strategy, in line with the priorities of the European Commission. This will be transferred through an existing network of labor market observatories operating throughout Europe. The ERASMUS+ Program recognizes the critical importance of reinforcing links between education, training with the world of work and this project seeks to achieve this directly through better aligning VET policy (education/training) with economic development strategies (work). Furthermore it looks at the pivotal role that differing types of labor market forecasting play in driving VET policies and economic development strategies. The project will develop and implement an innovative new toolkit which will enable the many organizations providing labor market intelligence and forecasting in Europe to ensure their ‘offer’ is both capable of supporting a more aligned system and indeed helps to progress the process of alignment. Better aligning VET policy and economic development strategy will enhance the quality and relevance of the learning and training offer, particularly when combined with state of the art labor market forecasting. Innovative practices already exist in a number of European countries and examples of these have already been identified by the project as being: the open data access approach taken by LMI for all and Working Futures (UK), the sectoral work of the Observatoire régional emploi-formation (OREF) de la région Provence - Alpes - Côte d’Azur (ORM-PACA) (France), the systematic market/demand process for evaluating VET needs in Yrkeshögskolan (Sweden), the Hessian care Monitor (Germany, the Careers Guidance website ‘Careers-Wales’ (UK) and the work of Skills Development Scotland (UK). The partners have identified through previous work together and through the network’s ongoing activities, a Labor Market Intelligence (LMI) Life-cycle that will be reflected within the Toolkit and Good Practice activities: 1. Identification of needs 2. Identification of LMI (re)sources 3. Selection or development of tools 4. Selection/development of LMI presentation 5. Active participation of user groups. 6. Effective implementation. 7. Evaluation, assessment and improvement. Effective labor market and skills forecasting underpins both economic development strategy and VET policymaking. It is the foundation upon which both must be built. Understanding our changing labor markets and the demand for skills from our employers is pivotal to designing educational policy and to Europe’s future. From our knowledge of the needs of the sector, contents of the final toolkit are likely to include: - Scenario planning - Innovative forecasting techniques - Innovative dissemination and mainstreaming approaches tailored to various audiences - Good practices and case studies from WPs 2,3 and 4 - Guide to informing economic strategy - Guide to informing VET policy - Techniques to understand user needs - Best practice employer surveys/perspectives surveys, historic trend mapping - Useful approaches to smart specialization strategies - Sectoral approaches and forecasting Our project seeks to identify the very best examples of effective VET Policy and Economic Development Planning and to understand the differing ways that labor market and skills forecasting has been used. It will then use this understanding to nuance practical methods and approaches that other regions and countries could adopt to help improve their labor market and skills forecasting – with a view to better linking VET policy to economic development strategy. These practical approaches will take the form of an innovative toolkit which will be implemented in selected partner countries before being made available (open access) via the existing European Network on Regional Labor Market Monitoring. The partners have been chosen as they encompass the very best examples of labor market forecasting organizations/experts from across Europe, including local, regional and national examples. All partners are key players in the European Network of Regional Labor Market Monitoring, which is Europe’s network of regional observatories and this network will be used to drive dissemination and to help gather good practices and case studies. Our partnership and methodology is built upon our very successful ARLI (The EU Skills Panorama - Achieving Regional and Local Impact) project funded by the EU Progress Program which has improved regional skills forecasting and has worked alongside the Commission to help inform the future shape of the EU-Skills Panorama into the landscape of regional and local labor market and skills monitoring.
The VET-EDS project has developed a suite of materials, including a new toolkit, targeted primarily at labour market forecasters but also at those policymakers looking to commission and utilise labour market information. The materials are new and will help ensure the alignment of VET policy and economic development strategy, in line with the priorities of the European Commission. The tools have been disseminated through Europe’s primary network of Labour Market Observatories – the European Network on Regional labour Market Monitoring (EN RLMM). In doing this work the project has identified good practices and case studies where labour market intelligence has reinforced the links between education, training with the world of work and this typically has emphasised the importance of a demand-led system and one where differing types of labour market forecasting have successfully informed VET and economic development strategies. Our innovative new toolkit is available both on a Flash Drive (to facilitate dissemination at the EN RLMM Annual Conference) and online via the project website. This major resource will enable the many organizations providing labour market intelligence and forecasting in Europe to ensure their ‘offer’ is both capable of supporting a more aligned system and indeed helps to progress the process of alignment. It contains a large number of tools, the necessity for each of which was identified through the literature reviews and case study analysis that preceded the toolkit production. We believe that better aligning VET policy and economic development strategy will enhance the quality and relevance of Europe’s learning and training offer, particularly when combined with state of the art labour market forecasting – for which we provide examples – including examples of the very latest developments such as web scraping and real-time labour market data. Our project has explored and described a very large number of good practices and a smaller number of more detailed case studies, both at two levels; national and regional/local. This generated a massive amount of information which has been presented both through three major compendia and as a series of summary tools/reports included within the toolkit. The need for the following tools emerged from our work and in particular from our two successful workshops and from our case studies and good practice analysis. They are: Economic Development and VET Policymaker Tools a. The Strategy Formation Process Tool b. Employer Responsiveness Tool c. Commissioning LMI Tool Labour Market Intelligence Practitioners Tools d. What 21st century LMOs are currently actively pursuing and how they interact with policy e. Supplementary Fundraising Tool f. Measuring Impact Tool g. Harnessing the web for skills and employment data Tool h. Public Engagement Tool i. Local Labour Market Assessments Tool j. Employer Responsiveness Tool (as above) The great many good practices and case studies that are presented thematically should help in establishing new ways of working or new regional LMI models/approaches. These have been set out with thematic summaries bringing these together under the headings of: • Meeting Employer Needs • Forecasting • Sector Specific LMI and Training • Social Integration of Disadvantaged People • Analysis and Monitoring Our project has identified the importance of policymakers in the evidence formation process and has sought to support this role specifically with new tools (see above) and through two targeted reports. The first for local and regional policymakers and the latter for national and European policymakers. To ensure the efficacy of the approach and of the project activities and outputs we have engaged the University of Stirling as a project evaluator and interim and final evaluation reports are available for the project. The partners were chosen as they encompass the very best examples of labour market forecasting organizations/experts from across Europe, including local, regional and national examples. All partners remain key players in the EN RLMM, which is Europe’s network of regional observatories and this network has been and will continue to be used to drive dissemination and to help gather good practices and case studies. The partners encompass Higher Education Institutions, private sector organisations and the public sector. In the longer term we anticipate significant ongoing benefits from the use of the Toolkit by partners and the Network and future publications are planned including an article by Stirling and a Working Paper form the ENRLMM.