SKILLS FACTORY

Career guidance can be referred to in many different ways. You might have heard of ‘career counselling’, ‘career development’, ‘career management’, ‘careers information, advice and guidance’, ‘vocational counselling’ or ‘vocational guidance’. Whichever name it goes by, the objective of career guidance is to help people of all ages manage their careers and guide them in making the educational, trai...

When we talk about the transition from school to work, we refer to an important and hopefully exciting time in all young people’s lives – the moment when they can find a job that enables them to put into practice all the skills they have acquired throughout their education and training.  But how can we ensure young people leave education with the right skills to succeed in today’s labour mark...

The global pandemic has shown how the concept of education can change from one day to the next, and has forced educators around the world to find new ways to teach outside the physical classroom. What are the lessons learnt from the global emergency? What are the real costs of online teaching? Has the level of investment in terms of the purchase of devices, internet access and time needed to switc...

In the 19th episode of the Skills Factory podcast we speak about challenges that young people are facing when looking for a job and what are the main mechanisms that public authorities are introducing in the EU and beyond to tackle those challenges. In this conversation we will focus on an initiative called Youth Guarantee. What is it? What does it guarantee? And to whom? We answer these questions...

The share of young people not in education, training nor in employment , or so called NEETs, is around 10% in the EU, with the highest rates in Italy, Greece and Spain, and the lowest rates in the Nordic countries. In the EU Neighbourhood, the share of NEETs varies between 20% and 35%. What does having too many NEETs actually mean for the economy and society? What are the reasons behind...

In this episode we talk to Iryna Shumik from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and to Olena Bekh, Human Capital Development Expert from the European Training Foundation. The Russian invasion of Ukraine that started on 24 February 2022 has, according to the UN, affected the lives and wellbeing of more than 5.7 million school-aged children.  The deadly armed conflict has resulted...

When is the right moment to start thinking about the rebuilding and reopening of the education system in Ukraine? How long will it take for the teaching process to get back to normal? And what role can international donors play? And who should be in the lead? We discuss this with two people who took part in the rebuilding of education in Kosovo, Dr Anton Gojani from the Austrian Development Agency...

How can the inclusive education help students to find a better job after the graduation? What was impact of COVID-19 pandemic on including students from the disadvantaged background? What role does the personalized training path play in including everyone into the learning? We find answers to those questions with Paolo Nardi, Cometa, Italy and discussed on what it takes to make an education instit...

In this episode we discuss the impact of war on education. The Russian aggression in Ukraine has led to the interruption of education and learning throughout the country. So what might education and training in Ukraine look like in the future? And most importantly, how and when will the rebuilding process start? As an example, we look at the armed conflict that happened in Kosovo nearly 25 years a...

Digitalisation and digital inclusion are high in the international agenda and more and more part of our lives.  What does digital inclusion mean in practice?  What is the role of digital inclusion in lifelong learning?  Are there outstanding stories about how to create a more digitally inclusive world?  Don't miss our new SkillsFactory episode! Host: Daria Santucci For more information, go to:...

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have closed their borders and usual movements of migrants have been interrupted. According to OECD, migration flows to OECD countries declined by more than 30% in 2020, to about 3.7 million – the lowest level since 2003. This drop could be as much as 40%, depending on which factors are taken into account. What happened next? The supply chain crisis in m...

In this episode, we talk to Helene Overmeer, coordinator international projects at HMC, school for wood, furniture and interior professionals, in the Netherlands. And we also chat with Pirita Vuorinen, Senior Human Capital Development Expert and Coordinator for Engaging Enterprises in Skills Development, European Training Foundation. Helene and Pirita have been working together on international pr...

What is resilience?  Why is it receiving more and more focus in EU policies and international development policy?  Can it be developed in the learning environment and if so how is the best way to do so?   In the tenth of the ETF podcast series we focus on what resilience means in the context of education and training and lifelong learning, and how we can boost the resilience of learners with speci...

In this episode, we talk to Azizjon Azimi, the founder of Tajrupt  Artificial Intelligence Academy in Tajikistan. For many years Azizjon studied in the US, and worked in Silicon Valley. One day he decided to quit his job and go home to create the first start-up in artificial intelligence in the whole of Central Asia. What led him to do this? Why did he decide to set-up an AI Academy in one of the...

The past teaches us about the present: history gives us the tools to understand better the past, and it gives us patterns to understand better current challenges.  The history of Soviet Union can teach us a lot. In this episode we want to understand what is the Soviet heritage in education and training systems. What was positive and what was negative in it? Can we still see some of its traces in t...

Alain Dehaze, head of Adecco group, noted that 85% of jobs that we will do in 2030 are yet to be invented and reskilling and upskilling of workers is indispensable. And that’s when Lifelong learning concept kicks in. How can we all become lifelong learners? In this episode we will speak with Nina Pulkkinen, a real lifelong learner with 35 years of experience in learning and Anni Karttunen, expert...

Listen to this episode and check on whether you are doing the right thing to be on demand on the job market. Do you want to learn five concrete tips on how to be a perfect job candidate on the competitive labour market of today? Do you want to know what are things you can change in your CV and your educational background that can help you to land on a dream job? We spoke to three successful youngs...

How do you like education in your country to be in the future? What are the problems you see in the system now? We asked these questions to three Youth European Ambassadors in the Eastern European countries and we addressed them to a senior policy maker, Lawrence Meredith from the European Commission. Listen what questions  Nency Mkrtchyan  from Armenia, Elene Kobaidze  from Georgia, and  Vikrot-V...

Green enterprises and green entrepreneurs, or ecopreneurs, could become a win-win solution to address current economic challenges and tackle the transition to a carbon-neutral economy. In this episode we talk with Dragana, a real ecopreneur from Serbia, and Anthony, senior expert on entrepreneurship and enterprise skills. We'll try to understand what is needed to set up a green business and su...

The education and training system was one of the most affected during the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020. It is estimated, according to UNESCO, that the school closures affected about 70% of the total learners’ population worldwide. Most of the education providers suddenly had to shift away from the classroom in many parts of the globe, to an online learning environment. We can’t tell yet whether th...

In this episode we discuss the skills that will be needed in the future world of work and how can people be ready for the constantly changing labour market. We also touch upon the new trends in the recruitment processes and how the unemployed people can get bigger chances to get a job. Our guests are Walter Vandervelde, Professor Creativity and Innovation at Erasmus University College Brussels and...

The Covid-19 pandemic has been the biggest disruption for the world of education and learning. Face-to-face classes stopped for more than 1.2 billion students worldwide. At least, 463 million of school learners could not be reached by digital and online learning. The need to be inclusive and give access to education becomes even more important after the crisis. But inclusive learning especially in...