04.02.2021

Have your say on how to improve adults’ basic skills in Europe

Five years after the adoption of the EU Council Recommendation on ‘upskilling pathways’, the European Commission started an evaluation process on progress made in its implementation in the EU Member States. The recently published UP-AEPRO toolkit will come in handy in preparing your response to the public consultation on the Recommendation.

Online consultation to be launched soon

A 12-week internet-based consultation is about to be launched in all official languages of the European Union. It will target public organisations, education and training providers, social partners, civil society organisations, and the general public.

The consultation is part of the Recommendation evaluation process recently published by the European Commission. Its main goal is to assess national action, the support provided by the Commission, and progress made towards the Recommendation’s objectives. The evaluation report published by the Commission will discuss the experience gained and the implications for the future.

Deepening the knowledge on Upskilling Pathways

In the last two years, the UP-AEPRO consortium has been working with civil society organisations, providers and trainers from all over Europe to deepen the knowledge and foster the discussion about the Upskilling Pathways initiative. When evaluating the impact of the project, the UP-AEPRO partners declared they feel inspired and empowered by the practices and policies analysed during the project’s lifespan, and believe that many of those could be transferred to other countries to foster the Upskilling Pathways implementation in Europe.

During the online course, hands-on experiences and enriching insights were collected from more than 130 learners. The peer learning webinars provided the occasion to showcase successful case studies and draw comparisons between different national approaches. Through the project final conference, 70 adult education professionals had the chance to discuss the challenges and opportunities of the Upskilling Pathways initiative in relation to increasing participation and outreach. 

Advocacy Toolkit: A source for inspiration and recommendations

All the practices, policies, and insights mentioned above are collected in the final output of the project: the UP-AEPRO Advocacy Toolkit. Including a series of recommendations, relevant data, and inspiring experiences, the Toolkit could be used to achieve progress in the implementation of the Upskilling Pathways initiative, both at practice and policy levels.

One of the aims of the toolkit is to provide Adult Education professionals with the willingness and capacity to be engaged in the design, monitoring, and implementation of the Upskilling Pathways Initiative. The UP-AEPRO partners hope that the Toolkit will also be useful in providing arguments and suggestions for the next online consultation.

More information on the Upskilling Pathways in AEPRO project can be found in the project website. 

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The Upskilling pathways initiative aims to help adults acquire a minimum level of literacy, numeracy and digital skills and/or acquire a broader set of skills towards an upper secondary qualification or equivalent.

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