On 18-19 September, Porto hosted the 2025 Porto Social Forum, an European event focused on competitiveness and social affairs. Building upon the 2021 Porto Social Summit and 2023 Forum, this edition focused on “Quality Jobs in a Competitive Social Europe”, with the discussion of potentially including a fourth Porto target for quality jobs.
The Forum brought together high-level European leaders to contribute to the Quality Jobs Roadmap, advance the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, and work on strategies to achieve the three main targets: employment, training, and reducing poverty.
Key European speakers included the Executive Vice-President and Commissioner for Social Rights and Skills, Quality Jobs and Preparedness, Commissioner for the Mediterranean, the Director-General of the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, representatives of the European Parliament, European Economic and Social Committee, European Labour Authority, Eurofound and European Training Foundation. National governments and social partners were also present, as were international organisations such as the Council of Europe and the OECD.
Whilst the Porto targets also include lifelong learning, which is far from being achieved with less than 40% of adults participating in learning every year, education and training were not mentioned enough. Civil society’s perspective on panels was minimal, especially those working around education and training. EAEA and other civil society organisations were only invited to the side event of the forum (18 September), not participating in the main event.
Individual Learning Accounts: empowering learners’ autonomy and reaching vulnerable groups
Education and training are closely linked to competitiveness and quality jobs. Quality jobs do not relate solely to compensation, but also include, amongst other aspects, the right to continuous training. Moreover, education also supports those who are not currently employed, bringing them back to the labour market or helping them acquire transferable skills which are essential for work and societal participation. Adult participation in learning is low, and is even lower for the adults with low qualifications (18.4%).
To place individual needs at the centre of learning and increase adult participation in learning, Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) have been discussed over the last years. ILAs are digital accounts in which individuals accumulate training rights over time, regardless of their current employment status or as they change jobs. They increase the autonomy of the learner, letting learners choose their preferred offers from a database/registry of available offers. They can also be used as a one‑stop shop for other functions, such as financing, with learners directly accessing financial support mechanisms.
For ILAs to truly fulfil their promise, they must be designed with inclusivity at their core. This means addressing not only the upskilling needs of the employed workforce but also ensuring that vulnerable groups who face multiple barriers to education can benefit from these schemes. Financial support mechanisms, flexible learning pathways, targeted outreach and integration with social services are essential components for making ILAs genuinely accessible to all who need them.
RALExILA: building the ground for inclusive adult learning
For ILAs to truly work, recognition of non-formal ALE providers as suppliers of high-quality learning offers and as issuers of micro-credentials, targeted outreach and clear information flows are essential.
Integration of national ALE registries with ILAs is also an important aspect, as often the information available through the accounts is dependent on the national registries of eligible opportunities and providers. EAEA has been working on exactly this with the RALExILA project (an Erasmus+ co-funded project coordinated by the organisation).
RALExILA aims at developing a comprehensive model for national registries for adult education to support the implementation of individual learning accounts. Across 2024, partners mapped the structure and strategies of adult learning and education registries in 10 European countries (Cyprus, Croatia, Malta, Slovakia, France, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Ireland, Portugal and Finland), identifying the current gaps in the ALE registers of these countries, with a focus on governance, quality assurance and ease of access.
The core model is designed to include a wide range of opportunities for training, both funded and unfunded, covering microcredentials, as well as formal and non-formal training. This model could support monitoring the overall implementation of ILAs, improve the quality of offers and help solve the fragmentation of the ALE national system.
This work represents an important contribution to making adult learning more accessible and inclusive across Europe, directly supporting the Porto targets of increasing adult participation in training to 60% by 2030.
To discuss this and other topics, join us at the RALExILA Final Conference – One Europe, Many Learners: Building the Foundations for ALE Registries and ILAs on December 3! It will be a great opportunity to explore strategic connections between registries, ILAs, and national skills strategies. Registrations are open!
Read more:
- Education and Training Monitor 2024 – Chapter 6. Adult learning
- Advancing Adult Skills through Individual Learning Accounts (OECD, 2025)
- Council Recommendation on individual learning accounts (2022)
- Individual Learning Accounts: How will ALE providers be supported? (EAEA, 2022)
- RALExILA – National Registries of Adult Learning and Education to support the implementation of the Individual Learning Account
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Text: Maria Gonçalves Ribeiro