Funding has been agreed by the European Commission for a 7-year project aimed at shaking up education, training and employment policies and systems within the UK.
CEDEFOP, the European agency that works with policy-makers across Europe on vocational training policy, reports that The Community Support Framework (CSF)to be finalised in June will receive 6.3 billion pounds from a number of sources including the British public sector and the European Union.
Five main priorities have been identified for the CSF:
1) Policies related to the labour market, in particular combating unemployment and re-integration of the long term unemployed
2) Equal opportunities for all in accessing the labour market, promoting social inclusion and research into direct and indirect discrimination
3) Lifelong learning through sharing responsibilities for learning with employers, employees and the community and supporting key policy development
4) Adaptability and entrepreneurship, including upgrading existing competencies and emerging skills shortages
5) Improving women's labour market participation, in particular by improving access to learning and removing barriers to employment
The programme will be run through three regional centres:
one for England, one for Scotland and one for Wales, and will cover all areas not currently receiving Objective 1 funding.
CEDEFOP provides information on trends in vocational education and training in the European Union - its electronic training village is aimed at anyone involved in vocational training and can be accessed at
www.trainingvillage.gr.
