Crafts and small and medium-sized enterprises are the largest employers in Europe and contribute significantly to the development of skills, especially by providing places for practical classes and apprenticeships as part of vocational education and training. However, without the support of various employers’ organizations and chambers, trades and small and medium-sized enterprises would not be able to independently develop programs and educational outcomes that can meet the needs of the labor market in the broadest sense. Employers need partner support in the mentioned process so that the result of this cooperation is successful and effective vocational education and training.
Therefore, SMEunited, as an umbrella European organization that gathers organizations representing trades and small and medium-sized enterprises in Europe, in its documents for the year 2024, emphasized the need to build a partnership and develop partnership cooperation between all stakeholders in the system of vocational education and training, and precisely to seek of the Croatian Chamber of Crafts to explicitly highlight partnership as an essential basis of the system. Partnership implies concrete cooperation between the educational and economic sectors, as well as the direct involvement of trades and small and medium-sized enterprises in the management and active implementation of processes in vocational education and training at all levels.
Along with the emphasis on partnership, SMEunited also emphasized the need for:
reforms of initial vocational education and training in order to acquire more knowledge through direct experience and thus encourage personal talents,
by including entrepreneurial skills in education at all levels,
ensuring quality services for professional guidance of young people and adults,
by improving the positive image of vocational education and training, especially apprenticeships, and by reducing the negative perception of vocational education in relation to higher education,
by ensuring appropriate incentives for trades and small and medium-sized enterprises aimed at investing in training and retraining and encouraging a culture of lifelong learning among workers, as well as employers themselves,
mediation in the recognition and recognition of skills and qualifications between EU member states, as well as for citizens of third countries,
by increasing financial support through EU funds, as well as increasing mutual learning and the exchange of good practices at the European level.
SMEunited determined all the listed priorities in its annual work plan for 2024 and included them in the technical memorandum as the basic demands of small and medium-sized employers towards the political parties that will participate in the elections for the European Parliament next year. The requests were also presented at the conference held on November 30, 2023 entitled Making a success of the European Year of Skills – SMEs take the lead for training held by SMEunited as part of the European Year of Skills activities.
You can find more information about the conference itself, as well as activities within the European Year of Skills at the following link: https://year-of-skills.europa.eu/index_en.
