European Centre for the Development
of Vocational Training
Seminar on
Social partners and sectoral training funds in Europe:
Mobilising resources, sharing costs and responsibilities
Thessaloniki, 25-26 September 2008
Background note
Rationale
Investing in human resources and skills principally through education and training is
widely recognised as one of the key engines for economic growth, competitiveness and
social cohesion. However, market failures sometimes cause under-provision of training
opportunities, especially for some types of companies and for low-skilled and
disadvantaged workers. Public authorities have therefore concluded that to achieve equity
and efficiency, some form of intervention in the training market is required, including
policy instruments of financial and non-financial nature.
Increasingly public policy strategy is focusing on the promotion of the social partners’
involvement in training, both as providers and as users. Cooperation between social
partners may cover different areas, such as skill needs, qualifications frameworks,
mechanisms for skills validation and certification, resource mobilisation and financing at
different levels (national, sectoral, enterprise). The Copenhagen Declaration of
November 2002 (European Commission, 2002)1 stated that social partners play an
indispensable role in the developing, validating and recognising vocational competences
and qualifications at all levels. The subsequent Maastricht Communiqué2 and Helsinki
Communiqués3 in 2004 and 2006 (European Commission, 2004 and 2006) have both
stressed the advantages to be derived from an active partnership between decision-makers
and other stakeholders, especially social partners and sectoral organisations.
A key area of cooperation between social partners in Europe is in mobilising resources
and sharing costs and responsibilities. The vital role of the social partners in lifelong
learning is reflected at the Framework of actions for the lifelong development of
competences and qualifications4 agreed in 2002, and reassessed in the follow-up reports
1
European Commission. Declaration of the European Ministers of vocational education and training, and the European
Commission, convened in Copenhagen on 29 and 30 November 2002, on enhanced European cooperation in vocational education
and training. Brussels, European Commission, 2002.
2
European Commission. Maastricht communiqué on the future priorities of enhanced European cooperation in vocational
education and training (VET): review of the Copenhagen declaration of 30 November 2002. Brussels: European Commission, 2004.
3
European Commission. Helsinki communiqué on enhanced European cooperation in vocational education and training:
communiqué of the European Ministers of vocational education and training, the European social partners and the Europ ean
Commission convened in Helsinki on 5 December 2006 to review the priorities and strategies of the Copenhagen process . Brussels:
European Commission, 2006.
4
ETUC et al. Framework of actions for the lifelong development of competencies and qualifications: Brussels: ETUC,
UNICE/UEAPME, CEEP, 2002.
as a contribution to the Lisbon strategy. Social partners, occasionally assisted by public
authorities, are working together in several European countries to establish and jointly
govern bipartite or tripartite sectoral training funds (STFs) that are intended to finance
lifelong learning and training. STFs are based on voluntary or compulsory training
levies/taxes. The sectoral dimension can be either explicit (e.g. separate funds for each
sector) or implicit (e.g. multi-sector funds or cross-industry funds of which collection
and/or allocation of funds have a sectoral dimension).
Objectives
The seminar on Social partners and sectoral training funds in Europe: Mobilising
resources, sharing costs and responsibilities will disseminate the results of Cedefop’s
study on Sectoral training funds in Europe5 and discuss how STFs contribute to
improving both the quantity and quality of training supply (public and private) particularly how they align the training supply to sectoral situations and needs. STFs have
now been set up in several European countries, eight of which (STFs in Belgium,
Denmark, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, the Netherlands and the UK) have been
extensively investigated in the study.
The seminar also aims to exchange experiences about the governance, output
measurement and evaluations of activities carried out by STFs, and to foster more
qualitative and quantitative approach to collecting and analysing data on the performance
of STFs (efficiency and equity measures, take up rates, deadweight loss, substitution
effect). In this way, it will help improve the evidence base for policy-making at
enterprise, sectoral, national and EU levels.
This peer-learning seminar is targeted at 30 representatives of STFs, social partners,
policy makers, practitioners and researchers. Case studies will be complemented by focus
group discussions that will address the following three main questions: How can SMEs
participation in training be increased? What incentives could be used to encourage
underrepresented groups to take up training? Which monitoring and evaluation
frameworks are needed to meet the objectives of training funds?
For further information, please contact:
Peter Szovics
Project manager
Area Research and Policy Analysis
European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training
PO Box 22427, GR-55102 Thessaloniki, Greece
Phone: 0030 2310 490097, e-mail: peter.szovics@cedefop.europa.eu
5
http://www.trainingvillage.gr/etv/Information_resources/Bookshop/publication_details.asp?pub_id=499
2