Photo: EuroSkills 2025, Lasse Skov
All seats were filled in Fællessalen at Christiansborg when EuroSkills 2025 invited partners to a mini-conference under the headline “Recruitment and Completion in Vocational Education and Training.”
Recruitment and completion in vocational education and training remain an ongoing challenge, not only in Denmark but also across the rest of Europe. EuroSkills Herning 2025 aims to help initiate a positive movement to encourage more young people to apply for vocational training and to raise the prestige of these educations among the youth.
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark and Chairman of the Board at EuroSkills 2025, welcomed participants to the conference and said, among other things:
“EuroSkills Herning 2025 must be a turning point. With EuroSkills, we have a historic opportunity to change how young people perceive vocational education, and we hope for a new beginning for all these educations and trainings.”
Apprenticeships Are a Key Component
Apprenticeships are a central part of all vocational programmes, and for that reason, Camilla Hutters, Head of the National Centre for Vocational Pedagogy & CEVEU, presented an overview from a number of studies on apprenticeships and their importance for young people in vocational education.
Camilla Hutters’ presentation was titled “The Good Apprenticeship – What Do We Know?”, and she highlighted several key points that companies wishing to develop as apprenticeship providers should be aware of.
There was great interest from the audience, and Camilla Hutters offered a useful piece of advice to companies wanting to engage with the role of apprenticeship provider:
“If a company wants to develop as a training site and become even more attractive, it can start by seeing itself through the eyes of an apprentice, prioritising the social environment, checking whether the learning has been organised effectively for the apprentice, and last but not least: talk about the apprenticeship role throughout the entire workplace,” said Camilla Hutters in conclusion.
From Minor to Major
During the subsequent panel debate, with representatives from Herningsholm Vocational School, 3F, DI (Danish Industry), EEO and Divers, there was broad agreement that we can all help change the narrative around vocational education by speaking positively about it.
“It’s time we move the story of vocational education from minor to major. We all need to do that, and EuroSkills will definitely help change the narrative,” said Allan Kortnum, Director at Herningsholm Vocational School and member of the EuroSkills 2025 board.