On 14-15 June Brussels will host the annual European Validation Festival, which will gather around 250 practitioners, experts, policy makers, social partners and users from the business world.
Organizations of adult education and VET from all over Europe will meet to discuss policies and practices, the state of validation of informal and non-formal learning and future perspectives.
This will be the chance to draw conclusions on progress made after the 2012 Council Recommendation on validation, which encouraged Member States to put in place national arrangement for validation by 2018.
The importance of certifying skills and competences acquired outside formal education and training – e.g. at work, at home or in voluntary activities – is deemed to be crucial to sustain mobility and inclusion in the labour market, especially for low-qualified individuals, and can have a significant impact in better matching skills and demand.
Starting from 2012, a European inventory has been published every two years in order to collect information about the validation practices and arrangements across Europe, showing consistent disparities in national policies and level of government engagement.
The Festival will provide an open space for discussion and exchange of recent initiatives and projects, support the aims of the skills agenda for Europe and prepare the ground for future cooperation in the field of validation.
The programme, articulated on two days, will host a marketplace with stands of organisations presenting their initiatives and outcomes.
Friday, the 15th , will be dedicated to discussion on validation in the picture of European policies for employment, education and training, and in particular the skills agenda for Europe, including digital skills, vocational education and training and the European Qualifications Framework.
More information about the Festival can be found at https://bit.ly/2t3LdJ5.