Online conference from the project “Parkours for the future” – professions and skills for the future was held

On October 17th the Goethe-Institut Brüssel and StartNet Europe and the partners from the “Parcours for the Future” project hosted the online Conference on Future European labor market and VET challenges. 

 Why VET and education should develop #green and #digital skills in young people was the main question around the discussion evolved. 

The conference presented principal findings on job openings in the next 10 years, on digital and green transition, and on young people’s perspective in Germany, Italy, North Macedonia, Romania (partner countries), and on a European level. The panel of invited experts addressed future skills: green skills and climate protection, digital skills, gender awareness and civic education, sharing data, and experiences, and soliciting the audience to actively take action in this time of opportunities and need for education and civic engagement.

Alice Barbieri from ALFA Liguria (Italy) shared thought-provoking insights on gender, stating that a fundamental step towards gender equality is the reversing of gender stereotypes about professions and competencies (such as leadership) in school, in the family, or in businesses.  

Joanna Napierala from Cedefop presented recent data on digitalization in Europe, arguing for the increasing need for digital skills in a rapidly evolving technological progress, not only in the IT sector but in professional fields ranging from education, administration, human health to social work and many others. Please find CEDEFOP’s complete study.

Ummuhan Bardak from the European Training Foundation, set the scene by showing the seven global trends on the future of jobs and work, the consequences of societal challenges of the third millennium, and how to address them: evolving in the paradigms of training and improving the quality of the skills provided. A clear recommendation was to include green (and soft) skills in education at a very early stage, such as primary school.

The expert panel was concluded by Magdalena Lipovac, The Civics Innovation Hub, Znanje Na Djelu/Wissen am Werk (Croatia), who shed light on the interconnection between conscious career choices and civic engagement, a concept that also includes media literacy, digital safety, leadership and in sustainability thinking in people‘s everyday life choices.

The audience interacted through an online survey on labour market trends in their national context and with questions for the experts on what should be improved in education and guidance for young people to be prepared for the future labour market.

Watch the conference on YouTube.

All presented material is available in the “Attachment” section (see below).