OECD SKILLS STRATEGY Flanders introduction Good practices workshop, 18 September 2018 Andrew Bell Team Leader, OECD Skills Strategy Projects OECD Centre for Skills Education and Skills Directorate

OECD Skills Strategy Contributes to economic prosperity Contributes to social cohesion The OECD Skills strategy has provides countries with a strategic and comprehensive approach to assessing their skills challenges and building effective national skills systems. …using a framework composed of 3 interrelated pillars: Developing relevant skills Activating skills supply, and Putting skills to effective use It also recognises that to maximise economic and social returns, countries also need to strong skills systems: In which ministries and stakeholders collaborate and coordinate their efforts And that there are effective skills financing and information mechanisms in place

Applied in 10 diverse countries…and counting The OECD Skills Strategy has been applied in 10 diverse countries And we have just launched a project in Latvia las week. And latter this year we launch projects in Poland and Kazakhstan

Making unique contributions… Mapping the skills system Aligning policies Identifying policy priorities Making policy recommendations The aim of the project in Flanders is to: Map the skills system to better understand the institutions, policies and stakeholders that influence the supply and demand for skills. Identify policy priorities to help Flanders to target investments to policy areas with the most potential to improve skills outcomes. Provide advice for aligning skills policies: to ensure that policies are coherent and mutually reinforcing Making policy recommendations and identifying considerations for implementation: to support Flanders to move from diagnosis to action.

Employing a whole-of-government approach Flemish Government OECD Finance and Budget (FB) Directorate for Education and Skills Economy, Science and Innovation (EWI) Work and Social Economy (WSE) Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Education and Training (OV) Local Employment, Skills and Social Inclusion VDAB, SYNTRA, SERV, and more As with all of our projects, we are working closely with an inter-ministerial project team with participation from… This project team is involved in all aspects of this project, including the organisation of this workshop. For its part, the OECD has put together a team of experts from EDU, CFE-LESI and ELS

Engaging all relevant stakeholders Levels of government Stakeholders Employers Trade unions Ministries Educational institutions Consensus Skills –development and use Government agencies Employment services Recommendations Commitment SME representatives Regional and local authorities Student organizations Professional associations Given the central role of a wide range of stakeholders in the skills outcomes of Flanders, including … The OECD and NPT are engaging people like you in meetings and workshops such as the one today in order to: build a consensus about what are the most important skills issues facing countries and what can be done about them, generate concrete policy recommendations, and build a commitment to take joint action to address these challenges and opportunities.

OECD Skills Strategy Dashboard The OECD skills strategy dashboard provides a high-level snapshot of their system performance and to help them to identify priority areas for action. Dirk will speak a greater length about Flanders ’skills performance momentarily, but suffice it to say that it shows that: Flanders performs well overall… ….especially in the development of the skills in youth, However, there are a number of areas where Flanders is only an average or below average performer, including: The development of a culture of adult learning, The full and effective use of adults’ skills

5 Priority areas for the project Developing a learning culture Preliminary analysis of skills outcomes Strengthening skills use in workplaces Improving skills matches Discussion with Project Team Strengthening skills governance and structures Improving the financing of education and training Based on: Our preliminary analysis, And discussions with the project team, We have identified the following 5 priority policy areas that we will cover in this project. They are:

Timeline of Skills Strategy project in Flanders Skills Strategy Seminar (31 January) Launch of project Questionnaire Diagnostic Workshop (15 May) Pre-workshop survey Briefing Pack Develop draft recommendations Site visits Good practices workshop (18 September) Identify good practices Refine recommendations Launch of Report (January 2019) Raise public awareness Key moments in the Skills Strategy project in Flanders

The Good Practices Workshop Discuss and evaluate national and international good practices Explore the level of support for the draft recommendations from the Diagnostic Workshop Refine the recommendations The Aim of our workshop today is to: Discuss and evaluate national and international good practices Explore the level of support for the recommendations Refine the recommendations from the Diagnostic Workshop

For more information To discuss OECD’s work with countries on National Skills Strategy projects contact: montserrat.gomendio@oecd.org dirk.vandamme@oecd.org andrew.bell@oecd.org To learn more about the OECD’s work on skills visit: www.oecd.org/skills/