1 CEDEFOP Agora Conference Thessaloniki, February 2008 Presentation by Mr. Thom ter Stege Secretary General ESPO Project Manager EuroSkills 2008

2 ESPO – European Skills Promotion Organisation Founded: in March 2007, Legal entity: Association (a members organization), Goal: to structure skills promotion activities in EU, Primary task: biannual organisation of EuroSkills event, Political and financial support from European Commission, Acknowledged by the EU’s LifeLongLearning Program ’07 –’13 Board members from nine European countries, Members: One recognized organisation per EU country, the National Skills Organisations. Contact organisation for European Commission.

3 ESPO - Objectives To promote excellence in the field of skills, vocational education and training and craftsmanship. To raise awareness of the importance of professional excellence and of high quality VET for Europe. To increase and develop the cooperation and partnership between organisations active in promoting VET and excellence in skills development. To encourage world-class standards of skills and competence in Europe and enhance the status and attractiveness of VET. To support European policy in the context of lifelong learning.

4 ESPO - activities Organising a biennial European skills competition event called: EuroSkills. –EuroSkills 2008 will have a follow up: »in 2010 to be decided in May 2008, »in 2012 to be decided after EuroSkills –The concept of ES08 will be used in ES events in ’10 and ’12, –Member countries can express their interest for organizing future ES event. Support EU member states, EFTA and EU candidate countries in establishing and further developing a national skills competitions. –Through the support program and with the financial support from the EC, ESPO will support countries in a way which best suit each country

5 ESPO - activities Supporting EU programmes and policy on vocational education and training throughout Europe (e.g. by disseminating and valorising projects and their results). –By using results from EU-projects and link them to Skills competitions. E.g. EQF- projects, mobility projects, EU networking projects etc. Creating and maintaining international and national platforms for the collaboration of Industry and VET through Skills Competitions –The working together between National Skills Organisations will improve through the working together in ESPO. It gives the members also the opportunity to benefit more from other VET, industry networks and European government involvement.

6 ESPO - activities Engaging with companies and social partners to promote quality of skills in trades, crafts and modern technical occupations. –Promotionally, there can be gained a lot by organizing partnerships with companies. Existing EU-competitions can gain more from working together. Cooperating with European organisations in the field of VET in promoting skills excellence. –Cedefop, ETF, Efvet and other European organisations who now more and more are aware of the existence of Skills competitions as a tool for raising the attractiveness of VET. Promoting European Skills on a global level in cooperation with WorldSkills International and other regional skills organisations. –Europe is a strong participant in Worldskills. Over 50% of the candidates of WS in November 2007, Japan came from the EU. Working together benefits both organisations’ objectives.

7 EuroSkills- the event Frequency: Biannually (start new concept in 2008) Target group: Youngster attending pre and secondary vocational education and their decision makers. Short description: European event for skills competitions and demonstrations. Showing skills in a natural an business like environment, promoting team competitions and interaction between skills and skilled people. Expected results: 400 competitors, visitors, > 1,000,000 informed Europeans. Promotion of lower vocational education. Promotion of European trades. Across Europe knowledge exchange on vocational education.

8 EuroSkills - facts EuroSkills 2008 ~ September 2008 ~ Rotterdam Ahoy’ Venue, Rotterdam: m2 (expandable to m2) Participation through ESPO, of the majority of European countries (26-29 in 2008) Within six Skills domains representation of some 50 trades, A lot of new concepts with a focus on teamwork, Concept development through ESPO’s Competition Development Committee, broadcasting on TV and internet, Interact with the public: ‘Have a go’ or ‘Try a Trade’, EuroSkillsVillage organized in cooperation with NA Leonardo da Vinci. Financed by European Commission, Dutch Government, City of Rotterdam, Sector organizations & Sponsors.

9 ESPO Board Mr.Jos de Goey (The Netherlands) President Mrs.Eija Alhojärvi (Finland) Strategic & European Affairs Mr. Antonio Caldeira (Portugal) Mr. Stefan Praschl (Austria) Competition & Quality Development Mr.Yvan Valentinuzzi (France) Marketing & Communications Mr. Kevin Wood (UK) Treasurer Mr. Jean-Marie Méan (Belgium) Secretary Mrs. Ilze Brante (Latvia) General Board Member Mrs. Ewa Rudomino (Poland) General Board Member

10 ESPO Organisation ESPO Member states General Assembly ESPO Board Skills Netherlands ESPO Secretariat Thom ter Stege Secretary General Cleo Verplancke Administration & Secretary Frans van Maris Finance Angelie Kaag/Eric van Goor PR/Communications CDC Competition Development Committee Representatives (TD’s) from ESPO Members

11 Actual ESPO Membership situation

12 Actual ESPO Membership status Full ESPO Members: Members with WorldSkills experience: Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Spain,The Netherlands, UK, Germany, Portugal, Austria, France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Hungary and Luxemburg Non WorldSkills members: Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Czech Republic, Norway, Slovakia, Denmark and Turkey (Total member countries : 26) Other countries expressing commitment or interest: Iceland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Greece

13 ESPO Membership Category:Open to: Full MemberNational Skills Organisation: an authorised, national organisation from an EU Member state, EU member candidate country or EFTA-state. Associate Memberas above. Affiliate PartnersEuropean Sector or Social Partner organisations, Educational institutes and Industry.

14 ESPO – Development Support Program EU- Workplan 2008 (3 major activities) 1.Organisation of EuroSkills event 2.Development of skills competition activities in member countries 3.Promotion of ESPO & EuroSkills activities

15 International Skills competitions Nov 2007, Shizuoka, Japan 39-th WorldSkills Competition Sep 2008, Rotterdam, NL1-st EuroSkills competition Sep 2009, Calgary, Canada40-th WorldSkills Competition Sep 2010, location TBD, May’082-nd EuroSkills competition Oct 2011, London, UK41-st WorldSkills Competition Sep 2012, location TBD, after ES08 3-rd EuroSkills competition

16 WorldSkills & EuroSkills EuroSkills more team competitions then individual competitions EuroSkills mainly Team Based competitions (technical and social skills assessed) EuroSkills, in total five day stay of international teams EuroSkills is a 3 day competition, 6 day stay of country teams, WorldSkills is a 4 day competition with a 9 day stay of country teams WorldSkills event will not be in Europe in 2007 and 2009 Promotion of VET and craftsmanship in EU-countries is necessary and becoming more important to show the attractiveness of VET. WorldSkills, becomes big and costly to organize, need for regional approach on long term might be necessary The ES initiative can lead to more regional organisations which can be interesting for WorldSkills development, step-up-opportunity for new national skills organisations.

17 EuroSkills Competitions  Skills Promotions, consists of 3 elements: -Competitions, -Demonstrations -Try a Trade  All Skills Promotions are documented in a Technical Outline (See EuroSkills website)  All competitions based on Competence based qualification profiles

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21 PR/Communication Campaign 2008 Schoolprograms International: European Student exchange program, schools from all over Europe to visit the Netherlands. This in cooperation with the Dutch schools and the EU. –Mobility –Improve the European network –Exchange knowledge on a international level National: A guided tour for visitors with the focus upon the competition and primarily on skills per domain. –Interactive –Skills specific –Especialy designed for the target group

22 EuroSkills campaign 2008 pictured

23 To the web…

24 EuroSkills Village Site program, during event in Conference area: -Conferences -Seminars -Information Market, for companies and organisations to present their products and services (we offer standard booths)

25 EuroSkills Partner Program

26 EuroSkills Partner Program Value in kindFinancialStrategic partnership Competition- materials and machines Other goods and services CashParticipation in the development of EuroSkills event

27 EuroSkills Partner Program Partner category Value in kindFinancialStrategic Partnership Official PartnerXXX PartnerXX SupplierX

28 ESPO (Official) Partner EuroSkills Event EuroSkills Domain 1 EuroSkills Competition 1 EuroSkills Competition Team 1 EuroSkills Competition Team 2 EuroSkills Competition 2 EuroSkills Domain2 Sponsorpartner structure

29 EuroSkills Partnerplan  Sponsor products A. Boarding & Signage B. Printing C. On Line Communication D. Publicity Campaign E. Events & Meetings F. Facilities G. School Program H. International Student Exchange Program

30 Thank you