A senior EU Commission official has said he is worried about the short-term impact the coronavirus pandemic will have on apprenticeships across the EU - but that they remain “probably the best model possible” to train people.
Speaking to Tes, João Santos, deputy head of unit in the directorate general for employment, social affairs, and inclusion at the European Commission in Brussels, said he was worried about the future of the apprenticeship system “in the sense that we should all be worried about the impact of Covid-19 on different parts of life”.
“I am also worried about the short-term impact on apprenticeships. But I do believe in the apprenticeship model as probably the best model possible. It is difficult to imagine any better way to equip people for the labour market than being in a company for three or four years and being trained by experts. I think the model itself will survive even if it will go through a difficult time.”
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Survival of businesses
Mr Santos said that in times of crisis, it was important to not just look at the survival of businesses but to also ensure the future of training opportunities.
He said: “If we only look at the survival of companies and we don’t think about the training of people, we won’t have companies to build back up. We won’t have the skilled people we need.
“The apprenticeship system is an excellent way of people up-skilling and having real work experience. And what you see is that the employability rates of people who go through apprenticeships are higher than even in higher education - and that is logical because companies use it as an intelligent way of recruiting.
“In areas of growth, because companies are expanding, there is an increase in opportunities for apprentices. When we go through a crisis, like the one we have now, of course companies review their plans for growth. So across Europe, you see a lowering of the number of apprenticeship opportunities. In Austria, for example, they are expecting 20,000 fewer apprentices, and in Germany, that number will be a lot higher. What many countries are doing is incentivising companies to continue training apprentices.”
Mr Santos pointed out that a number of EU countries had significantly invested in apprenticeships following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. He said Denmark was paying 75 per cent of the salary of apprentices upfront, while France was mobilising 1 billion Euros, and Germany 500 million Euros, “mainly to support SMEs for apprenticeship training”.
He said the Commission could not take a common policy approach on how countries should support training during the pandemic: “There cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution from the Commission because there are such differences between countries. What we can do is we have set 14 criteria that an apprenticeship has to meet. So where we can take a common approach, we do.”
The European Skills Agenda
Earlier this month, the commission published the European Skills Agenda, setting out objectives for upskilling and reskilling to be achieved within the union in the next five years. Its 12 actions focus on skills for jobs by partnering up with member states, companies and social partners.
The commission said that in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis, many Europeans would need to retrain in a new skill or improve their existing skills to adapt to the changed labour market. The Skills Agenda aims to improve the relevance of skills in the EU to strengthen sustainable competitiveness, ensure social fairness and build our resilience through 12 actions - including strengthening skills intelligence and EU support for strategic national upskilling action.
The commission has also set “ambitious objectives” for the next five years, based on existing indicators. They include increasing the participation of adults in learning over a period of 12 months from 38 per cent to 50 per cent, and increasing the participation of low-qualified adults aged 25-64 in learning over a period of 12 months from 18 per cent to 30 per cent - an increase of over two-thirds.
The commission said: “This means we should see 540 million training activities for adults by 2025, including 60 million for low-qualified adults, and 40 million for unemployed people. The number of adults with basic digital skills should increase to 230 million.
“To implement the actions and meet the objectives of the Skills Agenda, the EU will need estimated additional public and private investments in skills of around €48 billion annually.”
