Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) programs are well-placed to play an important role in the COVID-19 pandemic. They have significant potential to contribute in three stages: the current “coping” phase, an intermediate phase when schools and businesses gradually reopen, and during the recovery period when structural changes are expected in both the education system and in the labor market.

Right now, however, more than 1.2 billion students worldwide are affected by school closures amid COVID-19, including in the TVET system. Learning is often being done remotely, through the internet, television or radio, for example. However, the degree to which learning can still take place outside the classroom, including in TVET, is often limited by lack of access to electricity, internet connectivity, devices or media, learning platforms, or the inadequate preparation of instructors and students for remote education. Some students, particularly women and girls, face additional constraints in terms of time availability due to competing responsibilities, such as caring for children and elderly family members and other household duties. Adjustments to distance learning can be the hardest in low-income contexts and among vulnerable students.

Vocational education and training (VET) is a key element of lifelong learning systems, which equip citizens with knowledge, skills and competences required in particular occupations and on the labour market.
VET responds to the needs of the economy, but also provides learners with skills important for personal development and active citizenship. VET can also boost enterprise performance, competitiveness, and research and innovation and is a central aspect of successful employment and social policy.

This article can serve as a guide on Vocational Education and Training in Greece and in other European countries. In particualr, the reader can enrich his knowledge in the main elements and distinctive features of VET, as well as in the main challenges and policy responses. The article also offers insights in external factors influencing VET, such as demographics, economics, and the labour market. Other themes contained in this article are: Education attainment, Vet within Education and Training System, Apprenticeship, VET governance, VET financing mechanisms, Teachers and trainers, Shaping VET qualifications, Qaulity Assurance, Validation for prior learning, Incentives fro learners, and Incentives for enterprises to boost their participation in VET provision. Lastly, the article offers some suggestions on how to find guidance services and counselling forums.

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With some 2,000 training places available Germany-wide for the training year 2020, Deutsche Post DHL Group is again the largest vocational training company in the logistics and transport sector. The company offers training in over twenty vocational occupations, among them commercial-technical disciplines and business administration. Deutsche Post DHL Group also offers dual training in sixteen integrated degree programs.

 If you are curious about the qualification of technical skills in today's VET society, then you will find all the information you need via this article! You can even have free access to a short video eLearning module designed to introduce you to the role of National Qualification Frameworks provided by the EU!

Four years ago, in 2016, CEDEFOP (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training) surveyed Europeans in order to know what they thought about Vocational Education and Training. More than 35 000 interviews were conducted and the results were very interesting: even though 2 out of 3 citizens have a positive image of VET and 87% of students are happy with their work-related skills because it allows them to find a job quickly, 84% of EU citizens agree general education still has a more positive image than VET and 3 out of 4 consider that VET is the choice of low-grade students.