Adult learning

• October 25, 2023
• Andrew

The EU funds project ‘Emprovement of the Professional Competence of Employees’ or Adult Learning (Advanced Learning) aims to improve the professional competence of employed persons in order to address the mismatch between labour market skills and labour market demand in a timely manner, promote the competitiveness of workers and increase labour productivity.

It is funded by the European Social Fund and the Latvian State with over EUR 45 million. The project is being implemented by the State Education Development Agency in cooperation with Latvian municipalities, educational institutions and the State Employment Agency from 2017 to the end of 2023.

Partners

Municipalities (attached Adult Education Coordinator):

• aggregating the training offer and training needs;
• informing the target group about the career adviser’s services;
• informing and attracting the target group to the project.

Educational establishments:

• implementation of continuing vocational training programmes;
• implementation of professional development education programmes;
• implementation of non-formal education programmes;
• implementation of the module of modular vocational training programmes in continuing vocational training;
• implementation of the modular vocational training programme module cluster in continuing vocational training;
• implementation of the study module;
• the implementation of a course of study;
• profiling of an individual employed person with a low level of education, analysis of profiling results and coaching for a module or module set of modular vocational training programmes;
• Assessment of professional competence acquired outside the formal education system.

State Employment Agency:

• support for career adviser services;
• informing and attracting the target group to participate in the project.

Any employed or self-employed Latvian resident from 25 years of age to unlimited age, including young parents on parental leave while maintaining an employment relationship, and working pensioners, as well as persons with alternative status, could apply for education programmes. Each worker was able to learn twice during the project.

Types of training available:

• continuing vocational training programmes (480-1280 hours), leading to obtaining a certificate of qualification and gaining a profession;
• professional development programmes (160-320 hours) leading to a professional development certificate;
• non-formal education programmes (max 159 hours) leading to certification;
• modules or clusters of modules, consisting of a set of different knowledge, skills and competences and leading to a licence;
• courses of study or modules of study from an accredited course of study licensed at universities or colleges. They can be followed by a certificate.

Assessment of professional competence acquired outside the formal education system:

If the skills required for the labour market are already acquired in the world of work or elsewhere, a worker aged 25 or over may take advantage of the opportunity to assess the professional competence acquired outside the formal education system.

Providing individual access for people with low educational attainment

The provision of an individual approach involves the profiling of the individual employed person with low levels of education, analysis and counselling of profiling results and, in line with the results of profiling, the completion of a module or module set of modular vocational training programmes, identifiable as a set of measurable knowledge, skills and competences. A certificate shall be issued to the employee after having completed the relevant module or set of modules.

The project was implemented in the 9th round, where different training programmes from different sectors were offered, the list of necessary educational programmes was agreed with the sectoral expert advice.

Given the horizontal impact of digital skills across all sectors, a particular emphasis was placed on education programmes corresponding to DigComp Levels 1-6 of the Digital Competence Framework:

Basic level 1 – acquire the skills needed to perform simple tasks, learn to carry out tasks with the help of others;

Basic level 2 – acquire the skills needed to perform simple tasks, learn to perform tasks independently or with the help of others where needed;

Average level 3 – acquire the skills needed to independently perform clearly defined and regular (routine) tasks and to solve simple problems;

Average level 4 – acquire the skills needed to deal with clearly defined and non-common problems on its own;

Higher level 5 – acquire the skills needed to perform a variety of tasks, solve problems and be able to provide assistance to others;

Higher level 6 – acquire the skills needed to be able to assess and select the most appropriate solutions for different challenges in complex situations.

More than 70 thousand Latvians from different regions of Latvia participated in adult learning. Accurate data and project results will be collected and made available at the beginning of 2024.

Training is co-financed under the European Union Funds Operational Programme “Growth and Employment” specific objective 8.4.1 “Creating the professional competence of employed persons” of the European Social Fund project “Enhancing the professional competence of employed persons” (project No 8.4.1.0/16/I/001).