Page 20 - Learning-while-working-Success-stories-on-workplace-learning-in-Europe

Learning while working
14 Success stories on workplace learning in Europe

the EU labour market, with more than seven million job losses expected in
the period 2009-10 and unemployment set to reach over 10% by the end of
2010 (European Commission, 2010c). Despite signs of economic recovery
in the EU, positive impacts on the labour market will not be felt immediately
and employment prospects remain adverse (Council of the European Union,
2010). Although the nature and severity of the crisis differs greatly according
to the economic structure and situation prior to the crisis, to pave the way to
recovery and economic growth, Member States concede the importance of
strengthening and linking tightly together all sides of the knowledge triangle:
business, research and education (European Commission, 2009a). To build
an internationally competitive economy, policy making will need to invest
as much effort in raising employers’ ambitions, through highly performing
workplaces that produce high quality goods and services, as in enhancing
skill supply (UK Commission for employment and skills, 2009).
In the economic downturn, only through ‘skill activism’ can governments
avoid market failures, by making certain that training responds to complex
demands for skills in strategic sectors (European Commission, 2009f, p.
13). Europe will likely depart from the crisis with profound changes at sector
level and a significant need to reallocate human resources from the least
competitive industries to new sources of growth. European economic recovery
plans underscore that labour market policies in synergy with lifelong learning
and skill development strategies will need to prepare the transition to new
jobs once the crisis is over (European Commission, 2008a). It is expected
that anticipating, upgrading skills and matching labour market needs will
contribute to more and better employment when growth restarts.

1.2. Flexicurity agendas and lifelong learning:
rebuilding the social contract between
citizens and the state

Skill development plays a significant role in ‘flexicurity’ strategies. These
attempt simultaneously to enhance the flexibility of labour markets and work
organisation in enterprises, while improving employment and social security,
notably for the most vulnerable groups in the labour market. The key idea
behind the flexicurity concept is that flexibility and security are mutually
supportive and should go hand–in-hand. Flexibility in the labour market,
work organisation and job related tasks should then be accompanied by
social security, including income, work-life balance and employment security,