Research Conference «Transversal Skills for Work and Life — Strengthening Guidance and Validation»

On April 18-19, a research conference «Transversal Skills for Work and Life — Strengthening Guidance and Validation» was held in Paris, which was organized as part of the TRANSVAL-EU project.

The Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic National University took part in such an event for the first time. The university was represented by Ruslan Kulikovsky, Vice-Rector for NPR and PPRU.

The TRANSVAL-EU project is based on a paradox. On the one hand, employers attach increasing importance to transversal skills. But, on the other hand, transversal skills are only an implicit part of the verification and orientation processes. There is a need to make the validation of transversal skills acquired in non-formal and informal settings clear and to mainstream the acquired skills into validation and guidance policies.

TRANSVAL-EU is currently proposing to experiment with innovative approaches for the recognition of non-formal and informal learning (VNFIL) of transversal skills in five pilot countries (Austria, Italy, Lithuania, Poland and Belgium).

A review of EU policies (2012 Council Recommendation on VNFIL, upskilling pathways, new skills agenda), frameworks (ET2020, ESCO, key competences) and various reports and studies that have helped to identify key challenges at EU and national level (Cedefop 2018 EU Inventory on VNFIL, ET2020 Monitor). TRANSVAL-EU seeks to address these challenges by professionalizing recognition and guidance practitioners, bringing together different sectors and stakeholders in education and employment, and monitoring and evaluating the results of experiments and the impact on practitioners and socially and economically vulnerable populations.

During the event, proposals for training toolkits, curricula/programs, standardized competency profiles for recognition and orientation practitioners with a particular focus on transversal skills were tested. The systematic integration of transversal skills into recognition processes and the guidance of these practices was tested.

TRANSVAL-EU intends to be one of the largest European policy experiments on VNFIL with the aim of sharing acquired skills and good practices using mutual learning that can be adopted by different recognition centres in different regions and countries.