The 'Training Twenties': 2021 as the start of a training decade in Flanders

In the VESOC agreement 'All hands on deck', the Flemish Government and the Flemish social partners proclaimed 2021 as the 'year of training'. The ambition is to train and retrain as many citizens as possible. However, the OECD Skills Strategy for Flanders showed that such a transition to a real learning culture requires various interventions at different levels. Substantial changes will require a decade rather than a year of training.

From IDEA, we are actively involved in looking for solutions to these major social challenges. We explore scenarios for a 'Learning and Career Account' in Flanders within the framework of ongoing VIONA research.

At the sector level, IDEA is also involved in the implementation of strategic competence prognoses within the EFS call 'SCOPE 2021'. These studies identify and analyse relevant trends for the sector, their impact on competency needs and implications for training provision. The result: an action plan with concrete commitments from the stakeholders involved.

In order to realise an evolution in the learning behaviour of citizens and to also reach groups that usually find it difficult or impossible to find the way to education, it is also crucial to gain insight into the thresholds and levers that these citizens experience. In cooperation with The Argonauts, IDEA Consult generates new insights by innovatively outlining their customer journey. This provides new information to identify intervention moments and policy opportunities.

Commissioned by the Expertise Centre Innovative Learning Pathways of the Department of Work and Social Economy, we analysed the 'journey' of citizens prior to participating in training. This includes everything that people do, feel and experience from the moment they experience a learning difficulty until the moment they register for a course.  This assignment is part of a larger study in which the customer journeys of training providers and organisations are also mapped.