Post-Prague concerns

Oh yes, why was I in Prague to begin with? It is only fair. You deserve an answer.

As I implied last time, I was there on business. CEDEFOP, the EU's organization overseeing vocational education and training (or VET, as it is commonly known in these parts), held their annual ECVET Forum. (And since most of you don't know: ECVET is the European Credit System for VET, and its premise is quite simple and noble: you learn a trade or occupation and what you learn should be creditable and acceptable wherever you go in Europe; the system wants to make the acceptance of things learned elsewhere and elsewhen easier all across the Union.) As are most annual conferences, this one was also about getting interested stakeholders together, exchanging ideas and simply making known how far everyones' efforts have brought the program. As conferences go, yes, very standard fare. So, why should I mention it at all.

Every once in a while we come up with new and exciting ideas that promise to make the world a better place. These are very well-intended ideas, to be sure, but we all know where the road paved with good intentions leads. Sometimes it helps to slow down and think some thoughts through to their end. Let me start, though, with the smaller issues and work my way up to the deeper, more profound ones.

I think most of us would agree that it makes a lot of sense to accept that, say, a machinist or an automotive mechatronics technician, or a logistics dispatcher, who was trained and has professional experience in Place A should not have too many difficulties being recognized in Place B as a trained and experienced professional. That, however, is the case. Too often, a young trades- or craftsperson from one country moves to another and hiring companies in the new country are hesitant to recognize those qualifications, simply because they're from somewhere else. As is too often the case, citizens of one country like to think that their qualifications are simply de facto better than those from other countries. Chauvinism takes on many forms. Now we have an unemployed immigrant on our hands. And, yes, you are right: now we have a problem.

For my American readers, you have to understand that the EU consists of 27 countries that speak 25 different languages, that have over 50 different histories (depending where you were when), and 25 different general and vocational educational systems. We should also keep in mind that education is something that is very deeply rooted in every culture. There are simply a lot of pre-set barriers that have to be overcome. That is the idea behind ECVET.

But, as you can well imagine, progress is slow. Old habits die hard. Not-invented-here and if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it syndromes abound. Bureaucracy too easily gets in the way. These are all significant challenges. The upside is that Europe is willing to take them on. It's a good fight, for a good cause ... at least on the surface.

Next time, we dig a little deeper.