First sectoral workshop of the project Green Skills in VET

On 19 October, SGI Europe and the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE) organised the first sectoral workshop of the European project ‘Green Skills in VET’ in Tarragona and focusing on the water sector. The workshop focused on the needs of the water sector, hosted by and organised with the support of our members, Empresa Municipal Mixta D'Aigues De Tarragona (EMATSA).

The workshop was opened by Pau Ricomà i Vallhonrat, Mayor of Tarragona, and Jordi Fortuny Guinart, president of EMATSA, supporting the objectives of the 'Green Skills in VET' project, emphasizing the key role played by local authorities and enterprises in creating ecosystems with employers, SGI, and education and training providers, whilst facilitating the alignment between skills needs and learning provision.

The project research team lead by the Association for International and Comparative Studies in Labour and Industrial Relations (ADAPT) underlined that the water sector is confronted with a serious phenomenon of aging workforce, which relates to the lack of attractiveness of the sector for the youth. Likewise, the environmental transition will require updating the sector’s occupational profiles with technical and soft skills such as advanced digital skills, problem solving, and specific skills concerning new green services and processes.

Participants of the workshop also exchanged best practices from several Member States. Michele Falcone, Strategic Development Director at Gruppo CAP and chair of SGI Europe Water Task Force, emphasized the need to foster structured innovation through collaboration with external stakeholders such as start-ups or young innovators, and to reduce the digital skills’ intergenerational gap. Additionally, Pieter Hoekstra, Program manager at the Center for Innovative Craftsmanship Water, underlined the need of intermediary bodies to facilitate the collaboration between employers and VET providers and bringing sectoral developments faster into training programs.

Mónica Pérez Clausen, Chief Learning Officer at Escuela del Agua de Agbar, highlighted the need of modernizing the methodologies and training programs through collaboration at sectoral level between companies and schools, as well as offering training for the VET providers’ staff, focusing on updating the models of curricula and new ways of teaching.

SGI Europe believes that it is essential to better connect the environmental policies with education and employment policies, bringing employers and workers in the spotlight of the transition to ensuring a balanced approach taking into account the social, environmental and economic aspects. Social partners need to be fully involved in skills anticipation and development activities, in the reforms of the national skills strategies and in using the financial resources available with the EU financial instruments.