Just shortly after the EAN meeting in Rome there was a new ‘mission’ waiting for two members of EAN (Zuzana and Matthäus) in Geneva. They were invited to the International Conference on Innovations in Apprenticeships which was held in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Headquarters on 04-05 July 2018 where they were bringing the voice of the European apprentices to the debate. The main goal of this event was to gather wide range of stakeholders and learn from each other about the innovations as well as challenges which they are facing.

Both Zuzana and Matthäus had a chance to be a panellist at different workshops. To be concrete, Matthäus shined at the workshop called Reforming Apprenticeship Systems – The Challenges, where he introduced the EAN priorities and also shared concrete stories showing the current challenges which are facing apprentice today. He was also calling for more representative structures for apprentice where they can raise their voice and help to overcome the challenges. Apprentices have to be considered as one of the main stakeholder for changing and improving the system. Furthermore he stressed out that apprenticeship programs are not only there to create workers but to shape young citizen.

Zuzana on the other side participated at the panel talking about Apprenticeships and the Future of Work. She highlighted that if we want to overcome skills mismatch we need to radically transform our approach to apprenticeships. We need to see them as learning opportunities which should not prepare young people only for work but also for life. If we want to keep a track with the constantly changing world, the system should focus more on transversal skills including citizenship literacy and support lifelong learning.

Apart of being speakers, both have also actively participated during the whole event. Zuzana was even chosen to be rapporteur from one of the working groups. Both have also met Secretary General of ILO and gave an interview to ILO official media.

Find the highlights of the conference here.