By Steven Glasbeek.

1. Introduction

AEGEE (Association des Etats Généraux des Etudiants de l’Europe/European Students’ Forum) was created in 1985 with the vision of creating a unified Europe, based on democracy and a respect for human rights, by bringing together students with different cultural backgrounds. Today, AEGEE is Europe’s largest interdisciplinary youth organisation with 40 countries, 200 cities, and 13,000 friends. The extensive AEGEE network provides the ideal platform for young volunteers to work together on cross-border activities such as international conferences, seminars, exchanges, training courses and case study trips. To combat the challenges young people are currently facing in Europe, AEGEE’s work focuses on four main areas. The main focus areas of the strategic plan of AEGEE-Europe 2017-2020 are: European Citizenship, Civic Education, Youth Development, Equal Rights (1).

This policy paper is part of the focus area of Youth Development and has the purpose to highlight the importance of transversal skills and competences for young people in a modern Europe, to present the challenges they face and to state the position of AEGEE-Europe followed by recommendations to different stakeholders.

Transversal competences are the skills, knowledge and attitudes relevant to a broad range of occupations and sectors. They are also defined as the basic, essential, cross-thematic, cross-curricular or 21st century skills and competences (2)

2. The growing importance of transversal skills and competences

In order to understand why transversal skills and competences have become more important, examining the context of the world young people live in provides the answers.

First of all, the world is changing and it has its influence on the lives of young people as well. Five global forces will influence the way we live and work according to Linda Gratton, Professor of Management Practice at London Business School (3). The five forces are are:

• The force of technology (rapid technological developments that change all aspects of our lives)
• The force of globalisation (e.g. urbanisation, an ever-increasing global marketplace for talent and work, but also continuously growing competition and fragmentation)
• The force of demography and longevity (global migration increases and people live longer, healthier and more productive)
• The force of society (as the world changes, society changes and the way people view their lives and their communities as well)
• The force of energy resources (the challenge of the short term versus the long term, increasing energy costs, a rapidly changing climate and a culture of sustainability)

As a logical result, these global forces also effect Europe as is shown the ‘White Paper on the Future of Europe’ (4), a whitepaper that describes how Europe might look like by 2025.

Besides the global forces, the so-called student-to-work transition is also part the context for most young people. And it is quite important since the transition period from being student to having a working life plays a key role in later career success (5).

One of the effects of the global forces is their influence on the student-to-work transition. It is likely that young people will enter a labour market that is changing to a more and more dynamic environment, in which they will need to pro-actively manage their own career. The increasing importance of flexibility and the ability to employ yourself make the modern career more complex than it was before (6). Many jobs that exist at this moment didn’t exist a decade ago and there will probably be new ways of employment in the future. It is likely that children who now enter primary school will have jobs that don’t exist yet (4). On top of that, the school-to-work transition also brings other challenges such as developing a personal identity, searching for work that fits them, and going through the organisational socialisation process (7).

In order to cope with the challenges young people face in a modern Europe, they need to be equipped with a broad set of skills and knowledge that they can acquire and develop throughout life, instead of a fixed set of skills or knowledge, and they need the ability to adapt to change (8-11).

3. Important transversal skills and competences for young people

The image that the previous section paints makes it clear that living in a modern Europe is about the ability to adapt to the environment. Which transversal skills and competences do young people need to master to be able to adapt themselves to a dynamic context of life and work? It is hard to give a clear answer, although different sources have done research followed by recommendation for today’s youth. This section will show some of the recommendations that follow up on the statements made in the previous section, not excluding other transversal skills and competences that might also be important.

3.1 Transversal skills and competences for lifelong learning

As a measure against the changing context and their influence on the lives of young people, the European Parliament and Council set out a recommendation on the key competences for lifelong learning. In the recommendation they defined 8 key competences that are considered important for every European to develop and update throughout their lives to be able to adapt to change. They are based on the need for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment (9):

• Communication in mother tongue
• Communication in foreign languages
• Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology
• Digital competence
• Learning to learn
• Social and civic competences
• Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship
• Cultural awareness and expression

The recommendation encourages Member States to make it part of their lifelong learning strategies, and was reviewed in January 2018 (9). The key competences also function as the building blocks for further learning and career development (12).

3.2 Transversal skills and competences related to the school-to-work transition and career management

Looking more specifically at the requirements for young people to pro-actively cope with the challenges of the modern labour market and the need to reach a successful school-to-work-transition, several transversal competences were identified by research on this topic.

According to Nurmi et al., the competences of self-efficacy combined with personal goalsetting seem to be important during the school-to-work transition. Self-efficacy stands for the ability to judge your own capacities to execute a specific performance. Individuals with a higher sense of self-efficacy are better in preparing themselves for their career (13). Since young people are faced with different choices and challenges, personal goalsetting helps them to stay focussed (14).

Besides reaching a successful school-to-work transition, students need to be flexible and self-managing when it comes to the modern career. Therefore students may also need to master the concepts of career adaptability and career competences (5).

Career adaptability stands for the ability of preparing for and participating in the work role and being able to cope with the unpredictable adjustments caused by the changes in work and work conditions. Career adaptability helps young people to take advantage of opportunities and deal with barriers and setbacks (15), and is an important resource for reemployment (16) and finding a higher quality job (17). There are four competences which are important in mastering career adaptability and can be developed by the individual (15):

• career concern (looking at your planning and future)
• career control (making the right decisions and knowing what direction to go)
• career curiosity (being curious about alternative paths)
• career confidence (having confidence to be able to overcome obstacles to achieve career goals)

As well as career adaptability, career competences can also be developed by the individual. Although they might look similar, career adaptability is primarily about adapting to constant changes in the career while career competences help to match personal competences with those necessary in a successful career (14). Six career competences prove to be most important for young people (18):

• reflection on motivation (reflection on values, passions, and motivations about your career)
• reflection on qualities (reflection on strengths and shortcomings)
• networking (being aware of your network)
• self-profiling (presenting your knowledge, abilities, and skills to others)
• work exploration (exploring work-related and career-related opportunities)
• career control (setting goals and planning how to fulfill them)

3.3 Transversal skills and competences related to international careers

Taken the influence of the global forces in consideration, especially globalisation, young people might also need to master transversal skills and competences related to international career paths. EU Careers, the European Personnel Selection Office, focusses on 8 professional skills and general competences in their recruitment process to select the best applicants. According to the consultation between AEGEE-Europe and EU Careers, these competences are also considered to be important in other international careers (19):

• Analysis and problem solving
• Communicating
• Delivering quality and results
• Learning and development
• Prioritising and organising
• Resilience
• Working with others
• Leadership

4. Current challenges in providing young people with transversal skills and competences

4.1 Introduction

The way in which teaching and learning takes place has evolved rapidly in the last two decades, and providing young people with the right set of transversal skills and competences will need a new approach. Especially the use of technology has a big impact on formal, non-formal and informal learning (9). Young people are now able to learn from longer distances and have access to more information. They also increasingly learn in settings outside formal education, while these learning experiences are often not recognised (12). Opportunities to acquire competences have grown and therefore collaboration between formal an non-formal learning settings is required to make better use of these new opportunities (9).

Furthermore, the need for key skills and competences is dynamic, as it will change through time depending on the new context young people will enter. This means that the way education, training and learning is organised and assessed needs to be updated from time to time. Being able to respond to changing needs in competences will continue in the lives of young people as they grow older, therefore young people need to be prepared to continue learning throughout their lives (9).

Experiences on practices and challenges regarding transversal skills and competences were measured in a survey that AEGEE released among its members (students and graduates, mostly between the age of 18-30). Members from 20 different countries across Europe replied, representing a wide range of study fields. Results show that there is a big gap between transversal skills and competences members find important and which they learn(ed) in university. They seem to be open to various ways of learning as 89% wants to learn transversal skills and competences in non-formal and informal settings, 79% in university (internships included), and 56% wants to learn them during their professional job. However, only 15,4% of the members says that skills and competences learned in non-formal education is recognised by their university, while 83,7% of the members want the university to recognise it (in terms of certificates or creditpoints). Furthermore 39% of the members doesn’t (and didn’t) feel prepared for the job they want, of which 66% says it is because university is too theoretical and is too far from the ‘real world’. 39% of the members does feel prepared of which 46% says it is only because of the combination with skills learned outside university in non-formal education. As a possible solution, 40% of the members want policy makers on European and national level to providing more support towards their development of transversal skills. Most popular mentioned options are: financial support, providing courses on transversal skills in and outside university, recognition of non-formal and informal learning, and creating awareness among students on the importance and opportunities regarding transversal skills.

Given the statements made in the introduction, which are based on various sources including the survey AEGEE released, there seem to be two main challenges to make better use of the new opportunities: modernisation of education systems, and validation and recognition of transversal skills and competences. But what exactly are the priorities in modernising the current education systems, and what is the current status quo of the validation and recognition of transversal skills and competences in formal, non-formal and informal learning?

Modernising education systems

Since education systems play such an important role in preparing young people with the right set of knowledge and skills since their early childhood (20), attention should be paid to the way transversal skills and competences are organised throughout every layer of education and training systems.

In fact, the foundation for personal development and more easily acquiring skills throughout the entire life begins in early childhood education and care. This proves that quality education from earliest stages on are crucial in providing young people with the right set of skills in later stages of their lives. Although the EU average participation rate of early education and childhood care of 94.3% (measured in 2014) is something to be proud of, but children from disadvantaged backgrounds and minority groups are still underrepresented (20). This results in some young people having a disadvantage from the beginning in their proces to master transversal skills.

Many education systems that follow up on early childhood education and care struggle to respond to the changes our societies and economies are undergoing. Digitalisation and the increasing diversity among pupils, among other things, require new school curricula and innovative ways of teaching and learning (20).

When it comes to mastering the key competences for lifelong learning, it is mainly focussed on formal learning in primary and secundary education levels, and less in other levels and forms of formal and non-formal education and training, as results from consultations with stakeholders (education ministers and non-governmental stakeholders, among others) show (9). At the same time, too many students from Europe’s higher education systems graduate with poor quality basic skills (e.g. literacy, numeracy, digital skills). They also lack important transversal skills and cooperation at higher education systems with schools, vocational education institutions and adult learning is limited (10). Another challenge is that too many teachers in higher education lack pedagogical training and long term support in their professional development (10). High-quality teaching is essential in providing transversal skills and competences in higher education (20), therefore it is necessary that teachers are supported to be able to continuously adapt to changing curricula.

To a great extent, progression in the development of education and training systems in Europe is in the hands of national policy makers (20). The EU can assist the efforts of countries in Europe to modernise education and training systems, but they decide for themselves on how they implement recommendations (21). Nonetheless, all countries have a shared interest that these reforms make progress and lead to results, and efforts are being made to do so. On the other hand education and training institutions, and perhaps policy makers on regional levels, could also take action without having to wait on efforts of national policy makers. However, this depends on the level of bureaucracy and autonomy these institutions deal with.

Validation and recognition of transversal skills and competences

For finding a job, study abroad or keeping track of progress made on a broad set of skills, it is important that young people have a clear overview available of their (transversal) skills and qualifications. The European Union supports the transparency and recognition of knowledge, skills, and competences in various ways to make it easier to study and work anywhere in Europe. One of its contributions is the European Qualification Framework (EQF), which makes it easier to compare National Qualification Frameworks (NQF’s) across different countries in Europe. The EQF and NQF’s are not limited to formal education, as they cover qualifications at all levels and in all sub-systems of education and training. 39 European countries are currently developing and implementing their National Qualification Framework of which 21 National Qualification Frameworks were considered operational in 2017. A National Qualification Framework is considered operational when it is integrated in the national education and training systems. It is expected that these countries will continue to develop their qualification systems in order to keep up with changes and new qualifications (22).

In formal education, credit systems for higher education (ECTS) and for vocational education and training (ECVET) were based on the European Qualification Framework and are now widely used and developed throughout Europe for validation and recognition of learning outcomes, including transversal skills and competences. In only a few countries within the EU the use of ECTS is not compulsory for all higher education institutions (23). 15 countries have credit systems compatible with ECVET while 14 countries are either developing compatible credit systems or are testing the technical components (24). But it is also important that young people can demonstrate what they have learned as an addition to formal education, so that this is valued and can be used.

Therefore, the 2012 Council Recommendation on validation encourages Member States to work on national arrangements for validation of non-formal and informal learning by 2018 (25). One of the benefits of validation of non-formal and informal learning is that it helps to fight social exclusion by providing a way for early school leavers, the unemployed and others at risk, particularly low-skilled adults, to validate their skills (26). Authorities on national and regional levels as well as sectoral bodies recognise its importance and have introduced many arrangements for validating non-formal and informal learning. Cooperation between formal education systems, National Qualifications Frameworks, employers and the third sector make it possible to gain recognition in formal education in the form of (partly) qualifications, creditpoints, certificates or even acces to formal education (26). Currently, 17 countries implemented validation arrangements to assess non-formally or informally acquired skills and competences which are based on standards used in formal education (22).

Progress is being made but there are still some challenges ahead in order to meet the 2012 Council recommendation principles. The update from 2016 on the European Inventory validation of non-formal and informal learning presents the most recent progress and challenges and comes to a few conclusions:

• “The key message is that Member States are gradually placing validation of non-formal and informal learning higher on their policy agendas.
• Education remains the main sector in which validation is developed, but there are also numerous initiatives in the third sector. Labour market initiatives are less common, and involvement of employers is still limited.
• Information on the number of beneficiaries and participants in validation is still limited, which restricts potential for adequate monitoring, cost-benefit analysis and impact assessment of validation.
• The main challenges to meeting the 2018 deadline are in professional development of validation practitioners and prioritisation of disadvantaged groups; these principles have comparatively low activity and reach.” (26)

In order to help member states to establish national validation arrangements by 2018, the European Commission and Cedefop published guidelines on validation in 2015 (27). A new update on the European Inventory validation of non-formal and informal learning is planned for 2018.

5. Current practices in providing young people with transversal skills and competences

Luckily there are several positive developments which support the development of transversal skills and competences among young people. Examples are policies, supporting EU agencies and other initiatives setup by the European Union and other international institutions. This section provides a small selection of these developments with the intention to give some insight on what is already being done.

• The European Commission is responsible for proposing and enforcing legislation as well as by implementing policies and the EU budget (28).
• The strategic framework for European cooperation in Education and Training 2020 (ET 2020) is the current foundation in strengthening education and training systems. “ET 2020 is a forum for exchanges of best practices, mutual learning, gathering and dissemination of information and evidence of what works, as well as advice and support for policy reforms” (11).
• The new Skills Agenda for Europe supports the strategic importance of skills for sustaining jobs, growth and competitiveness and strengthens existing initiatives to assist Member States, individuals and organisations. They launched 10 actions designed to make the right training, skills and support available to people in the EU, by (12):
  • “improving the quality and relevance of training and other ways of acquiring skills;
  • making skills more visible and comparable;
  • improving information and understanding of trends and patterns in demands for skills and jobs (skills intelligence) to enable people to make better career choices, find quality jobs and improve their life chances.”
• The 2012 Council Recommendation on validation of non-formal and informal learning promotes better validation and transferability of skills and competences gained through informal and non-formal learning on the European labour market (25).
• The first vision on a European Education Area was set out in the Commission Communication on Strengthening European Identity through Education and Culture (2017). The idea is to establish a European Education Area by 2025 based on trust, mutual recognition, cooperation and exchange of best practices, mobility and growth (8).
• The First Education Summit took place in January 2018 to discuss the first steps of a European Education Area. The summit was joined by European Ministers of Education and different stakeholders in education (29).
• The Council recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning is a key reference document for the development of competence-oriented education, learning and training (9).
• As explained in the previous section, the European Qualifications Framework is the bridge between National Qualification Frameworks so that qualifications are understandable across different countries (24).
• The Europass Framework helps European citizens to present their skills and qualifications by offering different CV formats or by using an European Skills Passport (30).
• The Commission Communication on the Modernisation of Education of 2016 set out action aimed to improve and modernise education systems in order to assure high quality education (20).
• The Council recommendation on tracking graduates helps to improve the collection of data from graduates which can be used to modernise education systems and to improve the student-to-work transition (31).
• Cedefop is the European Union’s reference centre for vocational education and training. Cedefop is working with the European Commission, Member States and social partners. Its mission is to support development of European vocational education and training policies and to contribute to their implementation (32).
• The European Training Foundation is a decentralised agency of the European Union and helps with the education and training systems in EU partner countries such as Armenia, Georgia, Azerbijan, Russia, Turkey, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraïne (33).

Finally, youth organisations belong to the practices in providing young people with transversal skills and competences (34). Besides being a provider of non-formal education, there are also various examples of skills related projects where youth organisations were involved. Two of them are the GR-EAT project and the COY project that AEGEE-Europe participated in, in cooperation with institutions and other youth organisations. The projects aimed to recognize and validate informal learning to make it valuable for the labour market (35-36).

6. Position of AEGEE-Europe

AEGEE-Europe recognises the importance of transversal skills and competences for young people as it makes them adaptable to change and helps them to cope with the challenges they face in a modern Europe. Therefore AEGEE-Europe supports policies and good practices initiated by the European Union and other international institutions that help European countries to provide important transversal skills and competences to young people.

Although progress is being made, AEGEE-Europe believes that the added value of providing young people with transversal skills and competences can be only made full use of when all stakeholders including national governments, policy makers, education and training institutions, employers, and young people are aware its importance, recognise its added value and take action to implement it in their systems and lives.

AEGEE-Europe supports modernisation of education and training systems in order to provide all young people with the right set of transversal skills and competences.

In particular AEGEE-Europe supports and encourages:

• Formal education institutions to recognise and validate transversal skills and competences gained through formal, non-formal and informal learning. Collaboration between providers of formal an non-formal learning is required to make better use of new opportunities.
• A structured and holistic approach between different formal education and training systems to provide the most important transversal skills and competences throughout all layers of formal education and training.
• Preparation of young people for a succesful school-to-work transition, self-managing careers, and the ability to continue learning throughout their lives.
• Timely response to changing needs in competences. The way education, training and learning is organised and assessed needs to be updated from time to time.
• Offering pedagogical training and long term support in the professional development of teachers. Especially since it is necessary to enable teachers to go along with the modernisation efforts and its influence on their jobs.
• Inclusiveness and equal chances in formal education and training systems.

Finally, AEGEE-Europe acknowledges that it is important for young people to be able to demonstrate what they have learned in all forms of education and training. Therefore AEGEE-Europe believes that recognition and validation of transversal skills and competences learned in formal, non-formal and informal of education and training should also take place outside formal education. For this reason AEGEE-Europe supports cooperation on qualification frameworks like the European Qualification Framework and National Qualification Frameworks that make it easier to compare and understand qualification levels from all learning experiences throughout Europe. Additionally, AEGEE-Europe strives for better integration of qualification systems in the labour market as the benefits of qualifications of transversal skills and competences would even be bigger when the labour market would make better use of it and recognises the benefits.

7. Recommendations

7.1 Recommendations to European institutions

The recommendation on key competences for lifelong learning can be seen as a success since it has influenced the majority of countries in the EU in their policies and its relevance is confirmed by stakeholders (9). Following up on this experience, AEGEE-Europe encourages European institutions to research the possibility of a recommendation on key competences directly related to (international) career management with the intention to build on sustainable careers for (young) European citizens who will become part of an increasingly dynamic and complex labour market.

7.2 Recommendations to national governments and education and training institutions

AEGEE-Europe notices that progress is being made and good efforts are put in action to provide young people in Europe with transversal skills and competences, and encourages national governments and education and training institutions to continue to do so. But at the same time there are still some challenges. Following up on the previous section, AEGEE-Europe recommends national governments and education and training institutions to cooperate on international and national level on the modernisation of education and training systems and on the recognition and validation of transversal skills and competences learned in formal, non-formal and informal education and training.

AEGEE-Europe encourages national governments and education and training institutions to make use of opportunities and guidance provided by the EU and other international institutions. AEGEE-Europe advocates for mutual learning and sharing of best practices between countries to inspire each other to move forward, for example on the further operationalisation of National Qualification Frameworks in countries that are still working on it. In order to identify the needs and priorities on national level, involvement from all stakeholder including employers, the labourmarket, graduates and young people is important. Cooperation with stakeholders is essential for the quality, acceptance and relevance of qualifications.

Finally, AEGEE-Europe believes that creating a stronger awareness among young people on the importance and opportunities in learning, validation and recognition of transversal skills and competences will help them to understand the added value and pro-actively make use of these opportunities. Therefore AEGEE-Europe recommends national governments and education and training institutions to actively promote the importance and opportunities regarding transversal skills and competences.

7.3 Recommendations to employers and the labour market

Labour market initiatives to validate transversal skills and competences are not common, and involvement of employers is still limited. While different impact studies prove there is a considerable potential in recruitment, career management and recognition of work-based learning and training (22). Other benefits for employers come from keeping the workforce adaptable to change which reduces different types of costs on the long term. Anyhow, the labour market plays a key role in the development of transversal skills and competences of young Europeans who start their careers, besides the possible benefits. Therefore, AEGEE-Europe wants to emphasize their responsibility on the development, recognition and validation of transversal skills and competences and encourages the labour market and employers to take a bigger step in that direction.

7.4 Recommendations to youth organisations

Youth organisations play an important role as providers of non-formal education for young people in Europe (34). Now that there are new opportunities in recognising and validating non-formal learning, AEGEE-Europe recommends to youth organisations to explore them and help their members to benefit from it. For example in close cooperation with schools and higher education systems. Furthermore, AEGEE-Europe calls upon youth organisations to participate in projects and initiatives that support recognition and validation of non-formal and informal learning, and non-formal learning itself.

7.5 Recommendations to young people

Finally, AEGEE-Europe encourages young people to make use of the opportunities available (37). A lot of learning, recognition and validation opportunities can also be found outside formal education and outside one’s country of origin, for example by taking part in mobility programs. Young people should strive to continue learning throughout their lives and use transversal skills and competences as a way to adapt to change and to have sustainable careers.

Annex 1: Policy Trip

As part of the creation of this policy paper, the Policy Officer (Steven Glasbeek) and the Working Group Coordinator (Svenja van der Tol) visited Brussels to meet several youth organisations and EU institutions as input for our Policy Paper on Youth Development. They met live with the Lifelong Learning Platform (LLLP), EU Careers, Thinkyoung, Erasmus Student Network (ESN) and European Movement International (EMI).

They also held Skype meetings with Cedefop experts Stelina Chatzichristou and Dmitrijs Kulss, and Youth for Exchange and Understanding (YEU) after the policy trip. The purpose of all these different meetings was to gather direct input for our policy paper, and to discuss potential ways of cooperation.

We would like to thank all the organisations for the input they have provided during our live/Skype meetings, and for the feedback they have given. We look forward to further cooperation in the future on sharing the message sent by this policy paper!

Annex 2: Glossary

Young people

People between the age of 16 and 30.

Formal learning

“Learning that occurs in an organised and structured environment (such as in an education or training institution or on the job) and is explicitly designated as learning (in terms of objectives, time or resources). Formal learning is intentional from the learner’s point of view. it typically leads to certification (38).”

Non-formal learning

“Learning embedded in planned activities not explicitly designated as learning (in terms of learning objectives, learning time or learning support). Non-formal learning is intentional from the learner’s point of view. Non-formal learning outcomes may be validated and may lead to certification (38).”

Informal learning

“Learning resulting from daily activities related to work, family or leisure. It is not organised or structured in terms of objectives, time or learning support. Informal learning is in most cases unintentional from the learner’s perspective. Informal learning outcomes may be validated and certified (38).”

Transversal competences

The skills, knowledge and attitudes relevant to a broad range of occupations and sectors (2).

Annex 3: Bibliography

1)         AEGEE-Europe. What is AEGEE?. Retrieved from AEGEE-Europe: Europeans Students’ Forum: http://www.aegee.org/about-aegee/

2)         Unesco International Bureau of Education (2013). IBE Glossary of Curriculum Terminology. Retrieved from: http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Publications/IBE_GlossaryCurriculumTerminology2013_eng.pdf

3)         Gratton, L. (2014). The shift. London: William Collins.

4)         European Commission (2017), White Paper on the Future of Europe, https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/white_paper_on_the_future_of_europe_en.pdf

5)         Akkermans, J., Nikänen, M., & Vuori, J. (2015). Practice Makes Perfect? Antecedents and Consequences of an Adaptive School-to-Work Transition. In Promoting Older Workers’ Job Retention and Health by Working Hour Patterns (p. 65-86).

6)         Vuori, J., Toppinen-Tanner, S., & Mutanen, P. (2011). Effects of resource-building group intervention on career management and mental health in work organizations: randomized controlled field trial. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97, 273-286.

7)         Koivisto, P., Vuori, J., & Nykyri, E. (2007). Effects of the school-to-work group method among young people. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 70, 277-296.

8)         Commission Communication on Strenghtening European Identity through Education and Culture – The European Commission’s contribution to the Leaders’ meeting in Gothenburg, 17 november 2017. https://ec.europa.eu/commission/sites/beta-political/files/communication-strengthening-european-identity-education-culture_en.pdf

9)         Proposal for a Council Recommendation of 17 January 2018 on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, https://ec.europa.eu/education/sites/education/files/recommendation-key-competences-lifelong-learning.pdf

10)       Commission Communication on a Renewed EU agenda for higher education, https://ec.europa.eu/education/sites/education/files/he-com-2017-247_en.pdf

11)       2015 Joint Report of the Council and the Commission on the implementation of the strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020) – New priorities for European cooperation in education and training, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52015XG1215%2802%29

12)       Commission Communication on a New Skills Agenda for Europe, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52016DC0381

13)       Bandura, A., Barbarabelli, C., Caprara, G. V., & Pastorelli, C. (2001). Self-efficacy beliefs as shapers of children’s aspirations and career trajectories. Child Development, 72, 187–206.

14)       Nurmi, J., Salmela-Aro, K., & Koivisto, P. (2002). Goal importance and related achievement beliefs and emotions during the transition from vocational school to work: Antecedents and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 60, 241–261.

15)       Savickas, M. L., & Porfeli, E. J. (2012). Career adapt-abilities scale: Construction, reliability, and measurement equivalence across 13 countries. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 75, 661–673.

16)       Koen, J., Klehe, U. C., Van Vianen, A. E. M., Zikic, J., & Nauta, A. (2010). Job-search strategies and reemployment quality: The impact of career adaptability. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 71, 126–139.

17)       Koen, J., Klehe, U. C., & Van Vianen, A. E. M. (2012). Training career adaptability to facilitate a successful school-to-work transition. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 81, 395–408.

18)       Akkermans, J., Brenninkmeijer, V., Huibers, M., & Blonk, R. W. B. (2013a). Competencies for the contemporary career: Development and preliminary validation of the career competencies questionnaire. Journal of Career Development, 40, 245–267.

19)       Entry-level graduates. Retrieved from EU Careers: https://epso.europa.eu/job-opportunities/entry-level-graduate_en

20)       Commission Communication on Improving and modernising education, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1481206862153&uri=COM:2016:941:FIN

21)       Consolidated version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, (articles 165 and 166), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A12012E%2FTXT

22)       Cedefop. (2017). Briefing note – Qualifications frameworks in Europe 2017 developments. Retrieved from Cedefop: http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/sl/publications-and-resources/publications/9127

23)       Cedefop (2010). Linking credit systems and qualifications frameworks: An international comparative analysis. Luxembourg: Publications Office.

24)       Cedefop (2016). ECVET in Europe: monitoring report 2015. Luxembourg: Publications Office.

25)       Council recommendation of 20 December 2012 on the Validation of non-formal and informal learning, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32012H1222%2801%29

26)       Cedefop; European Commission; ICF (2017). European inventory on validation of non-formal and informal learning – 2016 update. Synthesis report. Luxembourg: Publications Office.

27)       Cedefop; European Commission (2015). European guidelines for validating

non-formal and Informal learning. Luxembourg: Publications Office. http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications-and-resources/publications/3073

28)       European Commission on Governance in the European Commission, https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/c_2017_6915_final_en.pdf

29)       European Commission. (2018). First European Education Summit. Retrieved from European Commission: https://ec.europa.eu/education/education-summit

30)       Decision No 2241/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 December 2004 on a single Community framework for the transparency of qualifications and competences (Europass), http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A32004D2241

31)       Proposal for a Council recommendation on tracking graduates, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52017DC0249

32)       Cedefop (2012). Cedefop in brief. Retrieved from Cedefop: http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/publications-and-resources/publications/8083

33)       The ETF. (2017). The ETF: An EU Agency – 2017. Retrieved from The European Training Foundation: http://www.etf.europa.eu/webatt.nsf/0/4DF2ECA7B7DCA0CDC12580E60047E8A3/$file/ETF%20in%202017.pdf

34)       European Youth Forum (2012). Study on the impact of Non-Formal Education in youth organisations on young people’s employability – executive summary. Retrieved from European Youth Forum. http://www.youthforum.org/sites/default/files/publication-pdfs/Study%2C%20No-Formal%20Education.pdf

35)       GR-EAT. The Project. Retrieved from GR-EAT: Guideline for recognition – European Advanced Tool: https://gr-eat.eu/the-project/

36)       The AEGEAN. (2014). COY Project: Certificates for Youth Workers. Retrieved from the AEGEAN: http://www.zeus.aegee.org/magazine/2014/06/03/coy-project-certificates-for-youth-workers/

37)       Rodriguez, P. H. (2015). Policy Paper – In Transition from Education to Working Life. Spring Agora Asturias: AEGEE-Europe.

38)       Cedefop (2014). Terminology of European education and training policy. Luxembourg: Publications Office.