GATOM recommendations: Government
The project resulted in the development of the following recommendations for national, regional and local government:
- Initiation of awareness raising campaigns to inform training providers on the requirements of the mobile workforce in the context of re-qualification on the basis of standardised data on occupational change (extent, characteristics of the mobile workforce, etc.) and occupation-specific investigations to identify the “ideal” characteristics of training provision for occupational changers;
- Development of common quality standards for the adult education system and familiarise employers therewith;
- Development of structures and processes to facilitate the recognition of informally gained skills/competences and prior experience; this particularly important for occupational changers who are already participating in the labour market and who have limited time resources to engage in re-training;
- Support the matching of the needs of occupational changers with the supply of training courses by:
- Increasing the level of transparency in the training market e.g. by providing up-to-date registers of training providers and courses and verifying the type and level of qualification award of available training courses;
- Offering information, advice and consultancy services for people who are already in the workforce i.e. in employment, but who wish to gain the skills and qualifications necessary to effect a change in occupation;
- Supporting work sampling opportunities or short-term internships to give prospective occupational changers the opportunity of testing their aptitudes and skills in real work situations;
- Providing occupation-specific online platforms to provide more information about specific jobs and related tasks and working conditions;
- Provision of financial support for employees and employers (e.g. cost subsidies, tax incentives) to facilitate occupational change. Louth County Council has piloted an innovative scheme that allows employees to gain new vocational skills. Two Council employees have been able to train to become plumbers which they would not have been able to undertake on their own without significant personal and financial hardship;
- Provision of childcare facilities to occupational changers while participating in re-qualification measures for traditional female occupations.