About Education and Training Service Centre
The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of Iceland has delegated the implementation of the VISKA project to the Education and Training Service Centre (ETSC) and IÐAN-VET centre.
The ETSC operates in accordance to a service contract with The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture and administrates the Education and Training fund for adult education. The main responsibility of the ESTC is to make curricula for adult education, develop recognition of non-formal and informal learning, increase quality in Adult Education and develop counselling and guidance services.
Role in the project
- ETSC will be a partner (delegated by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture) leading work on the development of criteria for transversal skills, tools for the field trial and a training module for frontline staff. The ministry will remain responsible for political and strategic leadership of the project as well as for steering the experimentation, taking active part in project management meeting and contributing to dissemination of project outcomes.
- ETSC will lead the project nationally jointly with IÐAN-VET centre through establishing cooperative networks, supporting field trials in cooperation with IÐAN-VET centre, and provide/share information for evaluation purposes of the project.
The ETSC was established by the Icelandic Confederation of Labor (ASÍ) and the Confederation of Icelandic Employers (SA) and is since 2010 co-owned by the Federation of State and Municipal Employees (BSRB), the Association of Local Authorities in Iceland and the Ministry of Finance. The role of the Centre is to be a collaborative forum of the founding parties for adult education and vocational training in cooperation with other educational bodies operating under the auspices of the member associations. It targets those who have not completed the upper secondary level of education. This target group comprises approximately 33% of the Icelandic labour force. The objective is to enable individuals (drop-outs) who have not graduated from the upper secondary level to obtain an education and improve their position in the labour market, which complies with the focus laid e.g. in European agenda for adult learning and Europe 2020.
The ETSC operates in accordance with a service contract with The Ministry of Education, Science and Culture and administrates the Education and Training fund for adult education. The main purpose of the ESTC is to make curricula for educational provision, develop recognition of non-formal and informal learning, increase quality in Adult Education and develop counselling and guidance for the target group (migrants and low-qualified individuals).
The ETSC cooperates with 14 Lifelong Learning centres distributed around the country who deliver services to the target group (including educational and vocational guidance). ETSC coordinates development in the field, supports service providers and oversees quality issues and results.
LLL centres are operating in all regions with a net of work-stations that cover the biggest part of Iceland. In the capital area there are 5 educational providers that belong to the net that ETSC works with. Two of them are regional for the capital area and three work throughout the country, including IÐAN-VET centre. These providers are responsible for the contact with individuals in the target group. The LLL centres are highly professionalised in the area of Adult Education with special focus on the low-qualified/low skilled individuals.
ETSC Goals in the project
Through VISKA, ETSC hopes to achieve open access for migrants to opportunities on the labour market and possibilities in education. This will be achieved through the development of tools and methods for making skills visible based on a skills audit or the validation of prior learning. At this stage of the project, ETSC have learned that this is a topic that is in urgent need of attention. Many migrants are currently in jobs where their competences are not recognised and they have limited possibilities available for career development. It is quite a challenge for migrants to get their education and competences recognised in Iceland today. Furthermore, many governmental initiatives are still in their beginning phases, but VISKA has been able to link to those from a practical perspective.
Plenty of work ahead, but ETSC has one important wish for the future: We hope that migrants will in the future be able to make their competences visible so that they can get a job where they can utilize their skills and continue their competence development.
For more information on ETSC, visit their website at http://frae.is/um-fa/about-us/ or send them an e-mail at iceland@viskaproject.eu.