Strategic Partnerships for the Development of Competitive Labor Force Through Vocational Education and Training

Abstract

Establishing closer links between education, training and the world of work is a high level EU policy priority and increasing in the focus of academic research. Constant skills’ upgrading of the workforce to promote employability requires innovative approaches at national, regional and local level and demands new forms of strategic partnerships. This sets new tasks also for public administra¬tions involved in vocational education and training (VET) provision. In Latvia VET reform is ongoing, with gradual changes in VET governance through increased involvement of social partners. It is important to evaluate the existing institutional mechanisms for co-operation among the social partners and, if necessary, improve them or develop new ones. A research was carried out in Latvia in 2014 among the top and medium level public administrators regarding the approaches to the devel¬opment of competitive labor force by the VET system. A parallel analogous research was carried out among the employers. The aim of the research was to learn the opinions of the respective target groups, make a comparison between their opinions regarding research relevant issues and to identify the key challenges for public administrations in VET for improved decision making in the training of competitive labor force.