Many people work in jobs that do not match their talents and 40% of European employers have difficulty in finding people with the skills they need. Education providers, employers and learners have all different perceptions on how well transition to employment can be possible. Although over 13 million learners are engaged in VET each year, forecasts in several Member States indicate that there will be a shortage of people with VET qualifications in the future. Skills are a pathway to employability and prosperity.

Skills mismatch refers to a discrepancy between the demand and supply of skills on the labour market. To achieve excellence in VET, curricula must be systematically renewed, delivery must be constantly modernized and businesses, especially SMEs, must be actively involved. VET must be able to react to the demand for advanced vocational skills, tailored to the regional economic context. Around 50% of EU students enrolled at upper secondary, post-secondary and short-cycle tertiary levels undertake vocational education and training (VET). This makes VET a key source of skills and competencies for EU economies (EU Commission, Skılls For The Labour Market, 2017).

This project aims to develop a platform through which vocational education systems and the labour market, especially the SMEs, communicate interactively, while one side voting for/valuing the skills they need and the other side, that’s the vocational systems answers by updating the current curriculum. Also, the training content developed on skills analysis and mapping through the ECVET Skills Platform is considered to serve the quality of vocational education and training systems, giving the experts responsible for teaching technical skills the mission of teaching also the personal and conceptual skills.

To achieve these objectives ECVET Skills Platform project will specifically concentrate on the CNC Machine Operating because aging or declining populations in the larger EU economies mean that employers are likely to have difficulty filling existing and new jobs. Most of the employment growth over this period is expected to be in service sectors, along with some advanced manufacturing sectors. Among manufacturing sectors, electrical equipment, other machinery and equipment, manufacturing, and motor vehicles are expected to see strong employment growth (CEDEFOP, SKILLS FORCAST, 2018). That many manufacturing sectors, such as automotive, moulding, plastic industry, motor industry, machinery, etc need CNC Machine Operator means that there will be more skills demand in the CNC Machine Operating.

During the project, the first step will be to identify qualifications of CNC Machining according to EQF as Level 4. Then, secondly, defining the expectations of the firms will be taken together with the opinions of technical teachers. In this context, ideas and expectations from firms and individuals in decision-making positions in the labour market will be gathered and a list of the necessary skills required will be established. Then, with ECVET Skills platform that will be installed on the internet, a ranking of importance will be listed by firms. Following this, the training curriculum in vocational high schools for CNC Machine will be renewed and/or developed to ensure the most needed top ten skills. Trainers will be trained on this platform and will be informed about how they should implement their education.