promoting life-long learning in the EU

the challenge

The European Vocational Skills Week (EVSW) is an initiative of the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) organised annually to raise the attractiveness of Vocational Education and Training (VET) in Europe. VET plays a crucial role in lifelong learning, providing young learners with the initial skills they need for a fulfilling a career, and adults with the means to upskill and reskill throughout their lives. Action Public Sector was tasked by DG EMPL to highlight the attractiveness and raise awareness of the wide range of opportunities offered by VET and encourage more people to take advantage of VET benefits, especially now, as more jobs will be needed in the green economy. 

our approach

Action developed a content strategy with a number of communication activities, covering different themes, released before, during and after the European Vocational Skills Week in May 2022, offering a consistent strategic backbone of the campaign.

Phase 1 – Leading up to event: the team researched the VET topics, projects and wrote success stories, presenting heroes (either young people or adult learners) who chose VET and embarked on a journey of talent discovery and personal fulfilment. Local experts ‘on the ground’  approached leading national or specialised media with these stories.

Phase 2 –During event: Press releases on Excellence Awards, inviting the wider public to vote on VET nominees. High level opinion editorial of Nicolas Schmit, Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights and Margaritis Schinas, the Commission’s Vice-President for Promoting the European Way of Life on how workers need to make the leap from jobs in traditional, fossil fuel-based industries to emerging green sectors – offered to top-tier media in members states/pan-European press.

Phase 3 –After event: media interviews with Excellence Awards winners to explain their road to success and national contact points to talk about European and national vocational trends.

The diverse range of communication initiatives and tools achieved broad media coverage both in member states as well as at EU level, thus increasing the public’s VET awareness.