As job roles evolve and new professions emerge, keeping occupational and training standards up to date and relevant is key to ensure that education and training programmes remain responsive to these changes and to foster a skilled workforce that is agile and capable of meeting the dynamic demands of the job market, with large benefits at both individual and societal level. For individuals, updated standards enhance labour market mobility and facilitate career progression, as workers can more easily transition between jobs when their skills are aligned with recognised occupational standards, reducing frictional unemployment and underemployment. For employers, a good alignment of skill requirements with technological advancements and industry trends boosts firms’ innovation and competitiveness, since workers are equipped with the latest tools and knowledge necessary to navigate contemporary challenges. From a public policy perspective, maintaining up-to-date occupational and training standards supports economic growth by reducing skill mismatches and unemployment, as decision makers can use these standards to design effective training programmes and educational curricula, thereby promoting a more efficient allocation of human capital.
This report seeks to provide policy makers and relevant stakeholders with key insights on how to improve the elaboration and update of occupational and training standards with a view to mitigating persistent labour shortages and skill mismatches across different sectors. To select relevant good practices, the report identifies five criteria that are at the foundation of efficient standard setting: (1) responsiveness to labour market needs, (2) timeliness, (3) agility, (4) user-friendliness, and (5) quality. Based on these selection criteria, this report discusses the case studies of Flanders, France, French-speaking Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
In Flanders, occupational standards are included in the “Competent” database. The content of the database is managed and updated by the Flemish Public Employment Service (VDAB) but the database is a joint product of the Belgian public employment services Actiris, ADG, Bruxelles Formation, Forem and VDAB. Standards are periodically reviewed to ensure they remain relevant and responsive to changing labour market needs. Updates are informed by analyses of labour market data, including online job vacancies.
In France, occupational standards are organised through the ROME system (Répertoire Opérationnel des Métiers et des Emplois), which helps match job offers with job seekers, and is managed by the French Public Employment Service, France Travail. The recent transition to ROME 4.0 marks a significant update, with a shift to a skills-based approach to meet evolving labour market demands. A dedicated online platform, where sectoral funds, social partners, training providers and other key actors can suggest updates, review and provide feedback on draft profiles prepared by France Travail, has been developed to facilitate stakeholders’ involvement.
In French-speaking Belgium, a dedicated organisation, the Service Francophone des Métiers et des Qualifications (SFMQ), has been established to manage the creation and update of both occupational and training standards. The SFMQ organises and supervises the whole process, but expert groups composed of employers hiring for the specific occupation and training providers offering the corresponding training programmes are tasked with the drafting of occupational and training standards, respectively.
In Germany, occupational standards serve as the basis for curriculum development in vocational schools and company-based training. They also guide the assessment and certification of trainees, which are standardised in all industries. This approach ensures that training content is harmonised across regions and companies. The organisation in charge of developing the standards is the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB). Based on extensive research, BIBB prepares a draft proposal for occupational and training standards which is then subject to consultation and discussion with relevant stakeholders and social partners.
In Switzerland, occupational and training standards are combined in the same legal document, an ordinance that defines skills required in the occupation and contains a training plan outlining the necessary qualification(s). Ordinances are legally binding and applicable in all regions of Switzerland to ensure recognition and validation of skills in a coherent manner and promote labour mobility. The State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) oversees the overall process for the development and update of occupational and training standards, and representatives from all linguistic regions are involved.
In the United Kingdom, occupational standards are co-created alongside training standards for apprenticeships and a set of indicators to measure their quality, to ensure that training curricula align with labour market needs. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) is responsible for overseeing the overall process, but the development and revision of occupational and apprenticeship standards are the responsibility of trailblazer groups composed of employers who intend to hire apprentices in that field.
Several lessons can be drawn from the case studies:
It is essential that the production process of occupational and training standards is timely and efficient. To this end, the tasks and responsibilities of the main entity in charge of the standards, as well as those of other relevant stakeholders, should be clearly defined and allocated. All case studies also highlight the importance of well-structured and transparent processes, with explicitly listed procedures and steps. To ensure the timeliness of such a demanding process, adequate human and financial resources must be allocated.
Occupational and training standards should be labour market relevant and user-friendly. For this, the involvement of a diverse mix of stakeholders is crucial, including the active participation of employers which is necessary for standards to accurately reflect their skill requirements. Involving end-users, particularly training providers, in the process helps ensure that standards are accessible, intuitive, and user-friendly.
A systematic link between occupational and training standards ensures that the training offer effectively meets labour market needs. The case studies examined show that such connection is stronger when a single organisation is responsible for the development and maintenance of both standards. Moreover, the link can be reinforced if the two sets of standards are prepared by the same group of experts.
Sound oversight mechanisms are essential to foster transparency, accountability, quality of the standards and trust among stakeholders. Countries can adopt different types of quality assurance frameworks, including regulatory mechanisms imposing minimum quality requirements (e.g. quality labels or external audits) and internal monitoring tools.
Overall, the good practices presented in this report can help practitioners and policy makers reflect on and improve their own system for the production of occupational and training standards, to ensure that they remain of high quality and that their production is timely and efficient.
