Insights from Skills Strategies in the European Union

The “National Skills Strategies across the EU: Lessons Learnt” project commenced in June 2023 and concluded in September 2024. The project was carried out in four main phases:

To assess the lessons learnt, this project undertook desktop research and various qualitative research methods, including a questionnaire, in-depth interviews and interactive workshops.

Desk-based research involved the analysis of OECD and country-specific documents and reports as well as external evaluations. More specifically, the OECD reviewed the skills strategies and related implementation or action plans, additional documents shared by countries through the questionnaire, such as existing external reports or evaluations, and documents prepared for OECD skills strategy projects, among others.

In addition to desk-based research, a questionnaire was distributed to 25 countries that had undertaken the process of creating a skills strategy. This questionnaire was sent to policy experts with direct knowledge of their respective skills strategies, requesting their completion of the survey and their confirmation of which document should be considered the skills strategy for their country. It was designed to collect information on both the development and implementation processes of skills strategies based on the analytical framework. The full questionnaire can be seen in Annex B.

The information gathered from the questionnaire informed a comprehensive cross-country mapping of skills strategies across the European Union, describing their key characteristics according to the various elements of the analytical framework.

The insights from the mapping were complemented by expert meetings and interviews with those involved in skills strategies (from both government and stakeholders) in seven countries: Croatia, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands and Poland. These case studies were undertaken to provide a more in-depth analysis of the efforts and experiences of these countries in developing skills strategies.

The OECD selected these countries to reflect the diversity of approaches to developing and implementing skills strategies. This diversity enabled a comparative analysis of different methods, aiding the OECD in identifying key lessons learnt in this domain. Specifically, the OECD chose countries that demonstrated diversity in terms of the design of the strategy development process, the involvement of external organisations, the range of topics covered, and the implementation approach. Additionally, geographical representation and the year of publication of skills strategies were considered in the selection process.

The 10th OECD Skills Strategy Peer-Learning Workshop, hosted by the OECD on 16 November 2023, gathered input for this project. The topic of the workshop, “Turning Skills Vision into Action: A Decade of Lessons Learnt”, offered insight into specific country examples. The event featured presentations and discussions with 42 representatives from 24 countries who shared their experiences developing and implementing skills strategies.

On 13 May 2024, the OECD held a virtual workshop to test preliminary lessons learnt with country experts. In the workshop, the OECD presented its initial findings and facilitated discussions on the lessons learnt in smaller group discussions with representatives from a mix of countries. The workshop had two main objectives: 1) testing and further refining the draft lessons learnt; and 2) facilitating peer learning between countries on how to best develop and implement skills strategies. The event brought together around 40 stakeholders, including all experts consulted for the project (including representatives from the 25 countries included in the sample and experts from case study interviews), as well as representatives from the relevant EU agencies and institutions and OECD experts.

The analytical framework (see Figure A A.1 ) provided the basis for the detailed mapping of skills strategies and guided analysis of the strategies. The framework captures countries’ efforts and experiences in developing and implementing skills strategies. The framework also specifies which methods and tools would be used to collect data on skills strategies (e.g. a questionnaire, desktop research).