The Water School and EMATSA participate in the final conference of the "Greenskills in Vocational Education and Training (VET)" project.

The "Green Skills in VET" project, co-funded by the European Commission and implemented by SGI Europe and the European Federation of Education Employers (EFEE), aims to understand how to improve the relationship and partnerships between companies representing the sector (GIS providers) and vocational training centers, to respond to emerging skills needs in 3 sectors (water, energy, transport), in 5 countries (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal).

The Water School has been considered within the framework of this project as one of the reference practices for the whole of the services of General Interest (SGI) sectors, highlighting its commitment to three types of related training: dual vocational training, professional accreditations in Operation of networks and Water Treatment Plants, and the promotion of continuous training courses for workers of other companies operating in the water sector. In the case of Dual Vocational Training, EMATSA together with Agbar, Comaigua and Aquambiente constituted the network of companies that pioneered the deployment of training cycles in the sector at the Institut Pere Martell in Tarragona. At this link you can consult the Report of Conclusions of the project (ENG).

Collaboration between companies in the sector and training centers is essential as few young Spaniards opt for vocational training in the water sector, which fuels the skills mismatch between the skills expected and those provided by the education sector. This public-private partnership is key to the development of training pathways capable of training technicians and operators in direct contact with the sector's technologies, which are rapidly evolving and transforming due to the digital and green transition.

Impact on employment

The expected impacts in light of the green transition are diverse in the sectors analyzed in the project (water, energy and urban transport). However, for both new occupations and retraining, it will be essential to promote green skills for all workers, combining specific technical and transversal soft skills.

It is not enough to have a sectoral approach to green skills, but also a local one, based on the construction of local ecosystems, considering institutions, research centers, companies and social agents where to carry out the identification of training needs, update the competencies of professional profiles, offer continuous training services, develop innovative and experimentation-based teaching, manage learning paths, and host professionals and researchers to show trainees the latest developments.

The green transition

Green skills are crucial to enable technological and organizational innovation processes to achieve the sustainability objectives set at European level. Moreover, they are useful to encourage the diffusion of a new mentality for the promotion, in all work and life contexts, of sustainability as an indispensable value.

Such a transition therefore requires the transformation of all competencies with sustainability in focus. To train these new skills, it becomes particularly important to move from a logical integrative position, which is based on the co-design and co-management of training, through a partnership between companies and Vocational Training centers.

At this link you can view the policy brief on green skills in vocational education and training (ESP).