This report is part of a series of projects within the OECD programme of work on “Building Effective OECD Skills Strategies”.
The OECD is grateful to the Flemish National Project Team for its invaluable guidance and input throughout the project, and its help in convening and organising the stakeholder workshops. We are particularly grateful to the National Project Leader, Sara Vissers, from the Flemish Department for Work and Social Economy for her strong leadership and co-ordination of the Flemish Project Team, which included: Raf Boey, Maaike Van Cauwenberghe, Floor Smessaert, and Chris Gaasendam (Department for Work and Social Economy); Vicky Vanruysseveldt and Sarah De Decker (Department for Education and Training); Sarah Vansteenkiste and Ines Penders (Centre of Expertise for Labour market Monitoring [CELM]); Dries Verlet and Ahmed Abdelhakim (Flemish Statistical Authority); Sam Coomans (Social and Economic Council of Flanders, General Christian Trade Union, member of the Partnership of Lifelong Learning); Eddy Demeersseman (Flemish Education Council, Council on Lifelong and Life-wide Learning, Catholic Education Flanders, member of the Partnership of Lifelong Learning); Isabel Gaisbauer, Willem Vansina, Wim Herremans, Stijn Van de Velde (VDAB); Evelyn Laermans, Freya Gheysen (AHOVOKS); Shana Beerden (LinkedIn); and Veerle Beyst (Team behavioural insights, Department of Chancellery and Foreign Affairs). We are also grateful to Bruno Tindemans and Vickie Dekocker, the authors of the “Learning Society” report, with whom the OECD team had initial discussions about this project.
The OECD team wishes to thank Minister Hilde Crevits, Vice Minister-President of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister for Economy, Innovation, Work, Social Economy and Agriculture, for her commitment to this Implementation Guidance project.
Our warm thanks go to the many representatives of government agencies, education and training institutions, businesses and business associations, unions and community associations, research institutions, and other organisations who generously shared their knowledge and insights during workshops and bilateral discussions. In particular, the OECD would like to thank Ans De Vos (Chair of the Lifelong Learning Partnership) and Wim Adriaens (Managing Director VDAB – the Flemish PES) for their active contributions to the workshops. We would also like to take the opportunity to thank the staff of the Department of Work and Social Economy for their excellent organisation of the stakeholder workshops and for their hospitality in hosting these events.
We are grateful to the Directorate-General for Education and Culture and the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission for contributing both financial support and expertise throughout the project. We are especially grateful to Alison Crabb, Carlo Scatoli and Michael Horgan.
Bart Staats was the OECD project leader responsible for co-ordinating this OECD Skills Strategy Implementation Guidance project in Flanders. The primary authors of this report were Bart Staats, Sam Thomas and Iván Bornacelly, with contributions by Ben Game (OECD Centre for Skills). Marieke Vandeweyer and Ricardo Espinoza (OECD Centre for Skills) provided advice and feedback.
Andrew Bell, Head of OECD Skills Strategies, provided analytical guidance and supervised the project. El Iza Mohamedou, Head of the OECD Centre for Skills, oversaw the project, while Stefano Scarpetta (OECD Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs) and Mark Pearson (Deputy Director for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs) provided strategic oversight.
Véronique Quénehen, Jennifer Cannon and Marie-Aurélie Elkurd (OECD Centre for Skills) provided invaluable support for mission organisation, report layout and design, and publication planning, with support by Ana Sofía Gómez Sánchez. Elizabeth Zachary provided proofreading and editorial support and Kathryn Frey designed the cover of the report.
While the report draws upon data and analysis from the OECD, Flemish authorities and other published sources, any errors or misinterpretations remain the responsibility of the OECD team.