Articles

“Learning Circles are an important ‘piece of the puzzle’ in everyday learning in the workplace,” says Martin Sinclair, competence development manager in Social Administration in Jönköping municipality.

Learning in the workplace is more relevant than ever. New ways of working and new equipment require new skills. When resources are scarce, a need often arises to find more effective ways to work smarter through changing the distribution of work duties and responsibilities and devising better logistics. Are learning circles a good answer to…

The European RESCALE project addresses the growing need to strengthen adults’ basic skills in response to ongoing changes in the labour market. It develops and pilots Reskilling Labs as practical, learner-centred environments that support adults in transition, particularly those who are unemployed or outside the labour force. The aim is to create scalable and inclusive…

In August, researchers, policymakers and practitioners will meet for the Nordic-Baltic PIAAC Conference 2026, where they will discuss what the OECD’s survey of adult competencies means for the labour market, education and lifelong learning of the future.

On March 19, the advisory board of the Future Skills – Bridging the Competence Gap project met in Copenhagen to compare Nordic approaches to skills anticipation and tripartite reskilling for the green transition. This article highlights examples from Denmark and Sweden on education–work cooperation, a national competence policy initiative from Norway, and rapid economic restructuring…

Across Greenland, stakeholders are rethinking how to support young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).

By mid-October 2025, more than 2,600 skills badges have been registered in the Finnish national database called Koski. The purpose of the badges is to recognise informal and non-formal learning in areas such as communication, digital security and everyday finances. An increasing number of organisations in non-formal adult education are now starting to put the…

NLL’s Nordic working group has during the period 2024–2026 focused on education for women in prison. The working group has identified educational opportunities for female prisoners in the Nordic countries from a gender-equality perspective. The group has examined women’s versus men’s opportunities for fair education during imprisonment, as well as after release.

At the Oasen Care Centre in Mariehamn on Åland, and in the municipality of Porsgrunn in Telemark, elderly care faces the same challenges: the need for continuous professional development among employees in a busy everyday environment. Both are taking part in a new NLL project on learning circles, which brings new energy and insights into…

The Faroe Islands have created the Serbreyt programme to give those youngsters who struggle with the traditional requirements of upper secondary schooling the chance of an independent and fulfilling life. The programme supports students as they transition into working life and enhances social inclusion by focusing on general skills.

Axxell is working to boost general competencies through thematic strands during training and education – especially for young students. This prepares them for future working life and the challenges they will face in society as a whole by helping them to develop technical, social and communication skills.

The project team behind the project “Age is not an obstacle III”, consisting of Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians, has developed training materials that make it easier for seniors to learn and use digital programmes and platforms according to their needs.

Folkuniversitetet – an adult educational association in Sweden – validates general skills using a method that is both quality-assured and flexible. This method even allows those individuals with little job experience to be validated.

The Norwegian Directorate for Higher Education and Skills has created basic skills profiles for a variety of occupations. These profiles help to identify and reinforce key competencies such as reading, writing, and digital skills in working life.

Greenland has embarked upon a project to encourage the development of skills in young people who are not in work or education. Central government, municipalities and educational institutions have joined forces to create better opportunities for young Greenlanders.

A Norwegian career guidance service is helping jobseekers to identify and present their general skills with support from AI technology and a user-friendly interface. It can even help people with little experience of working life.

Denmark offers a free Individual Competence Assessment (ICA) that recognises both formal and informal skills. The digital tool My Skills and Qualifications File (known in Danish as Min Kompetencemappe) allows citizens to record all their relevant skills for work or education purposes, which supports the country’s recognition of lifelong learning.

Data from the PIAAC surveys provide rich information about adult skills in literacy, numeracy and problem solving, and how adults use their skills at home and at work.