In an increasingly changing labour market, general competencies such as communication, problem-solving, and collaboration have become essential. These are skills developed in many different contexts — in education, working life, and leisure time. They are important both for individuals’ employability and for their personal development, and they are essential for meeting the challenges of the future. But how can we make these competencies visible and recognised, so that they are valued in the same way as the hard or more specific skills?
In this publication, NLL explores how projects and initiatives in the Nordic countries actively work to make general competencies visible and, where possible, validate them. From ongoing initiatives to future projects — the Nordic region is at the forefront when it comes to creating innovative solutions for integrating general competencies into working life and the education system.
Our work on validating general competencies in the Nordic countries originates from the European project TRANSVAL-EU, which also involved Nordic participants. The project aimed to improve methods for validation and guidance of general competencies, in order to make these skills visible and recognised in both guidance and validation contexts.
The TRANSVAL-EU project, which spanned several European countries, focused on strengthening professionals who work to identify, document, and recognise these often invisible competencies. Through practical field studies, TRANSVAL-EU has demonstrated how methods for making general competencies visible and recognised can provide individuals with new opportunities in the labour market and in further education.
The Nordic countries have strong traditions of lifelong learning and inclusive labour market policies. Therefore, the Nordic region can become a leader in making the value of general competencies visible and recognised. NLL will continue to follow how various Nordic projects address this challenge, and how these initiatives can promote the development of efforts within education and the labour market.
In this publication, we take you on a journey through Nordic initiatives that are breaking new ground. Through the different cases, NLL highlights how the Nordic countries are developing concrete solutions to make visible and validate the competencies that are central to meeting the working life of the future.
Welcome to a publication that highlights general competencies and shows how the Nordic region is building the workforce of tomorrow.