The project ‘INVOLVE - Involving social partners in dual VET governance: exploring the contribution of social partners in the design, renewal and implementation of dual VET’ focuses on examining the role of social partners (trade unions and employers' organisations) in reforms of the vocational education system, aimed at improving the functioning of practical vocational training. These reforms, carried out in recent years in the countries participating in the project, include improving the quality of vocational training and adapting it to the requirements of contemporary labour markets, among others, through the implementation of the so-called dual education system (learning carried out simultaneously at the school and in the enterprise cooperating with it) or similar solutions. At the same time, the countries surveyed under the project represent various models of collective labour relations, and thus the impact of social partners on shaping economic relations, including the functioning of companies and the education system itself, differs among them. This dimension of diversity will also be subject to an in-depth analysis.

After the research and analytical phase of the project is completed, there will be a stage of dissemination of knowledge among social partners in order to encourage them to become more involved in shaping national vocational education systems as well as to provide them with the necessary knowledge and developed solutions. Meetings will be held with representatives of organisations not participating in the project, and a research report along with guidelines for social partners will be published. Project results will also be published online, including via a dedicated website.

Project duration: March 2020 – February 2022

Organisations participating in the project:
•    NOTUS Applied Social Research (NOTUS) (Spain) - leader
•    Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) (Poland)
•    Labour Institute of General Confederation of Greek Workers (INE GSEE) (Greece)
•    NOVA University Lisbon (UNL) (Portugal)

Associate partners:
•    Confederación Sindical De Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) (Spain)
•    Associaçäo dos industriais metalúrgicos, metalomecänicos e afins de Portugal (AIMMAP) (Portugal)
•    Polish Teachers' Union (ZNP) (Poland)

The project is co-financed from the European Union Funds, budget heading ‘Improving Expertise in the field of Industrial Relations’.