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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 5

Publication Date: May 25, 2023

DOI:10.14738/assrj.105.14691.

Karachalios, G., & Papadakis, N. (2023). Micro-Credentials and Skills: Towards A Paradigm Shift in Reskilling? Advances in Social

Sciences Research Journal, 10(5).95-102.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Micro-Credentials and Skills: Towards A Paradigm Shift in

Reskilling?

George Karachalios

University of Peloponnese,

The Greek Public Employment Service (DYPA), Greece

Nikos Papadakis

The Centre for Political Research & Documentation (KEPET),

Department of Political Science, University of Crete, The Centre

of Training and LLL of the University of Crete (KEDIVIM), and

The National Centre of Public Administration and Local Government

(EKDDA)Greece

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with the role of Training and Reskilling, as part of active

employment policy, specifically focusing on the dynamics of micro-credentials. It

begins with a brief overview of the dominant trends in the Labour Market in order

to proceed with the analysis of the role of Skills, within this (rapidly changing)

context. Given the abovementioned, the paper focuses on the role of the micro- credentials in Reskilling, (flexibly) building individual skills-repertoire and feed- backing the existing accreditation-certification practices and patterns. It provides

a critical overview of the state-of-play regarding the rising trend towards Micro- Credentials and their association with Skills, Training and Reskilling.

Keywords: Skills, Labour Market, Micro-credentials, Reskilling, employability, Individual

Learning Accounts

INTRODUCTION: ON THE STATE-OF-PLAY IN THE EUROPEAN LABOUR MARKET.

TRENDS AND CHALLENGES1.

Undoubtedly, the CΟVID-19 pandemic Crisis has affected the labour market and subsequently

the youth unemployment increased in the EU and reached 16.2% in 2020 (men: 15.9% &

women: 16.5% / Eurostat, 2021a; Eurostat, 2021b). In Greece it has increased up to 37.6%

(men: 36.6% & women: 38.9% / Eurostat, 2021a; Eurostat, 2021b), more than double than the

also increased youth unemployment in the EU. It was the highest youth unemployment rate in

the EU-27 (Eurostat, 2021a). It should be noted that the unemployment rates differ significantly

across Europe, while in the Southern Countries the total unemployment is constantly since the

1. The present paper is partially based on the following publication: Papadakis N. (2022a), “The changing Labour Market

and the role of the micro-credentials in LLL and VET (Vocational Education &Training)”, in the Ubachs, George,

Meuleman, Stefan, & Antonaci, Alessandra (2022). Digital Reset: European Universities Transforming for a Changing

World. Proceedings of the Innovating Higher Education Conference 2022 (I-HE2022). Zenodo. pp. 418-431.

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7330857,

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 5, May-2023

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

2008 Crisis and the subsequent Recession more than the double comparing to the EU average

(see European Commission 2017b: 10).

Additionally, emphasis should be laid in the fact that clearly the younger people and especially

the ones with less qualifications and skills face enormous difficulties to be integrated in the

changing labour market. As Andy Green (2017: 7) points out, “the 2007/2008 financial crisis

and the ensuing recession and austerity dramatized the situation of young people because they

were the age group which was hardest hit in terms of rising unemployment and declining real

wages”.

The employment rates of recent graduates continue to recover from the 2008 Crisis and have

improved slightly since the previous year, standing in 2020 at 80,9%, higher than the 78,2% in

2016 and close to the benchmark of 82% in 2020 (European Commission, 2020: 66). The

employment rates of recent graduates were, in 2017, “84.9 % for tertiary graduates, 76.6 % for

those with upper-secondary or post-secondary vocational qualification and 64.1% for those

with a general upper-secondary qualification” (European Commission 2018: 56). The

abovementioned highlight the role of qualifications and skills in the integration to the labour

market. Indeed “the differences between the types of graduates are substantial..... (while) the

mismatch remains high, particularly among bachelor’s diploma holders” (European

Commission 2017a: 12- 13). Further, it should be noted at this point that there are major

differences between the Member States in terms of the employment rates of recent graduates,

since youth unemployment remains remarkably high in Southern Countries, heavily affected by

the Crisis and the Recession, such as Greece, Spain and Italy (see Papadakis, Drakaki, Kyridis,

Papargyris 2017: 8-10 and analytically European Commission 2018: 56).

Unemployment, youth unemployment, poverty and their persisting correlation seem to

constitute, probably, one of the major challenges in the EU, at the moment. According to the

European Commission, unemployment rates “are falling (constantly since 2014) but differ

substantially across Europe... (while) the crisis has affected parts of Europe in different ways,

but across the Union, it is younger generations that have been hit particularly hard” (European

Commission, 2017a: 9). It seems, that precarious work is rising (especially among Youth- see

analytical Papadakis et al 2021 and Papadakis et al 2022), while it gradually becomes “the new

norm to which employment and social protection systems must adjust but the motivators for,

and likely consequences of, legitimising and normalising these employment forms are complex

and potentially contradictory. Precarious work is best defined as the absence of those aspects

of the Standard Employment Relationship (SER) that support the decommodification of labour”

(Rubery, Grimshaw, Keizer, & Johnson 2018: 511).

Additionally, employment and labour market are already affected by the rising Mega-Trends

that are taking place and seem to gradually prevail (e.g., globalization, digital economy,

digitalization, demographic and social changes, climate change, etc.) (Eurofound, 2020: 3-4).

These Mega-Trends had a clear impact on the structure of economy and labour market,

industrial relations systems, and business models, having, in turn, direct impact on work

relations, forms of employment and contracts types and, consequently, on social welfare

systems in Europe (Eurofound, 2020: 3-4). It should be noted that over the previous decade

(namely the years 2010-2019), temporary workers were constantly at almost triple the risk of

poverty than permanent workers (Eurostat, 2020; Papadakis et al., 2020). It becomes clear that

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Karachalios, G., & Papadakis, N. (2023). Micro-Credentials and Skills: Towards A Paradigm Shift in Reskilling? Advances in Social Sciences Research

Journal, 10(5).95-102.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.105.14691

“there is a clear correlation between precarious work (part-time and temporary) with social

vulnerability and poverty, which is higher for medium and low-skilled young people, who are

over-presented in the precarious work rates” (Papadakis et al 2022: 6). The equilibrium in

terms of supply and demand in skills (both soft and hard - see analytically Drakaki 2018 and

Papadakis 2022b), as well as in key competences (see Papadakis & Drakaki 2023: 3&4) is

changing and it seems that it will be further transformed.

THE RISING TREND TOWARDS MICRO-CREDENTIALS, IN A CHANGING LABOUR MARKET

Preliminary Remarks on Micro-credentials and Reskilling

All the above-mentioned trends and transformations, including the increasingly rapid advances

in technology and the labour market require graduates and professionals in the workforce to

be familiar with state-of-the-art knowledge, and to possess the core (soft and hard) skills and

competences needed to make full use of technological and non-technological know-how. Within

this context, the role of micro-credentials is of vital importance (see European Commission

2022). The lack of a common definition and approach on micro-credentials’ validation and

recognition, causes concerns about their value, quality, recognition, transparency

and ‘portability’ (portability between and within education and training sectors, portability on

the labour market and portability across countries) (European Commission 2021: 2).

According to the European Commission: “Micro-credentials certify the learning outcomes of

short-term learning experiences, for example a short course or training. They offer a flexible,

targeted way to help people develop the knowledge, skills and competences they need for their

personal and professional development” (European Commission 2022).

Given the afore-mentioned, the need for ‘just-in-time’ skills development that is immediately

applicable becomes clear. The role of micro-credentials to widen learning opportunities and

pathways and strengthen the role of higher education and vocational education and training

(VET) institutions in promoting lifelong learning and actual reskilling by providing more

flexible and modular learning opportunities towards specific and modularized sets of Skills,

becomes gradually accepted. Micro-credentials have a clear existing or potential contribution

to reskilling and upskilling through more flexible alternatives and learning pathways than a full

degree. Thus, the Commission aims to have all the necessary steps in place by 2025 for their

wider use, portability and recognition. In fact, the European Commission has proposed” a

strategy to help people develop skills in a rapidly changing labour market and announced a new

initiative on micro-credentials in the European Skills Agenda (July

2020). In the Communication on achieving a European Education Area by 2025 (September

2020), the Commission announced a proposal for a Council recommendation to support

building trust in micro-credentials across Europe. The Communication said that the

recommendation would aim to ensure all the necessary steps for micro-credentials were in

place by 2025. An action on a European approach to micro-credentials is therefore included in

the Commission’s 2021 Work Programme under the headline ambition: “Promoting our

European way of life”. The proposal for a Council Recommendation on micro-credentials is

presented together with the Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation on Individual

Learning Accounts” (European Commission 2021: 1-2). The overall aim is for micro-credentials

“to be developed, used and compared in a coherent way among Member States, stakeholders,

and the different providers (from education and training institutions to private companies)

across different sectors, fields and countries. The (European Commission’s) proposal aims to