PCPAn international report and responsibilities in Switzerland
The ILO report identifies unequal access to quality learning that leads to recognised qualifications. That global finding is not a Swiss participation rate. It provides a reason to examine barriers in each training system and workplace organisation.
The PCP calls on competent authorities, employers and workers’ organisations to identify needs together. A course is genuinely available only if people can attend it. Fees, timetables, travel and family responsibilities should therefore be addressed within the same arrangement. The existence of an unused place does not mean these obstacles have been removed.
Workers cannot bear the whole cost
When a change in an activity makes a qualification necessary, the worker should not bear its costs and risks alone. The PCP supports agreements providing paid learning time, employer contributions and public support where a collective interest justifies it.
Public assistance should be tied to verifiable commitments: effective access, a recognised qualification and continuing employment prospects. A supported business should account for participants, completion and the working conditions offered afterwards. Enrolment alone does not demonstrate a successful result. A qualification should also remain useful when the worker changes employer, rather than becoming a benefit available only within one company.
Recognise experience and retain demanding standards
Skills acquired through work deserve recognition. The PCP supports pathways that allow people to supplement existing experience with the knowledge required, rather than start an entire course again. Recognition must retain reliable standards so that it preserves value for the worker.
The energy transition, public services and care require cooperation, judgement and an understanding of people or equipment. Training policy must not reduce qualification to operating a digital tool. New skills should be reflected in classification, pay and responsibilities. Otherwise, further learning becomes an additional obligation without professional advancement.
Give workers greater capacity to choose
The PCP calls for coordination between vocational education, employment services and industrial policy. Training without preparation of jobs, equipment and orders risks shifting uncertainty onto individuals. Workers should participate in choices before restructuring begins.
Public evaluation should examine completion, qualifications obtained, employment conditions and pay progression. It should also make refusals of access and their causes visible. Learning becomes social progress when it expands the capacity to choose and act at work. That requires material guarantees enabling participation and public follow-up that checks whether the remaining barriers have actually been removed.
Documents and sources
The cited documents provide the facts and provisions examined. Political judgments and proposals expressed in this article are those of the PCP.