EU Adult learning statistics Complementary methodological information

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Section 2 – Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS)

The Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS) collects information on enterprises’ investment in the continuing vocational training of their persons employed. The reference period is the calendar year. The survey is based on European legislation from 2005. The basic legal act is Regulation (EC) No 1552/2005. For regulations on EU education and training statistics see here.

2.1 Implementation of the CVTS

a) CVTS 1 (reference year 1993)

The first survey (CVTS 1) was carried out in 1994 in the then 12 Member States of the European Union based on a “gentlemen’s agreement” between countries and Eurostat. It was part of the action programme for the development of continuing vocational training in the European Community (FORCE) based on Council Decision 90/267/EEC of 29 May 1990. CVTS 1 data are not available in Eurostat's online database but main results are available here.

b) CVTS 2 (reference year 1999)

The growing policy interest in data on continuing vocational training in enterprises together with the demand for CVT data to cover the 15 Member States led the Commission to promote a second and more developed Continuing Vocational Training Survey (CVTS 2) in 2000. This survey, covering CVT activities which took place in 1999, was carried out in all EU Member States, in Norway and in nine candidate countries based on a “gentlemen’s agreement” between countries and Eurostat.

c) CVTS 3 (reference year 2005)

The 3^rd data collection (CVTS 3) was carried out in 2006 for CVT activities which took place in 2005. It was for the first time underpinned by a European legal act (Regulation (EC) No 1552/2005). Implementing details were provided in the Commission Regulation (EC) No 198/2006 in order to:

· keep compatibility with CVTS 2 and correct some deficiencies;

· focus on key policy user needs and the specific demands of the regulation;

· reduce the burden of the survey on enterprises compared to previous implementations;

· improve the quality of key variables and of the dataset as a whole;

· extend the survey to cover – for the first time – questions on costs and participation in initial vocational training (IVT);

· reinforce the national quality reporting framework;

· better understand the reasons why some enterprises do not provide training.

d) CVTS 4 (reference year 2010)

An amendment to Commission Regulation (EC) No 198/2006 was prepared in 2009-2010 in order to further improve the quality of the results on vocational training in enterprises and lower the statistical burden on enterprises as well as to ensure coherence with the information to be made available through Regulation (EC) No 452/2008 concerning the production of statistics on education and lifelong learning, and in particular as regards the Adult Education Survey (AES). This resulted in Commission Regulation (EU) No 822/2010 which adapted the coding scheme as well as the sampling, precision and quality requirements for CVTS 4 which ran in 2011 in order to:

· simplify the list of variables;

· add a few variables to highlight in particular how continuing vocational training can help the enterprise meeting future skill needs;

· adapt the precision requirements to the classification of economic activities NACE Rev. 2 as well as additional requirements for the representativeness of the results in large countries (i.e. using a stratification based on six enterprise classes instead of three in the past) ensuring the production of more accurate EU results.

e) CVTS 5 (reference year 2015)

CVTS 5 was carried out in 2016 for CVT activities that took place in 2015. Commission Regulation (EU) No 1153/2014 (amending Regulation (EC) No 198/2006) provides the implementation details for CVTS 5. While the majority of variables remained unchanged compared to CVTS 4 some variables were simplified or removed in order to further reducing the burden of CVTS to the extent possible. For details see the CVTS 5 implementation manual.

Implementation manuals are available for all waves of CVTS.

2.2 CVTS quality reporting

For national and EU quality reports on 2005, 2010 and 2015 CVTS see here.

2.3 Calculation of CVTS indicators, confidentiality thresholds and item non-response

Calculation of CVTS indicators

A technical description of the CVTS tables (as published in Eurobase, the Eurostat online database) is available for tables that contain time series (data for 2005, 2010 and 2015): Detailed information on the calculation of CVTS indicators.

Confidentiality thresholds

Eurostat systematically ensures that at least three enterprises are used for estimates. Some results are therefore not published and the flag 'c' (confidential) is shown for this purpose (':c').

Item non-response

Estimates are flagged for low reliability due to item non-response as follows:

• An estimate is published without flag if the item non-response is below 10%.
• An estimate is published with a flag 'u' if the non-response for the item concerned is between 10% and 30%.
• An estimate is not published if the item non-response is equal or more than 30% (':u').

2.4 EU implementation manuals and national questionnaires

The EU implementation manuals and the national questionnaires used by each country can be found here.

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