New collaboration model for labour market trainings

The new collaboration model supports the strategy’s goal of ensuring the availability of skilled labour in both the short and long term. The strategy steers the operation based on the needs of employers and emphasises more goal-oriented cooperation between different actors. This is exactly what is being reinforced now by creating a shared, foresight-based model for planning trainings, ensuring that the training offering meets the real competence needs of working life.

Closer and more agile cooperation

In the new collaboration model, the educational institutions and Employment and Growth Services form a core group responsible for planning trainings, identifying competence needs, and agreeing on providers. The aim is to streamline administration, strengthen quality, and enhance the effectiveness of trainings.

The development work is guided jointly with the management of both the employment area and the educational institutions, and the cooperation is based on shared information, foresight, and continuous dialogue.

– For us in Employment and Growth Services, it is essential that the training offering genuinely responds to the real competence needs of working life. In the new collaboration model, educational institutions and employment services work closely together, which streamlines administration, strengthens quality, and improves effectiveness of the trainings. Joint foresight and continuous dialogue at the management level ensure that we can react quickly to the region’s labour market needs, says Regina Saari, Director of Employment and Growth at the City of Tampere.

Foresight of competence needs and flexible planning of training offering

The first phase of development focuses on designing a foresight model for competence needs and renewing the content planning of trainings. This includes identifying shared foresight sources and conducting, among other things, a competence needs survey for employers.

The process will include checkpoints to assess whether the planned training solutions remain relevant and aligned with labour market demand. The development work also examines planning schedules. The goal is that by summer, there is a clear picture of which training programmes will be offered the following year. In addition to the pre-agreed training offering, flexible responses will be made to the changing competence needs of the business sector.

– Foresight and agile response have become increasingly important due to rapid changes in economic conditions and business needs. This collaboration model strengthens our ability to respond to these changes together. A shared situational picture and understanding of needs – and the ability to act jointly – are prerequisities for the region’s growth and development, says Kirsi Viskari, Director of Tredu.

From the construction sector to other industries

The work began at the beginning of 2026 with a mapping of competence needs in the construction sector. Construction serves as a pilot sector from which a shared operational model will be built for the entire employment area. The model will be expanded quickly to other sectors, and educational institutions have already expressed their wish to begin planning earlier in the spring. The next development phase will focus on renewing cooperation during the implementation of training.

– As training providers, we must be ready to respond to changes in competence needs quickly and flexibly. Continuous mapping and close contact with employers provide up-to-date information to training providers. The collaboration model supports proactive planning and helps us design content that responds even better to employers’ needs. Matching the supply and demand for training is crucial for the region’s attractiveness and competitiveness, says Jarno Tuimala, CEO and Principal of Tampere Adult Education Centre (TAKK).

Trainings that meet the real needs of working life as a goal

Feedback from employers highlights the need for more agile training solutions, active dialogue, data-driven management, and systematic monitoring of trainings effectiveness. Employers expect training providers to demonstrate the same ability to renew and adapt as companies do in their own activities.

– Training providers must strengthen their agility and their dialogue with employers. This emphasises the need for closer cooperation, quicker response models, and systematic monitoring of effectiveness. Training alone is no longer enough to meet current competence needs – it must anticipate future changes and offer flexible solutions that support companies’ continuous renewal, says Raimo Alarova, Director of the Municipal Federation and Principal of Valkeakoski Vocational College (VAAO).