How short, targeted learning can help close the care workforce gap and open doors for migrant women in vocational education.
Europe’s healthcare and long-term care sectors face a deepening staffing crisis. The OECD estimated a shortage of roughly 1.2 million doctors, nurses, and midwives across the EU as of 2022 (OECD/European Commission, 2024), and the WHO projects this could reach 4.1 million healthcare workers by 2030 (European Parliament, 2025). An ageing population, difficult working conditions, and high turnover all compound the problem, with long-term care especially hard hit.
In this context, micro-credentials are gaining traction as a flexible tool for upskilling and reskilling workers. A micro-credential is a documented record of learning outcomes achieved through a short, focused experience, typically covering a specific set of competences in a matter of weeks or months. In June 2022, the Council of the EU adopted a Recommendation establishing a common framework for the quality, transparency, and cross-border recognition of micro-credentials (Council of the European Union, 2022). The goal: a credential earned in one member state should be understandable and recognisable in another.
Healthcare is one of the fields where this approach shows particular promise. The care sector needs more workers faster than conventional education pipelines can deliver, and it requires specific, demonstrable competences: infection control, patient handling, intercultural communication, digital health literacy, or dementia care. Micro-credentials can certify these targeted skills without requiring learners to complete a full multi-year programme first. They are designed to complement, not replace, traditional qualifications, and can be „stacked“ over time into a growing portfolio of recognised competences.
For migrant women entering VET in the care sector, micro-credentials address several barriers at once. Many already bring relevant caregiving experience gained formally or informally; a well-designed micro-credential can validate what they already know, provide a manageable first step into the education system, and improve the portability of their skills across borders. The 2022 Council Recommendation explicitly recognises this potential, noting that micro-credentials can support inclusion and accessibility for people with a migrant background (Council of the European Union, 2022).
The CARE-ABILITY project works at exactly this intersection. The partnership, which brings together organisations from Austria, Spain, Greece, and Slovenia, is currently in the development phase of its first training materials and curricular structures. These materials are being designed to be tested with VET trainers who work with both future and current care workers seeking further education and professional development. The project’s approach, delivering competence-based, short-format training adapted to diverse national VET contexts, aligns closely with what the European micro-credential framework envisions.
Challenges remain. Employer recognition of micro-credentials varies widely; implementation of the EU framework at national level is uneven; and the learners who stand to benefit most are often the hardest to reach without targeted outreach, language-accessible design, and financial support. But the EU’s direction is clear: the European Skills Agenda (European Commission, 2020a), the Osnabrück Declaration on VET (European Ministers for VET et al., 2020), and the EU Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021–2027 (European Commission, 2020b) all point towards more flexible, inclusive approaches to skills development. Micro-credentials are a central part of that shift, and projects such as CARE-ABILITY are contributing by demonstrating what inclusive, competence-based VET can look like in practice.
References
Council of the European Union. (2022). Council Recommendation of 16 June 2022 on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability (2022/C 243/02). Official Journal of the European Union, C 243, 10–25. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32022H0627(02)
European Commission. (2020a). European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience (COM(2020) 274 final). https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1223&langId=en
European Commission. (2020b). Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021–2027 (COM(2020) 758 final). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0758
European Ministers for VET, European Commission, & EU Social Partners. (2020). Osnabrück Declaration on vocational education and training as an enabler of recovery and just transitions to digital and green economies. https://www.cedefop.europa.eu/en/content/osnabruck-declaration
European Parliament. (2025). Healthcare in the EU: Addressing shortages (At a Glance briefing PE 767.231). European Parliamentary Research Service. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/ATAG/2025/767231/EPRS_ATA(2025)767231_EN.pdf
OECD/European Commission. (2024). Health at a Glance: Europe 2024: State of Health in the EU Cycle. OECD Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1787/b3704e14-en
The CARE-ABILITY project (2025-1-SI01-KA220-ADU-000355500) is co-funded by the European Union. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the EU or SEPIE. For more information, visit care-ability.eu.