13
May

Evolving Taxonomies: Approaches to Extension and Update

9th OJA Forum

Organiser: Bertelsmann Stiftung

At the upcoming 9th OJA Forum, Claudia Plaimauer will give a pre­sen­ta­ti­on on “What to add, and what not to add – that is the question! “.  The decision whether and how terms found in OJAs should be added to existing skills taxo­no­mies depends on several fun­da­men­tal factors like the
usage context of the taxonomy, the pursued infor­ma­ti­on policy and available technical pos­si­bi­li­ties. It also needs to be con­side­red that
curated voca­bu­la­ries (like taxo­no­mies) and natural language (as occurring in OJAs) pursue different objec­ti­ves. Furthermore, OJAs are addressed at
a spe­cia­list audience (potential appli­cants) and hence don’t have to be generally intel­li­gi­ble. The role of the taxonomy manager is to review at
least the more fre­quent­ly occurring terms that seem to be missing, interpret, organise and structure these in view of above mentioned
factors, content related neces­si­ties as well as taxonomy con­ven­ti­ons. The pre­sen­ta­ti­on will illu­stra­te this decision making process with examples
taken from ESCO and the Austrian PES’ Competences taxonomy.

Visit the link to learn more about the agenda of the event.

10:00 – 15:00
Online
Webinar

May

2027



May
18–
20
10:00
Johannesburg, South Africa
Conference

7th Crossing Boundaries Conference

Learning Across Continents: Conversations in a divided world

VETNET

Topics:

  • How do we understand the role of VET in preparing young people for work when labour markets and workplaces are in flux nationally and internationally?
  • Is this changing the nature of VET and VET curricula? Is it raising new questions on work, labour markets and education? What is core to VET that is stable across different contexts?
  • Are systems looking more similar or more different from each other?
  • What are the main factors—such as workplace organisation, changing labour markets, changing enrolment in schools and universities, and the nature of economies that are influencing different aspects of VET provision—such as curriculum, governance, partnerships, enrollment patterns—in different countries?
  • How do we connect better as researchers, and use VET research to build connection?

Dates and timeline

  • Submission of abstracts: opens 15 October 2026, closes 15 November 2026
  • Notification of acceptance: 15 December 2026
  • Submission of full paper: 20 February 2027
  • Feedback to your paper: 31 March 2027. You will then have 10 days to make the necessaries changes.
  • Conference: 18-20 May 2027