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  • Qualification frameworks: from concept to practice

    Around the world, there is much more consensus on qualification frameworks than there was just two years ago when the ETF organised its first major conference on the topic in Brussels.

  • By the end of 2012, all countries in the EU are expected to have a framework in operation and most of the surrounding countries will have adopted or started planning one.

    The ETF conference ‘Qualifications Frameworks from Concept to Implementation’, held in Brussels on 6 and 7 October, showed that developments in this field are indeed moving fast. Very fast.

    While in 2009 the event discussed the rationale for frameworks of qualifications, by 2011 focus had moved towards implementation arrangements and implications for institutions and systems.

    Ahead of us are some crucial years during which professionals in many of our partner countries will need all the support they can get from an international community of colleagues.

    Precisely for that reason, the ETF used the meeting to launch its Qualifications Platform, an online community of professionals engaged in the developing and implementing frameworks of qualifications.

    They were given some clear advice along the way:

  • “There is no ideal model,” said Gordon Clark, summarising the two days of discussions, “each [NQF] model has its own context and derived merits. There are certainly elements, such as coordination and communication, and stages that are common in most scenarios but the process is never completed and therefore international transparency on the different experiences is essential.”

    His words precisely echo the key conclusions of an ETF study that provided the empirical basis for the conference. Published as a working document which will be finalised with input from the meeting, ‘Implementation arrangements for national frameworks of qualifications and the role of stakeholders and institutions’ is an analysis of progress and developments in ten very different countries, including EU Member States, partner countries and countries on different continents.

  • Practical and concrete tools

  • Back in Brussels, Clark reminded people that “qualification frameworks are not just economic tools but also social tools, to address issues in society and, more importantly, to help individuals.”

    This sentiment was echoed by Stefan Füle, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy.

    “Qualifications frameworks offer practical and concrete tools [...] to allow people to maximise their potential,” he said in his video address to the conference.

    “QUALIFICATION FRAMEWORKS ARE NOT JUST ECONOMIC TOOLS BUT ALSO SOCIAL TOOLS, TO ADDRESS ISSUES IN SOCIETY AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, TO HELP INDIVIDUALS”

  • DG Education and Culture director Pierre Mairesse warned however that what we have developed in Europe over the past few years is largely institutional.

    “Although we are entering a new phase, where relations between sub-systems, cooperation between countries and the transition from education to work are growing in importance, this is all still fairly institutional,” he said.

    “We need impact on the ground now. We need to disseminate the qualifications framework principles for use by providers and users of qualifications. We need to have an impact on individuals,” he added.

    But he showed he could be seduced by the promise that broader international cooperation holds in a globalising world.

    “Could we move beyond even regional frameworks and move, perhaps together with UNESCO, towards a worldwide framework for referencing qualifications?” he wondered.

    The Qualifications Platform is a restricted community for specialists, so users will need a login and password to join. If you are interested, send an email to maqualifications.platform@etf.europa.eu

  • What do qualifications frameworks mean to you?

  • The debate on frameworks of qualifications usually takes place at a very abstract level. Frameworks are meant to put qualifications in perspective, promote transparency and deliver relevance. But what does this all mean for young people around the world who struggle to find work or relevant education? Various experts in the field gave us their opinion.

    Joseph Samuels is the deputy CEO of the South African Qualifications Authority.

    “We had four reasons to establish a framework,” he says, “we needed a truly national system of education and training, improved access and mobility, improved quality and to support those that had been discriminated against.”

    These are all issues that on paper should help both the country and individuals. But are they succeeding?

    “Change takes time and resources. In the last years, access has approached 100%. But only two-thirds leave education with a qualification.”

  • It is the other two-thirds that need to be addressed and the structural work to encapsulate all education and training into a comprehensive national framework has helped to map the areas that most urgently need attention.

    “We now concentrate our efforts on making workplaces centres of learning and making sure that people make the right choices. We broadcast radio programmes in nine indigenous languages and have established a free helpline that is open to all, but addresses young people in particular.”

    David Kereselidze has been at the forefront of the development of a framework of qualifications in Georgia. According to him, it has above all been a tool for transparency and reform.

    “In all its simplicity, it describes the system,” he says.

    This has showed many of its weaknesses and has helped to target reforms.

  • “For young people in the country, this has had implications that cannot be underestimated. It has supported social mobility, particularly because it made possible the recognition of prior learning. But it also helped us to explain to people that VET is important, by showing what education actually leads to what professions.”

    Has it worked?

    “This year was the first time that professional education enrolled the majority of Georgian students.”

    In Iceland, the prime aim of the qualification framework has been making the system more transparent, according to Ólafur Kristjánsson, an advisor to the education ministry of Iceland.

    “We want to encourage more people to seek education according to their capabilities, both by making clear what pathways they can follow and by better explaining the opportunities offered by initial choices,” says Kristjánsson.

    “Obviously, we expect that simply clarifying these pathways and opportunities, or the lack of them, will also generate new pathways and opportunities.”

  • Words: Ard Jongsma, ICE

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