N A T A L I A C U D D Y

B O G O T Á , 2 8 J U L Y 2 0 1 1

EUROPEAN AND EU PARTNERS’ EXPERIENCE IN QUALIFICATION

FRAMEWORKS

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Answering three questions: what, why, how?• Qualification framework - global phenomenon?• Qualification frameworks’ typology and

objectives.• Qualification frameworks in the education and

training reform.• The development stages of the National

Qualification Framework.• Conclusions.

a global development

UNITED STATES of AMERICA

CANADA

ALASKA (USA)

MEXICO

COLOMBIA

VENEZUELA

BRAZIL

PERU

BOLIVIA

HONDURAS

NICARAGUA

ECUADOR

GUYANA

SURINAME

FRENCHGUIANA

COSTA RICA

PANAMA

GUATEMALA

CUBA

PARAGUAY

ARGENTINA

URUGUAY

CHILE

GREENLAND

ICELAND

UNITEDKINGDOM

REPULIC OFIRELAND

NORWAY

SWEDEN

FINLAND

DENMARK

ESTONIA

LATVIA

LITHUANIA

POLAND

BELARUS

GERMANY

CZECHREPUBLIC

NETHERLANDS

BELGIUM

FRANCE

SPAIN

PO

RT

UG

AL

SWITZ.

AUSTRIA

SLOVAKIA

HUNGARY

ROMANIA

BULGARIA

ITALY

UKRAINE

TURKEYGREECE

SYRIA

IRAQ

SAUDIARABIA

YEMEN

OMAN

UAE

EGYPTLIBYA

ALGERIA

MOROCCOTUNISIA

WESTERN SAHARA

MAURITANIA

MALINIGER CHAD

SUDAN

ETHIOPIA

SOMALIAUGANDA

SENEGAL

GUINEA

LIBERIA

COTED’IVOIRE

BURKINA

GHANA

NIGERIA

CAMEROON

CENTRALAFRICAN REPUBLIC

GABON CONGO

DEMOCRATICREPUBLIC OF

CONGO

KENYA

TANZANIA

ANGOLA

ZAMBIA

MO

ZAM

BIQUE

NAMIBIA

BOTSWANA

ZIMBABWE

REPUBLICOF SOUTH

AFRICA

MADAGASCAR

RUSSIA

KAZAKHSTAN

GEORGIA

IRAN

UZBEKISTAN

TURKMENISTAN

AFGHANISTAN

KYRGYZSTAN

TAHKISTAN

PAKISTAN

INDIA

CHINA

NEPAL

MYANMAR

THAILAND

SRILANKA

MONGOLIA

NORTHKOREA

SOUTHKOREA JAPAN

TAIWAN

CAMBODIA

LAOS

VIETNAM

PHILIPPINES

MALAYSIA

INDONESIA

PAPUANEW GUINEA

AUSTRALIA

NEWZEALAND

THE EQF AND QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORKS WORLDWIDE

‘GENERATION GAP’

1st and 2nd generation

Explicit objectives

Establish national standards and improve quality (regulation/communication)

Enhance coherence of subsectors VET, HE and GE (articulation)

Increase access and promote lifelong learning

Compare and recognise qualifications (inc. international benchmarking)

Reform education sector

3rd Generation

New motivation

GlobalisationRegional integration

New pressure/drivers

Global convergence

SIMILAR BUT VARIED GOALS

QF is a tool that responds to changing labour and educational needs in demographically changing societies. QFs are developed on the basis of negotiation and consensus between stakeholders.• to develop flexible pathways between education and training

sectors and the labour market• to improve understanding of learning pathways and qualifications

and their relations• to enhance quality and quality assurance• to improve access to education and training opportunities and

progression• to create incentives for participation in E&T• to increase the scope for recognition of non-formal and informal

learning • to optimise stakeholder engagement

• Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) England

• Some EU MS

NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORKS

NQFsRegulatory/mandatoryTool for national policy implementationEstablishing national standards and regulations

Regional/Transnational qualifications frameworks

Transnational Qualifications Framework for the Small States of the Commonwealth

European Qualification Framework (EQF)

RQFs

Voluntary/inclusiveTool for translation and assessing comparability of qualifications–communication between countries

EHEA (Bologna) EQF (LLL)

HE Sector led, Council of Europe 46 countries participating,

EU initiative, 32 countries signed up + 25 EU

partner countries

Meta framework for European Higher Education Area

Reference framework for lifelong learning (including HE)

Based on 3 cycles and intermediate cycle

8 level frameworkL5 – L8 aligned with FEHEA

descriptors

Focuses on HE frameworks and main HE qualifications

Supports the establishments of NQFs Levels for all types of learning/ achievements at different levels

Learning outcomes are the basis Learning outcomes (knowledge, skills and competences) are the basis

Established 2010 Established 2010Reference to the EQF levels in all MS

NQFs by 2012

Adopted from A.Deij

Beyond qualifications frameworks, qualifications systems are about

1. how stakeholders coordinate and manage qualifications2. how qualifications are developed and maintained 3. how they are delivered 4. how they are assessed and awarded (certificated)

Capacities, Resources, Communication and Quality assurance

FROM FRAMEWORKS TO SYSTEMS

for progress

QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK

ASSESSMENT / RECOGNITION OF QUALIFICATIONS

MANAGEMENTDESIGNING OF

QUALIFICATIONS

ACQUISITION OF QUALIFICATIONS

ESTABLISHMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF THE LEGAL BASIS

QUALIFICATIONS SERVICE

BOARD OF QUALIFICATIONS

RESEARCH OF ACTIVITIES

STANDARD SETTING INSTITUTIONS

NATIONAL OCCUPATIONAL

STANDARDS AND QUALIFICATIONS

ASSESSMENT REGULATIONS

ASSESSMENT METHODS

ASSESSMENT AND RECOGNITION INSTITUTIONS

CURRICULA OF FORMAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (VET, HIGHER EDUCATION)

INFORMAL AND EXPERIENTAL LEARNING

QUALIFICATIONS PROVISION INSTITUTIONS

Adapted from A. Deji

STARTING POINT, PROCESS AND DESIRED OUTCOMES

Contexts for VET reforms differ between countriessocio-economic and cultural factors play an important role In applying QFs countries have different cultural

backgrounds, reference systems and values (role of government Georgia and Belarus e.g. on LM regulation, Market of Qualifications (England) or National Consensus France, holistic occupational (Germany, Austria, Denmark) vs skills (UK & Ireland) approaches.

QFs and the reform of qualifications systems are part of wider education and training reforms.

Capacity building and policy learning: How to ensure NQFs that are embedded in local contexts.

FRAMEWORK BUILDING

10 Bologna steps in developing a national qualifications framework:

1 Decision to start - taken by national body responsible for HE

2 Setting the agenda - the purpose of NQF3 Organising the process: Identifying

stakeholders - setting up a committee4 Design Profile - level structure, level

descriptors (learning outcomes), credit ranges

5 Consultation – national discussions and acceptance of design by stakeholders

6 Approval by Minister/Government/legislation7 Administrative set-up – implementation by

HEI and QA bodies, etc.8 Implementation at institutional/programme

level – reformulation of study programmes to a learning outcomes approach

9 Inclusion of qualifications in the NQF10Self-certification of compatibility with the

FQ-EHEA11Establish website

6 steps ETF Working paper approach:

1. Exploratory stage: do we need a NQF?

2. Conceptual: develop and refine rationale

3. Design stage: stakeholders agree design

4. Testing phase: do tools work

5. Implementation stage: capacity and institution building + adding qualifications + QA focus

6. Review stage: gauge progress, redesign, test, etc.

No perfect sequence but all steps are necessary to make a realistic project of key partners achieve realistic goals. This is a long-term, costly and phased project.

DEVELOPMENT STAGES OF THE NATIONAL

QUALIFICATION FRAMEWORK

E T F A P P R OAC H - M E DA / M E N A C O U N T R I E S E X P E R I E N C E , S O FA R

EXPLORATORY AND CONCEPTUAL STAGES

• Stocktaking exercise to map and analyse existing qualification systems in terms of existence or lack of progression, access, quality, transparency and relevance

• Secondary research of the QF international experiences and lessons learnt

• Awareness raising among policy makers on the international debate on the contribution to quality TVET and context’s specifics

• Exposure phase – study visits (positive and negative aspects)

• Conceptualization – NQF rationale agreed. Legislation?• Challenges: reaching out stakeholders; building a

common understanding; managing expectations.

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE

• Aim – to bring all stakeholders under one umbrella with clearly defined strategic roles, ie leading, facilitating, developing.

• -Government ministries and key agencies (governance and supply side)

• Employer organisations, chamber of commerce and alike (demand side)

• Trade unions .• Technical SG with a similar set up.• Challenges: reaching and sustaining consensus

and long-term commitment.

INTERACTION STAGE

• Form working (aka focus, dialogue, task force) groups of managers/researchers and policy makers to develop a common understanding of the issues, challenges and opportunities/implications. Peer review activities with facilitating and developing roles. Scenarios.

• Develop vision statement and action plans to pave the way forward to QF development, leading to adoption of formal policy papers.

• Create an e-portal/forum as a tool for knowledge management and collective learning experience.

• Challenges: framework-centred (goal in itself rather than a tool); fine-tuning the concept (provisional limitations of technical/socio-cultural settings).

DESIGN STAGE – POLICY AND TECHNICAL

• Collaborative partnership work results require government’s endorsement to be carried forward into action. Scenarios.

• A strategic lead (inter-ministerial Steering Group) to be identified to build on the consensus achieved and to link the associated range of reforms. Build synergies.

• Agree? on the architecture (levels, level descriptors etc)• Establish broad criteria for qualifications to be described in common

terms (LO). • Start aligning different qualifications for the development of the

framework• Develop a common language and a set of tools to build trust• Realistic time planning - a two year planning cycle with a long-term

perspective.• Challenges: need to look at all subsectors; strong experiential

scientific approach; lack of clear concept and rationale; risk of exporting unfit for the national context models.

TESTS AND TRIALS

• Can inform the design stage• Costly but necessary phase• One or several sectors? Which ones?• Top down or bottom up approach?• Build-in external evaluation in the design

• Upon completion , validation tests on occupational categories

• - Check if completed grid relates to the • Challenges: allocating sufficient resources and

time; ensuring critical impartial evaluation.

IMPLEMENTATION STAGE

• Framework is approved. Institutions to support framework created. NQFs become operational in stages, normally starting with populating the QF with qualifications, followed by access for learners/candidates, provision, assessment, certification and possible transfer of results and progression of the learners. Framework coordination (or regulation) needs to be ensured. Quality assurance is becoming a real concern at this stage.

• Challenges: The implementation raises many practical issues including funding. Managing change. Implementation driven too much top down may lead to conflicts & lack of trust. Too much bottom up driven approaches are difficult to link. The practical tasks are opportunity for learning but effects take years to manifest.

REVIEW AND REDESIGN STAGE

• Research around frameworks can provide valuable lessons for policy learning, and increase the effectiveness. Research and peer learning can be done in cooperation with other countries, but the transferability of experiences from abroad are limited by the fact that each framework is a response to a specific situation.

• A review of the frameworks is normally carried out after 5-7 years of operation. Frameworks normally develop by addressing perceived weaknesses, which become apparent during independent reviews of the frameworks. These lead to reconceptualisation and redesign and the cycle starts again.

Challenges: Learning about the QF development process requires independent research capacity. Learning should start as early as possible. Politicians and implementing institutions may not want to know about things that go wrong. Critical academic researchers may lack the understanding of the practicalities involved in developing frameworks.

EU AND EU PARTNER COUNTRIES’ EXPERIENCE - CONCLUSIONS

• Many countries in Europe have decided to develop QFs. This development is stimulated by the EQF.

• QFs are meant to improve the functioning of deployment of people, opening up E&T systems and improve quality (assurance).

• QFs cannot lead to these results on their own, but need to be part of wider E&T reforms.

• Every QF is different: a unique response to a given situation – national contexts define QFs. It changes overtime (no “one size fits all” solution)

• The development & implementation of QFs takes years. It requires resources, commitment of stakeholders and adaptability First cycle of system reforms takes at least ten years and building up capacities and involvement of stakeholders from the world of work even longer,.

• The development passes through different stages, in a dynamic and iterative way (looking backwards/outwards or changing directions – “work in progress”.

GOOD LUCK

T H A N K S F O R YO U R ATT E N T I O N