Co-funded by the European Union
Brief Report of the research and implementation of the Validation Process for TCNs’ formal, non-
formal and informal SKC
Provided by Karlshochschule International University
Karlsruhe, Dec 15th 2014
The Stakeholder-Workshops
The main purpose of the Stakeholder-Dialogues was the gathering of multi-perspectives of stake-
holders from several areas in order to design an audit-scheme for the recognition of Third-
Country-Nationals’ SKC. Accordingly, 17 experts were united to take part in the two Stakeholder-
Workshops on May 5th and June 2nd of 2014 at Karlshochschule International University. The ex-
perts derived from the following fields: public authorities, professional chambers and unions,
migrant lobbyists and organizations, educational and counseling facilities, relevant individuals.
Unfortunately, representatives of consulates localized in the region could not be won to take part
at the meetings. The participants were chosen for being pronounced experts in the topics of
recognition practices, of the needs of Third Country Nationals or of the requirements of the labor
market (or in two or all of these topics).
Initially, at the first Stakeholder-Workshop on May 5th 2014 the purpose of the project was ex-
plained and the present experts introduced themselves briefly. Subsequently, the status quo of
recognition of formal, non-formal and informal qualifications of TCN was brainstormed and evalu-
ated by means of buzzwords. The main part of the Stakeholder-Workshop consisted of a World
Café composed of three central questions:
2
1st: What should a recognition and validation scheme for non- and informal SKCs of TCNs have to
supply?
2nd: How should this instrument have to be designed in order to meet the needs of all stakehold-
ers?
3rd: Which consequence would such an instrument have on an operative and on a social level?
The results of the first Stakeholder-Workshop were carefully taken into consideration and en-
riched in the following weeks by the expert interviews and findings through the literature review.
The aim was to design a general audit-scheme for the registration, assessment and validation of
TCNs’ formal, non-formal and informal qualifications, as described in the “Validation Process
Overview” (document that was sent to Annavittoria Sarli by Jutta Walz on June 16th, 2014, as at-
tachment to the mail with the subject: “WP 4: audit scheme for TCNs’ SKC assessment”).
The audit-scheme designed by the project team at Karlshochschule International University was
presented to a selected audience on the second Stakeholder-Meeting on June 2nd 2014. The pro-
gramme of the meeting envisaged an open discussion about strong and weak points of the audit-
scheme from the multiple stakeholder perspectives. On the basis of these comments and the out-
come of further reflections the final audit scheme was developed and sent to the project coordina-
tion in Milan on June 15th 2014. The testing of the audit scheme is described further down.
These were the participants of the two Stakeholder-Dialogues:
N
r
Name Institution Field 05.05. 02.06.
1 Uhlig, Meri Bureau of Integration for the City
of Karlsruhe, Director (Integration
Commissioner)
Public Authority x x
2 Schmid, Melis EURegKA – Coordination Unit for
European and regional relations
Karlsruhe, Assistant
Public Authority x -
3 Dickgießer,
Dirk
Federal Employment Agency
Karlsruhe, Migration Commission-
er
Public Authority x x
4 Drakul, Petar Department of State of Integration,
Head of the Division for Integra-
tion, Labor Market and recognition
of foreign qualifications
Public Authority x x
3
5 Runge, Ivo Chamber of Industry and Com-
merce Karlsruhe, officer for con-
tinuing and vocational training
Professional
chambers and
unions
x x
6 Kettner,
Rainer
Chamber of Crafts Mannheim, As-
sisting business unit manager for
vocational training and education-
al counseling
Professional
chambers and
unions
x -
7 Grekova, Na-
talia
Chamber of Crafts Mannheim,
Contact person for “alternative
methods” of recognition
Professional
chambers and
unions
- x
8 Ertunç,
Hüseyin
Ikubiz Mannheim, Coordinator of
the IQ Network Baden-
Württemberg
educational and
counseling facil-
ities
x -
9 Sommer,
Benita
Internationaler Bund Karlsruhe,
Division Manager for Integration
educational and
counseling facil-
ities
x x
1
0
Kersten, Bir-
git
Internationaler Bund Karlsruhe,
Supervisor for Youth Migration
Service
educational and
counseling facil-
ities
x x
1
1
Dr. Sardara-
bady, Iris
Internationales Be-
gegnungszentrum Karlsruhe,
Chairwoman
migrant lobby-
ists and organi-
zations
x x
1
2
Althen, Jörg Adult Education Centre (Volks-
hochschule) Karlsruhe, Division
Manager for German and Integra-
tion Courses
educational and
counseling facil-
ities
x -
1
3
Windsor, An-
ke
Freelancing counselor of educa-
tion, Karlsruhe
relevant individ-
ual
x x
1
4
Dreutler, Udo Freunde für Fremde e.V. Karls-
ruhe, vice chairman
migrant lobby-
ists and organi-
zations
x -
1
5
Kerstin, Wer-
ner
Stoffwechsel e.V. Karlsruhe,
chairman
migrant lobby-
ists and organi-
zations
- x
1
6
Maric, Dani-
jela
Mechanical engineer, Karlsruhe relevant individ-
ual
- x
1 Beltran, Eric Architect, Karlsruhe relevant individ- - x
4
7 ual
Table 1: Participants of the two stakeholder meetings
Key aspects of the audit scheme (Summary of the process as given in the Validation
Process Overview)
There is a framework requirement for the whole process which determines the criteria
which has to be considered or incorporated in order to apply the process reasonably.
The validation process consists of four phases: Registration of SKC, Assessment, Vali-
dation, (Final) Consultancy. In a first step (phase 1), the candidate’s SKC are registered
by the candidate himself/herself in cooperation with a counsellor. Afterwards the SKC
are assessed by the candidate (phase 2) and reasonable SKC are identified to be sub-
sequently validated by an expert for the aspired profession (phase 3) on the basis of
European-wide established Learning Outcome Units. Some of several possible meth-
ods of validation are skills demonstrations, oral exams or project works.
Finally, the candidate is certified for the result of the validation. In a final consultancy the
next steps in the candidate’s occupational history are discussed. The candidate may
use his/her certification/formalization of non- and informal SKC to complete his/her doc-
uments and continue pursuing his/her individual occupational history, which may mean
the formal acceptance procedure, a professional re-orientation, occupational career or a
job application.
5
Figure 1: Audit-Scheme
Although the described process allows the registration, assessment and validation of
both, on the one hand formal and on the other hand non- and informal SKC, it develops
its main asset in registering non- and informal SKC, since the process of recognition of
formal SKC has already been implemented to some extent successfully in Germany.
Hence, the result of the process (certification/formalization of SKC) is meant to be a
completion or extension of the candidate´s so far existing formal documents or, in the
case of lacking of any formal certificates, the exclusive proof of SKC.
6
The herewith presented audit-scheme leans fundamentally on the provisional DIVERSE
audit scheme shared during the first meeting of DIVERSE members in Milano (January
2014) (see figure below).
Figure 2: provisional validation procedure.
The following table clarifies in which phase of the Karlshochschule Audit-Scheme the
steps of the provisional Audit-Scheme are incorporated:
Provisional Audit-Scheme as provided in First Partners Meeting
Audit-Scheme as elabo-rated at Karlshochschule Inter-national University
Explanation (if necessary)
Information Guidance and Counseling
Interview with the candi-date
0) Framework Require-ments; 1) Registration
The candidates needs and perspectives are the non plus ultra of the procedure and therefore considered in the framework requirements and initially at phase 1) Reg-istration
Inform the candidate 0) Framework Require- The candidates needs and
7
ments; 1) Registration perspectives are the ne plus ultra of the procedure and therefore considered in the framework requirements and initially at phase 1) Registra-tion
Gather information about the candidates skills, espe-cially those related to their migratory background
1) Registration Especially “Lifeworld e” Special incidents.
Using the europass CV - A CV is not generated dur-ing the procedure (especial-ly because the focus is on non- and informal SKC)
Guide the candidate to those skills that can be recognized in the national qualifications system
4) Final consultancy Especially connections to helpdesks like “Netzwerk IQ”
Collection of Evidence and Description of Skills
Interview with the candi-date
1) Registration
Promote actions of skills assessment
2) Assessment; 3) Valida-tion
Using examples of portfolio methods
1) Registration Using the questionnaire, SKC are investigated and named like in the portfolio method
Help the candidate to col-lect and document evi-dence of the skills pos-essed
1) Registration, 2) as-sessment, 3) validation
Assessment
Assess the competences collected and verified by third parts in order to be ready for certification
2) Assessment, 3) Valida-tion
Assessment is conducted by the candidate him/herself. Validation is conducted by competent authorities
Using a wide range of methods and tools accord-ing to the type of Skills
3) Validation Validation is conducted on the basis of European-wide Learning Outcome Units. Several methods of valida-tion can be considered (cf. Westdeutscher Handwerk-skammertag 2013:13; CEDEFOP 2009:59ff.; Netzwerk IQ 2008:10):
8
Skills-Demonstration / test piece, Written Tests Multi-ple-Choice or free-text, Oral Exam, Project-Work, As-sessment-Center, Presenta-tion, Simulation, Role-Play, Monitored internship, Com-bination of several methods
Certification
Certify the skills possessed 3) Validation / Formalisa-tion
Ensure compliance with the procedures and rules in force in each country
3) Validation / Formalisa-tion
The expert should pref-erably come from the part icular inst i tut ion which is l ikewise re-sponsible for the formal acceptance procedure for foreign quali f ica-t ions.
Involve the public authority and or other stakeholders
1) Registration, 2) As-sessment, 3) Valdiation, 4) Final Consultancy
Stakeholders involved: Helpdesks (Netzwerk IQ), competent authorities (e.g. chambers), Employment Offices
Table 2: Integration of the provisional Audit-Scheme in the finally suggested Audit-
Scheme
The Process and Results of the Testing Phase
In order to find out difficulties and weaknesses that could arise throughout the usage of
the presented audit-scheme for both, TCN and auditor, it was tested on 11 volunteers in
two sessions. The sessions took place on July 14th and July 21st 2014 at
Karlshochschule International University (Karlsruhe). They took 2.5 hours each and
were absolved by a German class (of level B-2 and C-1) of the association Internatio-
naler Bund which showed its interest in the project. Furthermore, three members of the
Karlshochschule project team conducted the testing.
Due to the fact that there was no trained auditor available, not all parts of the audit
scheme could be tested adequately. Especially, it was not possible to test phase 3: val-
9
idation, which would have caused expenses of at least a four-digit amount of Euro.
Therefore, the testing limited to the phases 1 (Registration) and 2 (Assessment).
In addition, the focus group was apparently not representative relating to their nationali-
ty distribution and their average educational background, as well as their knowledge of
the German language. Anyway, representativeness was not the purpose of the qualita-
tive procedure and the group could still give helpful advice for the improvement of the
current scheme.
Acquisition of participants: Participants were acquired with the support of one of the
leading experts who had been interviewed beforehand. Birgit Kersten (Supervisor for
Youth Migration Service at Internationaler Bund in Karlsruhe) invited the project team to
one of her German classes which take place within programmes of the Internationaler
Bund. After a short presentation of the DIVERSE project many participants were con-
vinced and almost all of them attended one or both meetings, as can be seen in the ta-
ble below:
Name 14th July 2014 21st July 2014
Omar M. X
Alaa T. X x
Laila A. X
Alex A. X x
Svetlana S. X x
Natalia W. X x
Engin A. X
Sandra E. X x
10
Name 14th July 2014 21st July 2014
Olga G. X x
Kersha W. X x
Angela C. X
N.N. x
Table 3: Participants of the two testing sessions
Participants’ sketch: The participants were aged between 19 and 35 years and mainly
college graduates with foreign certificates that are not recognised in Germany (8 out of
12); all participants had absolved at least five years of secondary school. Even though
no participant had spent more than three years in Germany, all of them could speak and
understand German at a B2 level or higher, according to the Common European
Framework of Reference for Languages (6 participants were absolving a C1 level
course, 6 participants were absolving a B2 level course). They originated from Egypt,
Brazil, Colombia (2x), Libya, Morocco, Russia, Syria (2x), Turkey, Ukraine (2x),
Tested parts of the audit scheme: As mentioned before, not all parts of the audit-
scheme could be tested so that only two sections were selected to be tested in the two
sessions: in a first step the registration of the candidates’ SKC by themselves and their
assessment in a second step. However, phase three –validation– was not undertaken in
the testing sessions because an external validation of the participants’ SKC could not
be carried out.
Procedure of the testing sessions: The questionnaire was designed in order to register
the participants´ formal, non- and informal SKC and was inspired by the well-proven
method ProfilPASS, which is referred to in the Validation Process Overview. All partici-
pants completed that questionnaire which was divided into five topics (Life Worlds; see
11
below). Furthermore, the questions in all topics were divided into three parts: registra-
tion, interpretation and assessment. The topics (Life Worlds) were as follows:
a) Family and household
Questions in this topic referred to current or former responsibilities at home which the
participant has or used to have in his/her life. For example, it was inquired about rela-
tives or pets the candidate might have been caring for. Besides, duties in the overall
housekeeping were asked about.
b) Educational career
Not only schooling and potential study programmes or traineeships, but extracurricular
experiences were mentioned in this topic as well.
c) Professional career
Questions on jobs, internships and any other work experiences were set in this section.
d) Hobbies and voluntary dedication
The context of hobbies and voluntary dedication seemed to be the largest part of the
questionnaire. Hobbies and voluntary dedication may include sport, artistic or other lei-
sure activities as well as social, political and unionized commitment.
e) Special incidents
Special incidents were chosen to be asked for in order to emphasise the potential of
individual experiences which may have a high impact on a personality. This topic refers
to special incidents like a wedding, an own illness or illness of a near relative, migration
or flight.
12
The following figure illustrates the scheme of the questionnaire:
Figure 3: Scheme of the questionnaire
The questionnaire had the same structure in each topic. First, general information was
requested in order to register the correspondent SKC, e.g. which kind of activity had
been practiced and for how long (German: “Benennen und Beschreiben”). It was also
asked for any kind of proof for the activities, such as certificates or similar documents.
The transition to the next steps, interpretation and validation, showed difficulties for
many participants: they had to infer specific SKC which they could have improved from
abstract activities. In the second step, everything that had been named and described in
the first step should be interpreted. Corresponding questions were about the partici-
pant‘s motivation to do a certain activity (German: “Interpretieren”).
Finally, participants were asked to assess their own skills on a scale from “basic
knowledge” to “professional knowledge” (German: “Bewerten”). This scale was based
on the European Qualifications Framework. Please take notice of the “Validation Pro-
Family and
household
Family and
household
Family and
household
Family and
household
Family and
household
Family and
household
Family and
household
Family and
household
Family and
household
Candidate
candidate
candidate
candidate
candidate
candidate
candidate
candidate
candidate
candidate
Educational
career
Educational
career
Educational
career
Educational
career
Educational
career
Educational
career
Educational
career
Educational
career
Educational
career
Professional
career
Professional
career
Professional
career
Professional
career
Professional
career
Professional
career
Professional
career
Professional
career
Hobbies and
voluntary de-
dication
Hobbies and
voluntary de-
dications
Hobbies and
voluntary de-
dications
Hobbies and
voluntary de-
dications
Hobbies and
voluntary de-
dications
Hobbies and
voluntary de-
dications
Special in-
cidents
Special in-
cidents
Special in-
cidents
Special in-
cidents
Special in-
cidents
Special in-
cidents
Special in-
cidents
Special in-
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assessment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assessment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assessment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assessment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assessment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
1) Registration of SKC
2) Interpretation of
SKC
3) Assesment of SKC
13
cess Overview” (pages 10-15) where this procedure and the development of the as-
sessment scale are described in detail.
In order to facilitate the answering to the questions, especially the assessment, there
were individual tables provided for each topic. The present members of the
Karlshochschule project team helped with the specific questions. Thus, participants
could deal with the topics at their own tempo and had time to reflect on the questions
after each topic as well. Besides, the participants were allowed to answer the first two
parts of the questionnaire in their native language. Nevertheless, most of them an-
swered all three parts in German.
The following figure depicts precisely the stages which have undergone a testing pro-
cess:
Phase Subitem Method Duration Operator Method of support
1) Registra-tion
Family and household
Questionnaire part 1 (Regis-tration of SKC)
10-60 min Member of the local DIVERSE-Team
Group-mentoring; one-on-one-dialogue
2) Assess-ment
Family and household
Questionnaire part 2 (interpre-tation) & part 3 (assessment of SKC)
10-60 min Member of the local DIVERSE-Team
Group-mentoring; one-on-one-dialogue
1) Registra-tion
Educational career
Questionnaire part 1 (Regis-tration of SKC)
10-60 min Member of the local DIVERSE-Team
Group-mentoring; one-on-one-dialogue
2) Assess-ment
Educational career
Questionnaire part 2 (interpre-tation) & part 3 (assessment of SKC)
10-60 min Member of the local DIVERSE-Team
Group-mentoring; one-on-one-dialogue
1) Registra-tion
Special in-cidents
Questionnaire part 1 (Regis-tration of SKC)
10-60 min Member of the local DIVERSE-Team
Group-mentoring; one-on-one-
14
dialogue
2) Assess-ment
Special in-cidents
Questionnaire part 2 (interpre-tation) & part 3 (assessment of SKC)
10-60 min Member of the local DIVERSE-Team
Group-mentoring; one-on-one-dialogue
1) Registra-tion
Hobbies and volun-tary dedica-tion
Questionnaire part 1 (Regis-tration of SKC)
10-60 min Member of the local DIVERSE-Team
Group-mentoring; one-on-one-dialogue
2) Assess-ment
Hobbies and volun-tary dedica-tions
Questionnaire part 2 (interpre-tation) & part 3 (assessment of SKC)
10-60 min Member of the local DIVERSE-Team
Group-mentoring; one-on-one-dialogue
1) Registra-tion
Professional career
Questionnaire part 1 (Regis-tration of SKC)
10-60 min Member of the local DIVERSE-Team
Group-mentoring; one-on-one-dialogue
2) Assess-ment
Professional career
Questionnaire part 2 (interpre-tation) & part 3 (assessment of SKC)
10-60 min Member of the local DIVERSE-Team
Group-mentoring; one-on-one-dialogue
Table 4: Precise display of the stages which have undergone a testing process
Participants’ feedback: The majority of the participants were of the opinion that the pro-
vided questionnaire fulfilled its goal to name and value individual knowledge, skills and
competences: 71% of all participants said that it helped very well to name their compe-
tences and 57% of all participants said that it helped to value their competences. 71%
also found the overall procedure appropriate, while no participant had difficulties in re-
plying to the questionnaire in German.
Conclusion from the testing of the audit scheme: For the members of the Karls-
hochschule project team, the testing of the audit scheme was of considerable useful-
ness. It helped to point out several weak (and strong) points of the audit scheme.
15
1st: Previous Interview: Eliciting TCNs’ SKC through the tested procedure is not sensible
for all TCNs in general. Especially, it is important to regard the candidates´ previous
education. As the present group consisted of students with a respectable educational
and professional career, the detailed questions on informal learning settings did not
support all their needs. They knew quite well which were their strong and weak points
and did not need the support of the advisors to find out hidden potentials.
As a result, one can say that a preceding interview to find out the individual‘s educa-
tional qualifications and his or her personal goals (referring to possible employments in
Germany) is crucial and only afterwards it might be recommended to assess and vali-
date non- and informal SKC.
2nd: Support by an advisor: The testing of the audit scheme was carried out in the way
that the participants filled in the questionnaires individually. Three advisors were pre-
sent, which calculative means that one advisor was responsible for four participants at a
time. The participants were all along free to address to the advisors. Anyway, not all of
the participants made use of this offer; a fact which may have caused a misunderstand-
ing of the questionnaire procedure. Especially the participants showed difficulties on the
third stage, the self-assessment of the SKC in view of the ad hoc designed scaling sys-
tem basing on the European Qualifications Framework. Hence, a more personal assis-
tance of the participants during the validation process is recommendable.
3rd: Language: The present group showed no problems at using German during the
testing procedure. Anyway, this topic is to be kept in mind in order to make sure that the
testing of SKC does not lead to a testing of German language knowledge. In the Valida-
tion Process Overview (page 7) some important remarks referring to this point have
been made.