2007 national reports - Cedefop

TRANSVERSAL POLICY OBJECTIVES Extracts from the Draft 2008 joint progress report of the Council and the
Commission on the implementation of the "Education & Training 2010 Work
Programme"
and
2007 national reports on the implementation of the "Education & Training
2010 Work Programme" CONTENT 1 EU Cross-country analysis: 4
1.1 National Qualification Systems and Frameworks 5
1.2 Validation of non formal and informal leaning 10
1.3 Lifelong guidance 14
1.4 Transnational mobility 18
1.5 Summary 21
Extracts from 2007 national reports: 23
2 AT - Austria 23
3 BE - Belgium FR 26
4 BE - Belgium NL 31
5 BG - Bulgaria 34
6 CY - Cyprus 38
7 CZ - Czech Republic 43
8 DE - Germany 47
9 DK - Denmark 50
10 EE - Estonia 53
11 EL - Greece 57
12 ES - Spain: 63
13 FI - Finland 66
14 FR - France 71
15 HR - Croatia 75
16 HU - Hungary 77
17 IE - Ireland 83
18 IS - Iceland 87
19 IT - Italy 90
20 LI - Liechtenstein 96
21 LT - Lithuania 98
22 LU - Luxemburg 103
23 LV - Latvia 105
24 MT - Malta 111
25 NL - The Netherlands 114
26 NO - Norway 116
27 PL - Poland 118
28 PT - Portugal 123
29 RO - Romania 127
30 SE - Sweden 131
31 SI - Slovenia 135
32 SK - Slovakia 138
33 TR - Turkey 142
34 UK - United Kingdom 145 1 EU Cross-country analysis:
TRANSVERSAL POLICY OBJECTIVES COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Annex to the: COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION "Delivering lifelong learning for knowledge, creativity and innovation" Draft 2008 joint progress report of the Council and the Commission on the
implementation of the "Education & Training 2010 Work Programme" There are four major transversal policy objectives covered in this
chapter which are essential to the implementation of lifelong
learning: elaboration of national qualification frameworks or
systems; measures to assess and validate non formal and informal
learning; establishment of lifelong guidance systems; and,
initiatives to strengthen transnational mobility. Combined, these
measures promote flexible learning pathways, enabling individuals to
transfer their learning outcomes from one learning context to
another and from one country to another. The chapter synthesises, for each of the four themes: the status quo
across the countries: the developments since 2005; and, outstanding
challenges.
1 1.1 National Qualification Systems and Frameworks A qualifications system is a general term which describes all the
structures and processes in a country that lead to the award of a
qualification. A qualification framework is a more specific structure,
which seeks to classify qualifications according to a set of criteria for
levels of learning achieved. Frameworks make more explicit the different
levels of qualifications contained in a qualification system[1]. They are
often established to integrate the different parts of a country's
qualification system, which in some countries have little communication or
connection between the different sub-systems e.g. between VET and Higher
Education. This section discusses the progress countries made in
development of national qualification frameworks and efforts made to
eliminate obstacles between the various parts of their education and
training systems.
1 1.1.1. National Qualification Systems and Frameworks National qualification systems (NQSs) can be, as noted above, very
complicated with different types of qualifications and various awarding
bodies. During the last few years increased attention has been given to the
development of better structured and more transparent qualifications
arrangements. An important purpose has been to facilitate access to
qualifications, to make transfer of learning outcomes easier and to make
progress more straight forward. This requires better cooperation between
the actors involved, agreement on explicit levels of qualifications and
introduction of clear pathways between the different sub-systems. The
issue thus involves a combined simplification and modernisation of
qualification systems, addressing individual learners, employers and
education and training institutions. This combined simplification and modernisation of qualifications systems
takes many different forms and focuses on different aspects. The following
objectives are common: . Creating more open and flexible sub-systems (IE, HU, IS, PT,
UK). The details of such arrangements are discussed in sections
3.2, 5.6 and 6.5. . Enhancing the coherence of national systems (CZ, DK, EE, EL, LT,
SK, UK). This can take place by simplifying and/or systemizing
the education and training offer and possibly even developing a
unified system. . Developing and implementing National Qualification Frameworks
(see section 1.1.2). While open flexible and coherent systems can be developed without the
introduction of an overarching NQF, the majority of countries have decided
for this option. The main objectives of developing qualification frameworks
are: to establish standards (in terms of learning outcomes) for
qualifications, to enable comparisons of qualifications, to improve
learning access, transfer and progress and to improve the quality of
education and training provision. Two main factors seem to have triggered the rapid development of
NQFs throughout Europe. Firstly, the development of a European
Qualification Framework (EQF) as a meta-framework supporting
transfer and comparisons of qualifications in Europe[2] has acted as
a catalyst for the development of national qualifications
frameworks. Following the EQF proposal, which is currently being
adopted, many countries have expressed the political willingness to
create a national qualifications frameworks defined through learning
outcomes and linked to the EQF. Secondly, several countries have
started development of NQFs prior to the launching of the EQF. In
these cases the frameworks respond to a national agenda asking for
more efficient, open and transparent qualification systems. It is
likely that this convergence of national and European objectives
explains the rapid development of NQFs since 2005. 2 1.1.2 Current state of play and progress made since 2005 A number of countries (FR, IE, MT, UK) have already developed and
implemented, at least partially, their own NQFs[3]. Most of these
countries (FR, IE, UK) have NQFs which preceded the EQF development.
Furthermore, the UK does not have one overall qualification
framework but four distinct ones[4]. The Maltese NQF can be seen as directly triggered by the development
of the EQF and is currently in its last development stage (its
implementation is planned for 2007-2008). Seventeen countries have recently started preparatory works to
establish a NQF of which some have reached an advanced stage of
development others still being at the beginning of the development
process. Those countries which are among the more advanced ones (BE
nl, BG, CZ, DK, LT, SI) have already put in place the main elements
on which to build NQFs, such as the qualification levels,
descriptors and qualifications repertories. The Czech Republic, for
example, has created a legislative framework for a NQF in 2006 and
its implementation is to start in summer 2007, while a strategy to
approve and implement the Flemish qualification framework was
developed in spring 2007 (Text Box 3.1). Bulgaria and Slovenia have
developed qualification repertories which serve as basis to design
an overarching NQF. Text Box 3.1 Belgium Flemish community qualifications framework |In spring 2007, the Flemish community developed a strategy to|
|approve and implement the Flemish Qualifications Framework. |
|All relevant stakeholders were involved in the process. The |
|strategy follows on from the 2006 Green Paper on the Flemish |
|Qualifications Framework. A white paper leading to a decree |
|establishing the Flemish qualification framework is expected |
|by July 2008. |
A second group of countries have committed themselves to developing
an overarching NQF but are currently at the beginning of the process
(AT, BE fr, CY, DE, EE, ES, HR, HU, IT, LU, LV, NL, PL, PT, SK, TR).
Among these countries, five have recently created a working group or
a committee examining the possible modalities for establishing a NQF
(AT, BE fr, DE, HR, IT). These working groups usually have the role
of formulating a proposal for a NQF design and examining the link
with EQF. Three countries are progressively implementing or testing
learning outcomes based approaches (DE, HU, IT) and two (ES, TR) are
planning to build a qualification framework for VET and combine it
with the HE qualification framework, currently in development in
both countries. Another six countries have not yet formally committed themselves to
developing a NQF and are currently examining the possibilities of it
(EL, NO, PL, RO, SE, IS). Three of these countries have developed
or are developing qualification frameworks for VET (RO, IS[5], NO,)
and are examining the possibilities to make these coherent, together
with the higher education framework and with EQF. Sweden is for the
moment consider