David Raffe is Professor of Sociology of Education at Edinburgh University, where he has worked since 1975.  He is a member of the University’s Centre for Educational Sociology and was its Director from 1987 to 2001 (jointly with Andrew McPherson to 1995).  From 2002 to 2007 he was Director of Research for the University’s School of Education.  His research covers all stages of education and training from secondary onwards, with particular interests in education-work transitions, educational inequalities and education and training policy.  He has participated in several European and OECD studies of vocational education and training, education-work transitions and qualifications reform, and he helped to pioneer the emerging field of ‘home-international’ comparisons of the home countries of the United Kingdom.  His recent research projects include studies of the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework and other curriculum and qualifications reforms in Scotland, the Framework Implementation and Impact Study of the Irish National Framework of Qualifications (as a member of the study team), a review of national differences in education-work transitions and a comparative analysis of trends in inequality across the countries of the UK.  He is currently a member of the team working on the CEDEFOP project on Changing Qualifications, led by Cambridge Assessment, which will report at this conference; and he is a team member of the International Labour Office project on National Qualifications Frameworks: Implementation and Impact.   He has participated in several Scottish and UK policy committees and working groups, and he currently serves on committees of the Scottish Qualifications Authority and the Scottish Funding Council.