What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
Since the academic year 2017/18, the EQF/NQF level of the occupation in which the qualification is acquired is stated in the completion documents: the ‛vocational qualifications certificate′ and the ‛vocational training certificate for part of the profession′. This applies both for young and adult learners. Changes to legislation are still needed to support the setting up of the BQF. A working group has to be established to prepare these amendments. The framework is not yet...
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
Ministry of Education and Science
National Agency for Vocational Education and Training (NAVET)
to enable the acquisition and upgrading of vocational qualifications in the context of lifelong learning.
Description
What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
VET programmes are designed based on framework programmes approved by the education minister. New framework programmes were adopted in March 2017, including:
general provisions in relation to the regulatory basis and aims;
requirements: entry (age, medical condition, previous education and qualification level), career and education pathways, form(s) of training (day, full-time, evening, part-time, individual, distance, dual, self-learning);
curriculum;
training module content (theoretical...
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
The VET Act of 1999 was amended in August 2016 (entered into force in August 2017), confirming that apprenticeships should offer the possibility to acquire professional qualifications through practical training, organised in cooperation with enterprises. The amendment also intended to improve the quality of VET by increasing the practical training part offered in VET programmes.
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
Ministry of Education and Science
Ministry of Labour and Social Policy(MLSP)
Social partners
National Agency for Vocational Education and Training (NAVET)
To address the skills required by the digital society for today and tomorrow.
Description
What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
Compulsory education
The digital strategy for education was adopted in 2018 and then implemented. The strategy includes the following five axes:
defining digital content and resources for learning,
providing support and training to teachers and heads of school,
defining modalities of school digital equipment,
sharing, communicating and disseminating,
developing digital governance.
Digital competence is regarded both as a learning object and a support to other disciplines. Digital education...
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
Positive orientation towards VET (nationally called qualification education) so that it becomes as often as possible a first choice.
The upgrading of technical professions and the sectors that lead to them.
The fight against premature dropping out of school which leaves too many young people without secondary school leaving certification and feeds the hard core of unemployment.
Mobility between the various training providers in Belgium and abroad.
Description
What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
The certification by learning-outcomes units (CPU) divides upper-secondary VET tracks into different CPU. Learners receive the qualification certificate when all the learning-outcomes units are validated. Those who fail get a second chance in a complementary year with a personalised support from teachers.
The Minister of Education decides which training will be implemented in CPU; hence this certification approach is being gradually implemented.
In 2017, certification by learning-outcomes...
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
The Pact for excellence in education aims to strengthen the quality of education and improve the results of all learners, from nursery school to the end of secondary school, for the benefit of all learners in the French Community (Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles).
The Pact aims to act in depth on all dimensions of the school system:
to make more inclusive and more egalitarian;
to improve learners’ results and the climate within the schools;
to strengthen the collective dynamics between teachers...
Description
What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
The Pact for excellence in education was launched in January 2015, with a view to gradual implementation from 2017 to 2030. This was confirmed and reaffirmed in the Community Policy Statement covering the period 2019-24.
The Pact for excellence in education is a set of reforms that concerns all aspects of education: the content of the curricula, the organisation of courses, the training of teachers, etc., from nursery school to the end of secondary school, with the main objective of improving...
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
At the end of a stage, learning outcomes determine what a secondary school learner must know and be able to do. The final attainment levels in secondary education date from the mid-1990s and so were more than 20 years old; there was a need to update them. For specific subjects, this means that the learning outcomes are adapted to, amongst other things, new knowledge about or new applications of, for example, mathematics or economics.
Description
What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
The public debate on the attainment targets/learning outcomes for secondary education, including vocational-oriented secondary education (initial VET), took place in between February and June 2016. It involved around 40 000 participants, half of which were young learners. In January 2018, the Decree on the renewal of the learning outcomes for compulsory education (for all pupils) was adopted by the Flemish Parliament. The decree was set up by the Flemish Ministry of Education and Training...
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
Flemish Department of Education and Training
Agency for Higher Education, Adult Education, Qualifications and Study Allowances (AHOVOKS)
The aim of validation is to help individuals to achieve personal development, to contribute to a higher level of employment, to improve access to formal education systems and to stimulate lifelong learning. Developments at policy level aim at an integrated approach to validation, bringing existing separate validation measures together in a single comprehensive strategy.
Description
What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
There is increased cooperation between different validation providers (inside as well as outside education) and the willingness to create a single framework linking validation processes to the Flemish qualifications framework (FQF). In July 2015, the concept for an integrated framework for validation in Flanders was approved by the Flemish government; a task force was set up to develop the integrated policy framework and to draft a decree on validation. A cost-benefit analysis has been...
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
Flemish Department of Education and Training
Flemish Department of Work and Social Economy (until 2025)
Agency for Higher Education, Adult Education, Qualifications and Study Allowances (AHOVOKS)
Flemish public employment service (VDAB)
Flemish Department of Work, Economy, Science, Innovation and Social Economy
The objective of the National strategy on validation of non-formal and informal learning is to:
increase the value of competences acquired in non-formal and informal learning contexts;
make validation arrangements more accessible by providing low-threshold, central information and advisory services;
improve opportunities for education and work (e.g. by making it easier for adults to obtain qualifications as second chance education);
improve permeability at the central interfaces...
Description
What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
Following a national consultation process, the national strategy for validating non-formal and informal learning was finalised and adopted in November 2017. The national strategy is expected to serve as the starting point for defining organisational structures, a catalogue of quality criteria (issued in May 2018) and a detailed implementation plan. The validation strategy provides an overview of existing validation arrangements, serves as a basis for developing new initiatives, assuring...
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) (until 2025)
Promoting the apprenticeship scheme granting access to higher education aims to:
increase the share of apprentices opting for the apprenticeship scheme giving access to higher education (Lehre mit Matura), from under 10% in 2014 to 15% by 2020;
allow training companies to receive subsidies for the extension period.
Description
What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
The 2015 amendment reduced red tape by allowing the apprentice and the training company to agree to extend the training period for the duration of the exam preparation without having to ask the consent of the regional apprenticeship advisory board.
Education providers who offer the Berufsreifeprüfung receive funding which is determined periodically. At the end of the respective funding period, an evaluation usually takes place. In 2015, the new funding period started until 2018, accompanied...
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) (until 2025)
Federal Ministry of Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW) (until 2022)
Federal Ministry of Labour and Economy (BMAW) (until 2025)
Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism (BMWET)
The project aims to improve the competitiveness of the Austrian economy through modern and excellent VET and promote innovation while supporting social inclusion. It is supported by policy-makers and developed in cooperation with the Economic Chambers of the federal provinces (Länder).
Description
What/How/Who/For whom/When of the policy development in detail, explaining its activities and annual progress, main actors and target groups.
The We educate the economy plan was approved in 2018 by the Austrian Economic Chamber and focusses on developing projects in five fields:
virtual learning platforms, for example for virtual company tours or online career information;
digital tools for apprenticeship training, such as digital learning worlds for apprentices, online tools for planning and documenting apprenticeship training and digital training and continuing education platforms for trainers;
continuing training, such as new...
Bodies responsible
This section lists main bodies that are responsible for the implementation of the policy development or for its specific parts or activities, as indicated in the regulatory acts. The responsibilities are usually explained in its description.
