Under the Copenhagen process, Member States, with the social partners, have established on common European tools and principles namely the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), the Qualification framework for the European Higher Education Area (QF-EHEA), the European credit transfer system (ECTS), the European Credit system for Vocational education and training (ECVET), the European quality assurance framework for vocational education and training (EQAVET), the European standards and guidelines (ESG) for quality assurance in higher education, the Principles and Guidelines on validation of non-formal and informal learning, the Europass and the European terminology on occupations, skills, competences and qualifications (ESCO).
Cedefop has for more than a decade actively supported the European Commission, the Member States and the social partners in developing and adopting these tools. Building on these experiences, the conference will engage stakeholders in a reflection on the technical and conceptual conditions for taking the European tools into a next stage. The conference will not address tools in isolation but reflect on two of the core objectives addressed by European cooperation in education and training: (a) to facilitate the mobility and progression of European learners through increased transparency and recognition and (b) to improve education and training through sharing of experiences and development of common solutions and resources.
Five questions of particular importance to these key objectives have been identified:
- What can be done to make the European tools more relevant to individual learners and citizens?
- What can be done to make the European tools relevant to the labour market, employers as well as employees?
- How can we develop a common, learning outcome-based language improving dialogue between countries and institutions?
- How can we enable transfer and accumulation of learning within and across national and institutional borders; what is the role of credit and validation arrangements?
- How can we promote a common vision of quality assurance across countries and sub-sectors of education and training?
Cedefop will address these five questions by summarizing and reflecting on results of its recent research and analysis. These contributions - systematically addressing the technical and conceptual challenges facing us in this area - seek to stimulate a reflection among the participants on how move ahead. They are meant to support the Commission’s work towards a European Area of Skills and Qualifications, adding evidence to the results of the broad consultation it carried out.
