The conference in Prague was the political launch of the ECVET; the recommendation was adopted by the Council on 12 May.
In the recommendation there are two scenarios for the application of ECVET: one is for initial training two training providers making an agreement for mobility of pupils and the other is to use ECVET for adult learning.
As a next step, on 17/18 November 2009 the European Commission and Cedefop will co-organise a technical conference, which will focus on implementation issues and be oriented more towards practitioners.
The aim of the ECVET
What we are trying to do with the credit system is to attach proper value to the knowledge and skills of people with VET qualifications. One way to do it is to make sure they can integrate the skills they acquire during training periods abroad into their main course of studies. Another is to ensure that they have the option of entering a higher education programme. Its all about being able to promote mobility in VET just as Erasmus and the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) do for higher education. This is really the main target of ECVET.
From the very start in ECVET, the idea is that what you learn is recognised and integrated into your home qualification. So far, in most Member States you can go abroad during your training programme but your time and learning outcomes are not always recognised. Now with the ECVET - lets say you are learning bakery in Finland, and your school has a partnership with a training school in Spain; this means that you have the possibility to go to Spain to acquire a different range of skills. In this partnership, what you learn and how it is assessed within your qualification will be specified very precisely, using, for instance, Europass Mobility2 as a tool.
In ECVET we have identified the need for a strong partnership between the two countries training providers: they must understand each other and they must secure all the needs of the learner. I know of schemes in which the VET provider will first offer a months language training, then another month after the core mobility training to cover any theoretical background the student may need. This kind of follow-up, of course, requires investment from training providers.
But focusing on content is not enough. Mobility boils down to some very practical issues things like accommodation arrangements, or finances, or legal responsibility for minors. In some countries apprentices are not pupils, they are workers. Who should be liable for a worker being sent abroad? Who for a pupil?
The meanings of mobility
What is driving this effort is the perception that greater mobility offers individuals, especially those in VET, greater opportunities not only to gain intercultural skills, but also job-related knowledge. Clearly, this is particularly significant in times of economic crisis.
Its now widely understood that if you offer the possibility of transitions and mobility between initial and continuing training, and between vocational and higher education, in essence you are making VET more attractive. And everyone can go further if they have more ways of getting their skills recognised.
All these tools taken together credit systems, qualifications frameworks and validation processes - make education and training much less rigid. While VET has always been closely linked to the labour market, a greater degree of flexibility allows VET systems to react more quickly to change and to adapt or cope with individual expectations and needs.
This also means a wider distribution of responsibilities. You have to give more space for decisions to VET providers because they are the ones who manage mobility. In some countries, this in itself is a big step forward. Regions, along with business sectors, are also getting into the picture. A lot of regions are engaged in ECVET-related issues they act as stakeholders in training and they provide institutional background. So its a really a case of reshuffling the deck.
Of course there is a risk of fragmentation. But within the ECVET framework, training providers always have to refer to the competent national authorities, which set the standards. Standards are actually three separate things: occupational, educational and certification standards. The first links to activities and tasks related to specific jobs; the second to pedagogy and learning objectives; the third to the rules and rights associated with certificates. These are at the heart of developments in mobility, and one of the focuses of our ongoing research activities at Cedefop.
The workshop: transitions between higher and vocational education
In the current crisis, a lot of people may opt for re-training. This will, among other things, create pressure on universities to open their doors. This aspect was surely in the mind of participants in our workshop on permeability.
What we learned is that on both sides, higher and vocational education, theres a lot of action not just policies carried out on national level but also initiatives linked to the EU tools. The question is the same: how do you organise transitions between the two education segments?
Well, the countries that have managed this best turn out to be the ones that have implemented validation systems. For this, you dont just need legislation you also need to make sure that universities and training providers are on board.
Validation means opening up to a different kind of learner, so it has consequences in terms of pedagogy and management. Some learners may only be able to attend evening classes; students of 20 years of age will share courses with others who are 45 with ten years experience.....All this is a challenge for professors, teachers and trainers.
The individual, too, needs to invest in this approach. To get your skills validated you have to describe your experience, to demonstrate your past; success may depend on how well you can articulate your skills and knowledge. This is in fact one of the criticisms levelled against validation systems.
In countries which have gone furthest with validation, like France, you can take a doctorate without enrolling in university! Lets say youve had a 30-year career and related education experiences you would contact the university in charge of validation, all of information and documents would be entered into a dossier, go before a jury or juries, and if its up to the requirement for a doctorate, then it could work out. This is not theory; such cases are a matter of record.
There is a lot of resistance to these changes, of course. Caring for non-traditional learners has a cost. If you want to organise validation seriously you have to budget, you have to have dedicated staff. In some countries, universities have recognised that this kind of clientele is a new market, so theyre more open to it. But it takes time. Some participants in the workshop made the point that demographic change will create a push to open to non-traditional learners. After twenty years of discussing lifelong learning, I think we are about to see it happen!
What was to me a revelation at our workshop was the extent to which participants accepted the principle, and were now concentrating on implementation. Instead of debating the uses of credit systems, as I had foreseen, we went straight to a discussion on how to combine ideas and instruments to allow the learner to get the highest possible qualification. So the workshop actually went far beyond the Louvain Declaration and the Bordeaux Communique, into how to manage validation and transitions.
Next year we are carrying out a study on Vocationally-oriented education and training at EQF level 6-8. Theres a reason why we chose that term. These levels were traditionally linked to university. Right now there is increasing loosening of ties between institutions and degree types in higher and vocational education, partly because of the greater acceptance of the learning outcomes approach. In reality, were trying to overcome the distinction between vocational and academic, which has long ceased to reflect reality.
1 http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/08/st03/st03747.en08.pdf
2 We are currently carrying out a study on Europass, ECVET and EQF (documentation, validation and certification of learning outcomes). http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/working/procurement.asp?idnews=4533