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Validation of non-formal and informal learning
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Save the date for the European conference on validation of non-formal and informal learning How to make learning visible organised by Cedefop in close cooperation with the European Commission in Thessaloniki on 28 and 29 November.
Validation of non-formal and informal learning is about making visible and giving value to this diverse and often unique learning. One major purpose of validation is to make it possible for individuals to take advantage of the outcomes of their learning experiences and use them to gain access to employment and/or education opportunities.
Cedefop recently received two educational researchers from Andrés Bello University of Santiago, Chile. They are conducting a research project in view of implementing a system for the recognition of qualifications which could allow people enter tertiary education, and thus were interested in getting acquainted with European approaches to validation of formal and informal learning and policies which have proven successful.
A Cedefop delegation headed by Director James Calleja took part in a knowledge-sharing seminar with the European Training Foundation (ETF), Cedefop's sister agency, in Turin on 13 February. Apprenticeships, validation and the next stage for European tools were on the agenda.
On 26 November 2014 the first congress on non-formal education was held in Warsaw. The congress was an initiative of the Polish chamber of training companies and the Polish Agency of Entrepreneurship Development as well as 11 adult education institutions. It served as a platform for discussing non-formal education as a means to increase competence and innovativeness among Polish people.
In autumn 2014, the Lithuanian Minister for Education and Science approved two important action plans establishing directions for long-term development and financing of vocational education and training (VET) and non-formal adult education.
Despite progress since 2010, Member States still have a long way to go to ensure that knowledge, skills and competences that people acquire outside school are formally validated, according to a European Commission report compiled in partnership with Cedefop.
Based on a survey of 400 enterprises, 20 in-depth case studies and interviews with human resource experts in 10 countries, this report analyses the main purposes of competence assessment, the standards and methods applied, the employee groups targeted and the way results are documented and used.
‘Youths should be empowered to guarantee their own employment through education and training in a lifelong learning context,’ said Cedefop Director James Calleja addressing a high-level conference on the role of the Regions in the implementation of the youth guarantee, in Kavala, Greece.