How to make learning visible

Paul has worked in the field of education and training for much of the last 25 years. Having started his career in the UK guidance sector, Paul helped to establish the UK Euroguidance Centre, in the early 1990s, before moving to Brussels to facilitate delivery of the European Commission’s Higher Education and Vocational Training funding programmes. Nowadays, Paul works as a consultant, facilitating the delivery of projects and programmes, building capacity among project management professionals and helping to make sense of some of the complexities tied to the delivery of change and improvement in European education and training. Paul was principal researcher in a Government-funded study, in Scotland, centred on “Support Mechanisms for the Recognition of the Skills, Learning and Qualifications of Refugees and Migrants” and is a member of the UK European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) Expert Team with additional responsibility for maintenance of the ECVET Mobility Toolkit.

Dr. Grant Klinkum is Deputy Chief Executive Quality Assurance of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). NZQA sets the rules for quality assurance in the tertiary sector in New Zealand. The Quality Assurance Division is responsible for managing approximately 500 non-university providers in relation to entry, maintaining quality through moderation and consistency, carrying out evaluations of provider quality and managing risk. NZQA administers the New Zealand Qualifications framework and the Education (Pastoral Care of International Students) Code of Practice 2016.
Grant has the unique standpoint of someone who has worked for private and public providers and has worked for both the funding and the quality assurance government agencies. Prior to joining NZQA in early 2014, Grant spent seven years at the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) in senior management roles. During that time Grant led engagement with the tertiary education sector as General Manager of Tertiary Investment. Prior to the TEC, Grant worked as Deputy Chief Executive at an Institute of Technology and Polytechnic and has worked as a Dean of Faculty at two tertiary education organisations. Grant has a PhD in Political Science from Victoria University of Wellington, a Master’s in Education Administration from Massey University and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Canterbury.

Director at the Ministry of Employment, for the period  2015-2019 heading the secretariat of the National Delegation for Validation. The Delegation is a committee appointed by the government to follow and support a coordinated work to develop validation on both a national and regional level. The Delegation consists of 15 members representing trade unions, employers’ associations and national authorities.
I have previously been in charge of analysis regarding structural change and skills and competence needs at the Federation of Swedish Industries (1995-1999) and the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development (1999-2000), continued by responsibilities for policy formation and implementation in the fields of labour market policy, education policy and integration policy at the Ministry of Finance (2001-2005), the Ministry of Integration and Gender Equality (2008-2010), the Ministry of Employment (2011-2014) and the Ministry of Education and Research (2014-2015).

As a Jobcoach for migrant people at AWO Interkulturell Schleswig-Holstein (project COMMA plus), Ms López helps refugees and other migrants to find a job, where they can use the skills they already acquired in their home countries. Ramona supports her clients with acknowledging of certificates, orientation on the labour market in Germany, creating application papers, dealing with authorities, preparation for interviews and competence analysis.
After her apprenticeship as an orthopedian shoemaker, Ramona studied English, Psychology and Education in Kiel. During this time she worked as a student research assistant for the Early Language and Intercultural Acquisition Studies Project (ELIAS), where she collected data in bilingual nursery schools. Based upon that data she wrote her master thesis about the development of the listening comprehension of a second language. Before starting to work as a Jobcoach, Ramona successfully completed a training as a mediator and coach.

As Senior Expert at the Bertelsmann Stiftung in Gütersloh, Germany, Dr. Martin Noack is responsible for the project “Further education for all”. The project aims at improving the chances of people with low levels of formal qualification to participate in further education and qualified work. To this end, the project develops, tests and promotes concepts and tools of competence assessment, development and recognition. More info at: www.bertelsmann-stiftung.de/en/our-projects/weiterbildung-fuer-alle/. Martins focus lies particularly on the topic of validation of informal and non-formal learning.

Martin studied Psychology in Marburg, Turin, Detroit and Bremen with a focus on the aging workforce and lifelong learning and he received his PhD in Psychology from Jacobs University Bremen in 2009. He joined Bertelsmann Stiftung in 2012, after working for some years as an age management consultant and lecturer for statistics at Jacobs University and University of Bremen.

Ana Carla Pereira is Head of Unit for "Skills and qualifications" in Directorate General Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion at the European Commission. She is responsible for developing and implementing the New Skills Agenda for Europe, including the implementation of EU tools for recognition and transparency of qualifications such as the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), Europass, the EU Skills Panorama or the Skills Profile Tool for Third-country Nationals. Prior to this, she has worked more than ten years in the implementation of European Employment Strategy and several years in the private sector as a business consultant specialised in human performance. She graduated in Economics at University of Coimbra (PT) and holds a MA in European Human Resources Studies from the College of Europe (BE). She is Portuguese mother tongue and fluent in English, French and Italian.