Post added by Michael Graham, ETF
2017 saw the new EQF adopted. 2018 marks the tenth anniversary of the original EQF. It will also be a year when the countries which use the EQF will be busy implementing the new version of the instrument. This new text is mainly aimed at deeper and more consistent implementation by the countries of the EQF’s accepted principles, including by more consistent levelling of qualifications, applying learning outcomes and making levels visible on certificates etc. A second issue – and this is a big change – is opening the door to relating the EQF to countries which are not currently part of the EQF group, the so-called third countries.
I was at the last EQF Advisory Group meeting in Brussels in mid-December. There, we discussed our programme for this new year to implement the new EQF. Now the concept and practice of the EQF is so widespread in the Member States, in the candidate and potential candidate countries, it is time to make it work in all countries. So the EQF’s implementation will be intensified in 2018, to take forward the new Recommendation. What are the dominant themes we will pursue in 2018?
Main issues for the EQF Advisory Group in 2018
We decided at the Advisory Group that priorities would be completing the remaining referencing reports and updating those already submitted; increasing inclusion of EQF and NQF levels on certificates; applying learning outcomes more deeply in the countries; levelling qualifications; international qualifications; and comparing third-country NQFs and regional QFs to the EQF.
Why these issues and this focus? Countries and the Commission are concerned that implementation, while serious needs to be accelerated and deepened. I’ll cover some of these now.
Referencing needs to be extended to the 6 countries not yet referenced, while we need updates, for transparency, of some of those countries already linked to the EQF e.g. on inclusion of qualifications, or legal processes. This is about confidence in each others’ systems.
Transparency to assist comparability is necessary – hence a priority action is placing EQF levels on certificates. This aspect has been only sporadically applied by countries to qualifications or in databases and registers. In 2018, the Advisory Group will share communication strategies to support implementation of this aspect.
Progress can be reported in implementing learning outcomes in the countries. This change of perspective should not be underestimated as it is the key change the EQF has really brought to countries’ qualifications, curricula and learning. So far, this change has varied in depth and coverage between countries and within them i.e. between their own sectors at national level. This uneven implementation should not surprise us, as it is a major change in principle in most of Europe’s education and training systems. But we need to intensify it in application, and see more consistent use of framework descriptors to ensure provision and training adapt to incorporate outcomes. Likewise, in quality assurance, outcomes need to be applied to set standards. In 2018, we will look at technical cooperation on writing outcomes, including a common format for presenting outcomes, which would be voluntary, but nonetheless might support more consistency across countries.
A related priority is allocating levels to qualifications. This is in essence about methodologies to place qualifications in a country’s NQF. While countries can usually demonstrate clearly to other countries in the EQF process how their NQF level descriptors match or can relate to the EQF level descriptors, we need to understand better how specific, individual qualifications are placed in the national levels. Countries sometimes allocate qualification by qualification, others do by “blocks” of qualifications. We need to know the criteria, a quality assurance issue, used for the levelling processes and decisions. We can take forward this work by peer-learning activities in 2018.
Recommendation 13 concerns comparing NQFs in the Advisory Group countries to countries outside the Group. Clearly, transparent relations will facilitate comparing countries’ qualifications, so citizens can move between the EU and other countries for study and work. We have reports on pilots which linked the NQFs of Australia, New Zealand and Hong Kong to the EQF. Then, of course, the European Neighbourhood countries are influenced by the EQF. 16 countries are covered by the European Neighbourhood policy, and Article 8 of the Treaty on European Union specifies the EU should develop special relations with the 16. In 2018, the Advisory Group needs to look at implications of this linking, including the terminology of "comparison" compared to "referencing"; then to begin developing criteria to allow third countries’ NQFs, and regional QFSs to link to the EQF.
Methods and tools to deliver the 2018 programme
You see that our schedule is not light! So how do we do it?
There will be three principal working methods: we have five plenary meetings, each of three days. Then, the peer-learning activities. These are technical seminars, where we present and share experiences, begin to develop shared understanding of issues and propose tools and approaches which can be adapted for national delivery. Plus, the project groups. These will be small sub-groups of the full Advisory Group, focusing on each of the issues outlined above. These will be several in 2018, to tackle the above issues, and will be new. There may also be country visits and surveys and studies, by countries or Cedefop or ETF, that may be shared with countries and other AG actors.
ETF and its partner countries: priority issues in 2018
For ETF, our primary interests are the extension of the EQF to countries not currently in the EQF; and in validation of non-formal learning.
On third country comparison, the Advisory Group will reach this task in the latter part of year. ETF will be on the project group, where we can contribute much experience, on our partner countries, but also drawing on our engagement with UNESCO and bilateral work with countries such as South Africa, Australia and others. We have resources to hand such as our NQF Inventory chapters.
For validation of non-formal learning, we will support ETF partner countries which participate in the EQF, in participation in the 2018 Inventory on validation. This biennial survey looks at progress in implementing systems for validation of non-formal learning. Turkey has been included in the past. But this will be the first time the Inventory has covered all 7 candidate and potential candidate countries, so that this year it will include chapters on Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia, plus Turke. I will write more about that next month when we know our programme.
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