European Structures of Qualification Levels: Reports on Recent Developments in Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom (England and Wales)
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DOCUMENT RESUME ED 458 445 CE 082 633 AUTHOR Westerhuis, Anneke TITLE European Structures of Qualification Levels: Reports on Recent Developments in Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom (England and Wales). Volume II. INSTITUTION European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, Thessaloniki (Greece). REPORT NO TI-38-01-916-EN-N ISBN ISBN-92-896-0059-4 PUB DATE 2001-00-00 NOTE 273p.; Authored in cooperation with Richard Koch, Jochen Reuling, Gunter Heitmann, Joan-Anton Bruna, Annie Bouder, Jean Louis Kirsch, Thomas Coupie, Joop Nafzger and Tim Oates. For volumes 1 and 3, see CE 082 632 and CE 082 634. Study conducted by CINOP (the Dutch Centre for Innovation of Education and Training). AVAILABLE FROM For full text: http://www2.trainingvillage.gr/download/publication/panorama /5116 en.pdf. PUB TYPE Information Analyses (070) Reports Research (143) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC11 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Adult Education; Adult Learning; Building Trades; Case Studies; *Certification; Classification; Comparative Analysis; *Comparative Education; Credentials; Definitions; Delivery Systems; Educational History; Educational Legislation; Educational Planning; Educational Policy; *Educational Trends; Evaluation Methods; Experiential Learning; Federal Legislation; Foreign Countries; Health Occupations; *Lifelong Learning; Literature Reviews; Models;. *National Standards; National Surveys; Nonformal Education; Occupational Clusters; Policy Formation; Postsecondary Education; Prior Learning; *Qualifications; Standard Setting; State of the Art Reviews; Synthesis; Systems Approach; Trend Analysis; Vocational Education; Work Experience IDENTIFIERS *European Union; General National Vocational Qualif (England); International Standard Classification of Education; National Vocational Qualifications (England) ABSTRACT This document contains reports on the structures of qualification levels in Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom that were commissioned during a study to identify trends and developments in the European Union related to national certification frameworks. Each country report examines the following topics: the history of the development of the country's classification system; the definition of standards applied by the country; and the procedures for developing and approving the country's standards and the number and definitions of levels used in the system. In addition, the country's national system for certifying qualifications is examined in depth through case studies of the building and health care sectors. Finally, the similarities and differences between the national system and the European five-level training structure are described Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. along with the extent to which the five-level training structure is still applied in the country. The following are among the items appended to the individual country reports:(1) a detailed description of the system of vocational qualifications of Spain's Basque Institute for Qualifications; (2) a list of specialization groups in 17 occupational categories in France; (3) an overview of the Netherlands' national certification bodies; and (4) a list of the United Kingdom's national training organizations.(MN) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. European Structures of Qualification Levels Reports on recent developments in Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands and in the United Kingdom (England and Wales) Volume II Anneke Westerhuis U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Otticeof Educational Research and Improvement DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EDUftATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization U nr-- originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent 1 official OERI position or policy. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2001 2 BEST COPYAVAILABLE A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2001 ISBN 92-896-0059-4 - Cat. no: 1I-38-01-916-EN-N C European Communities, 2001 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) established in 1975, provides information and analyses of vocational education and training systems, policies and research. Europe 123 GR-570 01 Thessaloniki (Pylea) Postal Address: PO Box 22427 GR-551 02 Thessaloniki Tel. (30-31) 490 111 Fax (30-31) 490 020 E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.cedefop.eu.int Interactive website: www.trainingvillage.gr Anneke Westerhuis, CINOP/s'Hertogenbosch in co-operation with: Richard Koch and Jochen Reuling, BIBB/Bonn Giinter Heitmann, Technical University of Berlin Joan-Anton Bruna, Fundacion CIREM/Barcelona Annie Bouder, Jean Louis Kirsch and Thomas Coupié, CEREQ/Marseille Joop Nafzger, CINOP/s'Hertogenbosch Tim Oates, QCA/London Edited by: Cedefop Burkat Sellin, project coordinator Original language version Produced under the responsibility of: Johan van Rens, Director Stavros Stavrou, Deputy Director 4 Preface In all European Member States and highly industrialised countries the structure of the labour force and of the work organisation is continuously changing. Technological, economic, social and educational developments, the need for flexibility and more active and creative multi- skilled workers as well as the reduction in the number of hierarchical levels in companies, strongly influence this structure of the labour force. Education and training systems are challenged by these developments. They are invited to contribute to the creation of employment and jobs pro-actively, to the restructuring of the work organisation, to reconsiders the structure of qualification levels, etceteras. How precisely do these systems respond to structural changes in the labour force and work organisations? How do education and training systems take into account or contribute to these structural economic changes? More particularly, how do national systems for classifying qualification levels respond to these changes in terms of the number and definition of levels, types and character of qualifications? In 1997 UNESCO made an effort to revise the International Standard Classification of Educational provisions (ISCED). ISCED had been designed as an instrument suitable for assembling, compiling and presenting statistics of education, both within countries and internationally. The revision, undertaken by UNESCO in close cooperation with OECD and Eurostat lead to a revision of ISCED, approved in 1998. The renewed classification tried to get the balance right between educational provisions and VET-provisions (1). For this reason, Cedefop and Eurostat developed a Fields of vocational training structure, basically an economic sector based classification of training programmes (2) In the meantime Cedefop emphasised the need for a re-assessment of the 1985 EU five-level structure of training and qualification levels (see Appendix 1): (1) Does the European Community's five-level structure, which was retained by the Council in 1985 in terms of number and definitions of levels, characteristics and definition of these levels, deliver sufficient criteria for classification? (2) Does the system reflect the present and future developments in education/training, in employment and the changing work organisations and does it permit a cross-country or even a European wide comparison and the observing of current and future trends? (3) In the light of socio-economic changes and new challenges for education policy (life long learning)it may well bethatstakeholders, policy-makers,socialpartners and educationalists in the Member States increasingly question the European five-level (I) OECD: Classifting Educational Programmes, Manual for ISCED-97 Implementation in OECD Countries, Paris, 1999, see also Appendix 3 (2) Fields of Training (Manual), Cedefop and Eurostat, Thessaloniki, Luxembourg 1999 4 5 structure. The question is whether and how far this 1985 five-level structure is still responding to these needs and whether this structure should be adapted to the changes, which have come up the last 15 years? To prepare and feed this policy debate and in response to Cedefop's own work programme, this study was launched during the 1998 plenary meeting of the CIRETOQ, Cedefop's NetworkforResearchCooperation on TrendsinOccupations andQualifications (Thessaloniki, 15 and 16 June 1998). It was agreed that an in-depth study of five National Vocational Education and Training Structures should cover three fields: An analysis of the characteristics of National Qualification Frameworks (number and definition of levels, definition of qualifications, criteria for classification, procedures for updating qualifications); An analysis of the similarities and differences between the National Frameworks and the 1985 European five-level structure; An assessment of whether the European structure of qualification levels is being applied in the respective EU Member