ENENEN NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPE 2017 National qualifications framework developments in Europe 2017 Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2018 Please cite this publication as: Cedefop (2018). National qualifications framework developments in Europe 2017. Luxembourg: Publications Office. http://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2801/029873 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). Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2018 Copyright © European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), 2018 All rights reserved. PRINT ISBN: 78-92-896-2649-1 doi:10.2801/545730 TI-01-18-117-EN-C PDF ISBN: 978-92-896-2650-7 doi:10.2801/029873 TI-01-18-117-EN-N Designed by Missing Element Prague Printed in the European Union The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) is the European Union’s reference centre for vocational education and training. We provide information on and analyses of vocational education and training systems, policies, research and practice. Cedefop was established in 1975 by Council Regulation (EEC) No 337/75. Europe 123, 570 01 Thessaloniki (Pylea), GREECE PO Box 22427, 551 02 Thessaloniki, GREECE Tel. +30 2310490111, Fax +30 2310490020 E-mail: [email protected] www.cedefop.europa.eu Joachim James Calleja, Director Tatjana Babrauskiene, Chair of the Governing Board Foreword Cedefop has been working on transparency and recognition of qualifications since the 1980s and has helped shape the European qualifications framework (EQF), adopted in 2008 and revised in 2017. The long-term priority of the EQF is to strengthen transparency and comparability of European qualifications, to support mobility and progression of students and workers across national and institutional borders. The EQF has triggered development of national qualifications frameworks (NQFs) across Europe. NQFs primarily add value by promoting the learning outcomes principle and by adopting a comprehensive approach to cover all levels and types of qualifications (general education, vocational education and training and higher education) and opening up to qualifications awarded in non-formal settings. The dynamic progress of NQFs over the past few years produced comprehensive maps of national qualifications systems and qualifi- cations. This increases transparency across systems and borders, and helps promote comparability of qualifications at European level. This publication on the latest NQF developments aims to share how 43 NQFs in 39 countries participating in the EQF implementation (28 EU Member States as well as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Re- public of Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Kosovo, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey) are structured, and how national qualifications have been allocated to NQF levels and linked to the EQF. NQFs are more than a technical matter to be summarised in a few infographics: they are primar- ily cooperation platforms and meeting points bringing together stakeholders from education and labour market contexts to discuss qualifications and skills policies, creating conditions for more responsive, flexible and permeable qual- ification systems. NQFs are playing an important role in supporting the modernisation of ed- ucation, particularly vocational education and training (VET). They are making VET (in its complex and diverse profile) more visible in the overall education and training landscape. This need for transparency is emphasised by the fact that the VET sector is more diverse than other sectors and also undergoing sig- nificant changes: increasing qualification numbers and blurring lines between initial and continuing VET. Qualifications frameworks are also playing a role in increasing the standing of VET by demonstrating the increased importance of vocationally oriented education and training at higher levels (EQF levels 5-8) and parity of esteem between VET and general education at EQF level 4. Qualifications frameworks give coherence to the increasingly complex world of qualifications. NQF and EQF levels on certificates, diplomas and in qualifications databases help citizens assess their own qualifications; they al- low employers to match person’s qualifications better with requirements of the job; national policy-makers can compare – via EQF – qualifications available in their country to those in other countries and decide whether changes are needed; recognition of qualifications becomes easier. Foreword 5 Cedefop has accompanied the referencing process of NQFs to the EQF in every step of its development. Since 2009, Cedefop has monitored and ana- lysed NQF development in all countries participating in EQF implementation and has organised several major conferences on related themes; most recent- ly, a policy learning conference considered the added value and impact of NQFs (1). The conference concluded that awareness of EQF and NQFs among end-users – employers, students, guidance practitioners – is progressing but still weak. This publication, providing an overview of European NQFs and how they link to the EQF, celebrates the tenth anniversary of the EQF process and its contribution to transparency and comparability of European qualifications and trust in NQFs as guardians of the quality of qualifications. James Joachim Calleja Director (1) Peer learning conference organised by Cedefop in cooperation with the European Commission and Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI): Do national qualifications frameworks make a difference? Thessaloniki, 9 and 10 November 2017. http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/pt/events-and-projects/ events/peer-learning-conference [accessed 1.2.2018]. Table of contents Foreword .................................................................................................................................................4 Introduction ...........................................................................................................................................10 PART I Overview and main tendencies ..........................................................................................................11 1. National qualifications framework developments in Europe: overall progress ...............................12 2. NQFs in Europe: common characteristics .....................................................................................14 3. Early impact of European national qualifications frameworks ........................................................16 3.1. Improved transparency of national qualification systems .......................................................16 3.2. Reinforced and more consistent implementation of learning outcomes approaches ...........17 3.3. Linking qualifications frameworks and validation of non-formal and informal learning ..........17 3.4. Greater stakeholder engagement and coordination ..............................................................18 3.5. NQFs have opened up to qualifications awarded outside formal education and training .....18 3.6. NQFs and higher vocational education and training ...............................................................19 4. Areas of limited impact to date ......................................................................................................20 4.1. Visibility and labour market use .............................................................................................20 4.2. Articulation between institutions and education and training subsystems .............................20 4.3. Institutional reform: work in progress .....................................................................................21 4.4. NQF support to recognition of qualifications across countries: at an early stage .................21 PART II National qualifications frameworks EU Member States ..............................................................................................................................23 1. Austria .............................................................................................................................................24 2. Belgium ...........................................................................................................................................26 2.1 Flemish Community ................................................................................................................26 2.2 French Community ...................................................................................................................29 2.3 German-speaking Community .................................................................................................30 3. Bulgaria ..........................................................................................................................................32 4. Croatia ............................................................................................................................................34 5. Cyprus ............................................................................................................................................36 6. Czech Republic ..............................................................................................................................38 7. Denmark .........................................................................................................................................40