Anerkennung von nicht formal und informell erworbenen Kompetenzen
Bericht an den Hauptausschuss des Bundesinstituts für Berufsbildung (BIBB) - Auszug
Katrin Gutschow
Translated by: Sarah Zimmer ( English Language Services)
The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted a recommendation on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (EQF) in April 2008. The EQF is expected to serve as a translation device to make national qualifications more readable and understandable across different countries in Europe and thus promote citizens' mobility between countries and facilitate their lifelong learning. The European Qualifications Framework was established for the purpose of promoting and improving "access to and participation in lifelong learning . and the use of qualifications". The EQF is also supposed to contribute to "building bridges between formal, non-formal and informal learning, leading also to the validation of learning outcomes acquired through experience".
The "Recommendation on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning" (EQF) called on the Member States to
- use the EQF as a reference tool for comparing qualifications systems,
- relate their national qualifications systems to the European Qualifications Framework by the year 2010,
- develop, where appropriate, national qualifications frameworks in accordance with national legislation and practice and
- Add a reference to the EQF on all new qualification certificates by the year 2012.
The German Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning (GQF) is currently being developed in Germany. The GQF will be geared to learning outcomes and will be compatible with the EQF. It will have the aim of fostering transparency and permeability between the various parts of the education system.
The German Qualifications Framework Working Group released the first 'blueprint' for a GQF in February 2009. This preliminary version defined descriptors for eight levels which describe the competence categories 'specialised competence' (which is broken down into 'knowledge' and 'skills') and 'personal competence' (broken down into 'social competence' and 'self-competence'). As used in the GQF, the term 'competence' denotes the ability and willingness to use knowledge, skills and personal, social and methodological abilities, in work or study situations and in professional and personal development. Thus defined, the concept of 'competence' as used in the GQF is very close to the concept of 'vocational competence' (berufliche Handlungskompetenz) which is firmly established in the vocational education and training field.
Work is currently underway on classifying selected formal qualifications in the general, tertiary and vocational education systems in such a way that there is a consensus on them. The GQF matrix is also being reviewed to determine whether it is unwieldy or easy to use. If necessary, it will be honed further. Experts from trade and industry, the research field and education practice are testing the GQF matrix in four occupational clusters and fields of activity (metal-working /electrical engineering, commerce, health care and IT) that were chosen as exemplars.
The Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder of the Federal Republic of Germany (KMK) set up the Federal-State Coordination Group for the German Qualifications Framework (B-L-KG DQR) to oversee and direct the development of the German Qualifications Framework. Numerous stakeholders from the general education, tertiary education and vocational education fields, the social partners and other experts from research and education practice are participating in the development process. Together with the B-L-KG DQR they comprise the German Qualifications Framework Working Group. The results of their work are reported back to the institutions and bodies that seconded the respective members to the Working Group.
The Board of the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training is one of these bodies. To date, it has adopted a resolution and a recommendation on the development of the GQF and set up a GQF/ECVET Working Group. In their GQF resolution from December 2008 01 the members of the BIBB Board stated that when formulating the GQF attention should be paid to ensuring that, as a rule, all of the GQF skill levels can be reached via school-based, university and vocational education pathways and career paths and that formal as well as non-formal and informal learning are taken into sufficient account in this connection.
In light of the broad range of different definitions and different understandings of non-formal and informal learning, the BIBB Board tasked the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training in late June 2009 with examining issues relating to the recognition of non-formally and informally acquired skills and competences.
This task specifically involved
- establishing an understanding of and a nomenclature for the recognition of non-formal and informal learning and, at the same time, mirroring the state of the international and national discussion, recommendations and processes,
- stimulating the continued discussion in Germany and generating impetus for innovation by providing extensive documentation of examples from neighbouring countries, and
- providing a look at the future with a critical examination of the steps that will be taken in upcoming work.





