Internationality of vocational education and training
In light of today's global economic relations and the European Union's political objectives for the year 2010, monitoring and analyzing European and international developments in the vocational education and training (VET) field are of vital importance. Vocational training research that is geared to this provides the foundation for the internationality that is called for in vocational education and training. Objectives in this connection are:
- Fostering workers' international skills;
- System reforms based on international comparisons of structures and performance;
- The creation of a European education area;
- Fostering the development of efficient vocational education and training systems abroad.
New research activities undertaken during the program period will concentrate on developments in the European education area. At their meeting in Lisbon in the year 2000, the EU heads of state and government formulated common goals for the progressive development of their education systems. These goals are to be implemented by 2010. In keeping with this, the EU Member States stepped up the integration process in the VET field with the Bruges initiative to open up European vocational education and training systems and the Copenhagen declaration on increased cooperation. The transparency of competences and qualifications and a system of credit transfer are key to the creation of a European vocational training area. For this reason, the ministers in charge of vocational training, the social partners and the European Commission advocated the development and implementation of a European Qualifications Framework (EQR) in the Maastricht Communiqué in December 2004. The European VET policy objectives being pursued through the EQR reflect national priorities as well. European and international classification systems have not to adequately reflected the quality and importance that German certificates have within the education system or for the employment system. Up to now, credits earned in other schools or systems were recognized only on a case-by-case basis
The current European and National Qualifications and Credit Transfer Framework project is assisting the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with the development of a blueprint for a European Qualifications Framework (with a focus on vocational qualifications) and is developing examples of elements for a national qualifications and credit transfer framework for individual occupational fields (at initial and continuing training level), taking into account the German education system's approach to vocational training in which individuals are trained for a specific, defined occupation. An international research project will be set up on the basis of the work done in this project. The international project will have close links with the Skill Standards in the Vocational Education and Training Sector project and its findings will be applied to the latter.
