German Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training (DECVET) - fostering permeability and transparency in vocational education and training
Christiane Köhlmann-Eckel
Translated by: Martin Kelsey (Global-Sprachteam)
The specialist conference of the pilot initiative "DECVET - Development of a credit transfer system for vocational education and training" took place in Bonn in December 2010. The conference, which was held under the motto "using DECVET to structure vocational training in a more permeable way", addressed topics relating to the fostering of permeability and transparency in vocational education and training. This is a thematic area being accorded a considerable amount of attention both in the fields of academic research and educational policy.
Since the "DECVET" initiative was launched in 2007, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research has commissioned ten pilot projects across Germany to trial permeable structures in VET.
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Work has been ongoing in various branches to identify potential areas around the dual system where credit transfer can take place in order to facilitate the recording, transfer and crediting of learning outcomes from one area of the vocational education and training system to another. The aim of identifying and piloting possible areas of credit transfer potential at the interfaces around the dual system is to assist in increasing individual educational opportunities by promoting permeability and transparency via credit transfer within the German VET system. In order to achieve this objective, the requirements made of the pilot projects need to be practicable whilst also being in line with systematic academic research needs. These requirements were debated by the representatives of the DECVET pilot projects at the December 2010 specialist conference. The conference was staged at the Research Centre of the German Research Foundation in Bonn and also involved 150 further representatives from the academic research community and from company based VET practice as well as other delegates from the chambers, the federal states and the social partners.
The pilot project requirements posed by DECVET were highlighted from a range of different thematic perspectives in three working groups focusing on different areas of application.
- Area 1: Strengthening the principle of the regulated occupation - facilitating flexibilisation
- Area 2: Using competence diagnostics instruments to simplify credit transfer
- Area 3: Quality assurance via the linking of input and output orientation
The discussion forums created within each of the areas of application were based on a dialogue between research and practice and, together with the contributions made within the plenary session, facilitated a contrasting of the core topics of the initiative in terms of approach and feasibility of implementation. The DECVET pilot projects joined forces with their practical partners to present current results of their work.
In area of application 1, the potential benefits of flexibilised training were discussed. Debate also centred on the structuring of a future oriented VET system.
The working group addressing area of application 2 devoted its entire attention to the issue of recording and evaluating learning outcomes. The aim here is to use suitable procedures and competence assessment instruments to determine the learner outcomes to be credited, the focus being on the development and piloting of practically effective instruments for the various target groups and branches within the project. The pilot projects need to weigh up VET research requirements against the limits of the feasibility of implementation in practical examination terms.
The debate within the third area of application concentrated on a range of quality assurance factors as a continuous process for improving vocational education and training. The aim is for this to assist in the creation of trust between the educational establishments and thus support the credit transfer of learning outcomes.
The website http//www.decvet.net provides a large amount of information on the initiative itself and on the work of the DECVET pilot projects. Documentation from the DECVET specialist conference will also be available for download shortly.
