The consultation process for the European Qualifications Framework is currently in progress

Klaus Fahle, Dr. Georg Hanf

On 14 December 2004, in Maastricht, the ministers responsible for vocational education and training of 32 European countries agreed to develop a European Qualifications Framework (EQF). Not only could a functioning EQF foster the convergence of vocational education and training systems and labour markets in Europe, it could also have consequences for vocational training in Germany.

1. Background

The ministers responsible for vocational education and training (VET) of 32 European countries adopted the so-called Maastricht Communiqué 01 in Maastricht on 14 December 2004. Among other points, this document essentially contains an agreement on developing a European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and a European credit transfer system for VET (ECVET). On 8 July of this year, the European Commission issued a document that outlines the fundamental features of the structure of an EQF. Organizations, institutions and interested individuals now have the opportunity to submit their comments on this document during the coming months as input in advance of the European Commission's presentation of its official proposal for an EQF.

The aim of a European Qualifications Framework is to create a European system for translating individual qualification levels and the training that leads to them. A system of this type could help increase mobility on the European labour market, between education systems and within individual education systems. It would improve transparency and make it easier for employers and educational institutions to assess the competences an individual has acquired.

Consultation process

The European Commission created what is known as the consultation process for Commission proposals that are particularly important for EU citizens. The aim of the consultation process is to obtain the broad public's opinion about a Commission proposal. The consultation process offers citizens an opportunity to comment on a particular issue. The Commission provides relevant questions. It then has an external service provider evaluate the answers and takes this input into consideration when it drafts its final proposal.

The consultation process for the European Qualifications Framework will run from July through December. The basic document for the process is available on the Internet at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/2010/consultations_en.html

A comparable consultation process was conducted in the education sector for the Memorandum on Life-long Learning and on the first draft of the Life-long Learning action programme, the successor to the Leonardo da Vinci and Socrates programmes.

The following article outlines how a European Qualifications Framework would work and endeavours to put the EQF into an education policy perspective and provide information regarding the consequences an EQF would have for vocational training in Germany.

2. From individual case to framework

The European Qualifications Framework will bring together various European lines of action. Since its establishment, the Community has in a number of initiatives developed procedures for the "recognition" of qualifications. This was done with the aim of facilitating worker mobility and thus establishing a European labour market. Efforts were undertaken in the years following the launch of the European education programmes to foster education mobility and, in doing so, create a European area of education and training; the crediting of time spent abroad toward a course of study or educational qualification was essential for this. This was followed by life-long learning's elevation to the common guiding principle for education policy in the Community in the mid-1990s. In practice, this has meant ensuring open access, transfer and progression within individual education systems and fostering the acquisition of qualifications and competences - which also includes recognizing informally acquired competences.

The "mutual recognition of certificates and other documents attesting completion of vocational training" was already an element of the General Principles for European cooperation in the education field laid down in 1963 02. At that time, gradually bringing training levels in the various member states into line with one another in actual practice was regarded as a prerequisite for this. Since then so-called sector directives were adopted following lengthy negotiations (lasting up to eight years in some cases) on common minimum standards (content, duration). 03 These directives apply primarily to architects and occupations in the health-care field. The policy of standardizing training at a fundamental level was dropped because of the cost it would involve. Instead, the Community decided to pursue a course of using "equivalences" for unregulated occupations and formal recognition of certificates of competence for regulated occupations.

For those vocational qualifications that are not covered by said directives (which would primarily involve qualifications at skilled-worker and specialist level), the Council Decision on the "comparability of vocational training qualifications between the Member States of the European Community" 04 (1985) established an information system for employers and workers (for 209 occupations). The annex to this decision contains a five-level system for qualification levels. The fact that this structure combined training criteria with competence criteria was problematic right from the start: On the one hand, access to education and training systems (input criteria) was used to define the individual levels. On the other hand however, the five-level system defined competence profiles (outcome criteria) such as the ability to perform technical work independently. This five-level system was never accepted in Germany. It was ultimately abandoned after an evaluation showed that employers and workers made too little use of it.

A recognition directive for higher-education diplomas awarded upon completion of professional education and training of at least three years' duration and a supplementary directive for diplomas and certificates for post-secondary education or training of shorter duration were adopted 05 in 1989 and 1992 respectively for "regulated" occupations - in other words, for occupations that, under legal regulations and administrative rules in the member states, may be practised only by persons holding proof of corresponding training. A number of other directives were adopted in the 1990s to supplement these directives on the recognition of occupational qualification. In order to standardize and streamline these systems, all these recognition directives have been consolidated in one single directive. Adopted on 6 June 2005, this directive is based on a (new) 5-level system that uses training duration, field of education and type of evidence of formal qualification. 06 This new system would assign both a German journeyman and a German master tradesman to Level 2. Germany voted against this directive. The cardinal error of this system is the fact that it classifies qualifications on the basis of training duration or education sector ? in other words, input categories ? although the issue here is the ability to perform specific types of work, in other words, competences.

The transparency of qualifications has been favoured as an alternative to recognition directives and equivalence procedures since the late 1990s. The aim here is to provide individuals instruments that they can use to present their qualifications and competences in a clear and comprehensive way to potential employers elsewhere in Europe: A European format for a curriculum vitae (Europass C.V.), information on certificates and higher education diplomas (Certificate Supplement), the Europass Training that documents time spent abroad undergoing vocational training, and a foreign language portfolio (European Language Portfolio). All these documents were ultimately integrated into the new Europass. 07 However, these are separate documents for individual qualifications. A common frame of reference that could be used to place individual qualifications in relation to one another was missing.

Back in the early 1990s, the European education programmes Erasmus (universities) and Petra (vocational training) were already working to integrate periods spent abroad into formal vocational training, using partnerships as a vehicle. The Leonardo da Vinci programme systematically established the conditions necessary for this, with universities arriving at solutions faster because they had more common ground. First efforts in the university sector took the form of agreements between individual universities or groups of universities on the transfer of credits for academic achievement. The European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) was established to provide a binding foundation for these agreements and created a set of rules for transferring credits which all European universities have committed themselves to following. In light of the fact that programmes and certificates differ widely in the way they are structured and organized, credit transfer agreements were still fraught with difficulties. This ultimately prompted agreement on a common framework for qualifications in the university sector (the well-known bachelor's / master's / doctorate structure). 08 The structures in the vocational education and training sector are considerably more heterogeneous. As a result, transferring credits above and beyond just individual cases is far more difficult. The Copenhagen Declaration 09 switched the points and put the vocational education and training train on the same track that the Bologna train had taken. The European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) is intended to work according to the same principles as the ECTS. And the European Qualifications Framework is to provide the common framework that connects the two.

3. Core elements of the European Qualifications Framework 10
The objective of the European Qualifications Framework is to develop a common description of qualifications that can be applied to all education systems in Europe. While sectoral directives and equivalence procedures require a direct, detailed comparison of courses and recognition directives even provide for the possibility of supplementary training when the differences between courses of training are more sizable, the European Qualifications Framework takes a different approach. The EQF represents a stable point of reference and changes in training courses can be easily put into relation to other courses with its help.

The EQF is not a mechanism for the recognition of vocational qualifications. Formal recognition of such qualifications ? inasmuch as this is regulated in the European Union ? is the subject of the recognition directive. 11

The EQF's underlying principle is orientation to learning outcomes. Learning outcomes comprise knowledge, skills and competences that are acquired in the course of training or through informal means. The European Qualifications Framework looks only at learning outcomes. The duration of training, training venue (schools, companies, universities, educational institutions) and form of training ("dual" vocational training, learning in the workplace, university studies, etc.) explicitly do not play a role. 12 This approach makes it possible to describe the learning outcomes for any course of training in a neutral way, without making direct comparisons or using the education or training system of a particular country as a frame of reference. As a result, the European Qualifications Framework provides a neutral framework that can be applied to every qualification or course of training in any EU member state. There is to be no preference for or discrimination against any education system.

The European Qualifications Framework is also called a meta qualifications framework. This means that training programmes are not to be directly assigned to an EQF level but rather to a level in a national qualifications framework which in turn corresponds to a particular EQF level. This makes it possible to take national peculiarities in education systems better into account. Only a handful of European states have developed comprehensive national qualifications frameworks to date (Ireland, Scotland and England). Germany too has yet to decide whether it should develop a national qualifications framework and how one should be organized. The Commission's proposal for a European Qualifications Framework encompasses school, vocational and university training and envisages eight classification levels.

The EQF in brief

The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) is a European framework that will make it possible to classify training certificates and qualifications on the basis of defined European levels. The proposal for an EQF envisages:

• Eight levels that cover both vocational training and university-level training
• An orientation toward learning outcomes
• Descriptions of learning outcomes, based on the terminology: knowledge, skills and competences
• Inclusion of informally acquired competences.

The EQF will help inject greater transparency into qualifications in Europe and improve permeability between and within education systems.

In order for the EQF to be able to fulfil its function, the descriptions of learning outcomes must be unambiguous, systematic and neutral. The proposal submitted by the European Commission foresees a uniform system of descriptions for each EQF level. The Commission makes use of the terms knowledge, skills and wider competences in a broader sense for this. Generally speaking, these terms represent a workable foundation for a European Qualifications Framework, particularly through the use of the term "wider competences". These three descriptors are defined as follows:

1. Knowledge
"Knowledge" encompasses factual, empirical and theoretical knowledge. The gradations here extend from recalling basic general knowledge all the way to using specialized knowledge and synthesizing stores of complex knowledge.

2. Skills
"Skills" in the European Qualifications Framework encompass knowledge and experience that is necessary for successfully performing a particular task or practicing an occupation. The spectrum here ranges from basic skills for performing simple tasks to the development of new skills that are based on the demands of new knowledge or technologies.

3. Wider competences
"Wider competences" encompass "autonomy and responsibility", "learning competence", "communicative and social competence" and "professional and vocational competence".

4. Challenges

Underlying concepts, terminology

For Germany, the primary challenge that a European Qualifications Framework poses is the fact that it is fundamentally geared to learning outcomes. This is more characteristic of Anglophone countries. Germany traditionally belongs ? particularly in the area of vocational training ? to that group of countries that take an institution-oriented or process-oriented approach. In other words, an approach that revolves around where and how something is learned. Qualifications are firmly anchored in communities of practice that guard them. 13

However, a systematic orientation toward learning outcomes poses a challenge at European level as well: The European Commission included a table with "supporting and explanatory information" (Table 2), with which competence levels and education pathways are linked one-to-one. This contradicts the framework's fundamental approach.

The use of learning outcomes as a point of reference has far-reaching implications for the terminology used to describe these outcomes. The differentiation between knowledge, skills and competences that is fundamental to the European Qualifications Framework is firmly established in the German context through the use of the terms Kenntnisse, Fertigkeiten and Fähigkeiten. Together, these concepts constitute vocational competence. Fähigkeiten (competences) however were explicitly codified in law only recently with the passage of the new Vocational Training Act. In reality they have been an integral part of training ordinances for nearly 20 years, expressed as "Planning and controlling work processes, checking and evaluating work results". However, knowledge, skills and competences are not broken down as such in the individual positions of the particular occupational profile or in the examination requirements set forth in training ordinances, even though some positions clearly fall under the heading "knowledge" and others under "competences". Most of the positions involve skills that partly require manifest theoretical knowledge and are partly based on experience.

Vocational competence is also a guiding principle for part-time vocational schools. As stated in the preamble to every framework curriculum, vocational competence takes the form of specialized knowledge-based competence (knowledge and know-how), human competence and social competence. These competences are used autonomously and on a method-driven basis for solving problems. Here too, curricula do not identify these competences individually. Particularly since the introduction of the "learning segment" concept in which instruction revolves around thematic units rather than individual subjects, these competences have been incorporated into an integrated approach.

Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research is currently reviewing training regulations and framework curricula to determine the extent to which they describe occupational competence suitably and consistently with sufficient precision. It is possible that training regulations and framework curricula will have to be rewritten as a result of this review. This could now be done in connection with the European Qualifications Framework which will require occupational competence to be formulated in the general standards for competences at various levels.

A special challenge for VET research consists of specifying competences in such a way that it is also possible to empirically identify and evaluate them. Reinhold Weiß, among others, has pointed out the serious methodological problems associated with this: The narrower and more specific the definitions of individual competences are, the better these competences can be identified and evaluated. In the process, sight is lost of the special features of Germany's "dual" vocational training system which combines part-time vocational schooling with practical work experience. The more general and unspecific definitions are, the harder it is to ascertain them empirically. 14

Another ? and probably the largest ? challenge that the European Qualifications Framework poses for Germany's system of education and training is the possibility that it could lead to a progression from the specification of competence standards to the certification of individual competences. However this is by no means inevitable: Descriptions are one thing, standards (in the form of examination regulations) for issuing qualifications for specific occupations are another 15.

New players, different roles

The process of assigning the individual training programmes to a particular level will be a key issue in the implementation of the European Qualifications Framework and/or a national qualifications framework. This process must be extremely consistent and reliable. However, this will be possible only when all players involved work closely together. Efforts here must take into consideration the fact that an EQF/NQF will cover not only those qualifications that have already been organized under the Vocational Training Act but also all formal secondary school qualifications as well as continuing VET and tertiary-level education.

The creation of a qualifications framework will give players influence over the development, range and quality of qualifications. A comprehensive framework will require intensive cooperation on the part of new partners as well. New forms of cooperation that extend beyond individual occupations, occupational groups, sectors and fields of education have to be looked into.

In Germany, the IT sector ? which can be considered a pioneer of the sector-based qualifications framework ? provides an example for new kinds of collaboration: A "sector committee" was set up whose members include IT companies, training providers, social partners, the Federal Employment Agency, experts from universities and private R&D institutes, and a vocational educator. There are also certification centres that must be recognized by an accreditation association that is governed by the German Accreditation Council.

As a first step in the consultation process for the EQR, the major players in the German qualifications system (federal government, state governments, employers' associations, trade unions, universities, "relevant bodies", German Accreditation Council) have to meet and come to an agreement.

One unanswered question that these players will soon have to deal with is: Who will assign the various qualifications / competences to the respective levels in the European framework? Given Germany's federal structures and the large number of players here, it foreseeable that this job will go to some type of decentralized system. Such a solution would particularly raise the question of how consistency and coherency can be ensured.

Competence-orientedness and pay scales

Collectively agreed pay scales in Germany are largely based on formal qualifications (in particular: qualifications that require completion of formal initial or continuing vocational training, but also university degrees), whereby the duration of training is a criterion used for classifying a particular qualification. 16 The introduction of a focus on competences could lead to a tendency to forego agreements between management and labour on the use of mutually recognized qualifications as the basis for pay scale classification and replace them with evaluations of company-specific or even individual competence profiles. Some ten years ago, Anne Francoise Theunissen (EBG) pointed out the possibility that collective agreements might be pushed aside in the wake of competence-orientedness "in favour of individually reached agreements for individual cases". 17 Less far-reaching implications for the pay scale system are also conceivable: As a result of more precisely-defined competence standards, qualifications that have been treated as homogeneous groups to date (e.g., skilled workers) could be assigned to different requirement levels and therefore to different wage groups.

The introduction of a European Qualifications Framework would not be the only reason for qualification-related changes in the pay scale system. Such changes are the subject of current national debates and the stage for these changes has been set by accelerated innovation processes and actual developments in the way work is organized ? developments that are triggering demand for individual competence profiles. 18

Quality assurance
Quality assurance is becoming the central topic of national and European vocational training policies. Open access to and permeability between qualification systems ? which the European Qualifications Framework (alongside new national educational pathways) is to enable 19 ? will initially mean less clarity. Which is why a systematic orientation to learning outcomes must be coupled with comprehensive quality assurance. 20

Both the Bologna Process and the Copenhagen Process set up working groups for quality assurance. The Technical Working Group on quality in VET developed principles for a Common Quality Assurance Framework. These principles target quality assurance at both system and VET-provider level. Quality at system level is to be ensured through (1) mechanisms that coordinate the supply of and demand for qualifications / competences, (2) the training of trainers, (3) information and guidance, and at provider level through (4) the establishment of quality management systems. The Technical Working Group developed (at least quantitative) indicators for all four dimensions. These indicators provide information about quality.

The need for quality assurance will be particularly acute in view of the increasing number of private players in the growing education market. Those bodies that have been authorized under public law should continue their task of laying down standards for competences that are incorporated into national qualifications frameworks in the future as well. They must also continue to be responsible for determining which competences are to be bundled into sets to form qualifications (certificates). Quality in connection with the issuing of certificates / qualifications can be ensured through bodies that have been recognized under public law or through the accreditation or certification of private bodies or their implementation of a quality management system. 21 The existence of different paths for accessing qualifications does not release the various providers from the obligation to furnish proof of their suitability ? on the contrary. Opening of education systems for cross-border learning and life-long learning does not mean a lack of control. Rather, the quality of qualifications must be ensured through accountability that can be verified.

5. Outlook

The European Qualifications Framework ? in conjunction with the development of a credit point system for vocational training ? has the potential to give new impetus for permeability between education systems in Europe and within individual education systems. This impetus will support reform efforts in Germany and give them new momentum. At the same time, the EQF is also flexible and open for national idiosyncrasies. Fears that the EQF could call into question Germany's "dual" vocational training system (which combines part-time vocational schooling with practical work experience) or the principle of tailoring vocational training to specific, recognized skilled occupations are not justified per se. The VET policy actors in Germany will continue to rule over the procedure in the future as well and their decisions will determine the direction that the vocational training system will take.

The European Commission has put the EU member states ? and Germany in particular ? under pressure by stipulating a short time frame for developing a European qualifications framework. We are not however starting "from scratch": The architecture of our education and training system has changed over the last ten years. The following "beginnings" can be observed:

1. Starting as long ago as the mid-1990s, new training regulations have been establishing open-structure models that facilitate the transfer / progression from one qualification to another.
2. In one sector, the IT continuing training system created a framework that encompasses all qualification levels, enables access to formal qualifications on the basis of occupational experience, and includes the crediting of vocational qualifications toward academic qualifications. To increase permeability between vocational and academic training systems, Germany's education and economics ministries and the social partners advocate a system for crediting vocational qualifications toward university education. This approach was generalized by the recommendation issued by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research ("BMBF"), the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany ("KMK") and the German Rectors' Conference ("HRK") on 8 July 2003 concerning the granting of credit for continuing vocational training and its application toward university studies. This recommendation is now being put into practice with a new BMBF programme (research, development, testing).
3. In order to avoid waits, the new Vocational Training Act provides for crediting competences that have been acquired at full-time school or elsewhere toward qualification earned in Germany's "dual" vocational training system. Such competences include training modules / introductory training (segments from a vocational training programme for a recognized occupation) qualifications. The possibility of expanding the "dual" vocational training required for a particular occupation through "supplementary qualifications" was also incorporated into the Vocational Training Act, thus prompting vertical and horizontal transfers or progression between qualifications (links between initial and continuing training).

Looking at these developments, it becomes clear that we are well on the way to establishing a national qualifications framework. It is time to consolidate the work being done on the various other aspects. 22

It is no longer possible to discuss national developments from just a national standpoint ? the national discussion and the European discussion have become interwoven. If we are to play an active role in shaping the future European qualifications framework, we must bundle national developments. The establishment of a European qualifications framework does not mean the end of national qualifications systems. Rather, it will give national developments an additional boost.

Further information online

• http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_culture/index_en.htm
  Important European documents are available ? in several languages ? at the homepage of the European Commission.
  
• http://www.na-bibb.de/eu-arbeitsprogramm/index.php?site=EU-Arbeitsprogramm
  Here you will also find important EU documents plus documentation from activities held in connection with the EQF.
  
• http://www.bibb.de/de/wlk18242.htm
  This site analyzes important EQF and ECVET developments from a VET policy perspective and processes information on them.
  
• http://bibb2.skygate.de/nlnabibb/?site=Newsletter
  Published twice a year, the National Agency's "Bildung für Europa" German-language journal provides background information on EU education programmes and relevant education policy issues in the EU. Subscriptions are free of charge. The National Agency's German-language e-mail newsletter usually appears once a week and offers up-to-the-minute information on education policy activities, calls for proposals, etc. at EU level. Subscriptions are also free of charge.

Selected BIBB publications on this subject

• Ekbert Hering, Waldemar Pförtsch, Peter Wordelmann
  Internationalisierung des Mittelstandes. Strategien zur internationalen Qualifizierung in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen
  Bielefeld 2001, Can be ordered from wbv, order number 102.244 for € 17.30
• Uwe Grünewald, Dick Moraal, Gudrun Schönfeld (Hrsg.)
  Betriebliche Weiterbildung in Deutschland und Europa
  Bielefeld 2003, Can be ordered from wbv, order number 110.423 for € 8.90
• Irmgard Frank, Katrin Gutschow, Gesa Münchhausen
  Informelles Lernen. Verfahren zur Dokumentation und Anerkennung im Spannungsfeld von individuellen, betrieblichen und gesellschaftlichen Anforderungen
  Bielefeld 2005, Can be ordered from wbv, order number 110.462 for € 23.90

Date of publication, information Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

Publication on the Internet: October-31-05

URN: urn:nbn:de:0035-0159-4

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