El Oso Andino, el gran comunicador del Macizo Colombiano

Table

1. A summary of the effects of selected mechanisms on VET 169

Figures

1. Conceptual cycle of links between VET, qualifications systems and labour market 147 2. Lifelong learning and qualifications systems: the complete picture 151 3. Elements of a national VET system that can be modernised through the national

qualifications system 156 4.The European qualifications framework 172

A significant proportion of young people leaving initial education and training programmes every year do so with a qualification awarded by the vocational education and training (VET) system. Frequently, individuals, employers, researchers and policy-makers argue that VET systems deserve more attention because they make a major contribution to the economy and provide knowledge, skills and competences both to employees and employers. At least two aspects need to be addressed to modernise VET systems. The first relates to pedagogy and content because a modern VET system must deliver the expected outcomes so that individuals can find a suitable job in a reasonable amount of time, and employers can obtain the knowledge, skills and competences they expect to develop and encourage in the workplace. The second aspect relates to the way the dissemination of information about VET outcomes is organised and about how qualifications are awarded. Presently, employers may not find the appropriate skills and competences they need in the market either because they do not exist – VET systems have not incorporated them in their programmes – or because employers do not know where to find them. An important challenge for the VET system is, therefore, that it be able to deliver the expected skills and competences and that it be able effectively to provide information about how the system functions. This approach is interesting because it invariably needs to address the way feedback should be organised within the VET system to offer a steady flow of information on how best to provide relevant education and training. A national qualifications system and its subcomponents, such as a qualifications framework, can address most issues related to content and information. This report focuses on the role of qualifications systems in helping to modernise VET with, where appropriate, a more specific focus on qualifications frameworks.

The economic role of VET is twofold: to equip individuals with the skills and competences they need to enter the labour market and be financially

independent; and to provide employers with a productive workforce. Countries are interested in a good VET system because it can help develop new and existing trades. These rather broad objectives encompass more narrow but important ones such as preparing individuals for mobility and flexibility so that they can cope with the changing economic environment and evolving work practices. Studies show that most learning happens on the job. This type of learning, also known as experiential or non- formal and informal learning, has a lot of value to employers and individuals. However, it is a type of learning that is sometimes difficult to assess, either because it is not necessarily observable or measurable or because individuals are not keen on going through a recognition process (Werquin, 2007). VET systems also involve social partners, who are traditionally and heavily involved in discussions on education and training of workers, and governments, which are usually in charge of monitoring national VET systems. In this particular case, governments are especially involved, because national VET systems can help support major new policy orientations that governments may wish to adopt, for example improving self-sufficiency or shifting their manufacturing-based economies to knowledge economies.

VET systems can also have a social function by conferring social status and personal identity to individuals, as different levels of VET learning can be associated with financial returns. This derives from the fact that qualifications are almost always the societal benchmark by which people establish their social status, and these qualifications are often gained through VET. Also, VET systems can promote a more inclusive society where a strong social agenda exists. Governments, through funding, have a major lever to promote their VET policies.

To understand how national qualifications systems can help modernise VET, it would be useful to provide a definition. The concept is very broad, it includes ‘[…] all aspects of a country’s

activities that result in the recognition of learning. These systems include the means of developing and operating national or regional policies on qualifications, institutional arrangements, quality assurance processes, assessment and awarding processes, skills recognition and other mechanisms that link education and training to the labour market and civil society [...]’ (OECD, 2007a).

Qualifications systems are the focus of this background report. It examines several dimensions of qualifications systems particularly important from a VET point of view, such as:

providing credit transfer; (a)

optimising stakeholder involvement in the (b)

qualifications system;

recognising non-formal and informal learn- (c)

ing;

establishing qualifications frameworks; (d)

creating new routes to qualifications; (e)

optimising quality assurance; (f)

expressing qualifications as learning out- (g)

comes;

improving needs analysis methods so that (h)

qualifications are up-to-date;

improving information and guidance about (i)

qualifications systems;

recognising skills for employability; (j)

investing in pedagogical innovation; (k)

ensuring qualifications are portable. (l)

OECD (2007a) addresses the role of national qualifications systems in promoting lifelong learning. It proposes definitions (2_{) based on}

mutual understanding of terms and concepts, is heavily based on research carried out since the beginning of the decade. It has generated a vast amount of literature ranging from studies on motivation to learn, to system-wide policy reviews.

All this is used in this background report to look closely at what it tells us about modernising VET. One of the main messages from OECD (2007a) is that qualifications systems are indeed a force for intervention in the modernisation of lifelong learning, which includes VET.

We consider VET to be defined as any form of education and training that provides skills, knowledge and competences that help individuals to enter the labour market and/or to perform well in it. The VET system, therefore, includes all aspects of a country’s activities linked to the definition of curricula, programmes and syllabi; delivery of learning; and recognition of learning outcomes that may have value in the labour market. This definition and that of ‘qualification’ (see footnote 2) show how closely the two systems – qualifications system and VET system – are connected.

Work on the European qualifications framework (EQF) has generated interest, in European countries and beyond, in developing national qualifications systems and frameworks (Bjørnåvold and Coles, 2008). Already, some countries are considering and developing qualifications frameworks that will link with the EQF, and others are thinking about how to unify the separate sectoral qualifications systems and frameworks that coexist within their territories by creating an integrated qualifications framework. While qualifications frameworks are only components of qualifications systems, one of the reasons for developing these frameworks includes VET modernisation (Coles, 2006). All national qualifications frameworks (NQF) include generic objectives such as establishing national standards for learning outcomes; promoting through regulation the quality of education and training provision; linking qualifications to one

(2_{) ‘A qualification is achieved when a competent body determines that an individual has acquired knowledge, skills and/or wider}

competences to specified standards. The standard of learning is confirmed by means of an assessment process or the successful completion of a course of study. Learning and assessment for a qualification can take place during a programme of study and/or workplace experience. A qualification confers official recognition of value in the labour market and in further education and training. A qualification can be a legal entitlement to practise a trade’ (OECD, 2007a).

‘A qualifications framework is an instrument for the development and classification of qualifications according to a set of criteria for levels of learning achieved. This set of criteria may be implicit in the qualifications descriptors themselves or made explicit in the form of a set of level descriptors. The scope of frameworks may be comprehensive of all learning achievement and pathways or may be confined to a particular sector – for example, initial education, adult education and training or an occupational area. Some frameworks may have more design elements and a tighter structure than others; some may have a legal basis whereas others represent a consensus of views of social partners. All qualifications frameworks, however, establish a basis for improving the quality, accessibility, linkages and public or labour market recognition of qualifications within a country and internationally’ (OECD, 2007a).

145

another; and promoting access to learning, transfer of learning and progression in learning. NQF often have many other policy purposes beyond their generic aims. The development of a national qualifications framework can be used to modernise parts of education and training systems because it may help in changing regulation of the quality of qualification processes and/or how public funds are used to support education and training.

This research review is, therefore, timely. It starts from the assumption that qualifications and the qualification process are crucially important elements in modernising VET. The OECD work has led to a clear distinction between

qualifications frameworks, which are constructs for transparency, regulation and reform, and qualifications systems, which include the qualification process, needs analysis, governance and quality assurance. The latter (qualifications systems) is the principal focus of this review, since national and employment sector systems in every country are the bodies with the capacity to modernise VET. Nevertheless, qualifications frameworks are a significant part of qualifications systems that have the potential to carry forward reform and foster change.

Given that the definition of VET is about creating and maintaining skills and competences for the labour market (3_{), a legitimate question is}

whether the VET system gives individuals, and in particular young people, the necessary skills and competences to perform well in the labour market. A potential lack of links between initial VET and the labour market is often quoted as one of the possible explanations for the high youth unemployment in many countries. An obvious issue to be addressed, therefore, is the need to examine the best way to modernise VET systems to improve the match between the knowledge, skills and competences of newcomers and the expectations of labour-market actors.

Proposing ways to modernise VET means identifying components of the VET system that can be addressed through public policy, this background report will focus solely on the role of qualifications systems in improving or modernising the VET system. We argue that qualifications systems can help modernisation by influencing the behaviour of stakeholders within the system (Figure 1). A first step is to review carefully the links and possible relationships between the qualifications system and the labour market. This will help to identify the elements of VET that can be modernised to make sure the skills and

competences created by the VET system are up-to-date and, therefore, adapted to the needs of the users, employers being the main ones. This conceptual cycle, linking VET and the labour market through the use of qualifications systems as a policy tool, is meant to reduce the mismatch between the characteristics of VET graduates (the labour supply) and the expectations of employers (the labour demand).

The labour market is the natural starting point for such an exercise because it is where the issues connect to one another: qualifications, skills and competences and their visibility, plus the VET system. The definition of VET – creating and maintaining skills and competences for the labour market – indicates how important it is to pay attention to the link between the qualifications system and the labour market when examining the modernisation of VET. This approach necessarily involves a review of employers and individuals’ behaviour, and a review of the functioning of the labour market and the education and training systems. To understand the relationship between VET, qualifications systems and the labour market, we now show some specific examples of links. Taken together, discussions of these specific examples lead us to conclusions about which parts of VET are likely to be conducive to change and modernisation through the qualifications system.

2.1.

Ensuring a good supply of

skills

The needs of employers – even needs based on an aggregate of all employers – are likely to be immediate and generated by modernising work practices and changing trading conditions. Many of these needs will be short-term in nature and changes in working practices may take place over a short time frame. As a consequence, it can be difficult for employers to predict their needs

2. Qualifications and the labour market

(3_{) See Figure 1 for an illustration. See Figure 2 for the complete picture.}

Figure 1. _{Conceptual cycle of links between}

VET, qualifications systems and labour market

VET Qualifications_system

sufficiently ahead of time; putting the VET system in a precarious situation and under criticism.

Part of the infrastructure of the economy is the network of learning providers, which requires steering during periods of growth and contraction and, therefore, requires a longer-term view of priorities. Since competence requirements seem to evolve very quickly, it has become difficult to anticipate the future needs of the labour market, even in the short term. It becomes especially difficult when considering any change to the qualifications system, since updating the national registers and describing all the qualifications – and sometimes a framework of qualifications – takes time, often several years. The situation is, therefore, complex because three different processes coexist in the labour market: the training process, the qualifying process and the production process.

In many countries the supply of skills (i.e. the number of people entering the labour market at their varying levels of qualification) is set to become an issue. A demographic downturn is expected in the next generation and the level of completion of upper secondary education seems to be reaching a plateau (Cedefop, Béduwé and Planas, 2003). This means that, in some countries, employers will be seeking to recruit from a shrinking pool of qualified people. The role of employers in enhancing lifelong learning is, therefore, likely to become increasingly pertinent.

The OECD’s large-scale study of adult learning (2003; 2005) highlighted the role of the employer as provider of professional upgrading. While this survey did not focus specifically on learning for a qualification, it did point out the extent of the unmet demand for learning among workers. Taken with other, more general evidence of the rise in the need for qualifications as described above, this could indicate an unmet demand for qualifications, whether individual workers possess the corresponding skills or not.

For the VET system to deliver education and training programmes that meet the needs of the employers in terms of expected skills, some sort of organisation is necessary. In this context, qualifications may be seen as a package of skills. If properly organised, the system will then allow identification of skill shortages and/or labour shortages in some specific sectors where the VET system does not produce enough graduates, or

quickly enough. A good example, or remedy, for this sort of problem, is provided by the involvement of all stakeholders in the VET system where a dual system exists.

The role of the national qualifications system in making skill shortages visible and quantifiable may have a powerful influence because national qualifications systems become a tool for monitoring the VET system as a whole. It is powerful also because there are national definitions of occupational standards which can be grouped into a qualification and become a commodity.

A negative consequence of such an organisation is that there is a balance to be struck between tailoring provision to a range of learners and maintaining a system that looks and works in a coherent fashion. A fragmented system may allow catering for many different useful needs but it would also lead to a lack of coherence and transparency.

2.2.

Optimising returns on