Developing organisational and financial models for including non-formal sector qualifications

All member states declared their willingness to implement NQFs, and most have already presented referencing reports to the EQF Advisory Group. According to Cedefop (2015), the first stage of EQF implementation is reaching its final stage. However, in most EU countries with a functioning NQF, only "formal" qualifications can be referenced to it. Very few countries have introduced systemic solutions to include non-formal sector qualifications, i.e. those attained outside the formal education sectors (e.g. Scotland, Ireland, France).

Europe is just now beginning to face the stage of implementing solutions to include non-formal sector qualifications in NQFs. It is envisaged that the inclusion of non-formal sector qualification will constitute one of most important topics in discussions on NQF implementation at the EU and national levels in the coming years. Central issues in these discussions will consist of model solutions, the quality assurance of this process and its financial aspects.

The process of designing systemic solutions can be supported by learning from international experience. Policy learning can help in expanding government choices and assist decision makers in finding the best solutions.

The main goal of the NQF-IN project is to provide evidence based support to national governments, EU agencies and key stakeholders in developing policies on including non-formal sector qualification into NQFs.

This will be done by:

1. providing systematised knowledge on the organisational and financial solutions applied in seven EU countries on including non-formal sector qualifications into their NQFs,
2. developing organisational and financial models on including non-formal sector qualifications into NQFs.

 Five Work Packages (WP) and nine Intellectual Outputs (IO) are envisaged in the project.

Work Package 1 will produce a methodology to be used for the preparation of the country reports. The basic concept and terms used in the reports will be defined. The data and information formats will be defined and potential data sources indicated. A country report template will be prepared, defining its structure, scope, list of problems to be addressed, approximate size of each main chapter. The Educational Research Institute (IBE) is leading this work, with each partner involved in reviewing the proposed methodology.

The Work Package 2 consists of the country reports – an in-depth analysis of systemic solutions related to the inclusion of non-formal sector qualifications in the seven countries of the partnership. The University of Split (UNIST) is the leader of WP2, responsible for coordinating the work on the country reports according to the developed methodology.

Work Package 3 will produce the final intellectual output – the organisational and financial models for including non-formal qualification in NQFs. Each developed model will include a description of:
- institutional arrangements, their pros and cons depending on the different goals set for the NQF, and the broad national, institutional and cultural contexts,
- cost intensity – how cost intensive are the different systemic solutions envisaged by the model,
- recommendations on its financing; who should bear the cost of the functioning of the new systemic solutions – should the financing be provided solely or jointly by the state, learners, social partners, awarding bodies,
- "conditions of success", i.e. which conditions have to be met in order for a particular model to work effectively within the qualifications system, e.g. financial resources, involvement of stakeholders, a well-developed career guidance system, appropriately qualified administration officials, etc.

IBE is also the leader of WP3. Each partner will review and contribute to the improvement of the models proposed by IBE.

Work Package 4 consists of dissemination activities. Each partner will contribute significantly to the dissemination of the products within their country and at the EU level.

Work Package 5 concerns project coordination, management and quality assurance activities, which are the responsibility of IBE, with each partner providing support to these activities.

The following intellectual outputs are being produced within the NQF-IN project:
- IO1: Methodology of preparing country reports,
- IO2 – IO8: country report for Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Ireland, Poland, Scotland,
- IO9: Models of including non-formal sector qualifications in the NQF.

 Three beneficiary groups of the results of our project can be distinguished, among whom are two direct beneficiaries and an indirect one:

1. Policy-makers at the regional, national and EU levels in the area of VET, CVET, LLL, NQF, key stakeholders participating in designing systemic solutions for including non-formal sector qualifications into an NQF (employer organisations, trade unions, branch organisations, training providers, awarding bodies, higher education). Additionally, experts from EU Agencies can also benefit from our project (European Commission, Cedefop, European Training Foundation).
2. Researchers, academicians, and other groups involved in lifelong learning policies nationally and in Europe.
3. The vast group of adult learners who will benefit from better VET and LLL policies. As per Eurostat (Adult Education Survey), 36.8% percent of adults (25-64) are in non-formal education and training in the EU-28 – a group of over 100 million persons, all of whom could indirectly benefit from the project.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MODELS OF INCLUSION – JUNE 5-6, 2018, WARSAW, POLAND

Agenda of the conference [download pdf file]