International Skills and Qualifications

Landscape

Borhene Chakroun

8 October2015

Presentation structure

1. Background

2. Global Study on the use of level descriptors

3. Implications for WRLs

4. Future Developments

Third International Congress Recommendation to UNESCO Director-General

Facilitate the international comparison and recognition of TVET qualifications

By

Developing international guidelines on quality assurance for the recognition of qualifications,

based on learning outcomes,

And

Identifying a set of world reference levels of learning outcomes

Filling the gap and supporting “mobilities”

1. Mobility of people: 240 million economic migrants and growing Skills and talent gaps across the globe

2. Mobility of jobs: Training and qualifications programmes based on national models and architecture not international requirements

3. Internationalisation of education and training: Cross-boarder education and training, growing use of sectors recognised awards rather than national qualifications, on-line certifications, etc.

4. Progression in LLL: Qualifications are not recognised across national boundaries

Main challenges

1. How to enhance mutual trust in qualifications across countries?

2. How to ensure that Knowldge, Skills and Competences are documented in a commonly accepted and understanble form?

3. How to convey pertinent information to employers, education and training providers, other actors across the borders?

4. How to facilitate the mobility of certified competent individuals? And What a competent individual/worker actually mean in specific context?

Global Study

World Reference Levels of Learning Outcomes – the use of level

descriptors in the 21st century

International landscape

Global Inventory on National AND REGIONAL Qualifications

Frameworks

8

Global revue of the use of level descriptors

CAPTURING A GLOBAL TREND

• The second edition of the QF inventory shows progress since 2013:

• 80% of UN member states are now developing or implementing NQFs

• The number of QFs is not growing fast, but in some countries developments are deepening.

• The focus of the research is global, addressing high, medium & low income countries

• 508 pages report including 6 thematic chapters, 84 individual country descriptions and 7 regional QFs

• A collaborative effort of Unesco, Cedefop, ETF & Unesco Institute for Lifelong learning

LIST OF 154 COUNTRIES OR TERRITORIES PLANNING, DEVELOPING OR IMPLEMENTING QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORKS

Albania; Angola; Andorra; Antigua & Barbuda; Argentina; Armenia; Australia; Austria; Azerbaijan; Bahrain; Bangladesh; Barbados; Brazil; Belarus; Belgium; Benin; Belize; Bhutan; Bosnia and Herzegovina; Botswana; Brazil; Brunei Darussalam; Bulgaria; Burkina Faso; Burundi, Cabo Verde; Cambodia; Canada; Chile; Colombia; Costa Rica; Côte d’Ivoire; Croatia; Cyprus (and Northern Part of Cyprus); Czech Republic; Denmark; Dominica; Egypt; El Salvador; Eritrea; Estonia; Ethiopia; Finland; France; Georgia; Germany; Ghana; Greece; Grenada; Guinée; Guinée Bissau; Guyana; Haiti; Hong Kong; Hungary; Honduras; Iceland; India; Indonesia; Ireland; Israel; Italy; Jamaica; Jordan; Kazakhstan; Kenya; Kiribati; Korea; Kosovo; Kuwait; Kyrgyzstan; Lao People’s Democratic Republic; Latvia; Lebanon; Lesotho; Liechtenstein; Liberia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Madagascar; Malawi; Malaysia; Maldives; Mali; Malta; Mauritius; Mexico; Montenegro; Montserrat; Palestine; Morocco; Mozambique; Myanmar; Namibia; Netherlands; Nepal; New Zealand; Nicaragua; Niger; Nigeria; Norway; Oman; Pakistan; Palestine; Panama; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Paraguay; Poland; Portugal; Republic of Moldova; Romania; Russian Federation; Rwanda; Saint Lucia; Samoa; Serbia; Senegal; Seychelles; Sierra Leone; Singapore; Slovak Republic; Slovenia; Somalia (Somaliland); South Africa; Spain; St. Kitts & Nevis; St. Lucia; St. Vincent and the Grenadines; Suriname; Swaziland; Sweden; Switzerland; Tajikistan; Thailand; The Bahamas; The Comoros; the Democratic Republic of Congo; The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; The Gambia; The Holy See, Timor-Leste; Togolese Republic; Tonga; Trinidad & Tobago; Tunisia; Turkey; Tuvalu and Vanuatu; Ukraine; United Arab Emirates; United Kingdom; United Republic of Tanzania; Uruguay; Viet Nam; Zambia; Zimbabwe.

THEMATIC CHAPTERS FINDINGS 1

• Learning outcomes are central to implementation of qualification frameworks.

• As national qualifications frameworks become operational, their impact on education, training and employment policies and institutions increases

• Regional qualifications frameworks, as exemplified by the EQF, can play a key role in inspiring QF developments and promoting international cooperation.

• NQFs help to identify strengths and weaknesses of existing qualifications systems and point to the need for new qualifications.

• The implementation of NQFs inspire and trigger

• new legislation, for example linked to lifelong learning

• new institutional solution, for example in quality assurance

• new forms of stakeholder involvement, for example by involving the labour market in qualifications design and review

• Qualifications frameworks facilitate international cooperation, illustrated by the regional qualifications frameworks and the UNESCO initiative on World Reference Levels

LEARNING FROM DIFFERENT CONTEXTS

Use of NQFs in Asia and Europe

Facilitating recognition beyond formal systems

Address informal employment

Develop private public partnerships

Support skills development

Adapt formal E&T systems

Develop learning outcomes

Amend standards, curricula & assessment criteria

NQFs influencing • standards, • curricula, • assessment

criteria based on learning outcomes

RECOGNITION of non-formal & informal learning

OPENNESS to all forms of learning

QUALITY CERTIFICATIONS based on the same quality as for qualifications from formal systems

Stakeholder

cooperation

at all levels

QA

RECOGNISING LEARNING

Application of knowledge, skills and competences

SADC

15 member states

No specification

for credit transfer

ASEAN

10 member states

No specification

for credit transfer

EQF

27 member states

ECVET

Caribbean

15 member states

Credit system envisaged

TQF

29 member states

Clearing

House

Regional Qualifications Framework

RECOGNISING LEARNING

Application of knowledge, skills and competences

GQF

6 member states

Draft

No specification

for credit transfer

PQR

15 member states

Registar

ECOWAS

15 member states

Draft

No specification

for credit transfer

Central American Qualifications

Framework

6 member states

Tertiary Education

Credit system envisaged

Regional Qualifications Framework

Arusha (Addis)

Recognition Convention

22 member states

Revised end-2014

Asia-Pacific Regional

Convention

21 member states

2013 process to encourage ratification

Guidelines being

developed

Lisbon Recognition Convention

53 member states

Involvement of NARIC network

Latin America and the

Caribbean Regional

Convention

Regional survey

underway

A regional meeting

planned in Brazil in

October 2015

Global standard-setting

instrument on the recognition

of higher education

qualifications

37th General Conference

To build upon regional

conventions

Regional conventions on Higher Education

Professional and occupational standards

•Learning outcomes are widely used

•Domains coupled with levels of proficiency

•Examples include the INSSO, Tuning, DISCO

Learning metrics

•Empirical notion of level is used

•Highly contextusalised categories

•Examples include LMTF, STEP, PIAAC, LAMP, WorldSkills

Occupational classification systems

• Increasingly being used on qualifications frameworks

•Highly developed and differentiated levelling schemes

•Examples include ISCO-08, O*NET, ESCO

Educational classification systems

•General expectations and “graduateness”

•Level is linked to sets of education programmes

•Examples include ISCED, SBS

Other recognition technologies

SETTING LEVELS OF LEARNING

The level of learning

On-line Certifications

• Test-based credentials: Market-based.

• Online Badges:

• Online Certificates:

Key findings

Research questions

Central research question :

What are the convergences and divergences across level descriptors used in different types of qualifications frameworks, and other contexts, such as in international surveys?

QUALIFICATIONS FRAMEWORKS Africa: South Africa; Central and South America: Chile and Costa Rica; Europe: Poland, Germany and Scotland; Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea; Arab States: United Arab Emirates; Australasia: Australia. All existing regional qualifications frameworks were also included: SADC RQF; CARICOM TVET QF; ASEAN RQF; EQF; QF-EHEA; and PQR.

OTHER CONTEXTS

Research Scope

Overview of the conceptual framework and key findings

CATEGORISING LEARNING

Learning in a lifelong learning context

Domains of learning

RECOGNISING LEARNING

Qualifications and qualifications frameworks

Application of knowledge, skills and competences

Assessment of learning outcomes

SETTING LEVELS OF LEARNING

The level of learning

CATEGORISING LEARNING

Domains of learning

Findings related to the domains of learning

• Despite the fact that many regional qualifications

frameworks are still at earlier stages of

development, the KSC domains are widely used;

• A hierarchical classification of levels, described by

the level descriptors, in most instances ranging

between six and ten levels.

• Convergence in the use of domains

• Lack of explicit description of

progression

• Independence between the provision

of education and training, and

qualifications development

• Lack of an explicit conceptual

framework

Finding related to Levelling through

level descriptors

• Convergence on the recognition of the

importance of assessment of learning

outcomes,

• Convergence on promoting the equal

value of learning outcomes of formal, non-

formal and informal learning,

• Large-scale international assessments on

skills development (PIAAC, STEP, etc.),

• Work-based learning is becoming more

central to skills development and

assessment of learning outcomes

Finding related to Assessment of

learning outcomes

Implications for the WRLs

Definition and purpose of WRLs

• Definition: A set of hierarchical statements, using

learning outcomes, that describe levels of learning achievements across different types of learning sufficiently generalised to be applied internationally.

• Purpose: A set of world reference levels, with the clear purpose to describe levels of learning achievements across different types of learning on a global level in order to promote the recognition of learning in a context where both people and jobs have become, and will continue to be, increasingly mobile

The development of World Reference Levels: 4 Scenarios

• Reference point –contribute by providing a common

language and approach to the use of learning outcomes through peer learning and international comparative work.

• Transparency tool –make learning and the recognition of learning more transparent across countries and regions.

• Facilitate recognition – ultimately, the world reference levels could impact directly on the recognition of qualifications and learning on a global level.

• Normative – here the world reference levels become a “global standard” against which countries and regions benchmark their systems.

Thank you

What WRLs can offer?

• Common language and approach to the use of learning outcomes across-boarder and in lifelong learning perspective

• An internationally shared hierarchy of level descriptors that allows comparisons of any kind of learning

• Act as common metric

• Strengthen Recognition methodologies by developing and providing international guidelines and resources

• Support representation

• Has international legitimacy and credibility

30

Who will use them and for what?

• Organizations: For Comparing Learning Outcomes/For Referencing?

• Individuals: For Representation?

• Market: Use internationally recognized metric?

31

WRLs: A matter of being proactive, or catching up?

Adopting Top Down or Bottom-up Approach? Offering

more than what NQFs/RQFs are offering?

Qualifications Frameworks I, II

and III Transnational

QFs

Qualifications

Referencing

Representation

International qualifications

New developments

based on market demands...

unregulated and often lacking transparency

Government and

international agencies

response to address RQ and “common good”

of education

33

WRLs

Review

Conceptua-lisation

Consultation

Political Process

Overall Process of Development of World Reference Levels

Three-Tier Approach

- Community of practices

- Cooperation and joint initiatives

- Supporting capacity building

Connecting RQFs

- Review

- Conceptualization

- Consultation

- Political

WRLs

Putting the Shanghai

Recommendation at work

- Mobilization

- Communicating and promoting

- Collective actions

Advocacy

MAIN CONCLUSIONS

1. Reference document to guide global monitoring, policy development and peer learning

2. QFs tools to link Education &Training systems but can go beyond formal education

3. Can G20 gain from working together on NQF; RQF and RPL? Is there added value in working together, rather each working on their own on their own?