Enhancing Quality Assurance in VET: European Framework & Core Criteria

1. Technical Working Group on Quality in VET Introduction on the European Common Quality Assurance FrameworkPrague, Czech Republic19-20.4.2004 Kim Faurschou

2. Agenda • Presentation of Kim Faurschou • Definitions • The European common reference framework on quality in VET • The common core criteria of quality assurance in VET • Selected examples

3. Kim Faurschou • Strategic competence development • Quality • Learning • Evaluation/assessment • Theorybased actionoriented consultant • Chairman (SME) • Boardmember (SME) • Manager • Consultant • Own company: FACO • International Sciencepark Fyn • External professor at University of Southern Denmark • faco@spo.dk

4. Definition of quality • Quality is a construction. • Quality = Experience Expectations

5. The European Common Quality Assurance Framework Model (Common Core Criteria) Methodology (Self-Assessment/Peer-Review) Measurement (indicators) Gains Mutual Trust Transparency Credit Transfer Monitoring (external)

6. The Common Core Criteria of Quality Assurance in VET • Purpose and plan • Feedback and procedures for change • Methodology • Implementation • Assessment and evaluation

7. From quality criteria to quality • Degree of Meeting the Quality criteria, • Our organisation has: • a clear purpose • an implementation plan • an assessment system • a systematic evaluation strategy • a visible and documented connection between feedback mechanisms and the planning process • a systematic approach to quality Perceived and delivered quality

8. The steps of the European Reference Framework and the common core criteria for quality in VET – an overview

9. Purpose and plan

10. Key features of quality assurance approaches Common to bothworking groups

11. Quality assurance – main questions • Are the goals/objectives of your VET system clear and  measurable? • What are the main instruments you use to assure  and develop quality in VET. • Is there a procedure in place in your country for assessing the input, the  processes, the output/outcomes of VET system • Which stakeholders are involved in the  different phases/steps of your quality approach (in particular in the assessment/evaluation phase) and in which roles? • Are there any feedback and procedures for  change built in your VET system and how are they organized?

12. Technical Working Group on Quality in VET Key features of quality assurance approachesWorking Group 2Prague, Czech Republic19-20.4.2004 Kim Faurschou FACO

13. WORKING GROUP 2QUESTIONS ON QUALITY ASSURANCE APPROACHES • Are the goals/objectives of your VET system clear and  measurable? • What are the main instruments you use to assure  and develop quality in VET. • Is there a procedure in place in your country for assessing the input, the  processes, the output/outcomes of VET system • Which stakeholders are involved in the  different phases/steps of your quality approach (in particular in the assessment/evaluation phase) and in which roles? • Are there any feedback and procedures for  change built in your VET system and how are they organized?

14. The Common Core Criteria of Quality Assurance in VET • Purpose and plan • Feedback and procedures for change • Methodology • Implementation • Assessment and evaluation

15. Questions for discussion (Working Group 2) • What are the major areas of success in assuring quality in VET? • What are the most problematic areas in assuring quality in VET? • What are the major trends in the reforms on quality in VET?

16. Technical Working Group on Quality in VET Self assessment for Education and Training Providers. Working Group 2Prague, Czech Republic19-20.4.2004 Kim Faurschou FACO

17. Self Assessment • a systematic and general overview of all the activities in the VET institution; • the possibility to acknowledge the coherence between what the organisation does and the results achieved; • an impact on learning; • a list of priority areas for improvement; • continuity in quality improvement, as evaluation is part of planning activities and progress of events; • shared participation in the process allowing for increasing motivation for change; • flexibility and adequacy of action as it focuses on local needs.

18. WORKING GROUP 2QUESTIONS ON SELF- ASSESSMENT OF TRAINING PROVIDERS • Place of self-assessment in your country’s approach to quality assurance in VET • Relationship between self-assessment (as a form of internal control) and external verification/evaluation of training providers • What are the results of self-assessment used for (internal quality improvement of training institutions, external monitoring, comparisons, benchmarking, other purposes) ? • Role of self-assessment in relation to other assessment tools used by training providers (ISO, total quality management, etc.)

19. The Self AssessmentGuide Questionnaires Strengths Areas of improvement

20. Questions for discussion (Working Group 2) • What are the major areas of success in self-assessment ? • What are the most problematic areas in self-assessment ? • What are the major trends in the reforms on VET in relation to self-assessment?

21. From a system-level point of view, self-assessment provides: • a systematic and general view of all the activities performed by all VET-providers; • continuity, since evaluation is a natural part of planning and activities; • effectiveness, since decisions are taken at grassroots level and the evaluation data are relatively easily utilised; • flexibility and appropriateness, since activities can be tailored to local needs from the beginning.

22. The European Reference Model for self-assessment with the core quality criteria

23. Characteristic features of a self-assessment organisation • The workplace community’s activities are based on cooperation and constant interaction. • The community questions its own values, its objectives and its action modes and examines them together from different points of view. • Different operating modes are tried out within the community and experiences are analysed together. • The community estimates its own functioning continuously and tries to make it transparent. • The community develops its members’ know-how continuously and tries to promote motivation to work and develop oneself.

24. Questions for discussion (Working Group 2 – Day 2) • How can you use the presented European Common Quality Assurance Framework? • Which voluntary initiatives are you planning at national level to assure quality? • How do you expect to participate in a more systematic sharing of experience and information?

25. Main focus points of the seminar • The main policy priorities as regards Quality in VET; • The most important institutions and actors (e.g. Ministries, specialized agencies or bodies, social partners, others) dealing with this issue • How the responsibilities are shared between them; • Possible existence of standards and norms on quality; • Possible accreditation arrangements for training providers; • How the funding of quality assurance procedures is organized

26. Competencies are “A collection of characteristics (i.e. skills, knowledge, self- concept, traits and motives), that enables us to be successful in our interactions with others at work, school, home, and in our community at large.”