Search results

This article aims to take up a mirror image‐oriented position of the EQF and the announced ECVET system. It seeks to be concerned with the effects that the EQF transformation process into the respective NQF might have on the underlying systems of vocational education and training.

A comparison is drawn between the competence development the four different VET systems in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK initiated by the identical qualification demands of the sector of aircraft industry (AIRBUS plants in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK). This serves as a finding for the evaluation of the EQF and the effects it will could on the sector of the European aircraft industry.

Three hypothesises on: convergence of skill requirements because of the technologies and procedures tend to become the same all over the world if the same products are manufactured; divergence of the national VET systems as a consequence of adaptation such requirements; and a structural reference between requirements and the development of competence, are tested and validated.

The research was confined to the aircraft and space industry and one enterprise co‐operating in France, Germany, Spain, and the UK.

It was possible to establish two European occupational profiles for this sector (aircraft mechanic and avionic). The applicability of a method for depicting competence development based on Havighurst's theory of developmental tasks, is expected to be improved.

A method of evaluating competence development was applied that can be used, despite some differences.

The paper's aim is to present a critical review of the current European process of co‐operation in VET with a special view to the European Qualification Framework and its competence orientation.

The approach reviews the official documentation and the consultation process and a contrastive analysis of the state of the art of research and developments in VET.

In order to make European VET a direct contribution to the revised Lisbon agenda, a more concise shared vision with regard to the processes and structures of vocational education might be needed.

It does not seem possible logically and pragmatically to fully abstract from the processes in which competence is acquired and in which it is going to be used.

Research and development activities in the European Union should be integrated towards an agenda that covers structures, conditions and processes of learning for the world of work.

Apart from a few other contributions, critical accounts of current policies and its implications for research and practice are scarce.

This paper aims to explain the distinction between educational standards and learning outcomes and to indicate the problems that potentially arise when a learning outcomes approach is applied to a qualification meta‐framework like the European Qualification Framework, or indeed to national qualification frameworks.

The methods used are documentary, political and conceptual analysis, with some reference to empirical work carried out in relation to other projects.

It is found that there are substantial differences between learning outcomes and standards with large educational and political implications. Furthermore, the “pure” form of learning outcomes approach contains a design flaw, which makes its coherent implementation problematic.

The stimulation of further research on learning outcomes based approaches to qualifications and the problems that arise in their implementation.

The EU needs to think carefully about the fitness for purpose of the current descriptors for EQF and whether or not it is desirable to move away from a pure outcome‐based approach to qualification frameworks and meta‐frameworks.

As far as the authors are aware, this is the first paper to draw attention to this distinction.

The article introduces the concept of the “portability of qualifications” as a framework for discussing the consequences of globalisation for labour markets and for the systems and agencies of initial and continuous vocational education and training. It defines the concept in relation to terms such as “mobility”, “flexibility”, “core skills” and “key qualifications”. It provides examples from industry and from the craft trades in Europe. It discusses the role of “portability of qualifications” in developing regions through inward investment and the benefits and risks of “portability of qualifications” from the perspective of the company, the individual worker and labour markets of Europe. Finally, it looks at pathways to foster and maintain the portability of qualifications in vocational education and training.

This paper aims to explore how the competence-based vocational education and training (VET) curricula facilitate shaping of work values of VET students. It discusses methodological and ideological orientations of competence-based VET in teaching work values and discloses the typical characteristics of teaching work values in the VET system of Lithuania.

A quantitative research approach leading to a survey method is adopted to investigate how VET students acquire and apply work-related values and attitudes to work.

The survey of the VET students has disclosed that students are open to accepting different values of work, including cognitive values, social prestige and altruist values. However, orientation of the VET curricula to and provision of instrumental values lead to relatively weak internalization of the work values related to societal and spiritual dimensions.

The paper provides empirical evidence regarding the implications of the competence-based curricula for teaching students work values in the school-based VET.