Tags: CQAF | EQARF | Evaluation | Qualität in der Berufsbildung

The Barcelona European Council in 2002 set as a target to make Europe's education and training systems a world quality reference by 2010. Since then important steps have been made towards this objective. The Copenhagen declaration (November 2002) set the basis for the development of a Common Quality Assurance Framework for VET in Europe (CQAF). In May 2004 the European Council endorsed the CQAF. The CQAF builds on the target set by the European Council, and is included in the report on the follow-up of the objectives of Education and Training systems in Europe.The European Network on Quality Assurance for Vocational Education and Training (ENQA-VET, established in October 2005), is a follow up to the Council Conclusions of 2004. It provided, in some cases supported by national quality assurance reference points, for a limited number of initiatives and projects at national and European levels, which were carried out to support, test and refine the CQAF.

The use of CQAF is voluntary. The primary users are national/regional authorities, public and private bodies (including training providers) in charge of quality assurance and improvement. The need to promote a culture of quality improvement and wider participation in the ENQA VET, namely by drawing on the principles of the CQAF, was underlined by the European Ministers of Vocational Education and Training in Helsinki (5 December 2006). The application of the CQAF at national /regional systems and at training providers is reported in national and sectoral reports in the virtual community for Quality Assurance in VET (http://communities.trainingvillage.gr/quality) and in the ENQA-VET documents. For Greece, Spain and France there are nor national reports neither any other information for the application of CQAF. For Germany and Romania there have been developments, but still there is a lot to do, especially at the level of training providers.

The aims of the project are:

• To develop quality assurance in vocational training through benchmarking of quality practices and transnational co-operation.

• To promote the use of the CQAF according to the Copenhagen declaration, by identifying, comparing and exchanging quality practices in VET

• To allow practical application of the CQAF in VET through the use of online benchmarking tool and quality practice database

• To build and capitalize on previous work carried out by CEDEFOP, DG Education & Culture, ETF, Leonardo da Vinci Programme and ENQA-VET.

• To promote transnational cooperation through the operation of a thematic portal in quality assurance in VET.

The concrete objectives of the project are:

• To develop an electronic benchmarking tool, which will allow training providers in VET to online benchmark their quality approach against CQAF core criteria and database collections of good practice.

• To identify quality models and practices at institute level in VET. The analysis will include quality assurance models and practices, including procedures, criteria, indicators, mechanisms and tools of quality assurance.

• To elaborate a web based "quality sharing network" in VET, which will be based on quality profiles gained through benchmarking and will enable training providers to ad hoc search for CQAF compliant good practice matching with their internal quality process.

 

• To build CQAF capacities through establishing a "good practice centre", which will give access to online Communities of Practice (VET policy makers, VET institutes, researchers and practitioners) and quality sources.

• The development of a thematic portal that will be the main reference point for practitioners, researchers and policy makers that are looking for information for quality assurance in VET training institutes.

IDEC Griechenland	Federation of Industrial Trade Unions (OBES) Griechenland	p&w praxis und wissenschaft projekt gmbh Deutschland	FiaTest Rumänien	IFCIL Frankreich	Lernende Regionen Deutschland e.V.	Universita Florida Spanien