ECVET: supporting mobility in VET
This is the fourth article in the series of articles initiated by the Working Group on Vocational Education and Training (VET). The Working Group has decided to include at least one VET-related article on the OBESSU website per month. Previous articles have been about the “dual education system”, the internationalisation of VET and advocacy for high-quality apprenticeships. The Working Group would be happy to get suggestions for future articles. If you have any ideas, do not hesitate to contact vet@obessu.org.
In this article we are going back to the reflection on internationalisation of VET, and we will take a closer look at a tool that makes this practice possible in Europe: the ECVET system. How to ensure that VET students can gain and validate their qualifications in another country? How to ensure the quality of learning outcomes? How to best support the learners in the process?
First of all: ECVET – what it actually is?
The acronym ECVET stands for European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training. It is a decentralised system, based on voluntary participation of European Member States and diverse stakeholders in the VET field. Students are entitled to gain, transfer and validate learning outcomes regardless of the country where they study. ECVET system allows accumulating them to obtain a professional qualification.
The ECVET is also a methodology that allows the functioning of the system. It proposes a description of qualifications in terms of units of learning outcomes (a number of learning outcomes units build a given qualification). The methodology also describes the transfer process for learning outcomes, with a strong emphasis on its assessment, validation, recognition and accumulation.
Finally, the ECVET system provides a quality framework for the process. It largely relies on the mutual trust of all partners (VET institutions, teachers and trainers, certification authorities etc.)
What is the legislation behind it?
The ECVET system was legally established through the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of the establishment of a European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET), which has been adopted in June 2009.
This document calls on the Member States to promote the ECVET system, to create necessary conditions for its implementation and support building national and European partnerships and networks of VET stakeholders. The Recommendation emphasises the importance of adopting all the necessary quality measures, in accordance with the Council conclusions of May 2004 on Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training.
Finally, the Recommendation set out the timeframe for the ECVET system implementation, with 2010 – 2012 being the period of preparation, testing phase starting in 2012, and an assessment in 2014. Currently, the system is implemented in various European countries, and there is an open discussion on possibility of revising this Recommendation.
The key concept: units of learning outcomes.
The most important feature of the ECVET system is the introduction of the “units of learning outcomes”. It allows to describe the achievements of a student gradually, combining learning outcomes into a full qualification. This approach is characterised by greater flexibility (also in terms of mobility), as well as encouraging students’ co-decision in designing the learning processes.
To better understand this concept, the National Contact Point for ECVET in Germany developed the Guidelines for stakeholders in the ECVET process, that in detail respond to questions such as:
- How are learning outcomes formulated?
- Who formulates learning outcomes and defines units of learning outcomes?
- How are learning outcomes described?
- How are units of learning outcomes assessed, validated and recognised?
…among many others.
How does it work in practice?
Perhaps the best way to understand a mobility process and how learning outcomes are accumulated to build a qualification is to watch this short animation cartoon, prepared by the ECVET Team. Enjoy!
What does OBESSU have to do with it?
OBESSU stands for allowing students to co-decide on their own learning process, for student mobility, as well as for making VET a more attractive and highly valuated educational option. The approach that ECVET proposes responds to those demands.
Last year we have been invited by the European Commission to join the ECVET Users’ Group – a body set-up to govern the quality and overall coherence of ECVET coordination, cooperation and implementation. Chaired by the European Commission, the ECVET Users’ Group is formed by representatives of national Ministries, with responsibility for VET, alongside other VET stakeholders involved in ECVET implementation, for example, social partners, employer associations and national agencies working to implement the Erasmus+ Programme. Being a member of the User’s Group, we are making sure, that VET students’ voice is heard and taken into account in all the decisions shaping the ECVET process.
