CQAF VET – Quality Assurance System for Vocational Education and Training According to ISO System. Provider Model.
CALL: LLL – Innovation Transference
LENGTH: 24 months
STARTING DATE: 1 October 2009
RESOLUTION NUMBER: 2009-1-SE1-LEO05-02267
1. PARTNERS
Promoter
Folkuniversitetet Uppsala, Sweden
Partner entities
DOCUMENTA, Spain
DIMITRA, Greece
REVALENTO, The Netherlands
MMC Management Centre, Cyprus
2. SUMMARY
Vocational Education and Training (VET) differ between countries in European Union. In some, guidelines are nationally decided and in some even regionally or locally. These differences have resulted in different sets of approaches to Quality Assurance (QA) aspects.
Lack of a basic common European QA standard for VET constitutes a barrier to transparency and mobility within EU. One of the major outputs of the European cooperation regarding elaboration of common European standards in VET is Common Quality Assurance Framework (CQAF) which was endorsed by the Education Council in May 2004.
CQAF is a reference system designed to support Member States to develop, improve, monitor and evaluate their QA systems, based on common principles. The endorsement of CQAF was the first step towards the transparency between QA-systems in VET in Europe. However, until now, CQAF has addressed VET at rational level and not at provider´s level and it has been based on voluntary participation. Regarding adaptation of existing QA-system in VET at provider´s level to CQAF, there is still a long way to go.
The proposed project addresses the above problem. The overall objective is adaptation of an existing QA model in VET to the standards and criteria of CQAF. The proposed project aims to adapt the Swedish QA-model, which is based on ISO 9001-2000 at Folkuniversitetet Uppsala, to CQAF.
The above model is a practical tool which comprises a set of operational documents based on a list of criteria for QA in VET according to ISO 9001-2000. The Swedish model highlights crucial aspects in quality such as correspondence with labour market demand, the degree and quality of stakeholders’ participation, the flexibility of education providers and a relevant pedagogical approach.
3. GENERAL OBJECTIVE
The main aim of this project is to design, create, test and validate a quality European model for VET (based on the current Sweden model) with a view to promote transparence in Europe.
4. TARGET AUDIENCE
People and entities related to training areas and/or quality in training.
5. MAIN PRODUCTS
The main product will be a common European tool of QA in VET, and the documents required for its implementation.
