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Leonardo Partnership „Validation of Learning: Validation of knowledge/ skills/ competences acquired by non formal/ informal learning“
Background
Validation of non-formally and informally acquired knowledge, skills and competences is a priority item of the EU education policy with still further growing significance: In this knowledge based society the most effective use of all competences of its members - irrespective of how, where or when acquired – becomes more and more essential for the individual, for economic competitiveness and for society as a whole. The fact that about 70% of vocational skills are acquired non-formally, i.e. outside of educational institutions, is significant proof of the importance of non-formal/ informal learning for the continual adjustment of professional skills to meet a permanently growing demand in the world of work and for the maintenance of an individual’s employability. At national levels and with different intensity during the last decade, EU members started to introduce methods and systems for documentation, evaluation and validation of results of non formal and informal learning. A number of EU members and their labour market actors have made good progress and are ready to share their experience with others. The introduction of the European Qualification Frame with its national competencies (NQF) gives a new impetus to this process. Transparency and validation of knowledge and skills acquired outside of formal education (e.g. at work, in the family, in voluntary work) supports the development and inclusion of all, especially those at disadvantage and vulnerable in society.
Aims and Objective
The objective of the 2-year partnership was to facilitate an exchange of information and experience “from organisation to organisation” on validation of non-formally and informally acquired skills and competences: Needs and experience in support systems for adults’ learning differ between national VET systems. This is true also for different target groups who need specific approaches and procedures. The countries’ level is very different. Some partner countries have compiled a long and broad validation experience in their national education systems, others are lagging behind. A key item will be the EQF European Qualifications Framework and corresponding NQFs (learning outcomes approach) with high relevance and actuality for learning validation, its quality and credibility. Learned validation experience was analysed by the partners against a background of their own needs, adapted to national conditions and used for own validation purposes with and for adult learners.
The Partnership
The idea for the “Leonardo-da-Vinci –Partnership” originated from a Leonardo- Contact Seminar in Birmingham (UK, Sept 2007). The initiators from Germany and Norway shared their experience in assessing and validating non-formally or informally acquired skills of adults. They agreed to organise together with further partners an exchange of experience and “good practice”. Being a member of the European CO.N.E.CT Association, the co-ordinator invited partners working in similar fields and with various target groups (unskilled, migrant workers, unemployed, etc.). Another important aspect was a fair geographical composition of the Partnership.
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ABU gGmbH, Berlin (DE, co-ordinator) has a long VET experience with adults under difficult conditions of economic transition and high unemployment rates (e.g. formally low qualified workers, migrants, long-term unemployed etc.). Assessment, profiling and validation of skills are an important field of activity. (www.abu-ggmbh.de)
DEMÀ (Departament d’Estudis dels Medis Actuals) Barcelona (ES) is a non-profit Association, work in several areas in adult education, particularly in the field of labour and social integration, training for trainers; development of active citizenship, pedagogical and methodological research, etc. The association is experienced in guidance for education of older unskilled workers. (www.dema.cat)TC (Teamcoaching), Lodz (PL) is a training centre specialised in team coaching comprehensive-based methodology. TC activities are aiming at increasing the efficiency of organisations by development of human potential of individuals. Therefore the issue of vocational competencies validation provided by TC is of particular interest for the project. (www.teamcoaching.pl)
Insituto Antonio Provolo (Verona/ IT) is a training centre working with target groups at risk of exclusion, incl. deaf and dumb people. The Institute aims at strengthening the research in the field of learning and teaching and transfer of innovative methodologies in non-formal learning, in particular. (www.provolo.it)
Kompetanse Vest, Hylkje (NO) has a recognised experience in competence development, training and education individually adapted to adult learners. The organization developed principles and systems for valuation of prior learning and wants to share its experience. (https://sites.google.com/site/komvestsite/western-competence)
DISC, Spennymoor (UK), supports socially excluded people of all ages (drugs, homeless, people without basic skills, unemployed) and is interested in target group based skills assessment methodologies. (www.disc-vol.org.uk)
VJA, Dresden (DE), supports socially disadvantaged people in finding new professional chances. For migrants and disadvantaged people VJA organises integration courses (profiling, qualification, coaching). It wants to imrove its skills and assessment methodologies. www.ibb-dresden.de.
INFA (FR) is a national wide organisation. The INFA office in Marseille provides training in basic skills and individualised guidance. It is a partner for “recognition of unachieved skills”. IRFA works with national and local authorities for providing specific support to people with migrant backgrounds. (www.infa-formation.com)
Qualitas (IT) operates in counselling, training and consulting. In particular it deals with: skill assessment and guidance, career guidance, internship promotion and development of cross-disciplinary skills, planning, managing and coordination of training programs aimed at both employed and unemployed adults, methodological research and experimentation; career guidance for self-employment, development of self-entrepreneurship and counselling in enterprise creation. www.qualitas.org Activities
Seven transnational seminars were organised in all partner countries: Nice (FR) 6/ 7 November 2008 Durham (GB) 12/ 13 February 2009 Bergen (NO) 14/ 15 May 2009 Warsaw (PL) 1/ 2 October 2009 Barcelona (ES) 10/ 11 December 2009 Verona (IT) 15/ 16 March 2010 Berlin (DE) 3/ 4 June 2010
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Experts and learners shared their knowledge and experience together with stakeholders which highlighted experience and differences and made more sense of skills validation needs. The topic was very complex and the partners therefore paid special attention to target groups that are - for different reasons - at risk of exclusion from education, training and/ or employment (e.g. older "unskilled" workers, migrants, maternity returners). Findings were made available to the European audience with the support of a project website (http://sites.google.com/site/validationoflearning) and this outcome DVD.
Originally planned thematic discussions in relation to specific target groups were replaced by three case studies. This was the result of an intensive discussion on an efficient method of how to make the situation in the partner countries comparable. The partners analysed and compared the situation of “Anna” (unskilled worker in the health and geriatric sector), “John” (elder carpenter with physical health problems) and Gabriela (engineer from Romania immigrating into another EU country) under the specific conditions of their countries. (A substantive comparative analysis of the case studies would be the following logic step of this work. This might be the subject of a new partnership.
The UK partner (DISC) co-ordinated a target group related transnational inquiry on validation needs with the help of a questionnaire. All partners were involved in interviews and data collection.
The Norwegian (Kompetanse Vest) was the responsible webmaster. The project website (http://sites.google.com/site/validationoflearning) was the internal working platform for collecting and exchanging project related information and data provided by all partners. This work established the basis for this DVD, developed under the responsibility of the French partner (INFA).
The Spanish partner (DEMA) was in charge of internal project evaluation. Evaluating all project meetings, the effects of the case studies and the project progress between the meetings. With this aim, various evaluation forms were developed and applied.
The German partner VJA e.V. designed the project logo
The fair distribution of work between the partners was characteristic for general co-operation and essential for the smooth running and successful work of the partnership. Besides co-ordinating the work described above all partners contributed to these activities by - organising project seminars - carrying out interviews for the questionnaire - preparing national case studies on “Anna”, “John” and "Gabriela" - preparing studies on the situation concerning validation of competences etc.
Effective cooperation of the partnership was assured by the Steering Committee, composed by one representative from each of the partners. Under the overall responsibility of the coordinator (ABU), SC members kept direct day-to-day contact (e-mail, skype conference meetings, phone). In parallel to the seven seminars an SC meeting took place. Its function was to analyse the previous project phase and to decide on further steps in the work plan for reaching the project aims. The project coordinator and the sub-coordinators for separate items informed on project progress and agreed on necessary steps, partners’ contributions, adjustments in the work plan etc.
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