How do you make sure Vocational Education and Training (VET) is corresponding with European Standards? What if there was a framework to help you with that?
It has become more and more important for EU Member States and their VET-providers to implement comparable quality assurance frameworks in VET. The “European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training” (EQAVET) offers you as employer or HR manager a framework to help you document, develop, monitor, evaluate and improve the effectiveness of your VET services and quality management systems. In short, the EQAVET framework supports you in improving your Quality Assurance policies and making them comparable to European Standards.
The main goal of EQAVET is to improve the transparency, consistency and transferability of VET providers all over Europe. The framework contains a quality assurance cycle that has been constructed on certain quality criteria, descriptors and indicators that can be used in quality management. The quality assurance cycle consists of four phases: planning, implementation, evaluation and practices. EQAVET is a voluntary tool that can be implemented gradually, based on national legislation and practices.
How does it benefit learners?
Implementing the framework helps to improve the employability and mobility of learners because it aims to develop a universal understanding of quality. When people are moving to a new job or further learning in their own or another country, their skills and qualifications can be recognized, which also helps improve skill levels. The framework is intended to meet the expectations of learners and increase the quality of VET with the purpose of increasing employability, matching the need for training with supply and making lifelong training accessible for all groups.
EQAVET helps qualifications to be recognized in all EU Member States. VET providers benefit, because it helps them to improve their training provision, the attractiveness of their programs and their reputation across Europe.
Cooperation is essential
One big part of EQAVET is cooperation. EU Member States, Social Partners and the European Commission work together to develop and improve quality assurance in VET in Europe by implementing EQAVET. They do this by helping the Member States to develop effective strategies to implement this framework, furthermore it is essential to embed a culture of quality on European and other levels, supported by the Quality Assurance National Reference Points and other members of the network. EQAVET also aims to help Member States and the European Commission to monitor and implement the Reference Framework according to the Education and Training 2020 Strategy. Another objective is to promote the quality assurance dimension of work in EQF and ECVET.
EQAVET stands for a community of practice and offers several opportunities for you if you become a member. This includes the exchange of information and experience with experts in open discussions, developing common principles, reference criteria, indicators, and tools for quality improvement by introducing a process of mutual learning and constructing a consensus. Members and experts create shared results and solutions for the guidelines and criteria of quality assurance and support quality improvement and sense of ownership in implementing the Reference Framework in European States. This helps the cooperation and synergy in and between EU Member States concerning topics of quality assurance.
EQAVET in practice
“EQAVET in Practice” is an Erasmus-funded project dedicated to make the criteria become more practicable and possible for you to implement. This is done by developing guidelines on how to effectively translate EQAVET’s criteria to national frameworks, based on the inputs from providers. This contributes to making EQAVET a tool for quality improvement in VET across Europe.