On 16 June 2022, the Council of the European Union (EU) adopted a Recommendation on a European approach to micro-credentials for lifelong learning and employability. The Recommendation seeks to support the development, implementation and recognition of micro-credentials across institutions, businesses, sectors and borders.
Micro-credentials certify the learning outcomes of short-term learning experiences, for example a short course or training. They offer a flexible, targeted way to help people develop the knowledge, skills and competences they need for their personal and professional development.
Shorter forms of learning opportunities than traditional qualifications, such as micro-credentials, are being developed rapidly across Europe and around the world. These opportunities are made available by a wide variety of public and private providers in response to the demand for more flexible, learner-centred forms of education and training. They also have the potential to offer education and training opportunities to a wider range of learners, including disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.
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The European inventory is a tool that provides an up-to-date overview of best practices in the field of validation and meets the needs of both policymakers and practitioners in the field. The European Inventory illustrates in a concrete manner the principles outlined in the European Guidelines for Validation, with which it is closely associated.
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The Guidelines provide voluntary expert guidance for use by national and local stakeholders. The objective is to contribute to the development of diverse, high-quality, and cost-effective validation strategies in Europe, thereby supporting lifelong and life-wide learning.
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The EQF acts as a translator to make national qualifications more comprehensible throughout Europe, promoting the mobility of workers and learners across borders and facilitating their lifelong learning. Because the approach is based on learning outcomes, it allows for the development of an integrated strategy for promoting and validating non-formal and informal learning. The majority of Member States are developing comprehensive national qualifications frameworks based on learning outcomes, a development that paves the way for the implementation of validation systems at the national level.
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ECTS is the credit system for higher education in the European Higher Education Area, which is comprised of 46 countries participating in the Bologna Process. It seeks to establish a credit system as a proper means of promoting the widest possible student mobility. ECTS credits are a crucial component of the Bologna Qualifications Framework that is compatible with the EQF. ECTS credits are based on the workload required for students to achieve expected learning outcomes, which describe what a learner is expected to know, understand, and be able to do upon completion of a learning process. They correspond to level descriptors within national and European qualifications frameworks. Each learning outcome is expressed in terms of credits, with a full-time student’s annual workload ranging from 1,500 to 1,800 hours, and one credit typically equating to 25 to 30 hours of work.
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ECVET is a system for the accumulation and transfer of learning outcomes units in European vocational education and training. It offers a common methodological framework for describing qualifications in terms of units of learning outcomes and associated points. Its purpose is not to replace national qualification systems, but rather to improve their comparability and compatibility. ECVET applies to all outcomes obtained by an individual from diverse education and training pathways, which are subsequently transferred, recognized, and accumulated in order to attain a qualification. This initiative facilitates the recognition of European citizens’ training, skills, and knowledge in other Member States. It intends to encourage transnational mobility and access to lifelong learning.
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Europass is an online curriculum vitae service that assists individuals in articulating their professional experience and abilities in a clear and concise manner. Europass highlights the skills and abilities of individuals, including those acquired outside of formal education and training. The Europass structure encourages the identification and recognition of learning, and consequently levels of competence and qualifications, which is a significant step toward full recognition, validation, and certification. However, these tools have been limited in their ability to capture non-formal or informal learning occurring in the home country. To address these unmet needs, the Commission believes it is necessary to develop an integrated Europass Skills Passport capable of recording all formal, non-formal, and informal learning acquired abroad or at home.
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Youthpass is a tool for participants of Youth in Action Programme-funded projects to describe what they have done and learned. It is part of the strategy of the European Commission to promote the recognition of non-formal learning by visualizing and validating the learning outcomes gained through “Youth in Action” projects. For European Voluntary Service, Youth Exchanges, Training Courses, and Youth Initiatives, Youthpass Certificates are available.
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The “Agenda for New Skills and Jobs” of the European Union includes the production of an EU Skills Panorama beginning in 2012 to increase transparency for job-seekers, employees, companies, and/or public institutions. The Panorama will be accessible online and will include up-to-date projections of the skills supply and labor market requirements through 2020.
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The Key Competences for Lifelong Learning are a collection of essential knowledge, skills, and competencies for the personal fulfillment and development, social inclusion, active citizenship, and employment of European citizens. This framework identifies eight essential competencies and describes the essential knowledge, skills, and attitudes associated with each. Numerous Member States have already utilized it to reform their programs and curriculums. Communication in the mother tongue; communication in foreign languages; mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology; digital competence; learning to learn; social and civic competences; a sense of initiative and entrepreneurialism; and cultural awareness are the key competencies.
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ESCO aims to be a multilingual European classification and terminology standard for skills, competencies, qualifications, and occupations. ESCO will be based on and linked to applicable international classifications and standards, such as the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), and will complement existing national and sectorial occupational and educational classifications and enable information exchange between them. EURES, the European job mobility portal, already employs a partial classification.
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