Andy GibbsJanuary 2011

A Three Part Seminar

• A) An overview of Higher Education and Nursing with some mention of Europe and the Higher Education Area

• B) European legislation, guidelines, tools and frameworks• C) What does this mean? The relationship with the project

Some issues in nursing

• There is no European rule that says that nurses must have a degree

• There is a worldwide shortage of nurses• Demographic changes mean less school leavers

and more elderly people needing care• Reduced financial resource in health services• Competition from other jobs for human resource• Movement from care to prevention

Higher Education - The changing agenda• Expansion of student numbers• Widening participation• HR –succession, pay

performance assessment• Delivery of Learning• Resources and estates

development• Changes to HE Governance• Sustainability and corporate

social responsibility

• Funding, fees, fund-raising,• Marketing – positioning of

HEIs –identity/‘brand’ issues• Competition & collaboration• Student experience• Management of research• Internationalisation• Business, regional and

community interactions

Kennie and Middlehurst HR Development in Universities 2007http://www.eua.be/fileadmin/user_upload/files/Milan_workshop/HR_development_in_universities.pdf

The Roles of Nursing Education?

• Education:– Enhanced intakes– Need to incorporate international and

contextual issues– Leadership and specialist courses for

international professionals– IT opportunities for distance learning

support• Capacity-building partnerships

– WHO Collaborating Centres – Staff exchanges

• Building the evidence-base– Collaborative research into human

resource issues in developing countries • Learning from the South – internationalisation

of curriculum

Europe

The Bologna Process

• Aims to create the European higher education area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe

• It is a voluntary inter Governmental process involving 47 countries

• Action lines include three cycle system, quality assurance, recognition, social and external dimensions, LLL, mobility

• Tools include ECTS, Qualifications Frameworks, ESIG, EQAR,

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DIRECTIVE 2005/36/EC of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications

which stipulates for a “nurse responsible for general care” - 3-year programme (full-time)- 4600 hours- at least 50% practical/clinical training- at least 1/3 theoretical training- lists what should be taught, not what should be learned, i.e.

the competences that a should acquire(Mary Gobbi, “Nursing and Bologna: Implications for a Regulated Profession” (Bologna Handbook C 5.1-4)

Nursing as a regulated profession

The Bologna Action Lines (Bologna Prague Berlin)• Easily readable and comparable degrees• Two (now three) cycle structure• Use of credits such as ECTS• Mobility• Cooperation in quality assurance• European dimension• Lifelong learning• Involvement of students• Attractiveness and competitiveness of the EHEA• Doctoral studies and synergies between EHEA and ERA

The Bologna Action Lines (London and Leuven)• Quality Assurance/Enhancement/Culture. The debate

around the implementation of a European register of QA agencies

• The External Dimension. European HE in the context of globalisation

• The Social Dimension and Mobility, particularly with regard to employability and relationships with employers.

• Joint Degrees• Doctoral Programmes and Research Careers• Focus on teaching and learning

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DIRECTIVE 2005/36/EC of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications

which stipulates for a “nurse responsible for general care” - 3-year programme (full-time)- 4600 hours- at least 50% practical/clinical training- at least 1/3 theoretical training- lists what should be taught, not what should be learned, i.e.

the competences that a should acquire(Mary Gobbi, “Nursing and Bologna: Implications for a Regulated Profession” (Bologna Handbook C 5.1-4)

Nursing as a regulated profession

Issues for HE

• Managing two incompatible systems• Ensuring fitness for practice• Developing markets –

internationalisation/globalisation/regionalism

(The collision of two dysfunctional systems)• Creating universal life long learning frameworks• Inefficiency of effort• Promoting mobility• Co-operation across borders• Unequal competition

Extract from the directive

Issues for HE

• Managing two incompatible systems• Ensuring fitness for practice• Developing markets –

internationalisation/globalisation/regionalism

(The collision of two dysfunctional systems)• Creating universal life long learning frameworks• Inefficiency of effort• Promoting mobility• Co-operation across borders• Unequal competition

Session Two

The Bologna Process

• Aims to create the European higher education area by making academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe

• It is a voluntary inter Governmental process involving 47 countries

• Action lines include three cycle system, quality assurance, recognition, social and external dimensions, LLL, mobility

• Tools include ECTS, Qualifications Frameworks, ESIG, EQAR,

Higher Education - The Bologna Process and the EU directive on Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications (EU/36/2005)

EU Directive conflicts with the principles of the Bologna Process (and the Copenhagen Process)

which are based on

- qualification frameworks with reference levels

- student workload and learning outcomes

- competences which a student is supposed to gain

- credit transfer and recognition of prior learning/experience

- employability in an international labour market

- social inclusion and widening access through LLL

Gobbi (2009) Bologna Handbook,

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Student-centred system based on the student workload required to achieve the objectives of a programme, objectives preferably specified in terms of learning outcomes and competences to be acquired

Student workload includes all aspects of study programmes: time spent attending lectures, independent study, dissertations, placement, preparing for and taking of examinations, etc

Student workload ≠ contact hours or courses

ECTS Key Features I

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System based on the convention that 60 credits measure the workload of an average full-time student during one academic year

(1 credit = 25 to 30 hours workload)

ECTS credits can only be obtained after completion of the work required and appropriate assessment

ECTS grading system: useful in particular for credit transfer. The ECTS grading scale ranks the students on a statistical basis (it supplements local/national systems)

ECTS Key Features II

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Improve transparency and comparability of study programmes and qualifications

Facilitate academic recognition ECTS as a transfer system (mobile students)

Support curricular reform ECTS as a tool for curriculum design

Promote flexibility in learning and qualification processes ECTS as an accumulation system (all learners)

ECTS objectives

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- European Qualification Framework and National

Qualification Frameworks: important frames of reference-Accreditation based on European standards and guidelines- ECTS

- more than just a system of credits to express workload- link to learning outcomes, expressed in terms of competences

- optimal transparency through the web-based course catalogue

- Diploma Supplement- description of learning outcomes in section 4.2.

Bologna tools

Learning Outcomes

Learning outcomes are the building blocks of Bologna

Learning Outcomes and assessment• Assessment of individuals: uses the individual student, and his/her

learning, as the level of analysis.

• Assessment of programmes: uses the programme as the level of analysis. Ideally programme goals and objectives would serve as the basis for the assessment.

• Assessment of institutions: uses the institution as the level of analysis. Ideally, institution-wide goals and objectives would serve as a basis for the assessment. At this level it is essential to examine institutional documents such as mission and vision statements, as well as strategic plans.

Course-LevelLearning

Outcomes

Teaching and Learning Activities

Assessmentsof StudentLearning

Alignment of Outcomes

Be SMART

• Specific - what will the learner do• Measurable – how can it be assessesed?• Achievable – is it possible?• Realistic – grounded in reality• Time bound – by when will it be done?

And student centred

Focused on what the learner will know, understand or be able to do

Programme and Course Outcomes

• Programme objectives\profiles are general goals that define what it means to be an effective program/course. They are general, indefinite, and not intended to be measured. They set the overall agenda for the program/course.

• Student learning outcomes are specific results the program/course seeks to achieve in order to attain the general goals defined in the objectives. Outcomes are definite and intended to be measured. The achievement of outcomes is evidence that students are learning

Ask yourself.......

• what do I intend students to learn - what learning outcomes do I want them to achieve?

• what teaching methods and curriculum design will I use to encourage students to behave in ways that are likely to achieve these outcomes?

• what assessment tasks and criteria will tell me that students have achieved the outcomes I intend?

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Nursing in the Tuning Project

- the first health care regulated group and practical

discipline to be included in the Tuning Project

- has resulted in a list of competences for nurses on which there was widespread agreement

- Tuning outcomes have been used in various countries to revise curricula

- is an indication that international cooperation can help to overcome obstacles

- first step to a ‘European nurse’

Nursing in Bologna

Essential Module Components

• explicit statement of learning intent (intended learning outcome) expressed in a form that permits their achievement to be demonstrated and measured.

• the process and resources to enable the outcomes to be achieved and demonstrated (curriculum, teaching, learning methods and materials, assessment and support and guidance methods)

• the criteria for assessing whether the intended outcomes have been achieved and for differentiating the performance of students.

Professional

SCQF levels

SQA QualificationsQualifications of Higher Education

InstitutionsScottish Vocational

Qualifications

12 Doctoral Degree

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Masters DegreeIntegrated Masters degree

Post Graduate DiplomaPost Graduate Certificate

SVQ 5

10Honours Degree

Graduate Diploma Graduate Certificate

9Professional

Development Award

Bachelors/Ordinary DegreeGraduate Diploma

Graduate CertificateSVQ 4

8Higher National

DiplomaHigher National Diploma

Diploma in Higher Education

7 Advanced HigherHigher National

Certificate Certificate of Higher Education

SVQ 3

6 Higher

5Intermediate 2

Credit Standard GradeSVQ 2

4Intermediate 1

General Standard GradeNational

CertificateNational Progression Award SVQ 1

3Access 3

Foundation Standard Grade

2 Access 2

1 Access 1

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework

Part three

The Future? Context

• Finance

• Ageing population/declining school leavers

• Rankings , Ratings and Tables

• Increasing Competition - Students, Staff and Funding

• Institutional Autonomy

• Accountability - Accreditation/Quality Mechanisms

• Multiple changes in HE policy - Consistency

Global pattern of migration of health workers

Key drivers are employability, mobility and competitiveness.Degrees and Higher Education systems are more easily understood through a 3 cycle system Qualifications Framework, ECTS, Diploma Supplement, European Quality Assurance creating a competitive knowledge-based economy (in line with the Lisbon agenda)

Bologna: Challenges and Drivers

According to the Trends V report:

ECTS continues to gain ground as the credit system for the European Higher Education Area

However, incorrect or superficial use of ECTS is currently still widespread

the use of ECTS for curriculum design and its implementation as an accumulation system needs to be improved

the further development of ECTS to ensure the recognition of learning outcomes for all types of learning is a key challenge in the context of lifelong learning

ECTS implementation & future challenges

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Sectoral Directives/Bologna Process/EU

Sectoral DirectivesProfessionalDG MarktLegal

4600 hoursSpecified list of topicsSpecified Experiences

Bologna Process AcademicDG Education and CultureVoluntary

Learning OutcomesAutonomy

Occupation

Education

European level

National

Gibbs/De Reuve Prague 2009

Possible Solutions• as a commitment to patient safety and quality of care in the European

Union legislation• A European Accreditation mechanism to peer review learning

outcomes and institutions, public and private • The development of tools for assessment of learning outcome, taking

place under a broad scope structure. It is not only how it can be achieved but also how it can be measured and what might be an acceptable measure

.....TUNING has highlighted the potential for international co-operation to overcome barriers and identify areas for action

Lifelong Learning

European CNO Meeting Prague 2009 – discussion of lifelong learning

Actions to bring synergy to community actions• The revision report of the Directive 2005/36/EC, by 2012, is a unique

opportunity• Fitness to practice must be priority• Investment in human capital through improved qualifications• Greater stakeholder participation• Social Cohesion Funds –Co-ordinated applications to lead changes in

practice.• Lobby The Commission to facilitate cooperation, collaboration and

financial support to implement change

Bologna: Implementation Issues• Access and articulation: From Bachelor to Master; entry

requirements for Doctorate• Employers understanding: New system well understood by

employers? What should be done in order to better promote the new degrees?

• Diploma Supplement: Issued everywhere to all students?• ECTS: Correct use?• Recognition: Problems solved?• Curriculum reform: Formal adoption of new degrees or profound

reform?• Students centred learning: Already well understood?• National Qualifications Frameworks: Do HEIs understand their

value and purpose? Are stakeholders involved in the development?

• Overarching Qualifications Frameworks: Helpful or confusing?

Some issues in nursing

• There is no European rule that says that nurses must have a degree

• There is a worldwide shortage of nurses• Demographic changes mean less school leavers

and more elderly people needing care• Reduced financial resource in health services• Competition from other jobs for human resource• Movement from care to prevention

Higher Education - The Bologna Process and the EU directive on Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications (EU/36/2005)

EU Directive conflicts with the principles of the Bologna Process (and the Copenhagen Process)

which are based on

- qualification frameworks with reference levels

- student workload and learning outcomes

- competences which a student is supposed to gain

- credit transfer and recognition of prior learning/experience

- employability in an international labour market

- social inclusion and widening access through LLL

Gobbi (2009) Bologna Handbook,

What does this mean?

• Be wiser about using resources• Increase the skill level of the existing workforce• Find ways to stop the waste…of time people and

finance• Apply education as a resource not a barrier• Focus on skills rather than qualifications

a.gibbs@napier.ac.uk