Ensuring quality in vocational education and training · National systems of education and train-ing, as Koch and Reuling show, tend to load definition of quality in their institu-tionally

CEDEFOP

VOCAT IONAL TRA IN INGNo 15 September – December 1998/III ISSN 0378-5068

E U R O P E A N J O U R N A L

Ensuring qualityin vocational educationand training

CEDEFOP

VOCATIONAL TRAINING NO 15 EUROPEAN JOURNAL

Editor: Steve Bainbridge

Editorial committee:

Chairman:Jean François Germe Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (CNAM),

France

Matéo Alaluf Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), BelgiumTina Bertzeletou CEDEFOPKeith Drake Manchester University, Great BritainGunnar Eliasson The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), SwedenAlain d’Iribarne Laboratoire d’Economie et de Sociologie du Travail

(LEST-CNRS), FranceArndt Sorge Humboldt-Universität Berlin, GermanyReinhard Zedler Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln, GermanyJordi Planas CEDEFOPManfred Tessaring CEDEFOPSergio Bruno Università di Roma, Italy

CEDEFOPEuropean Centre

for the Developmentof Vocational Training

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CEDEFOP assists the EuropeanCommission in encouraging, atCommunity level, the promotionand development of vocationaleducation and training, throughexchanges of information and thecomparison of experience on is-sues of common interest to theMember States.

CEDEFOP is a link between re-search, policy and practice byhelping policy-makers and practi-tioners, at all levels in the Euro-pean Union, to have a clearer un-derstanding of developments invocational education and trainingand so help them draw conclu-sions for future action. It stimu-lates scientists and researchers toidentify trends and future ques-tions.

CEDEFOP’s Management Boardhas agreed a set of medium-termpriorities for the period 1997-2000. They outline three themesthat provide the focus ofCEDEFOP’s activities:

❏ promoting competences andlifelong learning;❏ monitoring developments invocational education and trainingin the Member States; and❏ serving European mobility andexchanges.

Interested in writing an article ... see page 82

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This publication appears three times ayear in Spanish, German, English andFrench

The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect theposition of CEDEFOP. The European Vocational Training Journal givesprotagonists the opportunity to present analyses and various, at times,contradictory points of view. The Journal wishes to contribute to criticaldebate on the future of vocational training at a European level.


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want to reach many people, through train-ing and improve their prospects of place-ment, or do you aim at demanding sub-stance and methods? This may be a fun-damental conflict, but it is far from beingthe only one. For instance, what weightshould be attributed to advanced or moreconventional technologies? Furthermore,with the provision of training in a regionalor national context, competition may be-come more intense and standards of qual-ity move up. Issues like these cause per-ennial problems and heated discussions.

National systems of education and train-ing, as Koch and Reuling show, tend toload definition of quality in their institu-tionally particular ways. In a way, it is themethod of ensuring quality that comes firstand is institutionally ingrained, and thishas consequences for the perception ofwhich kind of quality matters. In Britain,individual providers and users have in-creasingly been enabled to define morecustomised quality standards. This makesgeneral standards not only difficult to ap-ply but less relevant. In Germany andabove all France, the opposite applies.And in Germany, the quality of the out-put of education and training is institu-tionally held to be more important thancontrol over the process of generating it.In Italy, with its regional authority overmost of vocational training, one can im-agine the discussion that will arise whennational standards are suggested.

To some extent, to the minds of someobservers, the “New Age” of ISO 9000quality control has important implicationsfor training. However, as Van den Bergheshows, this is so to a limited extent only.It is certainly true that taking ISO 9000seriously may lead providers of trainingto think through its quality, what it is due

Everything you alwayswanted to know about‘Quality‘ but wereafraid to ask...Quality is a word with which you cannotargue. Who would be against quality orconsider it irrelevant? Suppose that oneday some powerful and august body pro-posed to help users and providers of vo-cational education and training in the Eu-ropean Union to improve training andmake good choices, by providing a “Qual-ity Guide of Vocational Education andTraining”, showing where the best qual-ity training could be obtained. After all, iftyre manufacturers can evaluate restau-rants, the least a European organisation,like CEDEFOP for example, should be ableto provide is sound information on qual-ity in its own domain. After a moment’sapplause and surprise for this most wel-come of initiatives, someone would prob-ably suggest that to evaluate on qualityyou need criteria. “Yes”, might be the re-ply, this is a complex matter, but so istasting food. The more sceptical discus-sants, perhaps anxious to protect a cer-tain interest that they may have, mightsay, “Why do we not appoint a workinggroup to establish valid criteria for qual-ity assessment?” There would then be asigh of relief, and an experienced indi-v idual (perhaps someone fromCEDEFOP), would be asked to form thiscommittee and invite members and com-ments from various national bodies whomight be suitable experts.

The present issue presents some resultswhich such an expert group itself mightcome up, or be confronted, with. The is-sue of quality turns out to be not onlyone of establishing criteria, but also mak-ing sure quality is obtained. As Seyfriedshows, there are different criteria andmethods for establishing quality by evalu-ation, and a fundamental difference oc-curs between employment effects andsubstantive quality of courses. Do you


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to, how to assure it, and how to measureit more thoroughly. On the other hand,quality conscious providers and users mayarrive at similar practical conclusions with-out this body of norms, on the basis ofsheer experience and common sense. Forsmaller companies, a full-blooded ISO9000 application and certification mayimply more difficulties and costs than itspractical value warrants. Some are willingto pay for status and reputation even ifthe putative quality effect of the ISO ma-chinery itself is questionable. Manufactur-ers have a history of wrangling for thestatus of supplying particular wares toroyal courts and the emblems that go withit. Now we have ISO 9000. Times change,symbols change, but the character andfunction of symbols does not.

There are, to be sure, some functionalcommonalities of good and fashionablepractice in in-company continuing train-ing, as Stahl points out. But these shouldnot be taken as indicating that quality iseasy to determine. Over time, fashionschange; to an important extent, trainingin separate workshops, in schools andtraining-centres away from the world ofwork were considered as showing im-proved quality. Nowadays, learning atwork is having a renaissance as a qualita-tively demanding method of learningwhich can never be replaced and whichneeds more attention than before.

One way of evaluating further trainingmeasures would be to leave this to thepotential and past trainees themselves,which is discussed by Stahl in his secondarticle. This is small wonder, for the sup-ply of further and continuous trainingcourses has increased considerably, somuch that even localised systematic evalu-ation is very difficult. Naturally, in an in-creasingly opaque market, the customeris king, but often a potentially gullibleking. Maybe this is why self-evaluation canbe important, but it can only be effectiveif some amount of comparison betweenalternatives is facilitated.

A different approach is put forward byCapela, to describe evaluation and accredi-tation for training supported by the Euro-pean Social Fund in Portugal. This is sorich in systematics, feed-back loops andweighing of different sorts of criteria andinterests that it seems to describe a per-

fect world. It can be argued that thisshould be the norm for all EU vocationaltraining projects. On the other hand, thequestion rises again, as for ISO 9000,whether formalisation will do the trick andif ‘material’ concern with quality is alwaysguaranteed by a ‘formal’ concern. Theanswer is not that simple, and all thosewho plead for a universal and operationalidea of quality control will also have toface the difficulties of avoiding superfi-cial formalisation. Those who want equal-ity and fairness of application also pleadfor formalisation. The rule of equitablyapplied law is necessarily bureaucratic.

Talking about the rule of law and bureauc-racy, and in view of the subject of ensur-ing quality, many readers will not be sur-prised to find something like a two-thirdsmajority of the articles in an issue aboutquality coming from German authors.Themes and authors seem to have a habitof finding each other. But this conclusionis also superficial if it is thought to implythat a truly thorough and regulatory con-cern with quality in vocational evaluationand training is best left to the Germans.Remember that the most meticulous evalu-ation scheme came from Portugal. On theother hand, a fairly general and widelyapplicable system of quality assurance ina specific domain, training for the use ofprogrammable controls in electrical crafts,is described by Jennewein and Kramer,comes from Germany. Note that this ex-ample is distinctive for tacit agreement onstandards, rather than profound soul-searching about criteria, measures, meansof instruction etc. Let us bear this in mindin order not to be deluded about the pos-sibilities of replacing sensible pragmatismby a fundamentalism of codification andcertification. What makes the training andquality assurance scheme with regard toprogrammable controls viable is not thescholarly rigour and sophistication that itimplies. It is the fact that it is institution-ally founded upon a professionally coher-ent and well-organised community of prac-titioners, and some amount of learningwith regard to programmable controls hasof course happened in the profession; pro-grammable controls have been with us ona large scale for more than ten years.

Last but not least, the example from Po-land presented by Wójcicka is valuablein showing that the insecurity which re-


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sults from radical liberalisation of qualityassurance, from unfettered operation ofliberal freedom in a growing market ofeducation and training, leads us back tosome greater evaluation and certification.The difficulties are, however, not minorones, for the danger of superficial formal-ism is always present.

In conclusion, there is no hard-and-fastquality assurance systematics to be foundin this issue. So what can we do to worktowards better quality and quality assur-ance? Duke Ellington was once asked todefine ‘swing‘. His simple answer was, “If

you don’t feel it, you won’t know it”. Themost important things go without a gen-eral operational definition, and the trueconnoisseurs are distinctive for not need-ing one. We can apply this to the qualityassurance of vocational education andtraining. Try to understand it in its differ-ent settings, listen to the tune of the arti-cles, think about possibilities of improve-ment by improvisation, and then a senseof quality will grow on you. In this sense,the present issue is more practically rel-evant than those who think practice startswith a complex and formal scheme canever imagine.

Arndt Sorge


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Ensuring qualityin vocational educationand training

Evaluating the evaluations

Public quality control of vocational training in Germany, Franceand the United Kingdom ......................................................................................... 7Richard Koch, Jochen ReulingIn future, it may be necessary to find new combinations of both input andoutput control and of public and internal provider quality control. A re-orientation of public quality control could be triggered in particular through thetrend observed in many EU Member States towards a pluralisation of trainingpaths and promotion of competition amongst various suppliers on the trainingmarkets.

Evaluation of quality aspects in vocational training programmes.Results of a meta-analysis in five European countries .................................... 13Erwin SeyfriedThere needs to be greater convergence between the debates on training policyand labour market policy, as well as greater effort on both sides in coordinatingcoherent research approaches which take both process-oriented and product-oriented indicators of quality into account.

Application of ISO 9000 standards to education and training ....................... 20Wouter Van den BergheAlthough experience with ISO 9000 in the education and training world is stilllimited, first lessons can already be drawn.

Ensuring training quality at the work place

In-company continuing training: Trends in European enterprises.............. 29Thomas StahlOptimisation of in-company training for enterprises in Europe must mean:creation of new sources of innovation through the integration of learning andworking.

Self-assessmentA royal road to quality assurance for continuing training? ........................... 33Thomas Stahl’When self-assessment thus becomes an integral part of external evaluation itcan indeed render quality assurance for training simpler, more efficient andespecially more effective in its consequences and the aimed-for constantimprovement in training practice.’


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Case studies

Accreditation of training organisationsOrigin, objectives and methodology of the Portugueseaccreditation system ............................................................................................. 46Carlos CapelaThe system for the accreditation of training bodies is not a system of qualitycertification but a system which, by virtue of the methodology chosen as mostsuitable for its context and purpose, aims to contribute to the quality andappropriateness of training activity and the structuring of the training availableto support it.

Quality assurance in continuing vocational trainingfor small and medium-sized enterprises in the German craft sector -the training activities of the Central Office for Continuing Trainingin the Crafts Sector (ZWH) ....................................................................................52Klaus Jenewein, Beate KramerThe following article presents the underlying concept and the work of the ZWHon quality assurance in continuing training in the craft sector.

Creation of an external quality assurance systemfor higher education - the example of Poland .................................................. 59Maria WójcickaThis article looks at the main directions in the search for a solution to theproblem of quality assurance in Polish higher education, with special emphasison higher vocational education.

Reading

Reading selection .................................................................................................. 66


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Richard KochHead of the Department ‘In-ternational comparison ofvocational training’ with theFederal Institute for Voca-tional Training (BIBB),Berlin

Introduction

In the countries under review here, thedevelopment and enforcement of gener-ally binding quality standards for the vo-cational training of young people is seenprimarily as a public task and not left tocompetition between training providers.Standards to fashion the quality of train-ing by the individual providers (schools,companies, other educational providers)may take the form of input standards forindividual quality factors (training con-tent/curricula, personnel, training aids,training organisation) and/or in outputstandards for learning results/examinationrequirements.

Public quality control in vocational train-ing1 covers three main areas:

❏ There must be coordination of the play-ers who together can lay down bindingquality standards.

❏ The standards must be institutionalisedand compliance with them monitored bymeans of suitable procedures, in such away that they become binding on the ac-tivities of training providers.

❏ In order to guarantee enough trainingplaces, it may be appropriate to supportindividual groups of training providerswho are not able to meet the stipulatedquality standards on their own.

A key function of public quality controlis to establish confidence amongst all thepeople concerned in the quality of train-ing provided. Young people have to be

Public quality controlof vocational trainingin Germany, Franceand the UnitedKingdom

This article describes thequality control of voca-tional training for youngpeople by taking the exam-ple of three different typesof initial vocational trainingsystems and comparingtheir main traits.

sure that the training offered to them cor-responds at least to the public qualitystandards. Employers should be able torely on the validity of training certificates;this is also a major precondition for theability of the initial employment marketto function. Vocational training institutionsshould be able to rely on the formal enti-tlements linked to a leaving certificatebeing coupled with corresponding skills.

There are two basic positions on the scopeof public intervention in training practice.They are not merely of a theoretical na-ture but also reflect political concepts.One position primarily sees the task ofpublic intervention as shaping the func-tioning of the vocational training marketin such a way that a market equilibriumcan be achieved. This includes, amongstother things, improving the transparencyof training courses by defining trainingstandards. The other position assumes thatmarket intervention alone cannot guaran-tee adequate training quality and that fur-ther measures are necessary in order tosupplement the market control mecha-nisms. One example is forms of trainingfinancing geared towards quality criteria.

The public control of training quality mayinvolve not only State institutions, but alsothe social partners, who negotiate bind-ing collective agreements. Quality controltasks can also be fully delegated to non-State bodies (e.g. professional associations(Kammer) in Germany).

The forms of public control of trainingquality are to a large extent shaped by acountry’s institutionalised systems of vo-cational training and their specific national

1) Public quality control on the sys-temic level must be distinguished fromthe internal procedures of quality con-trol not discussed in any further de-tail here.

Jochen ReulingMember of the department‘International comparison ofvocational training’ with theFederal Institute for Voca-tional Training (BIBB),Berlin.


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context. This article outlines and com-pares the basic features of the qualitycontrol of vocational training for youngpeople by taking the example of threeinitial vocational training systems2:

❏ Dual vocational training in Germany -company-based training system run oncorporatist lines. The social partnerslargely lay down the minimum qualitystandards for the company part of thetraining, which at the same time pre-de-termine how the standards for the schoolpart are structured.

❏ In-school vocational training in France- a State-controlled, training establishmentbased training system. Quality standardsare laid down by the Ministry of Educa-tion. The social partners have only a con-sultative role in structuring training cer-tificates.

❏ Training for national vocational quali-fications (NVQs in the United Kingdom)- a largely market-controlled training sys-tem. In order to improve the transparencyof the courses on the training market, theState recognises the national qualificationstandards developed largely by the em-ployers.

Establishing qualitystandards

Quality standards for dual training inGermany aim to guarantee modern train-ing of the highest possible standard. How-ever, standards must not be set so highthat they jeopardise the ability and will-ingness of companies to train and, byextension, the number of training placesnecessary for society. The State leaves itlargely to the processes of negotiationbetween the social partners to find ap-propriate compromises. A ‘principle ofconsensus’ of this kind promotes accept-ance of training regulations in companypractice but brings with it the risk thatmodernisation could be blocked or at leastconsiderably delayed by conflicts of in-terests between the social partners.

The training regulations lay down theminimum training content to be impartedby the company and the examination sub-jects. The specification of minimum stand-ards allows companies to establish theirown qualification priorities above the

stipulated quality level. At the same time,it signals a uniform minimum qualifica-tion to the labour market. The vocationalschools have curricula which have beenbrought into line with the correspondingtraining regulations. The final examina-tion is a vocational aptitude test which isconducted outside the training institutionsby the examination committees of theprofessional bodies on which both sidesof industry are represented. Guidelines onthe standardisation of the examinationprocedure coupled and the often supra-regional setting of examinations aim tocounteract any major differences in theexaminations themselves.

The competent chambers base their ac-creditation of training companies on spe-cific statutory criteria of suitability for bothtraining personnel and training venue.Furthermore, the companies must provethat they can teach all the subject con-tents laid down in the training regulation,for which purpose they may form a train-ing association with other companies orcooperate with inter-company trainingcentres.

In the case of vocational training in edu-cational establishments in France, the Statemainly imposes requirements on itself withits quality standards. However, the regula-tion of training certificates (diplomas) must,because of the employment opportunitiesof graduates, take adequate account of thequalification requirements of industry.Training objectives must be formulated insuch a way that they can also be met bythe forms of training used in educationalestablishments. There are no general qual-ity standards for the periods of training incompanies. Training establishments areresponsible for ensuring that the prescribedperiods of training in companies are of anadequate quality, but they have a ratherweak position in this regard.

In France high standards are imposed onthe reliability of examinations. The Stateexamination is intended to guarantee auniform assessment of candidates whichcan be legally verified. It is also signifi-cant in this regard that the certificates arelinked to entrance entitlements in theschool system.

A fundamental aspect of quality controlin the British NVQ system is the approach

2) For a comparison of quality con-trol in the German dual and in theFrench school vocational training sys-tems, please refer in more depth toKoch 1998, pp. 193-276.

“The forms of public con-trol of training quality areto a large extent shaped bythe institutionalised sys-tems of vocational trainingand their specific nationalcontext.”


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whereby it is not vocational learning con-tents but learning outcomes which arelaid down as occupational skills closelyrelated to activities. Hence, examinationsplay an important role in the NVQ sys-tem. There are no rules, however, stipu-lating the learning venue – companies,further training colleges or other train-ing providers – or the period withinwhich trainees must acquire the corre-sponding skills. The vocational standardsare prepared by branch-related bodiesand examined and accredited by a Stateinstitution (the Qualification and Curricu-lum Authority, QCA).

When vocational standards are set, com-promises must be found: firstly betweenthe goal of reflecting modern workingpractices in the standards without exclud-ing traditional training providers too far;secondly, a valid internal assessment ofoccupational competence must be pos-sible without examinations becoming toocost-intensive. In practice, there is a trendtowards laying down the examination cri-teria in great detail which makes the ex-aminations more expensive without guar-anteeing adequate reliability (Wolf 1995).

One common feature of the German dualsystem and the French training-establish-ment based system is that public qualitycontrol consists of a combination ofstandards for learning processes (cur-ricula, aptitude requirements for train-ing staff) and regulations for the controlof learning outcomes. This constitutes afundamental difference to the BritishNVQ system, which is mainly controlledthrough the definition of learning out-comes.

Modernisingtraining standards -problems and concepts

In Germany training standards tend tobe based on common occupational prac-tices. New technology and other inno-vative requirements can become trainingcontents only when a sufficient numberof companies can also offer instructionin them. Training regulations for com-panies and school curricula tend, there-fore, to lag behind the latest occupationalpractice. In order to ensure that training

regulations are more forward looking,training contents are increasingly gearednot to the application of specific proce-dures and equipment but to function andare as technology- and product-neutralas possible.

In France occupational training standardsare geared mainly to the practices of largecompanies and the level of technologythey have achieved. Hence, to a certaindegree they are formulated as ideal stand-ards. Given that training takes placemainly in training establishments, mod-ern technologies can be included as tech-nical expertise in training guidelines. Fur-thermore, no account needs to be takenof the training ability of companies.

Since the NVQs in the United Kingdom,in particular the occupational standardson the lower level of difficulty, are verymuch orientated towards concrete workrequirements, in principle constant revi-sion is required. This is made easier bythe fact that an occupational qualifica-tion is made up of individual units whicheach cover specific work functions. Thismeans that adjustments can be made tonew work requirements without havingto change the entire qualification. Whenindividual units are updated too fre-quently, candidates who take longer toobtain an occupational qualification runthe risk of units successfully completedearlier becoming outdated. It is increas-ingly the case that besides the existingqualification, a new vocational qualifi-cation is laid down. This has led to adramatic rise in the number of certificates(Raffe 1994).

The national or system-specific methodsfor updating training standards each havetheir inherent advantages and disadvan-tages. If standards are linked to concreteactivities, as is the case in the UnitedKingdom, they are particularly exposedto the risk of becoming outdated. If train-ing certificates are characterised by ahigh degree of general and theoreticalcontent as in France, they become out-dated less quickly, but run the risk oflosing their relevance on the labour mar-ket. The concept of occupationally-ori-ented minimum standards in the Germandual training system represents a com-promise between the British and Frenchapproaches.

“One common feature of theGerman dual system andthe French training-estab-lishment based system isthat public quality controlconsists of a combinationof standards for learningprocesses (…) and regula-tions for the control oflearning outcomes. Thisconstitutes a fundamentaldifference to the BritishNVQ system, which ismainly controlled throughthe definition of learningoutcomes.”

“If standards are linked toconcrete activities, as is thecase in the United Kingdom,they are particularly ex-posed to the risk of becom-ing outdated. If trainingcertificates are character-ised by a high degree ofgeneral and theoreticalcontents as in France, theybecome outdated lessquickly, but run the risk oflosing their relevance onthe labour market. The con-cept of occupationally-ori-ented minimum standardsin the German dual trainingsystem is a compromise be-tween the English andFrench approaches.”


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Control and assuranceof training quality

In Germany responsibility for guarantee-ing the quality of training in companieshas been handed over to professional as-sociations as a public task. If there is anincreased incidence of poor examinationresults amongst the trainees of a trainingbody, this may lead to a re-examinationof that body’s compliance with qualitystandards. Controlling the quality of in-company training is mainly done by the

employers themselves and this is viewedcritically by the trade unions. The schooldirectors and the school inspectors areresponsible for guaranteeing the qualityof instruction in vocational schools.

In France control of the quality of voca-tional training in training establishmentsis the responsibility of the Ministry ofEducation and its regional offices. Theevaluation of individual quality factors intraining establishments (e.g. teacher quali-fications, teaching aids) on the nationallevel is undertaken by the general inspec-

Overview:

Comparison of the institutional framework of quality control

Guiding principlebehind training

Training standards

Regulation oftraining certificates

Organisation

Proportion ofgeneral subjects

Length ofin-company training

Regulation ofin-company training

Examination

Quality control

Germany(Dual system)

Ability to pursue a qualifiedoccupational activity

Minimum standards for train-ing courses, oriented towardscommon company practices

Negotiation of parameters be-tween social partners, coordi-nation by State body (BIBB),ministerial decree

In-company training, whereappropriate including inter-company training centre, sup-plemented by vocat ionalschool

Roughly one-third of instruc-tion in vocational schools

Approx. 75% of training time(on average 34 weeks out ofapproximately 46 weeks peryear)

Training regulations with en-forceable minimum contents

Examination committee of theprofessional bodies

Professional bodies (com-pany), school supervision(school)

France (Training establish-ment system)

Technical preparation for anarea of occupational activity

Ideal standards orientated to-wards requirements of modernlarge companies

Elaboration by State body(CPC), consultation of socialpartners, ministerial decree

School training supplementedby in-company training phases(alternance scolaire)

Roughly half of instruction invocational schools

Approx. 25% of training time(4-10 weeks out of approxi-mately 35 weeks per year)

Recommendation of trainingcontents

State examination

School supervision (trainingschool and company)

United Kingdom(NVQ system)

Competencies to carry outspecific work functions

Standards for assessment/ex-amination oriented towardsgood practice of a sector

Preparation by employer-dominated national trainingorganisations, accreditation byState institution (QCA)

Not regulated

Only if required for occupa-tional activities

Venue and length of trainingnot regulated

Not regulated

Internal training provider as-sessment/examination

Internal and external controlof quality management, Stateinspection of colleges


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tors (inspecteurs généraux). Inspectorsfrom the school administration districts(inspecteurs académiques) are responsi-ble for direct control of the individualvocational schools including practicaltraining in companies. Failure percentagesin examinations provide an indication ofthe training shortcomings of individualschools.

In the United Kingdom examinations ofcompetencies are undertaken by the train-ing providers internally on the basis ofdetailed procedures. The suitability oftraining providers as NVQ centres, there-fore, takes on central importance becausethis is the only way of guaranteeing theuniform validity of competence certifi-cates. In order to obtain accreditation asNVQ centres, which is undertaken bycommercial certification bodies, they mustprove that they can carry out assessmentprocedures, that the members of staffentrusted with these tasks hold the stipu-lated aptitude certificates and that theyhave an internal quality control system.The certification bodies in turn are ac-credited by QCA according to the criterialaid down for this purpose. This systemof quality control is not just highly costintensive but also unreliable. Anotherimportant factor is that the funding oftraining providers depends on the numberof successful examination candidates. Inthe case of training programmes whichare financed from public funds, quality isalso controlled by means of input criteria(e.g. facilities of the training venue).

In the training systems under considera-tion, the assessment of examination re-sults continues to be a main foundationfor quality control. In Germany and Francethe external control of training bodiesplays a major role. In the United King-dom, by contrast, the quality of trainingis mainly controlled by means of internalsystems. Training institutions are subjectto greater control, however, when theyreceive public funds.

State support measuresfor training providers

Despite generally valid quality standardsand public quality control, empirical re-sults seem to indicate that there are sig-

nificant differences in practice in the qual-ity of vocational training (Damm-Rüger etal. 1998, Pascaud, Simonin 1997). Train-ing policy may withdraw or refuse to granttraining providers accreditation if they failto observe or comply with standards.Another possible measure is (subsidiary)support for those providers who cannotmeet standards through their own efforts.

In the German dual training system thepromotion of inter-company training cen-tres is the most important contribution bythe State to maintaining quality. Thesetraining centres mainly aim to help over-come the deficits of training in small andmedium-sized enterprises. A second fo-cus is on the continuing training of in-company training staff and vocationalschool teachers.

The French training establishment systemfaces a fundamental problem of publicquality control when it comes to recon-ciling training practice with the idealstandards of the training provisions. Sincetraining quality is mainly influenced bythe competencies of the teachers and theavailable training aids, they are the focusof State promotion measures. Withoutaccess to additional in-company re-sources, particularly via the training tax(taxe d’apprentissage), training establish-ments cannot guarantee sufficient updat-ing of their facilities, equipment and ap-pliances. Differing levels of contact be-tween training establishments and localcompanies lead to differing chances ofobtaining additional funding. The Statecan at least partially compensate for thesedifferences by means of priority fund al-location.

In the United Kingdom training providerscompete on training markets for Statefunds whereby a specific sum is laid downper trainee. Any additional financial pro-motion of investment to raise standardsin individual groups of training providerswould lead to a distortion of competition.In order to improve their training qualityand their ability to compete, training pro-viders can form training alliances and,furthermore, specialise in offering exami-nation units in line with their resources.

If at all possible in Germany, the goal ofhigh quality training is not to be achievedat the expense of what are already scarce

“In Germany and Francethe external control oftraining bodies plays a ma-jor role. In the United King-dom, by contrast, the qual-ity of training is mainly con-trolled by means of internalsystems.”

“If at all possible in Ger-many, the goal of high qual-ity training is not to beachieved at the expense ofwhat are already scarce in-company training places.(...) The French trainingsystem based on trainingestablishments is best ableto tackle its structural ad-aptation problems to rapidchange in occupationalpractice by means of a suit-able definition of trainingstandards oriented to-wards the performance ca-pability of training estab-lishments. In the UnitedKingdom subsidiary Statesupport measures for indi-vidual groups of providerswould be in violation of thesystem.”


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in-company training places. Hence, Statesupport measures above all for small andmedium sized enterprises are of majorimportance. The French training systembased on training establishments is bestable to tackle its structural adaptationproblems to rapid change in occupationalpractice by means of a suitable definitionof training standards oriented towards theperformance capability of training estab-lishments. In the United Kingdom subsidi-ary State support measures for individualgroups of providers would be in viola-tion of the system.

Public promotion of inno-vative training practice

In the German dual system major incen-tives for innovations in training qualitymainly stem from those companies inwhich expert staff are an important fac-tor of competitiveness. The developmentactivities of companies of this kind fre-quently receive State support in the formof trial projects which are then dissemi-nated. Trial projects of this kind are alsoconducted in vocational schools.

In the French training establishment-based system pressure for innovationarises above all from harmonisation prob-lems with the qualification requirementsof industry and the changes in educationaldemand. Innovation requirements arecentrally assessed by the Ministry of Edu-cation and innovative training conceptsare as a rule developed, tested and dis-seminated from the ‘top down’.

In the United Kingdom the linking of fund-ing for training providers to training suc-cess (output-related funding) is a certainincentive for innovation. The same appliesto published rankings of providers accord-ing to the success rate of their candidatesin the acquisition of NVQs, and to awardswhich are presented for special innova-tion. In order to give targeted stimulusfor innovations in specific areas, there are

calls for tender for the development ofinnovative concepts.

Generally speaking, a philosophy of de-centralised innovation culture amongstproviders seems to be more widespreadin Germany and the United Kingdom thanin France. By means of trial projects inGermany, the State takes up initiatives forinnovation on the level of individual com-panies and vocational schools. In France,trial projects are used rather to test cen-tral innovation. In the United Kingdom,by contrast, the promotion of innovationis left to competition between the train-ing providers which is actively encour-aged by the State.

New orientation in publicquality control?

The fundamental concepts behind thepublic control of training quality all havetheir specific constraints. In Germany andFrance control of training quality is mainlyexerted by means of standards for inputfactors. This means complex rules whichimpede rapid adjustment to changing re-quirements. Control by means of outputstandards as practised in the United King-dom involves considerable operationali-sation problems and cost-intensive assess-ment and quality control procedures.

In future, it may be necessary to find newcombinations of both input and outputcontrol and of public and internal providerquality control. A re-orientation of publicquality control could be triggered in par-ticular through the trend observed in manyEU Member States towards a pluralisationof training paths and promotion of com-petition amongst various suppliers on thetraining markets. Furthermore, the impor-tance of internal quality control systems islikely to continue to grow even if Statetraining establishments and in-companytraining departments are increasinglyemerging as providers of services.

References

Damm-Rüger, S.; Degen, U.; Grüne-wald, U.: Zur Struktur der betrieb-lichen Ausbildungsgestaltung. Ergeb-nisse einer schriftlichen Befragung inAusbildungsbetrieben von Industrie,Handel und Handwerk. Federal Insti-tute for Vocational Training, Berichtezur beruflichen Bildung 101. Berlin/Bonn 1988.

Koch, R.: Duale und schulische Be-rufsausbildung zwischen Bildungs-nachfrage und Qualifikationsbedarf.Federal Institute for Vocational Trai-ning, Berichte zur beruflichen Bil-dung, Volume 217. Bielefeld: Bertels-mann, 1998.

Pascaud, E. and Simonin, B.: Larenovation des enseignements techno-logiques et professionnels. Crédoc -Collections des rapports. Paris 1987.

Raffe, David. (1994): The new flex-ibility in vocational education, in:Flexibility in vocational education andtraining/W.J. Nijhof, J.N. Streumer(Eds.), Lemma: Utrecht, The Nether-lands, pp. 13-32.

Wolf, Alison (1995): Competence-based assessment, Open UniversityPress: Buckingham - Philadelphia.

“Generally speaking, a phi-losophy of decentralisedinnovation culture amongstproviders seems to be morewidespread in Germanyand the United Kingdomthan in France. By means oftrial projects in Germany,the State takes up initia-tives for innovation on thelevel of individual compa-nies and vocationalschools. In France, trialprojects are used rather totest central innovation. Inthe United Kingdom, by con-trast, the promotion of in-novation is left to competi-tion between the trainingproviders which is activelyencouraged by the State.”


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Erwin SeyfriedFHVR BerlinResearch Centre for Voca-tional Training, Labour Mar-ket and Evaluation

Introduction

This article is based on the results of astudy commissioned by CEDEFOP carriedout in five European countries (Belgium,Germany, France, Greece and Portugal)which analyzed evaluation studies of vo-cational training programmes. The cen-tral question was the importance, meth-ods and practices of examining quality invocational training programmes. Theevaluation studies that were analyzedwere primarily concerned with program-mes for unemployed people and, to alesser degree, for the further training ofemployed workers. Most of the pro-grammes were (co)-financed by publicfunds.

Increasing significanceof vocational trainingprogramme evaluations?

Initial results showed that in all the coun-tries covered by the analysis there was aclear trend towards an increased numberof evaluation studies on vocational train-ing programmes. This was due not leastto the impetus provided by European pro-grammes. Increasingly, evaluation appearsto be becoming an integral part of newlyimplemented programmes. Thus in Por-tugal for example the evaluation of state-funded further training measures has be-come an obligatory requirement. This ishowever carried out from a primarily ad-ministrative point of view, with the mainemphasis on the examination of financialand material indicators and hardly anycompetent evaluation of the vocationalqualifications aquired and their usefulnesson the labour market.

Evaluation of qualityaspects in vocationaltraining programmes

From a quantitative point ofview the significance ofevaluations of vocationaltraining programmes hasundoubtedly increased, al-though they do not alwaysfulfill their intended func-tion. In Europe there existslittle in the way of a cultureof transparent communica-tion and open debate aboutthe methods and results ofthe evaluation of vocationaltraining programmes. Criti-cal discourse between sci-entists and evaluators onthe one hand and the poli-ticians and administratorsresponsible for the pro-grammes on the other stillneeds to be developed fur-ther. There needs to begreater convergence be-tween the debates on train-ing policy and labour mar-ket policy, as well as greatereffort on both sides in co-ordinating coherent re-search approaches whichtake both process-orientedand product-oriented indi-cators of quality into ac-count.

In the context of our meta-analysis anumber of studies - particularly from Por-tugal and Greece - were only partiallyopen to more detailed methodologicalanalysis, as the methods used were re-garded as private know-how and hencewere not published. Generally speakingit should also be noted that some studies,particularly those with critical or contro-versial results, were often deemed inap-propriate or unsuitable for publication.

From a quantitative point of view the sig-nificance of evaluations of vocationaltraining programmes has undoubtedly in-creased, although they do not alwaysfulfill their intended function. The quali-tative significance of such evaluations ischaracterized by their being an instrumentfor the appraisal of specific objectives, thedemonstration of relations of cause andeffect and hence for the optimisation ofprocedures, processes or products. InEurope there exists little in the way of aculture of transparent communication andopen debate about the methods and re-sults of the evaluation of vocational train-ing programmes. The process of unre-stricted examination and use of results ofevaluations for the further developmentof programme practice can be said tofunction only to a limited extent. Criticaldiscourse between scientists and evalua-tors on the one hand and the politiciansand administrators responsible for theprogrammes on the other still needs tobe developed further. Programme evalu-ation must not be allowed to be reducedto an affirmative function for politics andadministration as it can only fulfill its taskby maintaining a critical distance. Other-wise only inadequate use will be madeof the practical potential of evaluationsfor the improvement of the quality ofvocational training programmes.


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Vocational training pro-gramme evaluations andtheir methods

If we follow Scriven’s (1994) definition,the evaluation of vocational trainingporgammes can be regarded as a proce-dure intended to determine the merit,worth or value these programmes. Intheory this definition is uncontroversial(Cronbach, 1980; Guba, Lincoln, 1990;Patton, 1989). Yet according both to thedominant school of thought and from anempirical point of view there is a generalconsensus that the adherence to certainstandards and the achievement of certainpre-established objectives, results and out-comes following the implementation of aprogramme, are to be used as criteria foran assessment of the merits, worth or val-ues of that programme (Fernández-Ballesteros et al, 1998).

Methodologically speaking the analyzedevaluation studies displayed a high de-gree of variance, and are a long way fromusing comparable methods. This is dueon the one hand to the subject under ex-amination and the large number of vari-ables influencing the course and resultsof vocational training programmes. On theother hand it is also due to the fact thatwe are only now starting to see the emer-gence of a generally accepted, uniformset of methodological tools for the evalu-ation of vocational training programmes.

At first glance we can differentiate be-tween two distinct, even opposed typesof vocational training programme evalu-ation. The first type, with its roots in theuniversity tradition and frequently carriedout in this environment, sees itself as ap-plied social science, coupled with highambitions regarding adherence to scien-tific standards in proving relations ofcause and effect. Whilst evaluations of thistype may claim to make scientificallyfounded statements on effects, they arefrequently reproached with being too dis-tant from everyday practice. The secondtype of evaluation has its roots in man-agement and the enactment of pro-grammes, with its main emphasis on theformative function accompanying the pro-gramme. Evaluation is regarded as an in-herent component of the management oftraining programmes and is hence directed

less towards generally valid results thanto direct practical improvements to theprogramme.

Moreover the question as to why certainevaluation methods are used in specificinstances depends on the programmeobjectives, the evaluation objectives, costconsiderations, the relevance of certainquestions and thus ultimately on condi-tions specific to the individual countries.In order to systematically classify the widevariety of methodological approaches inthe vocational training programme evalu-ation studies analyzed, we took recourseto Stufflebeam and Skinfield’s CIPP model(1988). Using this model we were able todifferentiate between product-oriented,evaluations, process-oriented and context-oriented.

Product-oriented evaluations are designedto assess the difference between objec-tives and the results or products actuallyachieved by a programme. The differencebetween the intended objectives and theactual achievements is established bymeans of objective/achievement compari-sons. In these evaluations a high degreeof goal attainment is synonymous with ahigh measure of quality. Ideally, the ob-jectives are operationalized from a quan-titative point of view before the pro-gramme begins, thus making it possibleto measure precisely the degree of objec-tive attainment afterwards. Operational-ized objectives of this type can consist ofthe number of trainees from specific tar-get groups (e.g. the respective percent-ages of men and women) which the vo-cational training programme intends toreach, or can describe the skills and for-mal qualifications to be attained by train-ees in the course of a programme, or theycan anticipate the employment rateswhich trainees are to achieve on comple-tion of the programme. Accordingly withregard to vocational training programmeproducts it is possible to differentiate be-tween output (number and type of per-sons reached by the programme), results(number and type of qualifications ac-quired by the trainees) and outcome (theprogramme’s direct employment effects).

Process-oriented evaluations are con-cerned with the enactment of the pro-gramme itself, with the procedures,modes, agreements, conflicts, negotia-

“Programme evaluationmust not be allowed to bereduced to an affirmativefunction for politics andadministration as it canonly fulfill its task by main-taining a critical distance.”

“(…) we can differentiatebetween two distinct, evenopposed types of voca-tional training programmeevaluation. The first type,with its roots in the univer-sity tradition (…) sees it-self as applied social sci-ence, coupled with high am-bitions regarding adher-ence to scientific standardsin proving relations ofcause and effect. (…) Thesecond type of evaluationhas its roots in manage-ment and the enactment ofprogrammes, with its mainemphasis on the formativefunction accompanying theprogramme. Evaluation(…) is (…) directed less to-wards generally valid re-sults than to direct practi-cal improvements to theprogramme.”


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tions, arrangements and relationships oc-curring during the training and betweenthe actors and agencies involved. Henceprocess-oriented evaluations deal with theorganisation and procedures of the pro-gramme. They traditionally tend to bemore formative in design, which makes itdifficult to compare their methods andresults. Yet with the increasing introduc-tion of quality criteria such as the ISOstandard, the methods of process evalua-tion will presumably also be placed on amore unified footing, at least to the ex-tent that adherence to specific organisa-tional and procedural standards acts as aguarantee of the quality of a training pro-gramme.

Context-evaluations relate to the frame-work conditions within which vocationaltraining programmes take place. This re-fers as much to economic, legal and so-cial aspects on the societal macro-levelas to institutional and organisational as-pects on the meso and micro-levels of thepromoter organisation. More or less ex-tensive analyses on the context of voca-tional training programmes are almostinevitably a necessary component of everyevaluation, whether process or product-oriented. There are however also context-evaluations which are independent ofproduct and process. An example couldbe a prospective analysis of the regionaldevelopment of labour force requirementsor the need for specific vocational quali-fications in certain branches and sectorsof the economy (agriculture, shipbuild-ing, textiles, etc.). An analyses to deter-mine the qualification requirements andtraining needs of specific target groupssuch as disadvantaged youth or migrantsalso belong to this type of evaluationstudy.

Results of the analysis ofvocational trainingprogramme evaluations

The analysis of vocational training pro-gramme evaluation studies in five Euro-pean countries clearly illustrated that thereis a lack of relevant research in relationto the overall vocational training pro-gramme cycle. Hardly any studies areavailable which consider the context,processes and products of vocational

training programmes in relation to eachother. Many studies focus on single ele-ments of this cycle: some, for example,focus on training needs, whilst others areconcerned with the organisation of voca-tional training measures, with a thirdgroup dealing with the integration of train-ees into employment. Yet only a few ofthem covered the whole programme cy-cle with its different stages as a whole.

The context-evaluations examined withinthe framework of the present study dem-onstrate that only rarely is it possible tosuccessfully consider “objective” trainingrequirements, as established for specificsectors or regions together with the sub-jective training needs of the potentialtrainees. As a result of context evaluationsat macro-level training requirements areoften defined exclusively by (future) la-bour market demand. These econo-metrically-oriented evaluations often re-main relatively theoretical, they fail toprovide enough detail to allow conclu-sions to be drawn for the perspectives anddesign of vocational training programmes(Fierens et al, 1993). By contrast, contextevaluations which take an interest in thesocial preconditions and the subjectivetraining of specific target groups moreoften neglect the objective trends on thelabour market. As a result the vocationaltraining programmes are then analysedprimarily from the point of view of theiradequacy for specific target groups(Dulbea, 1994).

As far as process-oriented approaches areconcerned, there are hardly any variables,whether influenced by the type of thepromoter organisation, the compositionof the participants, dependent on theprocess of the training courses, or thequalifications of the training personnel,which have not been examined in thevocational training programmes-evalua-tions (Aubégny, 1989; Figari, 1994). How-ever, many of these important process-variables have not been analysed in asystematic way, which has a negative in-fluence on the reliability and general va-lidity of studies of this kind. In process-oriented evaluations there is a certaintrend towards the inclusion of the par-ticipants’ own subjective perspectives inthe evaluation of the process and this in-deed can provide important pointers to-wards qualitative modifications of voca-

“(…) there is a lack of rel-evant research in relationto the overall vocationaltraining programme cycle.Hardly any studies areavailable which considerthe context, processes andproducts of vocationaltraining programmes in re-lation to each other. Manystudies focus on single ele-ments of this cycle: (…) forexample, (…) trainingneeds (…)”


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tional training programmes. This trendshould not, however, hide the fact thatanalyses on the subjective needs andmotives of the participants still receive toolittle attention in the planning of voca-tional training programmes.

Product-oriented evaluations are to befound primarily in the field of researchinto the effects of labour market policies.Traditionally their main question iswhether the implemented policies fulfilltheir purpose. The Anglo-American andScandinavian approaches in particular aredistinguished by the fact that they workwith elaborate methodological standardsstudies (cf Riddel, 1991; Björklund, 1991).Most evaluations of this type carry out acounter-factual assessment of the pro-gramme impacts: it is not deemed suffi-cient to know whether participation in aprogramme led to postive employment ef-fects for the trainees; research is also car-ried out into whether such effects wouldalso have occurred without the pro-gramme. With the aid of experimental orquasi-experimental designs the research-ers test what the outcome would havebeen for the programme participants if thetrainees had not participated in the pro-gramme, thus investigating the counter-factual, as compared to the observed,outcome. To this end the employmentsituation for a control or comparablegroup of non-participants is observed overthe period under examination (Calmfors,1994). The particular strength of theseapproaches to the evaluation of labourmarket policies is that they lead to notnecessarily perfect but nevertheless rela-tively precise estimates of the actual ef-fects and impacts of the examined pro-grammes.

Evaluations of trainingprogrammes and labourmarket policy - a struc-tural gap

As an overall finding of our analysis itmust be stated that the fields of vocationaltraining research and labour market policyresearch remain distinctly isolated fromeach other, something which has to dowith the fact that both favour differentevaluation approaches. The former is pri-

marily oriented towards the evaluation ofthe training process and its internal qual-ity criteria, whereas products such as theemployment rate of the trainees are ig-nored if not intentionally rejected as in-dicators of quality. Training research isprimarily interested in the process, yetattaches almost no significance to theproduct. By contrast, labour market policyresearch affords pride of place to inte-gration into employment. In terms of la-bour market policy discourse, the docu-mentation of the employment situation ofparticipants following a vocational train-ing programme is both a common prac-tice and an uncontested criterion forevaluating the outcome of vocationaltraining programmes. For labour marketpolicy research the employment rate isthe domimant indicator of quality (cf. fora summary: OECD, 1991). This indicatoris so dominant that the learning achieve-ments of the trainees are sometimes ig-nored in the context of labour marketpolicy research, although they representa further, clearly product-oriented qual-ity indicator. Research into the (qualityof the) training process is largely excludedfrom labour market policy ex-post evalu-ations. Labour market policy evaluationtends to say which type of training pro-grammes worked and which did not, butnot usually why (Fay, 1996).

With regard to the CIPP-model the dy-namic relationship between process andproduct has yet to be adequately re-searched. In product-orientated labourmarket policy evaluations it is not onlythe situative conditions of the trainingprocess which have remained ignored intheir effects on the employment situation.The ‘participants’ own subjective assess-ments are also often not taken into con-sideration in the evaluation of the jobplacement rates. This is in spite of thefact that they are becoming increasinglysignificant in training process research andquality management and have alreadyproven their worth.

An exception to this rule are the evalua-tions of the in-house further educationprogrammes of large companies whichmake systematic efforts, both in the de-sign of the training programme and in theevaluation of the results, to consider notonly the objective requirements of thecompany’s work processes, but also the

“As an overall finding ofour analysis it must bestated that the fields of vo-cational training researchand labour market policyresearch remain distinctlyisolated from each other,something which has to dowith the fact that both fa-vour different evaluationapproaches.”

“For labour market policyresearch the employmentrate is the domimant indi-cator of quality (…). Thisindicator is so dominantthat the learning achieve-ments of the trainees aresometimes ignored in thecontext of labour marketpolicy research (…)”


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subjective interests and experiences of theemployees in relation to each other. Inaddition, these studies are also remark-able in that they are highly interested inthe question of the transfer and useful-ness of the qualifications achieved for thework processes in the company and in-troduce a quality indicator into the evalu-ation of the training measures which isdesigned to examine the achievement ofspecific objectives beyond the trainingprocess itself (Götz 1993). Unfortunatelythe insights gained by transfer researchreceive far too little attention both in thefield of training process research and inthe labour market policy debate.

Process-orientated evaluations are focusedon the internal quality dimension of vo-cational training, which can be analysedagainst different criteria (Dupouey, 1991).The current debate on questions of qual-ity in vocational training has led to a realsurge in evaluation methods and criteriafor the training process (Van den Berghe,1996). Increasingly, promoters are evalu-ating their own programmes on the basisof published checklists and criteria. It hasalso become common practice at the endof a training measure to ask the traineesfor an assessment of the course, thetrainer, the teaching materials, didacticmethods and equipment by means ofwritten questionnaires. Whilst assessmentsof this kind can provide the promoter withuseful hints for the improvement of train-ing provision, from the point of view ofscientific comparison, they do not repre-sent reliable criteria for the evaluation ofprogramme quality. Although there arestill only a few generally recognized qual-ity indicators in existence, the recent de-bate on questions of quality and TQMapproaches has led to a discernible trendin Europe towards the establishment ofspecific and adequate quality indicatorsfor the education and training system (loc.cit). Such criteria could consist of a set ofpre-formulated standards concerning thetraining process (such as the ISO norms).They could include the demands of dif-ferent target groups as well as the de-mands of business enterprises. They couldalso include indicators of the subjectivesatisfaction of the trainees, as well as in-dicators examining the trainees’ subse-quent employment. As a result the qual-ity indicators define the procedures to befollowed and, following the logic of this

evaluation approach, these quality ele-ments also contribute towards attainmentof objectives.

Whatever indicators are used, the linkingof training quality with subsequent em-ployment will be a central question. Anevaluation of vocational training pro-grammes which is not interested in theplacement rates of the trainees will besimply unsatisfactory. Otherwise it wouldbe possible to characterize the quality ofa programme as excellent even if just onesingle trainee had afterwards found a job.

Information on the whereabouts of formerprogramme-participants increasingly hasto include qualitative employment crite-ria in relation to the personal variables ofthe participants. The advantage of the em-ployment rate as an indicator of qualityis that it is both measurable and generalenough so that it can be used to measurevery different training policies. However,the placement rate is sometimes attributedmechanically to the training programme,even though there might be no causal linkat all between the completed trainingcourse and the subsequent job. It is thespecific weakness of product-oriented la-bour market reseach, that its main indi-cator for quality, the placement rate, can-not help us discern which variables mighthave an influence on access to employ-ment and to what extent this might beso.

A high job placement rate is not in itselfan indicator of quality, any more than alow placement rate. The famous statementby Tanguy (1986) which considers therelationship between vocational trainingand employment to be “introuvable” hasproven to be too superficial. The relation-ship between training and employmentis not necessarily causal in the individualcase. This is because it is not a questionof a simple relation of cause and effect,but rather, as in every supply and demandrelationship, of a very complex interrela-tionship of a large number of variables.This interrelationship has also empiricallybeen shown to be distinctly “trouvable”in many studies (cf. for an overview:Reutersward, 1995).

Thus it is, for instance common practicein labour market-oriented evaluation re-search to compare the results of different

“The current debate onquestions of quality in vo-cational training has led toa real surge in evaluationmethods and criteria forthe training process (…).”

“Although there are stillonly a few generally recog-nized quality indicators(…) the recent debate onquestions of quality andTQM approaches has led toa discernible trend in Eu-rope towards the establish-ment of specific and ad-equate quality indicatorsfor the education and train-ing system (…).”

“Whatever indicators areused, the linking of trainingquality with subsequentemployment will be a cen-tral question. An evaluationof vocational training pro-grammes which is not inter-ested in the placement ratesof the trainees will be sim-ply unsatisfactory.”


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training courses with the employment in-dicator to build up a hierarchy betweenmore and less effective training measures.Tanas et al (1995) was, for example, ableto show that a change in the subject andcontent of a training course led to changesin effects with regard to the rate of em-ployment in the following cohorts of train-ees. In addition the reviewed evaluationstudies also undertook comparisons be-tween the employment rates of varioustarget groups in relation to the generaltrends in the labour market. In the con-text of such comparative analyses it waspossible to demonstrate the disadvantagefaced by women in integration into em-ployment after leaving vocational train-ing programmes, for example (cf. Seyfried,Bühler, 1995). To this extent placementrates can be used as indicators pointingto necessary adjustments to policies andthe design of programmes, to the needsof certain target groups as well as to de-velopments in the labour markets.

In spite of such useful conclusions whichcan be drawn from placement data, cer-tain weaknesses remain with regard to theproblem of causality. Placement rates inparticular do not depend solely on thedesign and quality of the vocational train-ing programmes, but are also influencedby a wide range of other variables locatedoutside of the training and education sec-tor (Blaschke et al, 1992). If, for exam-ple, the macro-economic situation is char-acterized by a demand for labour whichis far too low, then our expectations ofvocational training programmes place-ment rates will be limited from the verystart. In this kind of situation successfulintegration into employment does notprimarily depend on the quality of thetraining but is decisively influenced bygeneral developments and the situationin individual economic sectors. Theseweaknesses concerning the causalityproblem mean that it is completely un-satisfactory to use the placement rate asthe sole indicator for effectiveness or forconcluding that different training meas-ures were more, or less, successful.

Conclusions

Although the findings of the reviewedevaluation studies stress the importanceof process-oriented evaluations, the ex-istence of quality criteria in the trainingprocess cannot be seen as an expressionof quality in itself. Only if these qualityaspects are intended to improve the ob-jectives of the training programme con-cerned can they be taken into considera-tion in the evaluations. In the course ofthe current debate on quality in vocationaltraining, there is a trend towards estab-lishing generally recognized quality indi-cators. This trend could make a decisivecontribution towards linking process-rel-evant quality characteristics with the ques-tion of the labour market relevance of theprogrammes and the subsequent employ-ment of the trainees. This is all the moreimportant in view of the fact that outcome-oriented evaluations have hitherto beenassociated with the disadvantage of onlyrarely allowing well-founded conclusionsto be drawn regarding the effect of cer-tain quality characteristics of training pro-grammes. However, there is a growingtrend in the scientific debate on evalua-tion approaches of labour market poli-cies to attribute more attention to theseissues (Fay, 1996).

The greater the emphasis placed on theexamination of the quality aspects of vo-cational training programmes, the lessprocess-oriented and product-orientedevaluations should be seen as alternativesbut as necessarily complementary ap-proaches. A coherent approach to voca-tional training programmes evaluationmust overcome the diagnosed gaps be-tween “process” and “product”. For thefuture there needs to be greater conver-gence between the debates on trainingpolicy and labour market policy, as wellas greater effort on both sides in coordi-nating coherent research approacheswhich take both process-oriented andproduct-oriented indicators of quality intoaccount.

“Although the findings ofthe reviewed evaluationstudies stress the impor-tance of process-orientedevaluations, the existenceof quality criteria in thetraining process cannot beseen as an expression ofquality in itself.”


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Aubégny, J. (1989). L’évaluation des organisationseducatives. Paris: Editions Universitaires.

Blaschke, D., H.-E. Plath & E. Nagel (1992):Konzepte und Probleme der Evaluation aktiverArbeitsmarktpolitik am Beispiel Fortbildung undUmschulung. In: MittAB 25 (1992), 3, S. 381-405.

Björklund, A. (1991). Evaluation of Labour MarketPolicy in Sweden. In: OECD, Evaluating LabourMarket and Social Programmes. The State of a Com-plex Art. Paris, pp. 73-88.

Calmfors, L. (1994). Active Labour Market Policyand Unemployment. A Framework for the Analysisof Crucial Design Features. Economic Studies, 22.OECD, Paris.

Cronbach, L. J. (1980). Toward Reform of ProgramEvaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

DULBEA (1994). Evaluation ex-post des objectifs 3et 4 du Fonds Social Européen 1990-1992. Rapportfinal. FTU, Louvain. DULBEA, ULB, Bruxelles.

Dupouey, P. (1991). L ’approche qual i té enéducation et formation continue. Paris: Les Editionsd’Organisation.

Fay, R.G. (1996). What Can We Learn from Evalua-tions of Active Labour Market Policies Undertakenin OECD Countries? The Case of Training. In: Evalu-ation of European Training, Employment and Hu-man Resource Programmes. Thessa lonik i :CEDEFOP-Panorama, pp. 111-113.

Fierens, A., D. Meulders & K. Sekkat (1993).Prévision de la demande de travail pour 25 secteursd’activité économique. DULBEA, ULB, Bruxelles.

Figari, G. (1994). Evaluer: quel réferenciel?.Bruxelles: de Boeck.

Fernández-Ballesteros, R., E. Vedung & E.Seyfried (1998). Psychology in Programme Evalu-ation. In: European Psychologist, Vol. 3, 2, pp. 143-154. Göttingen: Hogrefe & Huber Publishers.

Götz, K. (1993). Zur Evaluierung beruflicherWeiterbildung. Weinheim: Deutscher Studien Verlag.

Guba, E. & Y. Lincoln (1990). Fourth GenerationEvaluation. London: Sage Publications

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Riddel, C. (1991). Evaluation of Manpower andTraining Programmes. The North American Experi-ence. In: OECD, Evaluating Labour Market and So-cial Programmes. The State of a Complex Art. Paris,pp. 43-72.

Scriven, M. (1994). Evaluation Ideologies. In:R.F.Conner, D.G. Altman & C. Jackson (Eds.), Evalu-ation Studies, Vol. 9, pp. 49-80. Beverly Hills, CA:Sage.

Seyfried, E. & A. Bühler (1996). Evaluierung desEinsatzes von ESF-Mitteln im Ziel 1-Gebiet derBundesrepublik Deutschland. OperationellesProgramm des Bundes 1991-1993. FHVR Berlin:Forschungsstelle für Berufsbildung, Arbeitsmarktund Evaluation.

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Introduction

Over the last decade “Quality” has becomea central preoccupation of companies,public services and non-profit organisat-ions in Europe. One of the more visiblefeatures of this “quality wave” has been,particularly in Europe, the certification ofthe quality assurance mechanisms of or-ganisations on the basis of the so-calledISO 9000 standards. This form of cer-tification is becoming the de facto basicquality standard in many industrial sec-tors of Europe.

The ISO 9000 standards were originallyconceived for companies in the manu-facturing industry. Since the early 1990s,however, the application of the norms hasquickly spread to other sectors of theeconomy. The developments over the lastyears have resulted in a broad recogni-tion of the value of an ISO 9000 certi-ficate and its function as a quality label.

Quality is, of course, not a new phenom-enon in education and training, but theinterest for ISO 9000 is of relatively re-cent origin. Since the early ‘90s a numberof education and training institutions inEurope have obtained an ISO 9001 or ISO9002 certificate1. Although ISO 9000 cer-tification is still a marginal phenomenonin the education and training world, thenumbers of certified institutions and de-partments are increasing, particularlyamongst continuing, and vocational edu-cation and training providers.

But many practitioners in the educationand training world wonder whether thisdevelopment is the best way to improvequality within education and training in-stitutions. For many, the real added value

Application of ISO 9000standards to educationand training

of such a certification process remainsdoubtful – not to mention costly.

This article aims to shed some light onthese and related issues. It is based mainlyon a study I conducted, published in 1997as a Cedefop Report2. The reader will findmore information in that publication, inparticular on interpretation and imple-mentation issues.

What is ISO 9000 ?

“ISO 9000” is the commonly used nameto label a series of international stand-ards for quality assurance within organis-ations: ISO 9001, ISO 9002, ISO 9003, ISO9004 (and their subsets). The most im-portant norms to be considered in thecontext of this contribution are ISO 9001and ISO 9002. The official title for ISO9001 is “Quality systems. Model for qual-ity assurance in design, development,production, installation and servicing”.ISO 9002 is similar to ISO 9001, exceptthat design is not included. Unlike someother documents and ‘standards’ of theISO 9000 series, these two norms allowcertification of organisations by a thirdparty.

In the definition of ISO 9001 and 9002,the term “quality assurance” is the keyconcept. The official international defini-tion of quality assurance, according to ISO8402, is: “All the planned and systematicactivities implemented within the qualitysystem, and demonstrated as needed, toprovide adequate confidence that an en-tity will fulfil requirements for quality”.

Such a definition is, in my view, not verypractical. A more operational view is to

WouterVan den Berghe

Director QualityManagement Services,

Deloitte & ToucheBelgium

Although ISO 9000 certifica-tion is still a marginal phe-nomenon in the educationand training world, thenumbers of certified institu-tions and departments areincreasing, particularlyamongst continuing, andvocational education andtraining providers.But many practitioners inthe education and trainingworld wonder whether thisdevelopment is the best wayto improve quality withineducation and training in-stitutions. For many, thereal added value of such acertification process re-mains doubtful – not tomention costly

1) The difference between ISO 9001and ISO 9002 is explained later in thisarticle.

2) The full title of the report is “Ap-plication of ISO 9000 Standards inEducation and Training. Interpretationand Guidelines in a European Per-spective”.


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describe the requirements of quality as-surance as follows:

❏ defined quality criteria for all activitiesto which quality assurance applies;

❏ procedures to ensure that quality stand-ards are met;

❏ procedures that are systematicallymonitored for conformance;

❏ identification and analysis of causesnon-conformance;

❏ elimination of the causes of problemsthrough appropriate corrective action;

The principles of quality assurance canbe applied to a particular activity, or toall processes in the organisation. If thequality assurance is applied throughoutan organisation for all its activities, a“quality system” is in place. Such a qual-ity system may also be called a “qualitycontrol system” or alternatively a “qualitymanagement system” (more modern us-age).

Essentially, ISO 9001 and ISO 9002 con-tain a number of requirements whichshould be met by such a quality system.Some of these requirements are put infairly general terms; others are more de-tailed. The English version of the normscontain about 8 pages, most of whichconsist of the requirements of Section 4,arranged into 20 “clauses” or “criteria”.(see table 1).

The requirements of the standards can begrouped into three sets:

❏ general requirements of a quality sys-tem (management responsibility, qualitymanual and procedures, appointment ofa quality manager, availability of quali-fied resources and staff, ...);

❏ the need to maintain documented pro-cedures on the key processes of the or-ganisation (design, development, pur-chase, delivery, etc.) - and implementactivities according to the procedures;

❏ specific quality assurance mechanisms,including test and inspection, keepingquality records, dealing with non-con-formance, keeping documents up-to-date,

conducting internal audits and holdingregular management reviews.

Meeting most of these requirements is nota serious obstacle in a well-run organisa-tion. In an effective, high performanceorganisation, often the only thing requir-ed is to write down, in a formalised man-ner, the way one is currently operating.Meeting some of the more specific qual-ity assurance requirements, however, al-most inevitably requires extra work. Thisincludes the introduction of new activi-ties and processes, particularly documentcontrol, internal audits and systematiccorrective action.

It is important to recall that ISO 9001 andISO 9002 are system standards. The cer-tificates awarded indicate that the organi-sation is well able to meet the needs anddemands of its customers in a plannedand controlled way. But the label doesnot guarantee that the products or out-puts of the organisation are of the high-est possible quality level (although thisis often suggested for publicity pur-poses). This system of process approachto quality may sometimes be in a con-flict with a more “absolute” product ap-proach to quality. For instance, an ISO

Table 1:

ISO 9001 ISO 9002 Quality System Requirements:“Clauses”or “Criteria”

4.1 Management responsibility4.2 Quality system4.3 Contract review4.4 Design control4.5 Document and data control4.6 Purchasing4.7 Control of customer-supplied product4.8 Product identification and traceability4.9 Process control4.11 Control of inspection, measuring and test equipment4.12 Inspection and test status4.13 Control of nonconforming product4.14 Corrective and preventive action4.15 Handling, storage, packaging, preservation and delivery4.16 Control of quality records4.17 Internal quality audits4.18 Training4.19 Servicing4.20 Statistical techniques

“(…) ISO 9001 and ISO 9002are system standards. Thecertificates awarded indi-cate that the organisationis well able to meet theneeds and demands of itscustomers in a planned andcontrolled way. But the la-bel does not guarantee thatthe products or outputs ofthe organisation are of thehighest possible qualitylevel (although this is oftensuggested for publicity pur-poses). (…) ISO 9000 cer-tificate for an education ortraining organisation pro-vides “assurance” that it iswell organised and that theoutcomes of programmesand courses meet the in-tended goals and needs ofthe users; however, it doesnot necessarily guaranteethat the content of thesecourses and programmesmeet a particular educa-tional standard.


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9000 certificate for an education or train-ing organisation provides “assurance”that it is well organised and that the out-comes of programmes and courses meetthe intended goals and needs of the us-ers; however, it does not necessarilyguarantee that the content of thesecourses and programmes meet a particu-lar educational standard.

Thus, the terms “norms” and “standards”,as used within the ISO 9000 context, dif-fer from traditional education and train-ing concepts. Official “standards” for edu-cation and training in general refer to re-quired “inputs” (e.g. qualifications ofteachers, contents of programmes, …) orsometimes “outputs” (documents, diplo-mas, …). ISO 9000 looks at quality in adifferent way, by requiring general prin-ciples to be followed for controlling theprocesses within the institutes (“process”or “system” standards).

Another important difference is that tra-ditional education and training standardsare often very specific and linked to aparticular context. This feature makessuch norms more relevant and verifiable,but also more time dependent (risk ofrapid obsolescence) and less transferable.On the other hand, ISO 9001 and 9002are much more general, which implies thatconsiderable interpretation is always nec-essary (a sensitive issue for educational-ists!) and certain issues may not be ex-plicitly considered.

How certification works

One of the interesting features of ISO9001 and 9002 is that compliance withthe requirements of the standard can becertified by an independent third party.Certification is essentially organised atnational level. Most developed countrieshave now a national organisation that isentitled to “accredit” national certifica-tion bodies. Following a successful ac-creditation process, the certification bodyis then allowed to award “recognised”ISO 9001 or 9002 certificates. This ac-creditation process requires the fulfilmentof very tough criteria for the certifyingbody, both in terms of the qualificationsof the auditors employed and its inter-nal organisation. Moreover, accreditation

is often limited in scope to certain in-dustrial sectors, and has to be renewedregularly.

When an organisation is interested inobtaining an ISO 9000 certificate, in gen-eral the following stages will occur:

❏ development by the organisation of aquality system which is compliant withthe requirements of the norm (ISO 9001or ISO 9002);

❏ selection of an accredited certificationbody;

❏ (optional) pre-audit of the quality sys-tem by the certification body, followedby corrective measures (if needed);

❏ full compliance audit by the certifica-tion body, and award of the certificate (ifsuccessful);

❏ several interim audits with a more lim-ited scope over a period of three years(typically every 6-8 months, but at leastonce a year);

❏ A certificate is only valid for a periodof three years.

It should be clear that the certifying bodyhas to be paid for its services. This mayinvolve a considerable cost (for an edu-cation and training institute it will typi-cally vary between 2500 and 10 000 ECU).However, this expenditure is only a smallpart of the overall cost of certification:the lions share is represented by the sala-ries of the staff members involved withthe implementation of the quality system(possibly assisted by external consulting).

The relatively general formulation of theISO 9000 standards, the “national” accredi-tation structure, and the “competition”between certifying bodies have all con-tributed to slightly different practices inrelation to the award of ISO 9000 certifi-cates. There is little “hard evidence”, butmost experts would agree that not all cer-tificates have the same value. Certifica-tion processes are said to be “easier”within certain countries or with certaincertification bodies. In my experience, this“problem” certainly exists and should betaken seriously. On the other hand, theissue should not be exaggerated. Because

“Thus, the terms ‘norms’and ‘standards’, as usedwithin the ISO 9000 context,differ from traditional edu-cation and training con-cepts.”


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of the process nature of an ISO 9000 basedquality system, with all its feedback loopsand corrective actions, it is very difficultto run a “poor” ISO 9000 system. Actu-ally, very few cases of “falsification” ofsystems or certificates have emerged sofar – at least in an accredited environ-ment. A useful analogy is the differencesbetween the value and quality of similarlooking degrees of universities acrossEurope: these differences are much moreimportant than those between ISO 9000certificates.

Advantages and disadvan-tages of ISO 9000 certifica-tion

Before we look at the appropriateness ofISO 9000 in education and training, it isuseful to examine the advantages and dis-advantages as they are perceived in com-panies. Both at national and internationallevel, a growing number of studies havebeen conducted which examine the ben-efits and drawbacks of ISO 9000 certifi-cation.

An in-depth UK survey “ISO 9000 - Doesit work?” conducted in 1995 by the Man-chester Business School on behalf of SGS,found eight reasons for seeking certifica-tion which were each listed by at leasthalf of the respondents to the survey (indecreasing order of importance):

❏ future customers likely demand forISO 9000;❏ to increase consistency of operations;❏ to maintain/improve market share;❏ to improve service quality;❏ customer pressure;❏ a good promotional tool;❏ to make operations more efficient;❏ to improve product quality.

The survey also found that,

“small companies principally sought thestandard to improve market share and forpromotional purposes. (...) The larger theorganisation, the more likely it was to citecustomer pressure as a reason for certifi-cation. The service sector emphasised theimportance of increasing market shareand the need to improve consistency ofoperations and quality of service (...)”.

These results, when interpreted in an edu-cation and training context, are consist-ent with my findings and experience re-garding education and training providers.

But the same study also identified anumber of important hurdles and prob-lems in relation to ISO 9000 certification:

❏ the time required to write the manual❏ the high volume of paperwork❏ the high cost of implementation❏ the time required to complete imple-mentation❏ the high cost of maintaining the stand-ard❏ the lack of free advice❏ the lack of consistency between audi-tors❏ the time spent checking paperworkprior to audits

Only the first of these drawbacks wasmentioned by over 30% of the respon-dents; the last item by 16%. The surveyconcluded on this point that,

“The high cost of implementation - interms of time, volume of paperwork andmoney - were seen as the major problemsrelated to ISO 9000 across all groups.Small organisations generally considereddrawbacks to be more significant, whencompared to the benefits, than did largeorganisations. The same pattern was seenin concerns with ongoing maintenance ofthe standard (...)”.

The above arguments for and against ISO9000 summarise, in my view, much of thedebate about the benefits and drawbackswhich companies associate with it. It alsohighlights that the relevance and cost-ef-fectiveness of certification will dependhighly on the specific context: both theexternal demands and opportunities, aswell as the internal needs and possibili-ties.

It should therefore be no surprise thatthere are still many successful and highquality companies which are not ISO 9000certified. Indeed, “going for ISO” is onlyone way to develop and maintain a qual-ity system, to drive the quality assuranceprocess and to engage in a spiral of con-tinuous improvement. But it is an ap-proach which is highly visible to the out-side world (unlike other quality ap-

“(…) the relevance andcost-effectiveness of certifi-cation will depend highlyon the specific context: boththe external demands andopportunities, as well asthe internal needs and pos-sibilities.”


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proaches) and which sets a clear perspec-tive for the employees.

I feel that we are gradually evolving intoa situation – more rapidly in some Euro-pean countries than in others – where ISO9001 or 9002 will be considered as a “mini-mum” quality requirement for manufac-turing firms. This is already the case forcertain industrial sectors in some Euro-pean regions. This idea is also penetrat-ing the commercial service sector, albeitat a lower pace and in a less uniform way(in general because the relevance of thecertificate is not obvious, or because theremay be more interesting alternatives, i.e.sector-specific standards). It remains anopen question, however, whether ISO9000 will ever deeply penetrate the pub-lic and non-profit sector (including theeducation world). This is linked to ques-tions of appropriateness, interpretationand cost, as well as to the quality cultureof such organisations.

Appropriateness of thestandard for educationand training

The late 1980s saw the introduction of “in-dustrial” quality concepts (such as TotalQuality Management – TQM) in a feweducation and training institutes; in theearly 1990s, some pioneers embraced ISO9000. Since then, there has been increas-ing evidence that the adoption of TQMprinciples and methods – including thoseembedded in the ISO 9000 requirements– could be relevant and useful for educa-tion and training organisations.

There are a number of arguments whichunderpin the move towards ISO 9000 cer-tification. Not surprisingly, education andtraining organisations seek in this way toimprove or maintain the quality of theireducation or training provision. But of-ten there are other arguments put forward,in particular the following:

❏ the promotion of a high quality image,with high visibility and credibility;

❏ a way of responding to external fac-tors, in particular pressures from custom-ers (directly or indirectly), governmentsor funding bodies;

❏ a method for developing a full qualityassurance system which covers the wholeorganisation;

❏ the need to improve a number of spe-cific activities of the organisation, whichare currently badly organised.

In each of these areas, several factors mayplay a role. The importance of these argu-ments is likely to vary strongly depend-ing on the nature of the organisation andits external environment. Overall, it wouldappear that the reasons for seeking certi-fication in the education and trainingworld do not differ fundamentally fromthose elsewhere.

Arguments in favour of certificationshould, of course, be balanced against thecounter-arguments and disadvantages.These are numerous and – in the light ofthe limited number of certified educationor training institutes – still outweigh thepositive arguments. There are severalpossible disadvantages:

❏ interpretation problems (the standardwas initially designed and written for themanufacturing industry);

❏ insufficient relevance of certain com-ponents of the norm (and lack of specificmention of some issues which are con-sidered critical to education and training);

❏ inappropriate standardisation in useand application;

❏ time consumption and cost;

❏ risk of increased bureaucracy;

❏ specific problems linked to particulartypes of education and training institutes.

It must thus be recognised that the ISO9000 approach has some inherent weak-nesses for education and training, whichrequire skill and creativity to address. Thecost and time implications are a real hur-dle, and there is a serious risk of a bu-reaucracy.

Overall differences by type of educationand training provider are:

❏ compared to schools and highereducation institutions, the providers of

“It remains an open ques-tion, however, whether ISO9000 will ever deeply pen-etrate the public and non-profit sector (including theeducation world). This islinked to questions of ap-propriateness, interpreta-tion and cost, as well as tothe quality culture of suchorganisations.”

“Overall, it would appearthat the reasons for seekingcertification in the educa-tion and training world donot differ fundamentallyfrom those elsewhere.”


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continuing education and training aremore likely candidates for ISO 9000 (mar-ket pressure; more similarity with otherindustrial services);

❏ vocational education and training pro-viders are more suitable candidates forISO 9000 than general education institutes(closer linkage to the employment mar-ket with its quality ethos and culture);

❏ ISO 9000 is more likely to be appro-priate for “larger” than for “small” insti-tutes (economies of scale, and need formore formalised process control in largerinstitutes);

❏ the more varied and customised theprovision of education and training is, themore time it will take (an the more costlyit will be) to obtain an ISO 9000 certifi-cate.

Interpretation issues

A particular feature of the ISO 9000 stand-ards is the need for interpretation. Manyof the specifications laid down in thestandards need careful analysis and ad-equate interpretation before they can beapplied in a particular education or train-ing context. This relates to both the ter-minology and to the processes concerned.This feature is both an advantage (it al-lows considerable flexibility and custom-ising, over time) and a drawback (it maylead to insecurity and be the source ofcontroversy and resistance).

A critical point in the interpretation foreducation and training is the definition ofthe “product”: is it the “learning output”,the “learning process”, or rather the edu-cation or training programme which is of-fered? This is not just an academic prob-lem, but one which has implicationsthroughout the standard. In my view, basedon comparisons with other service sectors,given the real difficulty of controlling thelearning process, and the choices made bymany certified education and training or-ganisations across Europe, the most op-erational way to define the “product” inan ISO 9000 context is as,

“the education and training services of-fered by the organisation, including as-sociated products, tools and services”.

This choice has many implications wheninterpreting a number of clauses of ISO9001/9002. For instance, when “learning”is taken as the “product”, then the “test-ing and inspection” requirements con-cern assessment and evaluation of stu-dents and trainees. However, when “thecourse (programme)” or “training” is con-sidered as the product then the “testingand inspection” requirements refer to theevaluation of a course or training ses-sion by students, trainees and/or theiremployers. Interestingly, however, evenwhen “learning” is be taken as the defi-nition of the product, in practice it mightlead to a similar implementation of thequality system. This is related to thesomewhat redundant nature of the ISO9000 requirements, and the fact that thesystematic application of the principlesof quality assurance is almost independ-ent of the definition of the product. Inparticular the general clauses 4.2 (Qual-ity system) and 4.9 (Process control) areformulated in such a way that quality as-surance arrangements must be in placefor all critical processes, whether theseare covered by a specific clause of thenorm or not.

There is a second, more challenging setof interpretation problems. These concernthe assessment of how the requirementscan be addressed effectively with mini-mum overheads. Indeed, in many situa-tions it is often not straightforward to saywhether or not a particular requirementis entirely fulfilled. Consider, for instance,the need to define and analyse “designinput factors” during the design process(Clause 4.4 in ISO 9001). It will be a mat-ter of judgement by the institution andthe auditor of the certifying body to de-cide whether all critical input factors arebeing considered.

How such issues are dealt with has majorconsequences for the implementation andmaintenance of the quality system. TheISO 9000 standards contain many partswhich need subjective assessment for aparticular education or training provider.This is, actually, both a strength and aweakness of ISO 9000.

A third, related type of interpretation dif-ficulty concerns the rigour and extent towhich the requirements have to be fol-lowed, such as:

“A critical point in the inter-pretation for education andtraining is the definition ofthe ‘product’: is it the ‘learn-ing output’, the ‘learningprocess’, or rather the edu-cation or training pro-gramme which is offered?(…) based on comparisonswith other service sectors,given the real difficulty ofcontrolling the learningprocess, and the choicesmade by many certifiededucation and training or-ganisations across Europe,the most operational way todefine the ‘product’ in anISO 9000 context is as, (…)”


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❏ the level of detail needed for docu-ments (particularly procedures and workinstructions) – which has considerable im-plications for document control

❏ the nature and quantity of qualityrecords – often the biggest stumblingblock in the effective maintenance of thequality system, and the seeds for a bu-reaucratic, paper-based system

❏ the specificity of the quality policy andobjectives

❏ the frequency of internal audits andmanagement reviews

❏ the scientific validity of the evaluationand assessment methods used.

No authoritative guidance exists on suchissues. What needs to be done in prac-tice depends on the complexity of theorganisation, the demands from custom-ers, and the educational attainment of thestaff. It is safe to check in advance thatthe certifying body agrees with the inter-pretation adopted.

Implementation of an ISO9000 based quality system

The whole process from decision to cer-tification for a typical organisation is typi-cally in the range of 12 to 18 months.Thus, the relevance of adopting ISO 9000should not only be considered in termsof the advantages and drawbacks of thequality system, but also in the light of thecomplexity and risks of implementation.After all, establishing a quality system isnot merely adding a few bells and whis-tles to an existing organisation, but is animportant “change process” which willhave an impact on the whole organisa-tion. It is well known from managementconsulting practice that the implementa-tion of change processes is always diffi-cult and risky, and that resources are of-ten underestimated. This also applies tothe whole certification process.

Although it is dangerous to generaliseabout the “ideal” starting requirements forISO 9000, my personal “top ten” are thefollowing initial conditions that:

❏ the organisation is already well organ-ised;

❏ there is already a quality policy (atleast implicitly), with standards which aretaken seriously;

❏ the organisation has been, and is likelyto remain, fairly stable in terms of activ-ities and personnel (no other importantchange, expansion or streamlining opera-tions are going on);

❏ there is a good understanding of allinternal processes;

❏ many standardised documents exist al-ready;

❏ the organisation is financially sound;

❏ a qualified, motivated and credible(highly regarded) person is available toco-ordinate the implementation;

❏ the senior management believes in thevalue of certification and is committed toit;

❏ the number of significantly differenttypes of customers, products and servicesis limited;

❏ the organisation is small with only afew departments and maximum of a fewdozen staff members.

If most of these conditions are met, theorganisation can safely engage in an ISO9000 exercise. But if none or only a fewapply, then it is likely that the journeytowards certification will be long andpaved with obstacles. A bonus in all caseswould be the easy access to professionaladvice and to the experience of similarorganisations who have already imple-mented the requirements.

Conclusions

Although experience with ISO 9000 in theeducation and training world is still lim-ited (a few dozen institutions in each ofthe larger or more advanced Europeancountries), first lessons can already bedrawn.

The tangible and often compulsory re-quirements of ISO 9001 and 9002 stand-ards (quality policy, quality manual andprocedures, regular audits, ...) provide anoverall, measurable framework for qual-ity efforts, which can be used by an edu-cation and training organisation. Experi-ence so far indicates that ISO 9000 based

“The whole process fromdecision to certification fora typical organisation istypically in the range of 12to 18 months. Thus, the rel-evance of adopting ISO9000 should not only be con-sidered in terms of the ad-vantages and drawbacks ofthe quality system, but alsoin the light of the complex-ity and risks of implemen-tation.”


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quality systems contribute to improvedcustomer service, high levels of qualityassurance and a dynamic of continuousquality improvements. ISO 9000 is not incontradiction with any sound educationalstandards or practice, and can easily com-plement other quality approaches (in par-ticular those focussing on input- or out-put-factors). Obtaining a certificate en-hances the organisation’s quality imageand underpins its quality claims in an in-creasingly competitive environment. Itmay enable an education or training pro-vider to fulfil or exceed externally im-posed quality criteria.

But even education and training organi-sations who are generally very positiveabout ISO 9000, recognise a number ofproblems and drawbacks in the operationof the system. The problems most fre-quently reported are: the continuous vol-ume of paperwork involved, the cost ofcertification and the ongoing cost of main-tenance, the risk of evolving towards abureaucracy focused on procedures andregistrations, and the difficulty of imple-menting changes fast.

It should be recognised that the ISO 9000norms are not the best imaginable qual-

ity standards for education and training.Ideally, they should be complemented bycontent-related criteria. What remainsunresolved as yet is the question of thecost-effectiveness of the certification proc-ess and the maintenance of the qualitysystem. More research is needed on theimpact of ISO 9000 certification, its rele-vance, its cost-effectiveness, and thecoherence with traditional quality con-cepts and mechanisms used in educationand training. More studies over a suffi-cient time scale will also be required toexamine whether the benefits reportedcontinue to outweigh the drawbacks, andunder what assumptions the experienceof implementing an ISO 9000 based qual-ity system may be transferable to othereducation and training organisations.

In conclusion, even the increasing numberof ISO 9000 certificates is unlikely to putan end to the vivid debate about qualityassurance and quality management ineducation and training institutions. Even-tually, it will be the market which willdecide whether the cost of certification isworthwhile, whether its benefits will out-weigh the drawbacks, and whether anyother national or international qualityscheme is more appropriate.

“ISO 9000 is not in contra-diction with any sound edu-cational standards or prac-tice, and can easily comple-ment other quality ap-proaches (in particularthose focussing on input- oroutput-factors).”

“(…) ISO 9000 norms arenot the best imaginablequality standards for edu-cation and training. Ideally,they should be comple-mented by content-relatedcriteria. What remains un-resolved as yet is the ques-tion of the cost-effective-ness of the certificationprocess and the mainte-nance of the quality sys-tem.”

Bay, A. e.a. 1997: Linea Guida per l’applicazionedella norma UNI EN ISO 9001 al Settore dellaFormazione, Tessile di Como e.a., Milano

Blackwell, C., Hector, P. & Sarfaty, D., 1995: As-surance of Quality in Continuing Education. AHandbook (Project Aquaforce Part II). FEANI, Paris

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BSI Quality Assurance, 1995: Education andTraining. Guidance notes on the application of BSEN ISO 9001 for quality management systems in

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Dembski, M. & Lorenz, T., 1995: Zertifizierungvon Qualitätsmanagement-systemen bei Bildungs-trägern. Expert Verlag, Renningen

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Rooney, M., 1994: Guidelines on the applicationof the ISO 9000 series to further education and train-ing. NACB (National Accreditation of CertificationBodies), London

van den Berg, A. & van de Minkelis, A., 1994:ISO-audit vragenlijst Trainings- en Opleidings-instituten. DNV Industry, Rotterdam

Van den Berghe, W., 1995: De markt heeft weereens het laatste woord. Onderwijsinstellingenoverwegen ISO-certificaat: er bestaat geen alternatiefmet dezelfde herkenbaarheid. In Intermediair(België), nr 37

Van den Berghe, W., 1996: Quality Issues andTrends in Vocational Education and Training inEurope. CEDEFOP, Thessaloniki


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In-company continuingtraining: Trends inEuropean enterprises

Introduction

The perspective has changed in Europeanenterprises. The continuing training ofemployees is no longer viewed as ad hocadaptation to new generations of technol-ogy. Today, people tend to smile at theidea that continuing training is funded asa reward and incentive for industriousemployees. The oft-cited challenges to Eu-ropean enterprises in the 1980s and 1990sare usually grouped into two major cat-egories: the employment of computer-aided techniques and the globalisation ofmarkets undergoing qualitative change.These challenges have led - and continueto lead - to profound modernisation proc-esses in companies.

Worldwide competition focuses on theinherent ability of enterprises to antici-pate outside trends and to adapt flexiblyand cheaply to every conceivable marketchange.1

In principle, enterprises currently achievethe required flexibility by adjusting tworelated inputs.

❏ New forms of business and work or-ganisation, characterised by flat hierar-chies, horizontal networking, team work,functional integration at the workplaceand inter-enterprise networking.

❏ Employees with hybrid qualifications,good communication skills and soundmethodology constantly encourage inno-vation in enterprises.

These trends can be found in all indus-tries and in companies of all sizes through-out the EU.2

Company personnel devel-opment and continuingtraining as an investment

Whatever the new forms of organisationand associated management models arecalled (learning enterprise, fractal enter-prise, lean management, anthropocentricwork organisation, etc.), they all rely onextensive jobs enlargement in vertical,horizontal and social terms with corre-sponding skills requirements for all em-ployees. All staff are also expected to playan active role in initiating and implement-ing projects to develop the enterprise.Staudt’s verdict that the personnel poten-tial of an enterprise is its limiting factorin competition3 becomes apparent in‘new’ enterprises which not only requirecompetent specialists for the various func-tions, but also systematically uses em-ployee creativity as a source of innova-tion.

Now enterprises throughout Europe arediscovering that this new breed of em-ployee for the ‘Learning Company’ muststill be created. They do not occur natu-rally either in enterprises or on the la-bour-market. Even with suitably adaptedinitial vocational training systems, thenecessary skil ls must be constantlyre learned, adapted and improvedthroughout working life.

Continuing vocational training is becom-ing a matter of survival for companies,and since every enterprise undergoesspecific developments, the continuingtraining must be essentially in-companycontinuing training.4 This makes continu-ing in-company training a strategic fac-tor that must be planned and financed

Thomas StahlDirector of the Institute of So-cial Science Counselling(isob) in Regensburg, Ger-many

The challenges of globali-sation and industrialchange prompt enterprisesin all EU Member States toadopt modernisation strat-egies which focus on flexi-bilisation of structures andemployees and on system-atic promotion of innova-tiveness. In this context in-company continuing train-ing becomes a strategic fac-tor in corporate policy; con-tinuing training costs areseen as investment; finan-cial control of training andquality assurance are ex-pected to optimise pro-grammes and the overallprocess of personnel devel-opment. The necessary in-tegration of organisationaldevelopment and person-nel development in newcorporate cultures mani-fests itself at programmelevel in forms of integrationof in-house learning andworking. European enter-prises are increasingly ex-panding and exploiting thisinterface of two referencesystems (working andlearning) as a source of in-novations.


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in the same way as production technol-ogy and logistics. Spending on continu-ing training becomes a business invest-ment to such an extent that it must besubject to economic evaluation. The in-creasing importance of in-company con-tinuing training as a strategic businessdevelopment factor necessarily raises tothe question of the adequacy, effective-ness and efficiency of continuing train-ing programmes. New forms of assess-ment, quality assurance and quality man-agement are finding their way into con-tinuing vocational training.

The difficulties inthe financial controlof training

If in-company continuing training is seenas an investment, business logic dictatesthat the programmes and financial outlaybe subject to financial control mecha-nisms. As with other business investments,an attempt is made to establish what con-tribution continuing training makes to thesuccess of the undertaking and then tocompare that to the costs involved.5

Of course it is practically impossible todetermine the quantitative contribution ofcontinuing training in isolation from thenumerous other factors contributing to thesuccess of an enterprise. This leads tounfortunate strategies in the financial con-trol of training.

❏ Financial controllers concentrate onmeasurable variables, and primarily thecosts of continuing training, However, ifthe only measure of the optimisation ofcontinuing education is its cost, there is arisk that cheaper solutions will be adoptedand so the full potential of appropriatetraining will not be achieved.

❏ For lack of other evidence ‘trainers’ fallback on quantifiable indicators of per-formance (absenteeism falls, suggestionsfor improvement increase, job satisfactionimproves, etc.), which are all very fine,but are of only marginal importance inrelation to the real goals of continuingtraining.

❏ In any event, the short-term prospectsof success prevail over a longer-term view

of company development processes,which are precisely what new ways of in-tegrating organisational development andcontinuing training are striving for.

The ‘financial control’ approach may beunderstandable from the business calcu-lation standpoint, but in the experienceof European enterprises it has done littleto optimise in-company continuing train-ing. Nevertheless, this approach has in-jected cost awareness into continuingtraining, efficiency considerations havebeen introduced, and the question of ameasure for assessing continuing trainingperformance is being discussed in earnest.Most enterprises in Europe are exploringother approaches to these unresolved is-sues.

Optimisation of forms ofintegration of personneland organisational devel-opment

Flexibility and innovativeness as crucialcharacteristics of successful Europeanenterprises are the result of, firstly, thetargeted receptiveness of work and com-pany organisations to bottom-up impe-tuses and, secondly, the selective foster-ing of worker potential. Continuing train-ing is thus both a cause and an effect oforganisational development. Causalityanalysis and corresponding methods ofassessment fail to account for theseinterdependencies. The introduction ofteam production makes no more contri-bution to an enterprise’s improved mar-ket adaptation than does targeted teach-ing of social skills to participating work-ers. Only the combination of both thesefactors, which constantly change eachother in symbiosis, achieve the result pro-duced. Any attempt at an isolated attribu-tion of cause and effect, and any attemptto base optimisation on such an analysis,is doomed from the outset.

A reminder that all aspects of enterprisemodernisation are inter-related is naturallynot very satisfactory when it comes todrawing practical conclusions on opti-mising the correlation, or to making acontribution to the optimisation of indi-vidual elements of the correlation.

1) Almeida Silva, J.L., Les ‘flexibilitésdans l’entreprise’, in: Fernandez, A.et al.. (Eds.), Flexibilité. Le nouveauparadigme de la production et lesréponses flexibles de la formationdans une organisation qualifiante,Caldas da Rainha, 1995, p. 29ff;Stahl, T., Vocational training, employ-ment and the labor market , in:Bergeron, P.-O., Gaiffe, M.A., Crois-sance, Compétitivité, Emploi, Brussels1994, p. 245ff

2) Tomassini, M. (Ed.), Training andContinuous Learning, Milan 1997. cf.Severing, E., Stahl, T., Qualitäts-sicherung in der betrieblichen Weiter-bildung, Luxembourg 1996; Andrea-sen, L.E. et al.,. Europe’s next step.Organisational Innovation, Competi-tion and Employment, Ilford 1995

3) Staudt, E., Unternehmensplanungund Personalentwicklung - Defizite,Widersprüche und Lösungsansätze, in:MittAB 22 (1989) 3, p. 374ff

4) cf. Bertini, G., Three approachesto learning in enterprises, in: Tomas-sini, M., 1997, p 102ff. This also holdsin cases where external continuingtraining providers are involved. Theirprogrammes must be tailored to to thecontents, methods and organizationof each enterprise individually. (Stahl,T., Stölzl, M., Bildungsmarketing imSpannungsfeld von Organisations-entwicklung und Personalentwick-lung, Berlin 1994)

5) cf. die Fälle Dragados y Construc-tiones / Telefonica / G. INI-TENEO,in: Severing, Stahl 1995, p .45f

“Continuing vocationaltraining is becoming a mat-ter of survival for compa-nies, and since every enter-prise undergoes specificdevelopments, the continu-ing training must be essen-tially in-company continu-ing training.4 This makescontinuing in-companytraining a strategic factorthat must be planned andfinanced in the same wayas production technologyand logistics.”


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A few years ago high hopes were attachedto the idea of quality assurance foroptimisation processes in in-companycontinuing training.6 ‘Process evaluation’,borrowed from industrial production,seems well-suited for constantly improv-ing continuing education and for takingmore accurate account of the dovetailingof in-company training activities withother development processes. Applicationof appropriate quality standards (ISO9000) and of quality management meth-ods to in-company continuing training hasgained some ground despite controversyamong experts.7

Quality assurance inin-company training

The initial ISO euphoria has since givenway to by a realistic view of quality stand-ards. In continuing training as elsewhere,differentiated and adapted forms of qual-ity management, tend to use norms andstandards as heuristic aids, whose func-tion cannot be the optimisation of con-tinuing training, but only to serve as re-minders for all those involved in the proc-ess.

No quality criteria are prescribed for in-company training. They depend on theparticular development goals of the en-terprise and its employees. It is thereforeonly logical for DuPont Luxembourg toreport that it is placing the optimisationof continuing training largely in the handsof the workers themselves after havingworked with top-down job descriptionsin the field of quality.8

This idea of workers being responsiblefor or participating in evaluating and im-proving their own learning within thecompany is only logical in enterpriseswhich rely increasingly on employeeswith their own sense of responsibility inproduction or service provision. One ofthe purposes of continuing training goalsis to develop this ability to act on one’sown responsibility in the company’s in-terest. It is therefore essential to makeemployees experts on the subject of theirown continuing training.9

There is another reason. Workers consti-tute the interface in the above-mentioned

integration of learning and working, oforganisational development and person-nel development. They are expected toact competently within existing forms ofworking and to optimise them. They arealso expected to develop new, improvedforms of working and to look at overallcompany operating processes. It is theworkers themselves who know their ownshortcomings better than anyone else fromdaily practice. They are the people whoare in the best position to take a criticallook at continuing training programmesthat will help to boost their own perform-ance.

Such self-evaluation approaches, coupledwith opportunnities and encouragementto optimise learning are a recognisabletrend towards quality management in in-company continuing training in Europe.

Working and learning as asource of innovativeness

A result of the new management culturein European enterprises is the attempt tobring continuing training closer to theworkplace and to integrate learning andwork.10

Particularly in Germany, there are a vari-ety of models11 based on new vocationaltraining approaches and on ‘action regu-lation’ theory (Handlungsregulations-theorie).12

For company practitioners, the decisiveargument in favour of learning of this kindis its cost and the elimintation of learn-ing-transfer problems.

The reality of integrating learning andwork promises an abundance of excitingresults in the future. Recent research onthe genesis of innovations suggest theimportance of interfaces between differ-ent systems of reference in the evolutionof innovations. Learning and working aredifferent reference systems which untilnow have only been associated unidimen-sionally through narrowly defined chan-nels. Job skills, and the associated knowl-edge and skill profiles always served aslearning process specifications. Definingintegration of learning and working as anopen interface for the coproduction ofinnovation results in multifaceted recip-

6) Feuchthofen, J.E., Severing, E.(Eds.), Qualitätsmanagement undQualitätssicherung in der Weiterbil-dung, Neuwied 1995

7) cf. die Fälle Atea, Dragados yConstructiones, Sollac, Renault, Arbedand DuPont, in: Severing, E., Stahl,T., 1996, p. 91ff

8) cf. Severing, E., Stahl, T., 1996, p.41f

9) Stahl, T., Selbstevaluation. EinKönigsweg zur Qualitätssicherung inder Weiterbildung, in: Feuchthofen,J.E., Severing, E. (Eds.), 1995, p. 88ff

10) cf. Dankbaar, B., Learning to meetthe global challenge, Maastricht 1995,p. 39ff and p. 61ff (New methods andapproaches for learning-while-work-ing)Den Hertog, J.F., Entrepreneurship onthe shop floor: Nationale Nederlan-den, in: Andreasen, L.E. et al,. 1995,p. 196ff.Severing, E., Stahl, T., 1996, p. 47ff

11) Dehnbostel, P., Holz, H. u. Novak,H., Lernen für die Zukunft durchverstärktes Lernen am Arbeitsplatz,Berl in 1992; Dehnbostel, P. andWalter-Lezius, H.-J., Didaktik moder-ner Berufsbildung, Berlin 1995

12) Hacker, W. and Skell, W., Lernenin der Arbeit, Berlin 1993

“In continuing training aselsewhere, differentiatedand adapted forms of qual-ity management, tend to usenorms and standards asheuristic aids, whose func-tion cannot be the optimi-sation of continuing train-ing, but only to serve as re-minders for all those in-volved in the process.”


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rocal challenges, cross-fertilization andinterrelated developments. Learning willburst the bars of traditional schoolroomdidactics and become an adventure. En-tirely new methods, media and conceptswill not only optimise but also redefinein-company continuing education. Con-versely, work will be constantly rethoughtin response to learning processes. It willbe systematically revamped and its forms,

methods and organisation will be adaptedto changing market requirements. Newproduct ideas and new forms of produc-tion will be generated.

Optimisation of in-company continuingtraining for enterprises in Europe mustmean: creation of new sources of inno-vation through the integration of learn-ing and working.

Almeida Silva, J.L., Les ‘flexibilités dans l’entre-prise’, in: Fernandez, A. et al. (Eds.), Flexibilité. Lenouveau paradigme de la production et les répon-ses flexibles de la formation dans une organisationqualifiante, Caldas da Rainha, 1995, pp. 29ff;

Bertini, G., Three approaches to learning in enter-prises, in: Tomassini, M., 1997, pp. 102ff.

Dankbaar, B., Learning to meet the global chal-lenge, Maastricht 1995, pp. 39ff and pp. 61ff. (Newmethods and approaches for learning-while-work-ing)

Dehnbostel, P., Holz, H. u. Novak, H., Lernen fürdie Zukunft durch verstärktes Lernen am Arbeits-platz, Berlin 1992; Dehnbostel, P. and Walter-Lezius,H.-J., Didaktik moderner Berufsbildung, Berlin 1995

Den Hertog, J.F., Entrepreneurship on the shopfloor: Nationale Nederlanden, in: Andreasen, L.E.et al., 1995, pp. 196ff.

Feuchthofen, J.E., Severing, E. (Eds..), Qualitäts-management und Qualitätssicherung in derWeiterbildung, Neuwied 1995

Hacker, W. und Skell, W., Lernen in der Arbeit,Berlin 1993

Stahl, T., Vocational training, employment and thelabor market, in: Bergeron, P.-O., Gaiffe, M.A.,Croissance, Compétitivité, Emploi, Brussels 1994,pp. 245ff

Stahl, T., Selbstevaluation. Ein Königsweg zurQualitätssicherung in der Weiterbildung, in:Feuchthofen, J.E., Severing, E. (Eds.), 1995, pp. 88ff

Staudt, E., Unternehmensplanung und Personal-entwicklung - Defizite, Widersprüche und Lösungs-ansätze, in: MittAB 22 (1989) 3, pp. 374ff

Severing, E., Stahl, T., Qualitätssicherung in derbetrieblichen Weiterbildung, Luxemburg 1996;Andreasen, L.E. et al.,.Europe’s next step. Organi-sational Innovation, Competition and Employment,Ilford 1995

Tomassini, M. (Ed.), Training and ContinuousLearning, Milan 1997.

Bibliography

“Optimisation of in-com-pany continuing trainingfor enterprises in Europemust mean: creation of newsources of innovationthrough the integration oflearning and working.”


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Thomas StahlDirector of the Institute ofSocial Science Counselling(isob) in Regensburg,Germany

Introduction

Firms’ growing acceptance of continuingtraining for employees as a human re-source investment coupled with employ-ees’ growing realisation that continuingtraining is essential to a successful careerhas in recent years stimulated the inter-est of all concerned in effectively assess-ing and controlling continuing trainingand in measures to assure the quality ofthe training given. The article reflects thistrend.

In view of the financial, organisational andpersonal investment by firms and theiremployees which continuing training in-volves i t is only logical that these‘prosumers’ - producers and consumerscombined - of training should be keen todetermine its effectiveness and efficiencyand the concepts and philosophy thatunderlies it. At the same time, a brief pe-rusal of the literature on the evaluationof training1 makes clear the difficultiesinvolved in definitely determining whatare its effects.

This is one reason prompting the use ofself-assessment as part of the process ofquality assurance for continuing training.

It is, after all, people who directly expe-rience training in practice whether asteachers or learners who are best able toassess its effectiveness in terms of expec-tations, needs and practical use and it istheir criticism of themselves and othersand proposals for improvement that canbe directly built into modern training pro-grammes. Quality assurance could thenreplace post facto quality control at littleadditional cost.

On the other hand, doubt exists as towhether those involved in continuingtraining possess the necessary specialistand pedagogical knowledge and abilityneeded to conduct self-assessment andwhether teachers or trainees are capableof achieving the detachment required byself-criticism.

This article attempts to address the sub-ject in more detail.

Self-assessment duringtraining is not new

Educational scientists use the words ‘re-flection’ and ‘self-reflection’ to denote thefundamental processes whereby peoplerelate to their learning experiences andwhich constitute the theoretical and prac-tical bases for self-assessment.

Gerl (1983)2 deals mainly with the abilityof learners and teachers to reflect on whatthey have experienced. By constantly con-sidering the learning processes in termsof their objectives and expectations, teach-ers and learners become the real evalua-tors of continuing training.

According to Gerl:

‘Evaluation should be used to denote allthose actions which serve to enhance thedegree of reflection before or during thelearning situation’3.

Altrichter4, who is particularly concernedwith systematic self-assessment by train-ing instructors, defines evaluation as thepractical reflection on one’s own teach-

Self-assessmentA royal road to qualityassurance for continu-ing training?

Firms’ growing acceptanceof continuing training foremployees as a human re-source investment coupledwith employees’ growingrealisation that continuingtraining is essential to a suc-cessful career has in recentyears stimulated the inter-est of all concerned in effec-tively assessing and con-trolling continuing trainingand in measures to assurethe quality of the traininggiven. The article reflectsthis trend.

1) Cf. for example W.W. Wittmann:Evaluationsforschung: Aufgaben,Probleme und Anwendungen, Berlin1985,or P.H. Rossi and H.E. Freeman:Evaluation. A systematic approach,Beverly Hills 1982.

2) H. Gerl: Evaluation in Lernsitua-tionen - Ein Beitrag zu reflexivemLernen, in H. Gerl and K. Pehl: Evalu-ation in der Erwachsenenbildung, BadHeilbrunn, 1983

3) loc cit. p.19

4) Altrichter, H.; Ist das noch Wissen-schaft? Darstellung und wissenschafts-theoretische Diskussion einer vonLehrern betr iebenen Aktionsfor-schung, München 1990.


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ing practice or on changes in activity de-signed to achieve a desired overall situa-tion. Altrichter, who views the instructoras the person responsible for carrying outpractical research, regards him as the sub-ject of critical self-reflection and the driverof the resulting situational change.

At the same time he draws attention tothe main problem involved in this pro-cedure when he describes the personalinvolvement of teachers or trainers in theprocess of research and intervention asa potential impediment to achieving whathe calls the necessary ‘reflective dis-tance’:

‘As a result they are unable to break outof the vicious circle of defining a situa-tion, action and evaluation.’5

However, according to Altrichter thedoubt attaching to the method is of littlesignificance compared with the potentialfor innovative change inherent in a teach-er’s evaluation of his own activity.

Stiefel6 stresses the practical value of link-ing self-assessment with external assess-ment in any evaluation of continuing train-ing with trainees, instructors and admin-istrators all participating. He discusses thepossibilities of providing systematic sup-port for such self- and external assess-ment, but he also makes clear that thisrequires a cooperative attitude on the partof all concerned if each is to be able toreflect without inhibitions on his own andothers’ performance.

We shall not go too deeply into the lit-erature on the subject but merely followup a few points.

1. Reflection and self-reflection as essen-tial conditions for assessing ones ownperformance in continuing training arethemselves skills that need to be acquiredand systematically developed.

2. Self-assessment as a practical procedurefor purposes of quality assurance in con-tinuing training is the product of a per-son’s unity of objectives, interests andcritical detachment. For this set of con-tradictory elements to bear fruit calls forthe abilities already referred to plus anopen and cooperative relationship withinthe training institution or firm.

Self-organisation and ex-ternal control: a centralproblem for quality assur-ance of continuing train-ing in modern firms

Both local and world markets haveevolved from mass markets to customer-oriented markets characterised by rapidlychanging requirements, demand for abroad range of products, customer serv-ice and fluctuating cost structures.

To remain competitive in such a chang-ing environment, firms have had to reactflexibly to diverse, altered demand struc-tures. Flexibility in production and salesmanagement is necessary if firms are torespond rapidly to their customers’ wishesyet at the same time supply quality prod-ucts at minimum cost and with the short-est lead times. Attaching a wide range ofservices to what were previously pureproduct sales has also been necessary tokeep abreast of customer requirements.

The use of computer-assisted technologyand company-wide networking markedthe first attempt to meet the challenge.CIM and CIB became the order of the day.However, these technologically focusedattempts by industry soon showed thatfirms could not achieve the desired flex-ibility and dynamism coupled with a re-duction in overheads with just-in-timeproduction and streamlined logistics sim-ply by factory computerisation. Apart fromthe enormous cost involved, CIM systemswith their top-down approach create anew kind of rigidity by the very nature oftheir programmes, hindering rather thancontributing to the dynamisation of a com-pany’s operations rendered desirable bythe growing complexity of the marketenvironment.

The next innovative step, therefore, wasa radical rethinking of the design of or-ganisational structures and processes -moving away from long-term strategic top-down planning and switching compet-ences and responsibilities to lower oper-ating levels.

Making the company as a whole moreflexible by encouraging greater autonomyat actual production level combined with

5) H. Altrichter, loc. cit. p.159

6) R.Th. Stiefel: Grundfragen derEvaluierung in der Management-Schulung. Lernen and Leistung. Frank-furt/Main 1974

“Stiefel stresses the practi-cal value of linking self-as-sessment with external as-sessment in any evaluationof continuing training (...)he also makes clear thatthis requires a cooperativeattitude on the part of allconcerned if each is to beable to reflect without inhi-bitions on his own and oth-ers’ performance.”

“Self-assessment as a prac-tical procedure for pur-poses of quality assurancein continuing training is theproduct of a person’s unityof objectives, interests andcritical detachment.”


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horizontal networking between the vari-ous units are typical of these promisingapproaches. Slogans used in the contextof such efforts include ‘lean management’,‘the fractal company’ and ‘the learningorganisation’.7

These innovations designed to enhancecompanies’ competitiveness have led toa radical change in management para-digms whilst at the same time generatingconsiderable demand for skil ls andcompetences at all levels, though espe-cially at that of skilled manual or special-ist office worker. Companies’ human re-source potential, always an importantsource of added value at production level,has now suddenly also become a limita-tional factor in the company’s success asa source of creativity and innovation inthe face of market requirements.

In other words, it is no longer the acqui-sition of new production and administra-tive techniques that enables a companyto gain a competitive edge over its rivals,since such techniques are now equallyavailable to all. The decisive competitivefactors now are the intelligent use of tech-nology, and new product ideas, the pro-vision of services and efficient workingprocedures, all of which calls for a skilledand motivated workforce.

Organisational development means con-stant personal development, which in turngives rise to new forms of work organisa-tion and corporate structure. Autonomyand responsibility for ones own activitiesare the new bywords of decentralised,flexible company management.

This renders the acquisition and devel-opment of key competences such as theability of both management and employ-ees to take decisions and assume respon-sibility for their own activity, to create andto innovate even more important for thedesign and execution of in-company train-ing.

The latest vocational training techniquesprovide for the acquisition of such skillsholistically in specialist or more generaltraining sessions, often in the context ofday-to-day working.

Modern firms’ objectives for training anddevelopment make it logical that employ-

ees able to assume responsibility for theirown work also give evidence of skillswhen it comes to matters of quality con-trol in connection with their own continu-ing training. The ability already referredto to reflect on one’s own and others’progress is a sine qua non for a memberof a partly autonomous working groupresponsible for far-reaching decisions inmatters of scheduling, materials planningand production.

From this point of view it would seemparadoxical for external control to begiven preference over the opinions ofsuch employees when it comes to judg-ing their own learning progress and theadvantages and disadvantages of continu-ing training arrangements and possibleimprovements.

In more recent discussions on quality as-surance for continuing training there isunanimity on one point, namely that thesituation in which the new knowledge andskills are to be applied must always bethe yardstick for continuing training. Thetrainee himself is constantly in this situ-ation. It is his everyday working contextwith which he has to cope and in whichhe must make innovatory changes. Whobut the trainee himself would be in a po-sition constantly to apply this particularyardstick to training, thus actually effect-ing quality assurance?

All this similarly applies to self-assessmentby a training instructor.

Firms nowadays are increasingly demand-ing that training be incorporated into theactual work processes of their variousdepartments. This has consequences forthe organisation of continuing training andfor the personnel concerned. Managementbecomes instructional activity and viceversa. No longer do those responsible forcontinuing training perform their task inisolation from productive activities.Moderators, trainers, multipliers etc. areinvolved in the everyday working proc-ess, just as are trainees and have similaropportunities to reflect on and assess theirown teaching bearing in mind the appli-cation context and to make adjustmentswhere necessary.

Moreover, their previous teacher trainingequips these self-assessors accurately to

7) Cf inter alia B. Wornack: The ma-chines that changed the world, MITPress 1991, P. Wobbe: Anthropocen-tric production systems, Brussels 1991;P. Senge: The Fifth Discipline,: Theart and practice of the learning or-ganisation, London 1992; T. Stahl,B.Nyhan and P. D’Aloja: Die lernendeOrganisation, Brussels 1993; M.J.Warnecke: Revolution der Unterneh-menskultur. Das fraktale Unterneh-men, Berlin, Heidelberg 1993.

“The decisive competitivefactors now are the intelli-gent use of technology, andnew product ideas, the pro-vision of services and effi-cient working procedures,all of which calls for askilled and motivated work-force.”

“Modern firms’ objectivesfor training and develop-ment make it logical thatemployees able to assumeresponsibility for their ownwork also give evidence ofskills when it comes to mat-ters of quality control inconnection with their owncontinuing training.(. . .)From this point of view itwould seem paradoxicalfor external control to begiven preference over theopinions of such employeeswhen it comes to judgingtheir own learning pro-gress and the advantagesand disadvantages of con-tinuing training arrange-ments and possible im-provements.”


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diagnose any shortcomings and to makethe appropriate calculated changes to thetraining process.

Compared with such self-evaluative proc-esses resulting in immediate quality as-surance by those concerned, external con-trols look expensive and less effective.

Moreover, the type of controlling em-ployed for specific types of training missesits aim in the learning organisation. It isnot the individual measure but the sumtotal of integrated learning and organisa-tional processes that gives rise to corpo-rate innovation and market success. Ex-ternal control of continuing training tendsto inhibit innovation because it has toadhere for a certain period to prescrip-tions and assumptions once made, eventhough the application context has longceased to exist.

Simplifying evaluation andquality assurance throughself-assessment

A major difficulty in carrying out qualityassurance for continuing training is thatof measuring the outcomes in the con-text in which acquired knowledge andskills have to be applied.

Classical methods of learning-objective-related testing on completion of trainingare at best designed to check individuallearning gains in relation to curricularobjectives.

For a trainee, as for the firm wishing togive its employees continuing training,this is at best an initial indicator of suc-cess. What really counts is whether whatan employee has learnt enables him tocope better with the demands of his jobthan hitherto. The yardstick for success-ful training is the transfer of what has beenlearnt to the working environment and ameasurable effect in working terms.

In the new working structures involvinga greater degree of autonomy - such aspartly autonomous units, flexible produc-tion cells and fractal companies, the ef-fects of learning on practical day-to-dayworking are themselves complex andmanifold.

The impact of training undoubtedly firstmanifests itself in an improved masteryof a given technology - such as CNCmachine tool programming. Appropriatecontinuing training will focus on this andbe measurable in these terms.

The successful use of a given technology,however, in turn depends on the exist-ence of an adequate work organisationand corporate structure, the innovativesolving of logistical problems and the like.Successful training in the field of CNCmachine tool programming cannot there-fore be confined solely to the purely tech-nical side. Some knowledge of factoryoperations, time scheduling, logistics etc.which make workshop programming trulyeffective may also be necessary.

To apply such knowledge responsibly atproduction level employees must bewilling and able to take decisions inthe interests of the firm. This ability,again, needs to be learnt during the con-tinuing training to which we have re-ferred.

CNC machine tool programming is em-bedded in an overall work process whichis carried out with similar autonomy byother employees. The delayering of hier-archical organisation structures must gohand in hand with horizontal networkingconstantly renewed by effective commu-nication and cooperation with fellow-workers.

Again, the necessary skills have to be ac-quired; they too are decisive for the suc-cess of continuing training in practice.

To summarise: The success of continuingtraining is ultimately measured by eco-nomic operating parameters. The multi-plicity of effective factors always makesany clear attribution of learning effectsdoubtful. The effects of training on workin practice provides an intermediate meas-urement value, but even then the variousfacets of the competences acquired areso interwoven that subtler results can atbest be expected from research projects -and even this leaves the inevitable con-trol group problems unsolved.

A satisfactory, more nuanced assessmentof the success of training by externalevaluators would seem impossible in day-

“(...)the situation in whichthe new knowledge andskills are to be appliedmust always be the yard-stick for continuing train-ing. The trainee himself isconstantly in this situa-tion. It is his everydayworking context withwhich he has to cope andin which he must makeinnovatory changes. Whobut the trainee himselfwould be in a position con-stantly to apply this par-ticular yardstick to train-ing, thus actually effectingquality assurance?”

“External control of con-tinuing training tends toinhibit innovation becauseit has to adhere for a cer-tain period to prescrip-tions and assumptionsonce made, even thoughthe application contexthas long ceased to exist.”


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to-day operations. The task is addition-ally complicated by the expectationsmodern industrial concerns have regard-ing the creative abilities of their em-ployees.

Corporate cultures which view employ-ees as the new limitational factor look tothem for active structural change, crea-tivity and innovation. They also expectcontinuing training to generate such skillsand abilities.

External evaluators encounter almost in-soluble problems because such effects ofcontinuing training may only emerge inthe longer term, are always difficult tomeasure and yet are possibly the mostsignificant for a company’s development.

As far as the effects of learning are con-cerned the focal point of all the complexfactors at work in a firm is the individualemployee, who has to cope with the vari-ous demands made on him that we havedescribed. All continuing training effortsare directed to equipping these employ-ees with the necessary specialist and gen-eral competences.

Viewed from this standpoint it wouldseem logical to cease regarding employ-ees as a kind of black box whose inputand output factors can be related bymeans of complicated measuring proce-dures in order to assess the success orotherwise of continuing training. If anemployee is to be given responsibility formachines whose value runs into millionshe should also be trusted to express ajudgement as to the usefulness of train-ing related to his job.

An employee who can be presumed in-telligent is better placed than anyone else

❏ to determine training needs in the vari-ous fields of activity

❏ to pronounce as to the direct useful-ness of training given to him for copingwith his work in practice

❏ to relate this practical usefulness backto the learning situation (curriculum, in-structors, materials)

❏ to identify skill shortcomings that stillexist and initiate new learning processes.

This would greatly simplify all measuresaimed at quality assurance for continuingtraining. Substantial investment in termsof time and personnel could be replacedby simple, continuous communicationbetween trainees, administrators and train-ing instructors.

The idea of self-assessment during con-tinuing training need not be restricted tothe trainees themselves. Instructors, too,can contribute to simplifying quality as-surance and improving its focus by theirown process of self-assessment. Instruc-tors rapidly become aware of deficienciesin the knowledge transmission processand would frequently be able to correctthem on their own account or make themknown to the firm or training organisa-tion. Despite the obvious advantages ofself-assessment by trainees and instruc-tors involved in continuing training, self-assessment has so far been accorded onlya peripheral role in quality assurance.

Since one cannot simply assume all thoseconcerned to be ignoramuses, we mustlook at the problems that have given riseto this situation.

Successful self-assessmentcalls for certain qualitiesin the subject and his en-vironment

Scepticism regarding the use of self-as-sessment as a central factor in quality as-surance for continuing training is basedin the main on an underlying lack of con-fidence in the ability and willingness ofemployees and training instructors tojudge themselves properly.

And indeed there are grounds for consid-ering that this is justified.

Employees do in fact hesitate to revealtheir own shortcomings, specialist or oth-erwise, and often do what they can toconceal them, finding other causes forproblems connected with their work.

This, incidentally, also applies to traininginstructors, who tend to make the so-called ignorance of their trainees respon-sible for lack of training success rather

“An employee who can bepresumed intelligent is bet-ter placed than anyone else– to determine trainingneeds in the various fieldsof activity– to pronounce as to thedirect usefulness of train-ing given to him for copingwith his work in practice– to relate this practicalusefulness back to thelearning situation (curricu-lum, instructors, materials)– to identify skill short-comings that still exist andinitiate new learning proc-esses.”


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than admit to their own weaknesses ineither preparation or teaching.

In summary, therefore, the ability of thesegroups to adopt the critical attitude to theirown work and competence necessary forthe process of self-assessment would notseem all that great.

However, simply to exclude the possibil-ity for this reason would be wrong. Thevery unwillingness of subjects to accepttheir shortcomings and their attempts toconceal them are evidence that they arequite aware that deficiencies do exist butsimply do not want to confess to them.

This opens up a wide field of psychologyrelating to questions of self-awareness andpeople’s ability to adopt a detached atti-tude and to reflect on their own perform-ance. But first it would seem useful todraw attention to certain environmentalfactors which impede the disclosure offailings.

It is a principle of the German school sys-tem to use pupils’ inability to learn as anegative selection factor rather than as areason for further instruction. Childrenand young people learn early on to con-ceal their lack of knowledge or abilityinstead of admitting to them.

The situation in the world of work is littledifferent. A perceived lack of competencedoes not automatically entail further train-ing but is marked down as a negative inthe employee’s personnel record and mayslow down his promotion within the firm.In an extreme case it could even becomea ground for dismissal.

Given this situation both an employeeundergoing training and a training instruc-tor have good reason to refuse to pro-vide a realistic self-assessment.

Companies or training organisations keento develop self-assessment as a means ofquality assurance first need to break thisautomatic link between lack of skills andnegative judgement. If an employee is toadmit to such deficiencies he must beassured that the admission will be seenas a reason for making good the lack andwill not work to his disadvantage. Thesame is true for teachers, trainers andcoaches involved in continuing training.

More recent trends in the corporate cul-ture of many firms offer a sound basis forensuring that this is so, since opennesson the part of employees is in any case aprerequisite for the organisation’s devel-opment and a climate of mutual confi-dence needs to replace the old system ofcontrol and sanctions.

The effects of the negatively oriented se-lection process used in the German schoolsystem are observable in the distrust withwhich many employees regard school-likeforms of continuing training. Since suchcourses are in any case gradually beingabandoned and replaced by more prac-tice-related training, even those employ-ees more damaged by their school expe-rience should demonstrate a growing ac-ceptance of training.

It is, however, undeniable that even whenfirms do adopt a positive attitude whenfaced with their employees’ lack of knowl-edge and skills not all the obstacles inthe way of an adequate and nuanced self-assessment by employees are done awaywith.

We are left with subjective obstacles thatfall under two main headings:

❏ Subjects undertaking self-assessmenthave to learn that admitting to one’s ownweaknesses does not detract from onesown worth but that on the contrary a con-structive approach to weaknesses is partof a positive self-awareness.

❏ Subjects undertaking self-assessmentalso have to learn to distinguish which ofthe various different job requirements canbe met by the acquisition of which skills,as also which methods of learning aremore or less effective in their individualcase. In other words, they have to be-come experts in their own learning be-haviour.

This makes it clear that self-assessmentduring continuing training is also a sub-ject for such training, whether of employ-ees or training instructors. In order toavoid misunderstandings we would stressthat we are not recommending actualcourses in self-assessment. On the con-trary, the ability to undertake self-assess-ment is the result of a suitable choice ofmethod for specialist continuing training

“Companies or training or-ganisations keen to developself-assessment as a meansof quality assurance firstneed to break this auto-matic link between lack ofskills and negative judge-ment. If an employee is toadmit to such deficiencieshe must be assured that theadmission will be seen as areason for making good thelack and will not work tohis disadvantage.”

“Subjects undertaking self-assessment have to learnthat admitting to one’s ownweaknesses does not de-tract from ones own worthbut that on the contrary aconstructive approach toweaknesses is part of apositive self-awareness.”


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and of certain forms of firms’ organisa-tional development. The constant call forself-reflection during the learning proc-ess and while working, the method-re-lated support provided and not least theintegration of these exercises in feedbackfrom fellow-workers, superiors and train-ers will gradually help the individual toimprove his ability as regards self-assess-ment.

The very procedure whereby people’sself-assessment can be improved showsthat this means of quality assurance is nota substitute for the external evaluation ofcontinuing training.

The complementary rolesof self-assessment and ex-ternal evaluation

While qualifying self-assessment as a royalroad in the title of the article might seemprovocative, as soon as one begins to dis-cuss the various subjective problems in-volved in a well-directed, realistic self-assessment, if not before, it becomes clearthat elements of external evaluation areindispensable for coping with them.

Only when ones own assessments arecompared with those of authoritative thirdparties does self-assessment acquire thenecessary degree of objectiveness and thesureness of judgement necessary to gen-erate further measures.

(Insert Chart 1)The opposite, of course, is also true. Everyexternal evaluation as regards the skillsor work of employees, those undergoingtraining and training instructors must al-low for the possibility of correction bythe person concerned. In many compa-nies this has long been done by means ofthe pre-reporting interview. Superiors rec-ognise the value of such interviews, par-ticularly for the opportunities it gives themto revise their own assessment.

Self-assessment and external evaluationare merely two sides of the same coin.

Of course any judgement of self containselements of an external evaluation andonly has value as such.

If a person who has been given trainingin CNC machine tool programming iden-

tifies shortcomings in his daily work, this,initially, is self-assessment. However, itcan only generate useful practical conse-quences if he is able to attribute the causesfor his failure to the content of training,training methods or work organisation.This is no longer self-assessment but ex-ternal evaluation. When self-assessmentthus becomes an integral part of externalevaluation it can indeed render qualityassurance for training simpler, more effi-cient and especially more effective in itsconsequences and the aimed-for constantimprovement in training practice.

1. Nowadays the individual employee isa focal point of complex job requirementsas well as of the relevant training efforts.He thus becomes a prime source of in-formation as regards the mismatch of hisskills with the firm’s requirements and thevarious ways of using training to makegood skills deficits.

2. In modern corporate cultures whichincreasingly rely on employees as thebasis for and source of innovation andcompetitiveness employees become thesubjects of their personal development atwork. Only they are in a position to dealin an informed and responsible mannerwith their own training requirements.

3. For self-assessment to become the realsource of improvements in training callsfor a new climate of openness in firms so

Chart 1

Continuing training

Job requirementsJob skills

Self-assessment

Externalevaluation

Externalevaluation

Feedback fromfellow-workerssuperiors etc.

“Only when ones own as-sessments are comparedwith those of authoritativethird parties does self-as-sessment acquire the neces-sary degree of objective-ness and the sureness ofjudgement necessary togenerate further meas-ures.”

“When self-assessment thusbecomes an integral part ofexternal evaluation it canindeed render quality as-surance for training sim-pler, more efficient and es-pecially more effective inits consequences and theaimed-for constant im-provement in training prac-tice.”


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as to allow people to take a detached viewof their own shortcomings and admit tolearning difficulties without fear of nega-tive consequences for their careers. Aperson identifying a lack of knowledgeor skill in himself must be given thechance to make good the deficiency with-out being looked down on.

4. Self-assessment makes for certainty andgenerates useful practical consequencesonly through a permanent process of feed-back from external evaluators. Judgementsconcerning ones own performance poten-tial, shortcomings and limitations needclarification from feedback in discussionswith fellow-workers or superiors in a cli-mate of trust. Only then can people ac-quire the necessary detachment and self-confidence that permits them to criticisetheir own performance.

5. Self-assessment is always the startingpoint for any external evaluation of con-tinuing training measures, instructors,learning processes, materials etc. For thisexternal evaluation to achieve its aimthose undertaking self-assessment needknowledge of continuing training proc-esses. This they obtain from their ownreactions to increasingly open, non-school-like training concepts in whichtrainees and teachers work in partnershipto design the learning process in theircommon interest.

6. Instructors employed by training or-ganisations or in companies are similarlysubjects of self-assessment and externalevaluation as a result of these joint learn-ing processes and are consequently in aposition to take immediate steps to cor-rect deficiencies and hence make qualityassurance an integral part of the continu-ing training process.

While it is undoubtedly premature andpossibly even mistaken to talk of self-as-sessment as the royal road to quality as-surance for continuing training, it is quiteclear that quality assurance can only becarried out simply, properly and promptlyin this complex field on the basis of ma-ture self-assessment by trainees and teach-ers alike.

The growing importance to firms of em-ployees working autonomously and learn-ing by doing presupposes that they are

able to judge their own skills or short-comings and make these the starting pointfor their personal development.

Finally it should be stressed that a self-assessment project can only hope to suc-ceed if it is embedded in the appropriatefeedback from accepted external evalua-tors.

Elements of self-assess-ment in company practice

Let it be said right at the outset that asyet the author knows of no firm thatplaces responsibility for continuing train-ing entirely in the hands of its employ-ees.

The picture becomes quite different, how-ever, if we look at the efforts being madeby firms in Europe to enhance the qual-ity of the personal development and fur-ther training of their employees. In almostall approaches to quality assurance orquality management of which we areaware elements of employee involvementare central to their success.

A comparative study of in-company train-ing in nine member states based on 45case studies concluded:

‘There is a growing realisation that qual-ity assurance is only possible with the com-mitted cooperation of all employees. Incontinuing training as elsewhere, qualityassurance can only achieve its optimisingand innovative potential if it ceases to bea management tool and becomes a grass-roots employee initiative.

The function of constant, joint reflectionon possible ways of improving furthertraining that makes quality assurance afactor for corporate innovation requiresscope for self-determination and respon-sibility for ones own actions in a workingcontext. This includes opening up corpo-rate culture to allow all employees to be-come more involved and to share respon-sibility.

As the quality assurance process itselfgathers pace elements of self-assessment,self-monitoring and automatic improve-ment will increasingly replace external

“There is a growing realisa-tion that quality assuranceis only possible with thecommitted cooperation ofall employees.”


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control mechanisms and commands fromabove.

Clearly impetus for quality assurance willsteadily grow. Employees can only fulfilthe additional tasks of process optimi-sation in continuing training if they ac-quire the appropriate skills through fur-ther training, thereby opening up still fur-ther possibilities.

Since, however, firms are not training or-ganisations or institutes of personal de-velopment it is also worth stressing thatthe processes of equipping employees tooptimise continuing training describedhere are also needed for optimising firms’actual production processes.

Given present market and technologicaldevelopments, corporate structures andforms of work organisation that give im-portance to developing employees’ plan-ning and organisational skills would seempromising for European firms.’8

We shall quote a few examples from themany case studies:

Du Pont de Nemours (Luxembourg) 9

Quality assurance procedures

The quality assurance procedures usedhave been considerably reduced to re-flect Du Pont’s new philosophy of replac-ing discipline imposed from above withone emerging at individual grassrootslevel.

Thus the procedure in the case beingstudied as set out in the quality hand-book calls for use of a checklist that mustbe signed by the different heads of de-partment but only at the level of orienta-tion training. However, the person under-going training is himself responsible forensuring that he is given all the kinds oftraining provided for in the orientationtraining programme.

The logic of allocating responsibility inthis manner is to be found in the yearlyassessment interview. It is up to theworkers themselves to ask for this as-sessment which is given by their directsuperior. To this end they have to con-duct a self-assessment and obtain as-sessments from a certain number of fel-

low-workers. The direct superior mustcompare this information with his own.The worker either accepts his assess-ment or can appeal to a committee ap-pointed for the purpose. Once agree-ment is reached, the direct superior andthe worker draw up a plan of training forthe following year which is held at cen-tral level by the person responsible fortraining.

The different types of training given toeach worker and all other training-relateddata are, of course, stored in a suitabledatabase.

This change in corporate culture has notyet been entirely completed and it shouldbe borne in mind that until fairly recentlyDu Pont was a company that attachedgreat importance to systems. A certainnumber of tools from this period are stillin use today. For a large number of prob-lems workers are faced with the contra-diction of assuming responsibility them-selves and being directly supervised.This situation undoubtedly gives rise toconflicts.

Renault Portuguesa Sociedade Indus-trial e Commercial SA (Portugal) 10

The methods of quality assurance usedin this case are as follows:

❏ Monitoring performance at the work-place by hierarchical superiors and tech-nical supervisors using the proceduresreferred to.

❏ Conducting interviews with partici-pants either before training begins or inorder to gather information and sugges-tions after training has been completed.

❏ Surveys are sometimes conducted toprovide feedback on the application ofskills acquired. These are carried out bydepartments within the company or,where there are difficulties, by the spe-cialist departments of training compa-nies. This procedure is additional to themonitoring done by company supervi-sors.

❏ The information gained results in ad-justments which may be made immedi-ately when a disparity between the ac-tual and hoped-for result is noted, or

8) E. Severing and T. Stahl: Qualitäts-sicherung in der betrieblichen Weiter-bildung. Fallstudien aus Europa,Brussels 1996, p. 150f.

9) P. Jung: Assurance Qualité en For-mation Professionelle Continue,Inventaire Nationale Grande DuchéLuxembourg, Luxembourg 1994, p.29

10) M-J Figueiras: Etude: La Garantiede Qualité dans la FPC, Lisbon 1994,p.10


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postponed to enable training objectivesand content to be revised.

❏ No final assessment tests or exami-nation are usually carried out in the caseof continuing vocational training unlessthis is a longer course of training lead-ing to a qualification, such as a retrain-ing course.

❏ Self-assessment is carried out withthe hierarchical superior or with the helpof consultants and may take place eitherindividually or in a group.

Cleveland Ambulance National HealthService T rust (NHS) (UK) 11

Quality-assuring the trainingTraining for the first two modules is con-ducted by ambulance instructors. At theend of the training candidates are exam-ined by appropriate hospital medical con-sultants using verbal and written testsand simulation activities. The examina-tion of trainees by external parties en-sures that the objectives and standardsset for the training are being met.

During the third module trainees are as-sessed on their competence through ob-servation in a hospital environment byhospital staff in conjunction with ambu-lance instructors. The use of hospitalstaff in assessing a trainee’s competencein the working environment ensures thattraining objectives are being met.

The fourth module uses work-basedtraining and assessment to demonstratethe trainee’s competency. At the begin-ning of this module trainees are assignedto work with a qualified paramedic whois also qualified, through achieving theTraining Development Lead Body stand-ards, as a skills trainer/assessor.

At the beginning of the module thetrainee undertakes a self-assessment,examining the outcomes required to per-form his job role and to grade himselfagainst each element.

The trainee and trainer/assessor discussthe outcomes of the self-assessment andagree on an action plan which sets outhow the identified training needs will bemet, target dates for completion and thepeople who will be involved in the train-

ing. A record of training activity is main-tained and reviewed. Documentary evi-dence recording details of a particularincident in which the trainee wishes toclaim evidence of achievement andwhich the trainer/assessor has verifiedis also kept.

The trainee and trainee assessor workwith each other until such time that bothfeel that the trainee can provide sufficientevidence to demonstrate competency toan independent internal verifier.

When trainees have completed the com-petence-based training programme andhave been assessed and found compe-tent they are licensed by the ClevelandAmbulance Paramedic Advisory Panel topractise as paramedics. Once the NVQhas been accredited these staff will sub-mit portfolios of evidence for the awardof NVQ level IV in Paramedic Skills.

ATEA N.V. (Belgium) 12

Three major shifts in training strategy canbe identified:

Because of the increasing complexity/di-versity of training needs it becomes moreand more difficult for the training depart-ment to build up an ‘expert team’ withtrainers attached to the training depart-ment. More and more ‘expert’ employ-ees are made responsible for the devel-opment of training modules used by ‘non-expert’ employees (these experts remainin the ‘operational’ departments). The co-ordination of the development and themonitoring of the usage of the trainingmodules is done by the training depart-ment. This shift in strategy calls for somenew approaches/insights into how train-ing is developed (you have to ‘use’ anexpert because of his skills, not becauseof his ‘didactic’ qualities) and how train-ing is made available.

Because of the speed of change and the‘individualisation’ of training it becomesmore and more impossible to plan train-ing for large groups of employees. Everyemployee has to be trained at ‘his’ righttime with a training programme adjustedto his needs. This means a ‘complete’rethinking of the organisation of training(not possible any more with ‘year pro-grammes’ consisting of classical cour-

11) J.Gibbons: Quality Assurance ofIn-Company Training, Sheffield 1994

12) J. Decramer:Survey on Quality As-surance in Training, Brussels 1994,Case 7, pp.2ff


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ses). More and more training will be doneby means of training modules which canbe studied individually (non-classicalcourses) under guidance of an ‘expert’employee (coach). This demands a fur-ther integration of training responsibili-ties within the organisation.

To increase the company’s productivitypeople will have to be managed betterthan before. This type of managementwill be based on ‘respect’ for the em-ployee. This respect is needed to createthe necessary environment to encourage‘self-development’ of the employees.This shift in management behaviour willhave a great impact in how managerswill be trained and/or selected.

Today a large part of the training budgetis spent without any result. This is be-cause people aren’t motivated enoughto be responsible for their own ‘self-de-velopment’. Companies who will be ableto change this ‘picture’ will win the ‘com-petition’. The reason for this is the in-creasing importance of the ‘human fac-tor’ in the production process. All com-panies have access to the same tech-nology, therefore it is not the elementwhich will determine the competitivenessof a company. The ‘only’ variable remain-ing will be the people working with theavailable technology. It will be theirknowledge and use of the technologythat will make the difference. This is onlypossible if the management style usedgives employers the necessary ‘freedom’and ‘space’ to continuously improve the‘production’ process and their skills towork with the available technology. Ifmanagement doesn’t allow this ‘freedom’then improvement will not happen be-cause the complexity of the work hasgone beyond the technical capability ofone person (the manager). This type ofmanagement calls for people with a tal-ent to lead others based on managerialcompetence rather than based on power.This change in management will be fun-damental because it will impact most onthe ‘HRM tools’. Because of the funda-mental change people have introducedthe term ‘re-engineering’... this, howeverdoes not belong to the scope of thisdocument. As a conclusion I would makethe statement that without ‘re-engineer-ing’, ‘self-development’ will be hard toget.

One of the processes that has to be re-engineered is the process of training. Thetraining department has to make sure thatthe training budget is spent well. One ofthe methods is revoking not motivatedpeople from courses (motivating peopleis not the responsibility of the training de-partment, it is the responsibility of man-agement, motivation has to come fromwithin the ‘job’). The method we are us-ing to make this possible is adding studywork at the beginning of courses. Notmotivated people will not have the energyto complete this work and therefore willnot start with the course. Motivated peo-ple, however, will have no problem withthe study work because they really needthe course. Adding this study work willmake the courses, especially classicalcourses, much more effective. A typicalmanagement error is forcing power peo-ple to complete courses even if they arenot motivated. This has a double nega-tive result: the employer will be demoti-vated and the training budget is wasted.

Société Raymond Geoffray (a smallFrench firm) 13

Internal effects of the measure

Employee involvement and impact onwork

The staff did not oppose the project (ifthey had the company would have hadto dismiss those refusing to acceptprogress). On the other hand, it was nec-essary to motivate them and to achievea cultural change to persuade them totake an active share in the firm’s man-agement. The company used the serv-ices of a body financed by the regionalcouncil in order to help sensitise staff tothe importance of quality; this had theadvantage of bringing in an outside part-ner to give backing to the project.

Training also had the effect of makingthe staff feel more responsible. In somecases it revealed abilities in people whohad been thought hopeless and enabledthem to take on tasks that showed whatthey could do.

Extending on-the-job training

The quality approach tends to promoteforms of training that are not commer-cial and not outsourceable:

13) J. Bonamy: La Qualité dans la for-mation continue en Europe, RapportNational Français, Ecully, 1994, pp.25ff


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❏ Not outsourceable: the firm carries outa large proportion of its training on thejob and not on courses run by a trainingbody.

❏ Not commercial: the firm has soughtto ensure in each case that those receiv-ing training became responsible for giv-ing training to others. Thus when it cameto training data typists it was decided thateach would specialise in a certain kindof software - spreadsheet or word proc-essor - and then train others to use it.This method made training a particularchallenge.

❏ Not outsourceable nor commercial:the company regularly organises brieftraining sessions of 2 hours’ duration 3or 4 times a week for small groups.These are given by members of the com-pany’s staff. This exploitation of in-houseskills enables people to use the compet-ences they have acquired. It also allowsindividuals - whether executives or work-ers - to show what they can do, ensuresthat those who have been trained are lis-tened to more carefully, and reinforcesthe culture of responsibility-sharing.

Effects on training quality

Clearly the status of training has under-gone a change. It used to be considereda reward. Now it is regarded as an in-vestment.

Training plans are still not quite oncourse. Some types of training have hadto be postponed. Others have not beensuccessful because the ability of the in-dividuals concerned to learn had been

over-estimated. Generally speaking,however, the objectives set have beenattained.

These examples, which are only some ofmany, show the need for cooperative in-volvement in quality assurance includingelements of self-assessment.

The systematic development of self-as-sessment and self-reflection into majorpillars of a firm’s continuing training sys-tem is being undertaken in the form of amodel project by the Bundesinstitut fürBerufliche Bildung (bibb) which is study-ing inter alia the main questions of anevaluation of further training institutionsusing self-assessment.

‘Despite all the changes that have takenplace in employers’ attitude to continuingtraining we are still left with the ques-tion of the usefulness of continuingtraining and personal development toa firm. Management requires evidencethat training has been successful, meas-urable in economic terms, if it is to re-gard investment in continuing training asan economically sensible measure. Thisalso applies to work-based forms of train-ing.

Particularly where learning and workingare successfully integrated in a learningorganisation it is difficult to check thesuccessful effects of continuing training.It is already difficult enough in such sys-tems to distinguish investment aimed atoptimising working methods from thatdesigned to optimise learning. Both needthe other and become confused. It is evenmore difficult to relate the continuing in-

Chart 2

Determining own skill

shortcomings

Judging learnable content of job

Optimising

Judging training

infrastructures Optimising

Recognising own learning preferences Optimising

Success in on-the-job

learning


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cremental learning processes and thesimilarly continuing incremental im-provements in working processes to oneanother in causal terms.

Self-assessment by employees involved intraining coupled with an objective evalu-ation by fellow-workers and superiorswould seem to be the only practical meansnot only of constantly reflecting the linkbetween learning and a steady improve-ment and economically worthwhilechange in working processes but of effect-ing directly the appropriate adjustmentsin continuing training and personal de-velopment.

It is the employees who carry out the workwho see whether what they learn duringin-company training helps to improvetheir work or not. Self-assessment enablesthem not only to do this but also to iden-tify the reasons for success and failure andto make them the starting point forchanges in training.

This constant process of reflecting onchanges in ones own skills and the effectin terms of improved work leads in thefeedback loop to all the above-mentionedelements of self-assessment and self-man-agement in in-company training (Chart2)’14

(Insert Chart 2)

14) T. Stahl: Aus dem Antrag zumModellversuch: ArbeitsplatznaheWeiterbildungsformen in der Betriebs-praxis mittels Selbstevaluation mes-sen, bewerten und optimieren, Re-gensburg 1997


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Accreditation oftraining organisationsOrigin, objectives and method-ology of the Portugueseaccreditation system

The Portuguese system for the accredita-tion of training bodies came into beingas part of a thoroughgoing reform of theconditions qualifying for ESF funding ofvocational training undertaken by thePortuguese government and closely moni-tored by the European Commission.

An objective of the system for the accred-iting of training bodies created by a jointministerial order published on 29 August1997 is to contribute to the structuring ofthe vocational training system, to enhanc-ing the professionalism of its agents andto improving the quality, usefulness, ap-propriateness and efficacy of training ac-tivity. It also seeks to ensure that publicfunds made available for vocational train-ing are employed to maximum advantage.

The accreditation system is designed tobe of general application, hence

❏ it is mandatory for all organisationswishing to benefit from national govern-ment and Community funds for assistingtraining activity;

❏ it is optional for other bodies whichregard accreditation as a means of recog-nising superiority and thus resulting in anenhanced market value.

The context in which the accreditationsystem came into being naturally influ-ences both the system’s overall design andits area of application. It also decided thetiming of its implementation given the roleit plays for the status of candidates ap-plying for ESF assistance.

Accreditation under the Portuguese sys-tem does not rely on conformity with a

Carlos CapelaProject Coordinator, INOFOR(Institute for Training Inno-vation, State Secretariat for

Employment and Training).Coordinator of the trainingorganisation accreditation

system

given standard so that it differs fundamen-tally from quality certification.

Due to its origins in manufacturing indus-try, quality certification is a system thattends to focus on procedure, though asexperience has shown, it can undoubt-edly be adapted and applied to other con-texts, such as the service sector.

However, the less tangible a product - thatis the greater the weighting given to fac-tors that cannot be codified or measuredto determine its quality - the more diffi-cult and complex it becomes to adapt thesystem and pinpoint and retain as stand-ard procedures or criteria the features thatreally distinguish the product from oth-ers.

According to one person responsible fora training organisation writing in a sup-plement devoted to the subject of qualitycertification recently published (SeminárioExpresso of 26 September 1998) ‘The writ-ten procedures and the area targeted bythe system which are the objects of certi-fication may thus have little impact interms of customer satisfaction and onlywhen we return to the unavoidable hu-man factor do we finally discover the realpossibility of achieving a guarantee ofquality’.

Insert Chart 1When what is at stake is the effectivenessof a training process in a given social ororganisational context with specific aimsand target groups - whether people ac-tively employed, the long-term unem-ployed, young people with a low level ofeducation and cultural or ethnic groupsor minorities at risk of social exclusion -we enter upon a dimension in which the

The objective of the Portu-guese system for the accred-iting of training bodies asset out in a published jointministerial order is to con-tribute to the structuring ofthe vocational training sys-tem, to enhancing the pro-fessionalism of its agentsand to improving the qual-ity, usefulness, appropriate-ness and efficacy of trainingactivity. It also seeks to en-sure that public funds madeavailable to aid vocationaltraining are employed tomaximum advantage. Theaccreditation system is notbased on a concept of con-forming to a standard andin this dif fers radicallyfrom quality certification.


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47

outcome of training is frequently decidedby the degree of innovation, calling forthe capacity to take advantage of andimprove on what we know about the en-gineering of training processes, the abil-ity to design and test new methods andtools and then, often, to disregard an ac-cepted standard where one exists and toreinvent a new one.

A great many different types of organisa-tions have already been accredited by thesystem developed by INOFOR, rangingfrom small and larger training bodies,employers’, commercial, industrial, tech-nical, professional and scientific associa-tions, local and regional developmentbodies, private bodies pursuing objectivesin the field of social solidarity, social andparish centres, farming cooperatives,farmers’ associations, foundations, tradeunions, public bodies etc.

Very often the factors contributing to thesuccess of training lie outside the techni-cal sphere that is susceptible to defini-tion and standardisation - the area targetedby the system of which the person quotedabove was speaking - and in an area inwhich good practice does not alone con-stitute a guarantee of quality, an area inwhich the order of the day is not con-formity with a standard but appropriate-ness. Appropriateness to the context, thetarget groups concerned and the trainingobjectives.

In this sense, so far as validation of train-ing activity is concerned we are closer toa clinical approach in which each train-ing activity takes on the status of a case,with its own particular features and his-tory and in which the success of treat-ment is basically measured in terms of itsresults.

The system developed, therefore, wasintentionally one that places the empha-sis on understanding the organisation andon the appropriateness of its activities, inthe conviction that a system based onconformity with a standard would be infundamental disaccord with the objectivesof training body accreditation with whichwe are concerned.

The system of accreditation for trainingbodies is not, therefore, a system of qual-ity certification but a system which, by

virtue of the methodology consideredmost appropriate given its context andpurpose, aims to contribute to the qual-ity and appropriateness of training activ-ity and to the structuring of the trainingavailable to support it.

The system of accreditation for trainingbodies is:

❏ a system based on understanding thataims to comprehend the organisation asa whole, in its socio-economic context,in the context of its activity, and in itsrelationship with the community at large,its partners, clients and trainees;

❏ a system based on the principle of ap-propriateness whose criterion for assess-ment is the appropriateness of its activi-ties to its objectives, context of activityand target groups;

❏ An analytical and deductive systemwhich analyses and assesses the techni-cal, pedagogical, organisational, and lo-gistic conditions considered necessary toensure the quality and appropriateness oftraining.

❏ An inductive system, in that it analy-ses and assesses representative samplesof products and work already done bythe organisations (methods, technicaltools, structures and programme contents,teaching aids etc.) as indicators of its ca-pacity.

Chart 1

Organisation’s mission

Why?(Basic situation)

With what purpose? (Objectives)

With what results?(Follow-up and

assessment)

What does it do?(Type of training

activity)

How?(Methodology, tools)

With what resources?(Human, technical,

material etc.)

For whom?(Target groups)

Subject areas of training

Types of training

Organisation of training

“When what is at stake isthe effectiveness of a train-ing process in a given so-cial or organisational con-text with specific aims andtarget groups we enterupon a dimension in whichthe outcome of training isfrequently decided by thedegree of innovation, call-ing for the capacity to takeadvantage of and improveon what we know about theengineering of trainingprocesses, the ability to de-sign and test new methodsand tools and then, often, todisregard an acceptedstandard where one existsand to reinvent a new one.”


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❏ Finally, to close the methodological cir-cle, the system includes an empirical com-ponent - follow-up - whose objective isnot only validation in the field of the dataand conclusions of documentary analysisbut also a dimension of recognition andsupport for the organisation.

Accreditation basically consists of an over-all global technical validation of the train-ing capacity of the body concerned as theprerequisite for quality training opera-tions.

Chart 1 summarises the information re-lating to the system.

Insert Chart 2Accordingly, the organisation applying foraccreditation has to state in its applica-tion dossier:

a) Its aim or mission as the promoter or abody actively involved in the trainingprocess;

b) How it is involved in the field of voca-tional training, what it does, why it doesit, with what purpose and for what targetgroups;

c) How its operates, in other words howit views its activity and the methodologi-cal support it provides;

d) The human, technical, teaching andmaterial resources involved;

e) How it assesses the result and impactof its activity.

The organisation is also invited to submitsamples illustrating its work - projects,programmes, teaching aids, technicaltools, studies, assessments etc. - to dem-onstrate its capacity and competence andserve as indicators of its future capacity.

To assist with the preparation of the ap-plication dossier INOFOR has issued amanual for applicants which describes,with examples, the various factors takeninto consideration for assessment and thecriteria applied (Chart 2).

The emphasis on understanding and ap-propriateness is reflected in the way inwhich the application for accreditation ishandled: the applicant organisation mustbe analysed and understood:

a) in a given socio-economic context;b) in a given employment context, inwhich there existc) certain shortcomings in terms of quali-fication and skills, andd) a degree of training provision by bothgovernment and private bodies (oftenwith competing overlaps and gaps),

as well as in the relationship it establisheswith its partners, clients, and trainees.

Insert Chart 3This emphasis is also revealed in the fol-low-up of the organisation. Form cannotbe separated from the substance which isthe reason and justification for its exist-ence and gives it sense. This is why theapproach in the field is always precededby a gathering of information concerningthe context of the organisation’s activitybased on available indicators - economic,employment, job requirements, existingtraining provision etc.

At present organisations are accredited forgiven areas of activity corresponding to amodel (with subsequent segmentation) ofthe training cycle or process and for dif-ferent periods of time (one, two or threeyears) according to the soundness andverification of the details contained in theapplication dossier.

The areas of activity taken into accountby the system are:

❏ The diagnosis of training needs;

❏ The planning of training activity;

Chart 2

Trainees

Partn

ers Clients

Socio-economic context

Employment context

Qualification/skill needs

Overlapping/lack of training provision

Organisation

Project Structure

Activity

“Accreditation basicallyconsists of an overall globaltechnical validation of thetraining capacity of thebody concerned as the pre-requisite for quality train-ing operations.”

“To assist with the prepa-ration of the applicationdossier INOFOR has issueda manual for applicantswhich describes, with ex-amples, the various factorstaken into considerationfor assessment and the cri-teria applied.”


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❏ The design of training programmes,tools and aids;

❏ The organisation and promotion oftraining activity;

❏ Implementation of training;

❏ Follow-up and assessment of training;

❏ Other kinds of socio-cultural and teach-ing activity either preparatory or supple-mentary to actual training or to assist withthe process of occupational and socialintegration (a field covering a variety ofcomplementary activities or others notqualifiable as conventional, as is very of-ten the case of activities carried out inthe social market or with disadvantagedgroups).

The first stage, therefore, is a process ofdeveloping and consolidating the accredi-tation system and of validating capacity,essentially focused on an analysis of bothtechnical and teaching capacity involvedin training activity, as demonstrated, cred-ibly supported and illustrated by the or-ganisations in their application dossiers(Chart 3).

Follow-up

Accreditation of a training organisation iscompleted with a process of follow-up.

The purpose of follow-up is to validatethe results of the processing of applica-tions previously submitted but also toidentify examples of good practice, suc-cesses and innovative experiments and toencourage and assist the organisations incontinually improving the quality andappropriateness of their training activity.

The follow-up system links and combinesa number of components whose synthe-sis results in an assessment which eithercorroborates, corrects, temporarily ne-gates, or renews the prior accreditationdecision whether as regards the scope ofthe organisation’s activity or its period ofaccreditation.

Insert Chart 4The follow-up of accredited organisationswill also make it possible to identify pos-sibilities and models for joint action byministries or other competent bodies

which in partnership supplement and fos-ter the developments in areas of greatestneed.

The fact that a large number of applica-tions were received within a very shortperiod, the inevitable consequence of thesystem’s start-up phase and of the impor-tance of accreditation for those organisa-tions planning to apply for ESF assistance,meant that the follow-up procedure hadto be postponed until after a decision onaccreditation had been taken, so that ithad the effect of either confirming or cor-recting the original decision.

In future, however, now that the initialphase has been completed and the sys-tem established, steps will be taken toensure that follow-up takes place beforethe final accreditation decision is given.

Results

Between September 1997 and September1998 INOFOR received some 1750 appli-cations for accreditation.

To date 1393 bodies have been accred-ited for different fields of activity and fordifferent periods. This represents about80% of total applications. Of the other 20%about half have failed to fulfil the condi-

Chart 3

Gathering information on mission, structure and

activity

Trainer questionnaire

Opinion

Deeper study of technical and teaching methods

Study of local technical, teaching, organisational and

logistic conditions in situ

Interviews (public bodies, trainees,

clients, panels of experts)

Assessment

Interview with training manager/coordinator

Trainee questionnaire

“Accreditation of a trainingorganisation is completedwith a process of follow-up.”

“To date 1393 bodies havebeen accredited for differ-ent fields of activity and fordifferent periods. This rep-resents about 80% of totalapplications. Of the other20% about half have failedto fulfil the conditions foraccreditation and the otherhalf are still being scruti-nised.”


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tions for accreditation and the other halfare still being scrutinised.

A breakdown of total approvals by pe-riod of accreditation clearly reflects theweaknesses of the Portuguese trainingsystem:

❏ 47% of the total have received accredi-tation for one year;

❏ 33% have been accredited for twoyears;

❏ 20% have been accredited for threeyears.

Insert Chart 5This breakdown of accreditation periodsis not replicated in every segment ana-lysed. Those who come off best are thedirectly and jointly managed training cen-tres, technological training centres, voca-tional schools etc. and the private train-ing/consultative bodies, testifying to therelative soundness and consistency of theresources and training structures at theirdisposal. Those who do less well, on theother hand, are organisations in the agri-

cultural sector (farmers’ associations,farming cooperatives, etc.) employers’,commercial, industrial, technical and pro-fessional associations, local and regionaldevelopment bodies and similar organi-sations and bodies pursuing objectives inthe field of social solidarity - segments,in other words, which suffer from a seri-ous lack of funds and often, too, of teach-ing know-how (Chart 4).

Besides identifying training organisationsand projects with clear shortcomings interms of technical and teaching capacity,the survey already carried out helped tohighlight cases of excellence, examplesof good practice and innovations contrib-uting to the success of training which itis important to encourage and promote.

Developmentof the system

The development of the system of accredi-tation provides for the gradual incorpo-

Chart 4

Breakdown of accreditation periods by type of organisation

Directly and jointly managed training centres

Private training/consultant bodies

Vocational schools

Social solidarity institutions

Trade unions

Manufacturer’s training units

Associations

Farming organisations

0 20 40 60 80 100

77.7 20.4

54.4 30.1 15.5

44.5 39.1 16.4

41.7 41.7 16.7

50.2 32.6 17.2

38.9 41.7 19.4

37.7 38.4 23.9

20.0 12.0 68.0

1.9

1 year 2 years 3 years[%]


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ration of parameters such as the missionand objectives of the body concerned, theareas of activity, specific subject areas(quality, marketing, computer science,electronics, farming, civil engineering,mechanical engineering, social work etc.),types of training (initial, continuing, re-training etc.), organisation of training(classes, distance learning, on-the-job,work-based etc.) and the target groups(active employees, first-time job-seekers,SME managers, women entrepreneurs,technical supervisors and executives,groups with a low educational level at riskof social exclusion etc.) so as graduallyto define as clearly and factually as pos-sible the scope or focus of accreditation(Chart 5).

Accreditation: signifies to give credenceto, to trust, to put confidence in - this isessentially the purpose of the accredita-tion of training bodies which technicallyhas been defined as an operation of gen-eral validation, qualified scrutiny and rec-ognition of the training ability of an or-ganisation.

In this first year of the accreditation sys-tem’s operation, which has been one ofadaptation and familiarisation, it was in-tended that teaching objectives shouldtake precedence over a rigid applicationof accreditation criteria with the aim ofgradual, sustained structuring of the train-ing fabric.

Chart 5

“In this first year of the ac-creditation system’s opera-tion, which has been one ofadaptation and familiari-sation, it was intended thatteaching objectives shouldtake precedence over arigid application of ac-creditation criteria withthe aim of gradual, sus-tained structuring of thetraining fabric.”

Credence: the word stems from the Latincreditus - a thing borrowed, and by ex-tension something owed. It is our wishthat the credence placed in organisationsby their accreditation should be matchedby a doubling of efforts to ensure thequality and appropriateness of the train-ing they provide.

Areas of activity

Mission Objectives

Target groups

Type of training organisation

Type of training

Technical fields

Accreditation


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1. Continuing vocationaltraining in the German vo-cational training system

In Germany the in-firm professional andcareer paths of skilled staff with non-uni-versity education is based on a certificatefrom the dual system of vocational train-ing. A distinctive feature of the Germanvocational training system is the multiplic-ity of training courses in the continuingvocational training system. They rangefrom short seminars on subjects of cur-rent interest to refresher courses and tocomplex and extensive courses of ad-vanced further training with more than1,500 hours of instruction. In the craftsector, preparatory courses for the‘Meister’ (master craftsman) certificateplay a predominant role in advanced fur-ther training, as passing the Meister ex-amination is a pre-requisite for anyonewishing to run a craft business independ-ently.

A large number of the continuing train-ing courses for workers in small and me-dium-sized enterprises are offered by the

crafts associations. The training centresof the 56 Chambers of Crafts and the morethan 360 District Crafts Associations withtheir member guilds offer a nation-widespectrum of continuing training facilities.The Central Association of German Crafts(Zentralverband des Deutschen Hand-werks), as the Bonn-based umbrella or-ganisation of the craft associations, estab-lishes the policy framework for crafts andcrafts training.

The Central Office for ContinuingTraining in the Crafts Sector (Zentral-stelle für die Weiterbildung im Hand-werk - ZWH) was founded more than 10years ago in North Rhine-Westphalia inorder to ensure that the quality of con-tinuing training is geared to the real needsof the economy. At the beginning of 1997it was transformed into a nation-wide as-sociation which is financed by the Cham-bers of Commerce, their associations andthe Central Association of German Crafts.

The following article presents the under-lying concept and the work of the ZWHon quality assurance in continuing train-ing in the craft sector.

Klaus JeneweinActing Professor of Technol-

ogy and Technical Didactics,Gerhard-Mercator University

Duisburg

Beate KramerZWH – Central Office for

Continuing Training in theCraft Sector, Düsseldorf.

Quality assurance incontinuing vocationaltraining for small andmedium-sized enter-prises in the Germancraft sector -the training activities of theCentral Office for ContinuingTraining in the Crafts Sector(ZWH)

The Central Office for Con-tinuing Training in theCrafts Sector (Zentralstellefür die Weiterbildung imHandwerk - ZWH) was foun-ded more than 10 years agoin North Rhine-Westphaliain order to ensure that thequality of continuing train-ing is effectively geared tothe real needs of theeconomy. At the beginningof 1997 it was transformedinto a nation-wide associa-tion financed by the Cham-bers of Commerce, their as-sociations and the CentralAssociation of GermanCrafts (Zentralverband desdeutschen Handwerks). TheZentralverband’s followingarticle presents the under-lying concept and the workof the ZWH on quality as-surance of continuing train-ing in the crafts sector.


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2. The continuing trainingsituation of employees insmall and medium-sizedenterprises

The small and medium-sized enterprisesin the craft sector are a significant eco-nomic factor in Germany. In 1996 some7 million workers in about 800,000 craftbusinesses produced a turnover of DM1,000 billion (see Zentralverband desDeutschen Handwerks, 1997, p. 13).However, the continuing training situa-tion of the skilled workers employed inthese enterprises is subject to specificconditions, some of which are quite dif-ferent to those applying in large compa-nies.

Surveys of the continuing training situa-tion arrive at the following assessment ofthe continuing training problems of smalland medium-sized enterprises (see.Cramer & Kramer, 1990, p. 85 ff., Ernst etal., 1995, p. 102 f.):

❏ The continuing training of workers insmall and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs) is clearly much less intensive thanthat of workers in large companies - par-ticularly with respect to participation inrefresher training.

❏ The selectivity of participation in con-tinuing training, i.e. the empirically ob-served and relatively marked trend forcontinuing vocational training to be takenadvantage of primarily by skilled staff withan academic education, rarely by journey-men or skilled workers and hardly everby unskilled workers.

❏ The great dependence on continuingtraining courses outside the company isa crucial problem for small and medium-sized enterprises. Craft businesses employan average of 8 workers. That is why inthese enterprises separate departments forstaff development are generally neitherpracticable nor economically useful or fea-sible.

❏ The release of employees for continu-ing training is another vital problem par-ticularly affecting small enterprises. Forsuch enterprises it is often virtually im-possible to find a replacement for the

skilled workers it needs for its normaldaily operations.

Thus, it is the task of the craft organiza-tions to offer attractive regional continu-ing training facilities which will help topromote the qualifications required inenterprises and which are geared to thetime constraints of employees in craftenterprises. This creates a vital founda-tion for the enterprises to enable them torespond effectively to new technological,economic and ecological demands and -also in the context of the imminent stepstowards European integration – to openup new areas of economic activity.

3. Levels of action forquality assurance in con-tinuing vocational trainingin the craft sector

The key to acceptance of the qualifica-tions acquired in continuing vocationaltraining is for continuing training meas-ures to be specifically needs-orientatedand subject to comprehensive quality as-surance. The standardisation of continu-ing training, often advocated, is seen dif-ferently by the different target groups.While enterprises want refresher traininggeared to their actual qualification needs,the skilled workers concerned are inter-ested not only in job-related qualificationsbut also in general recognition for theiracquired qualifications so that they canbe used for a change of job or career ad-vancement.

In the relevant literature there is a con-sensus that ensuring the quality of con-tinuing vocational training must be sub-ject to the precautionary principle. In thecurrent discussion of Total Quality Man-agement (TQM) in the education and train-ing sector, however, there is no uniformdefinition of what is meant, in concreteterms, by the ‘quality of continuing voca-tional training measures’. ISO 9000 ff. cov-ers mainly the planning and design a train-ing centre’s structures and operations, butignores central aspects of the contents andmethods of continuing training.

In this context, the work of the ZWH isbased on the following factors:

“Surveys of the continuingtraining situation arrive atthe following assessment ofthe continuing trainingproblems of small and me-dium-sized enterprises(…):– The continuing trainingof workers in small and me-dium-sized enterprises(SMEs) is clearly much lessintensive than that of work-ers in large companies (…).– The (…) marked trendfor continuing vocationaltraining to be taken advan-tage of primarily by skilledstaff with an academic edu-cation(…).– The great dependence oncontinuing training coursesoutside the company is acrucial problem for smalland medium-sized enter-prises. (…)– The release of employeesfor continuing training isanother vital problem par-ticularly affecting small en-terprises.”

“Thus, it is the task of thecraft organizations to offerattractive regional continu-ing training facilities whichwill help to promote thequalifications required inenterprises and which aregeared to the time con-straints of employees incraft enterprises.”


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❏ Quality is produced through the col-laboration of all those involved in the con-tinuing training process. Neither the qual-ity awareness of the teachers nor themotivation of the participants can be im-posed ‘from above’; it depends insteadon those involved being responsible forthemselves and having the possibility tomanage themselves.

❏ Quality assurance must be a holistic ap-proach, i.e. it must cover all steps fromthe initial survey of continuing trainingneeds to the planning and implementa-tion of the courses and the monitoring ofactivities in actual practice.

❏ The definition of quality must be basedon a global concept for ensuring the di-dactic and methodological quality of con-tinuing training measures. The didacticdesign of courses should be oriented tothe demand for the development of a pro-fessional capacity to act (see Erz, Jenewein& Kramer 1997, p. 19 ff.). This demandimplies the need to design teaching andtraining processes which are action ori-ented, and thus to link systematic struc-tures with suitable practice-related actionsituations.

4. Quality assurance in thedevelopment and imple-mentation of continuingtraining measures

4.1 Basic conception of the ZWH

The ZWH’s work on quality assurance incontinuing training in the craft sector fo-cuses on two key areas: firstly, the devel-opment of continuing training conceptsfor the training centres in the craft sector,taking account of the requirements of craftbusinesses and including examples ofaction-oriented design; and secondly, thetraining of teachers so that they can trans-fer the examples to the specific situationsin which the participants have to act.

The operational cycle presented in Fig-ure 1 for quality assurance demonstratesthe approach used in the development oftraining concepts.

Figure 1:The points of departure for the develop-ment of course concepts which can beused nation-wide are firstly, quantitativeanalyses, in particular, the analysis of sta-

Figure 1:

Operational cycle for quality assurance in the continuing training concept of the ZWH

Objective: continuing training which is needs-orientated and geared to the target group.

Analysis of continuing

training needs

Enumeration of participant

pre-requisites

Consideration of regional differences

Topicality

Final certificates required

Course development

Course implementation

Optimisation

Development and updating

of course media and material

for participants

Development of final examinations

Orientation to the state of the art

Training of specialist teaching staff

Equipping of the training

centres

Advice from contact offices

Evaluation of learning success

and participant satisfaction

Training and qualification of teachers

Revision of continuing training

concepts

“(…) the work of the ZWHis based on the followingfactors:– Quality is producedthrough the collaborationof all those involved in thecontinuing training proc-ess. (…)– Quality assurance mustbe a holistic approach (…).– The definition of qualitymust be based on a globalconcept for ensuring the di-dactic and methodologicalquality of continuing train-ing measures.”


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tistics on changes in company numbersin the different sectors. Secondly, quali-tative surveys, mainly based on expertdiscussions of discernible developmenttrends in the craft sector concerned, con-tacts with innovative enterprises and re-search institutes, analyses of research find-ings and specialist journals, and consult-ing training centres about regionalchanges in needs. This is the backgroundagainst which the decisions are taken onthe sectors which require the new devel-opment of qualification components.

On the basis of this assessment of thecontinuing training needs of the economy,the ZWH organises, coordinates and su-pervises teams of experts from trainingcentres, associations, enterprises and re-search establishments in the developmentof course material for the teaching staffand the participants.

The principal quality aspects taken intoconsideration by the ZWH in course de-velopment are:

❏ Securing the standard of continuingtraining contents and keeping the coursesopen so that the training centres can ori-ent the actual contents to the differentregional demands of enterprises and theirworkers;

❏ Relevance of the training provision anda close link to practices in craft businesses;

❏ Development of action-oriented exam-ples and the necessary media as a pre-requisite for enhancing the participants’professional capacity to act;❏ Development of proposals for exerciseswhich will enable the participants tocheck their performance and also preparethem for the final examination.

Important quality aspects of the ZWH’swork on course implementation are:

❏ Preparing recommendations on quali-fication requirements for technical teach-ing staff in training centres;

❏ Preparing recommendations on theequipment of training centres;

❏ Preparing recommendations on the or-ganisation and implementation of finalexaminations and giving examples of ex-

amination tasks in order to achieve a uni-form examination standard.

So far the ZWH has developed coursemanuals for teachers and participants inthe following areas:

❏ 30 technical fields in continuing train-ing (e.g. CAD, SPC, electronic office au-tomation, quality management, etc.) witha total volume of more than 6,000 hoursof instruction;

❏ 16 preparatory courses for the Meisterexamination (e.g. hairdresser, electricalfitter, painter/varnisher, metal worker)with a total volume of more than 10,000hours of instruction;

❏ 8 subjects in inter-company vocationaltraining (e.g. in the occupational areas ofmetal technology, electrical engineering,economics and administration) with a to-tal volume of about 700 hours of instruc-tion.

4.2 Example: Stored programme con-trol (SPC)

SPC will be used below as an example ofhow quality assurance is included in thedevelopment and implementation of theZWH’s qualification concept. The continu-ing training modules for this subject weredeveloped from 1988 to 1992 and intro-duced into training centres. This subjectis thus one of the first in which the ZWHstarted work 10 years ago. These mod-ules have been updated several timessince the initial introduction (see Chap.5).

The development of the course con-cept was undertaken in several steps:

❏ Development of binding referencedata.A group of experts from throughout Ger-many discussed experiences regardingqualification needs in the field of SPC inthe different regions. In addition, repre-sentatives of leading companies presentedthe recent technological developments inthis area and reported on expected fu-ture developments. On that basis, themodule structure was defined and the tar-get groups, the conditions of participa-tion, the technical equipment required bytraining centres, the key content and ma-

“The principal quality as-pects taken into considera-tion by the ZWH in coursedevelopment are:– Securing the standard ofcontinuing training con-tents and keeping thecourses open (…);– Relevance of the trainingprovision and a close linkto practices in craft busi-nesses;– Development of action-oriented examples and thenecessary media (…);– Development of propos-als for exercises (…).

Important quality aspectsof the ZWH’s work oncourse implementation are:– Preparing recommenda-tions on qualification re-quirements (…);– Preparing recommenda-tions on the equipment (…);– Preparing recommenda-tions on the organisationand implementation of finalexaminations (…).


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jor objectives for each module were de-termined in concrete terms. This referencedata was evaluated and optimised byteachers from a number of training cen-tres.

Figure 2 shows the module structure forSPC which resulted from this process withthe conditions of participation, key areasof the module and indicative time-scalesfor the individual modules.

Figure 2:❏ Development of course material forteaching staff.Recommendations for methods to be usedin key areas of the outlined concept werealso developed by individual experts; theydealt with implementation examples,overhead transparencies, overviews andspecific exercises. The experts were as-sisted by the ZWH so that they could de-vise action-oriented recommendations and

examples. The course material for teach-ing staff was then, as a rule, evaluated bytwo teachers and, if necessary, developedfurther. The material was then sent by theZWH to all interested training centres inthe craft sector.

❏ Development of course material forparticipants.The course material for participants wascompiled on the basis of the tested mate-rial for teaching staff. This material forparticipants was made available - in theform of participant manuals - to the teach-ers in the training centres so that theycould have coordinated learning mediaat their disposal.

The implementation of this courseconcept in the training centres was alsosupported by the ZWH at different lev-els.

❏ Advice to training centres.On request, training centres whichadopted this concept were given adviceon the necessary equipment and the in-troduction of the course concept by theexperts who had participated in its de-velopment.

❏ Didactic seminars on SPC.Didactic seminars were organised to showteachers how to implement this concept,problems were discussed and the possi-bilities of an action-oriented course pro-gramme were examined.

Furthermore, the course manual for par-ticipants contains a questionnaire pre-pared by the ZWH so that participants canevaluate the course and the material theyreceived and thus make suggestions forimprovements. This questionnaire, whichhas the aim of helping the training cen-tres to evaluate the courses, will be re-viewed in the next chapter dealing withthe ZWH’s optimisation activities.

5. Continuous optimisa-tion as the key to safe-guarding and developingexisting quality standards

Given the rapid rate of technological de-velopment and the economic climate, con-

Figure 2:

Course concept for ‘Stored program control’ (SPC)

Conditions

80 h

rs

180

hrs

240

hrs

Completed vocational training

Knowledge corresponding to SPC I and SPC II

Knowledgecorresponding to SPC I

No prior knowledge

Further training examination for SPC skilled worker

Control with SPCArithmetical operations

Analogue signal processingControl systems

Process control and monitoringField bus systems

Project planning with SPCProgramme structure

Working with function blocksText processing

Extended sequential controlProgramme organisation

Basic courseStructure and function of SPC

Logical networksControl and storage

Registers and countersLinear sequential control

Safety functions

SPC I

SPC II

SPC III


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stant optimisation and extension of thetraining courses and final certificates isan important pre-condition for qualityassurance. The ZWH concept envisagesoptimisation processes at the followinglevels:

❏ The ZWH regularly organises workinggroups of experts in order to update andcontinuously develop concepts.

❏ In the various subject-areas seminarsare organised regularly for teachers so thatthey can exchange experiences. They canalso discuss the necessary updating andfurther development. The ZWH thus getsregular feedback from the teaching staff,which then serves as the basis for revi-sion and optimisation.

❏ Learning achievement is continuouslyassessed during courses not only throughfinal examinations, but also through anevaluation of participant satisfaction.To this end, participants complete writ-ten questionnaires on a voluntary basis,which are then evaluated by the ZWH.The findings which emerge are taken intoconsideration in the further developmentof the course material (on evaluation con-cept, see Hagge et al., 1993, p. 109 ff.).

❏ The ZWH organises didactic seminarsfor trainers and teachers in the vari-ous areas of continuing vocational train-ing. An exchange of experiences basedon the course concepts and a discussionof innovations in the subject-field con-cerned are pre-conditions for compara-ble work in training centres and thus forthe achievement of national quality stand-ards and also for the further developmentof the concepts. Action-oriented ap-proaches and their application in actualwork situations are important issues in theseminars for teachers and trainers, high-lighting the possibility of introducingmodern teaching methods into courses.Since 1994 the ZWH has held about 130seminars for trainers and teachers withalmost 2,000 participants and has had avery positive response.

❏ A core theme of quality assurance incontinuing training is the final examina-tion. A high examination standard gener-ally has a positive effect on the quality ofcontinuing training programmes. Thus, animportant task for the ZWH is to provide

regular further training for examiners, andin particular to supply information on thepotential for including technical develop-ments and action-oriented tasks in theexaminations. These seminars deal in par-ticular with questions concerning the con-duct of the examiner and the preparationand assessment of examination tasks.Since 1994 the ZWH has held approxi-mately 90 seminars for examination boardmembers with more than 1,700 partici-pants, who have all given a positive as-sessment of these seminars.

6. Outlook

An essential aspect of quality assurance incontinuing training is an appropriate reac-tion to the dynamics of technologicalchange and economic conditions. TheZWH’s quality concept will be judged byits success in anticipating changes in quali-fication needs and integrating new devel-opments in different areas. The ZWH willtake timely and forward-looking steps to:

❏ update the contents and methods ofexisting continuing training concepts andimprove the necessary coordination;

❏ identify new fields of activity for craftbusinesses and assist them in exploitingthese fields through continuing trainingprovision;

❏ step up the didactic and methodologi-cal continuing training of trainers, teach-ers and examiners;

❏ improve the quality of continuing train-ing by developing new media, and inparticular multimedia and interactivelearning systems, and thus promote self-guided learning processes;

❏ review long-established forms of organ-ising continuing training and enhancethem with new more flexible forms ofvocational learning;

❏ provide further training for the man-agement of vocational training centres inthe important areas of customer orienta-tion and quality assurance.

Moreover, effective and needs-orientedquality assurance also means providingtraining centres with reliable data on

“The ZWH concept envis-ages optimisation proc-esses at the following levels:– The ZWH regularly or-ganises working groups ofexperts (…).– In the various subject-ar-eas seminars are organisedregularly for teachers sothat they can exchange ex-periences. (…)– Learning achievement iscontinuously assessed dur-ing courses not onlythrough final examina-tions, but also through anevaluation of participantsatisfaction. (…)– The ZWH organises di-dactic seminars for train-ers and teachers in thevarious areas of continuingvocational training. (…)– A core theme of qualityassurance in continuingtraining is the final exami-nation.”

“An essential aspect ofquality assurance in con-tinuing training is an ap-propriate reaction to thedynamics of technologicalchange and economic con-ditions.”


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qualification needs, changes in needs andthe training and career paths of employ-ees in small and medium-sized enter-

prises. In future, scientific studies will beintroduced as a means of reinforcing theseactivities.

Cramer, G. & Kramer, B.; ‘Probleme der Weiter-bildung in Klein- und Mittelbetrieben des Hand-werks’, Tendenzen betrieblicher Weiterbildung,Köln, 1990, pp. 79-98.

Ernst, F., Herwartz, M., Jenewein, K. & Sanf-leber, H.; ‘Entwicklung von Aus- und Weiterbil-dungskonzeptionen im Bereich der Mikroelektro-nik in gewerblich-technischen Berufsfeldern’, Wei-terbildung im regionalen Strukturwandel - Qualifi-kationsentwicklung im Bereich der Mikroelektroni,Gerhard-Mercator-Universität GesamthochschuleDuisburg and Oberstadtdirektor der Stadt Duisburg(= Duisburg 2000), Duisburg, 1995, pp. 89-141.

Erz, M., Jenewein, K. & Kramer, B.; Erprobungund Weiterentwicklung des didaktisch-methodi-schen Konzeptes des Zentralstelle für die Weiterbil-dung im Handwerk im Rahmen der Implementie-rung von Qualitätsstandards im Handwerk. Ge-meinsamer Abschlußbericht des Projektträgers undder wissenschaft l ichen Begleitung, Gerhard-Mercator-Universität/Düsseldorf, Zentralstelle für dieWeiterbildung im Handwerk, Duisburg, 1997(publication in book form under preparation).

Hagge, B., Jenewein, K., Kramer, B. Sanfleber,H. & Vahling, L.; Modellprojekt ‘Unterstützung dernotwendigen Umstrukturierung in der Montan-region durch Bildung und Beratung’. Joint Final

Report of the project promoter and the scientificsupport agency, Westdeutscher Handwerkskammer-tag, Düsseldorf/Universität Duisburg, 1993.

Jenewein, K.; ‘Berufliche Weiterbildung von Fach-kräften kleiner und mittlerer Unternehmen -Problemaufriß und Überlegungen zur Organisationberuflicher Weiterbildungsangebote’ lernen & leh-ren 32 (1993), pp. 11-26.

Jenewein, K.; ‘Weiterbildungsakzeptanz bei ge-werblich-technischen Fachkräften - ein grundlegen-des Problem beruflicher Anpassungsfortbildung’,Entwicklung und Umsetzung regionaler Qualifizie-rungsstrategien, Berlin, 1995, pp. 41-58.

Kramer, B.; ‘Qualitätskonzept für die Weiterbildungim Handwerk’ Ökonomie betrieblicher Bildungsar-beit. Qualität - Kosten - Evaluierung – Finanzie-rung, Berlin, 1996, pp. 80-93.

Kramer, B.; ‘Umsetzung des Qualitätsanspruchs inder Weiterbi ldung im Handwerk’ , Personal-qualifizierung in den neuen Bundesländern, Vol.5: Ausbildung in kleinen und mittleren Unterneh-men, Bielefeld, 1995, pp. 15-28.

‘Handwerk ‘96’’, Zentralverband des DeutschenHandwerks, Bonn, 1997.

Bibliography


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Maria WójcickaWarsaw University,Centre for Science Policy andHigher Educatiom

Introduction

Until 1990 vocational education in Polandended at the secondary level. The title oftechnician was, and still can be, acquiredin a 5-year vocational school or in a 2-year post-secondary school. Higher edu-cation offered almost exclusively 5-yearprogrammes leading to the master’s de-gree.

However, the years since 1990 have seenradical change.

The almost uniform system of 5-year mas-ter’s studies in higher education institu-tions has been replaced by a multi-levelsystem, offering the following 3-year pro-grammes (as well as 4-year studies in en-gineering):

❏ vocational programmes in state andnon-state higher education institutes lead-ing to the vocational title of licentiate.These programmes appear in academicand non-academic institutions, most of-ten in economic studies but also in theexact sciences;

❏ teacher-training vocational studies of-fered in state and non-state higher edu-cation institutes leading to the licentiate.Programmes of this type are offered forthe most part by universities and in higherteacher education schools. They also ap-pear in higher vocational schools;

❏ three-year teacher-training vocationalstudies offered in colleges subordinate tosuperintendents of education; the gradu-

Creation of an externalquality assurance sys-tem for higher educa-tion - the example ofPoland

The sudden quantitative in-crease in higher educationstarted after 1989 when theestablishment of new insti-tutions was no longer de-pendant upon legal meas-ures and government. Thislegally uncontrolled proc-ess soon gave rise to con-cerns about the quality ofeducation.This article looks at themain directions in thesearch for a solution to theproblem of quality assur-ance in Polish higher edu-cation, with special empha-sis on higher vocationaleducation.

ates receive the diploma of higher voca-tional education.

In addition, this period has seen the crea-tion of private higher vocational schoolsalso providing 3 year courses authorisedto confer the vocational title of licentiate.Since 1997, similar state higher vocationalschools have been established.

Consequently, the concept of vocationaleducation in Poland encompasses notonly secondary but also higher education.Generally, higher vocational educationmay be acquired in academic institutionsof education, higher vocational schoolsand in post-secondary educational system.

The nature of this education varies. Engi-neering and licentiate programmes offeredin academic institutions may be comparedwith programmes of the first universitydegree at the Bachelor’s level. In mostcases this is academic education that fo-cuses more on theoretical knowledge andthe preparation for advanced studies.

Licentiate programmes in higher voca-tional schools and in teachers’ collegessubordinate to superintendents of educa-tion have a more practical orientation,with vocational studies geared to theneeds of the market and the economy.

Thus, although in reality the licentiate hastwo different meanings, it is formally con-nected with 3-year vocational education.

A different law governs the activity of thethree kinds of institutions providing vo-cational education programmes:


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❏ academic education operates under theAct of 12 September, 1990 on higher edu-cation;

❏ the legal framework for higher voca-tional schools is set by the 1990 Act asamended by the Act of 26 June, 1997 onhigher vocational schools;

❏ teachers’ colleges subordinate to super-intendents of education operate under theAct of 7 September, 1991 on the educa-tional system, amended many times insuccessive years;

These laws confer various powers on edu-cational institutions, including the draw-ing up of programmes and assessment ofthe quality of education.

Below the attempts to create externalquality assurance systems for each typeof vocational education at the higher levelare discussed.

Quality mechanismsin legal regulations

Academic institutions

Until 1989 all higher education institutionsin Poland had academic status. They wereauthorised to conduct scientific researchand to educate students at master’s level.The 1990 Act on higher education con-firmed this status. However, the 1997 Acton higher vocational schools introduceda dual system of higher education, mak-ing a distinction between higher voca-tional schools and academic institutionsof education.

Under the 1990 Act and subsequent legalchanges, higher education institutionshave a considerable degree of autonomyand enjoy freedom of scientific research,artistic creativity, and teaching. They havelegal rights to formulate their own edu-cational policy and freedom to decideteaching programmes and curricula, theorganisation of the studies (day, evening,extra-mural, extension), the conditions ofrecruitment and numbers of students foreach course, the links with vocationaltraining and the requirements for the di-ploma thesis and diploma examination.

The laws passed in Poland after 1989make numerous provisions concerning

quality in higher education institutions.They may be found among the powers ofthe Minister of National Education, theCouncil for Higher Education1, the Com-mittee for Scientific Research2 and theCentral Commission for Scientific Title andScientific Degrees3. Many of these provi-sions relate to the scientific level of aca-demic teachers and organisational unitsof higher education institutions.

The powers of the Minister of NationalEducation concerning higher educationinstitutions are limited. On fundamentalquestions of the educational process theMinister may act only through the Coun-cil for Higher Education. On the requestof the Minister of National Education, thecouncil, among other things:

❏ lays down the conditions that a highereducation institution must meet to openand teach specialised courses;

❏ lays down the minimum programme re-quirements for certain courses;

❏ lays down the conditions that a highereducation must meet to offer professional(engineer) titles;

❏ gives opinions on drafts of normativeacts concerning scientific research, highereducation and scientific degrees and ti-tle, as well as drafts of international agree-ments concerning equivalency of profes-sional titles and scientific degrees and ti-tle.

The council thus has the authority to cre-ate an educational quality assurance sys-tem, and the law on higher educationcontains quality criteria and standards tomeet licensing criteria.

In October 1993 the Council for HigherEducation accepted proposals from aproject it undertook on a system of qual-ity assessment of teaching in higherschools. Education programmes were sup-posed to be subject to assessment(Kawecki 1994). Although it was not ex-plicit, in the longer term it was expected- in line with the principles used by theCommittee for Scientific Research to dis-tribute research funds - to link the cat-egory assigned to the faculty with the sizeof the subsidy for education.

Systems of accreditation were developedfurther through the agreement of business

1) This is a representative body ofhigher education elected for 3 years.Members of the Council are chosenby electors at national meetings. Theelectors are chosen in groups ofschools (universities, technical, medi-cal, agricultural, economic, pedagogi-cal, art, and physical education col-leges) in proportion to the numberof academic teachers employed. Theelection principles favour large andstrong academic centres and special-isations to the detriment of smallschools and some specialisations;therefore, they do not ensure repre-sentation in the Council of all schoolsand specialisations.

2) The Committee for Scientific Re-search is an organ of the state admin-istration for scientific and scientific-technical policy. By virtue of a sepa-rate act, the Committee allocates fundsfor research.

3) The Central Commission is a cor-poration of scholars, to which the taskof nation-wide supervision of the con-ferring of the doctor habilitatus de-gree and title of professor has beenentrusted.

“(…) the concept of voca-tional education in Polandencompasses not only sec-ondary but also higher edu-cation. Generally, highervocational education maybe acquired in academicinstitutions of education,higher vocational schoolsand in post-secondary edu-cational system.”


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schools for quality of education, con-cluded on 4 July 1994. The agreementaimed to co-ordinate and disseminate edu-cational quality standards and to set upan accreditation system for programmesand schools. The Association of Manage-rial Education FORUM4 set up a systemof accreditation for management studiesand, at the request of the schools, vari-ous programmes went through the ac-creditation procedure. By 1997, accredi-tation had been awarded to 4 MBA pro-grammes, 2 licenciate programmes and 3post-graduate studies in management.5

On 31 January, 1998 the rectors of uni-versities established an independent uni-versity accreditation system. The resolu-tion establishing the University Accredi-tation Commission was signed by 15 sig-natory members of the Agreement ofPolish Universities for Educational Qual-ity6. Accreditation is to include pro-grammes not necessarily taught at univer-sities or at other institutions of highereducation. The operating costs of the of-fice are to be paid by the signatories.

Higher vocational schools

The 1990 Act on higher education did notcover either 3-year vocational pro-grammes or the title of licentiate. Further-more, notwithstanding various controver-sies connected with the quality of educa-tion, private institutions of higher educa-tion were only required to obtain a licensebefore starting activity, although if theyacted illegally or outside their statute orlicense, the Minister of National Educa-tion could suspend or close them.

Consequently a number of private higherschools developed on the basis of the1990 Act offering 3-year licentiate voca-tional programmes. These private highschools now form the backbone of anewly created sector of private vocationalhigher education.

Regulations governing higher vocationaleducation were introduced in the Act of26 June, 1997 on higher vocationalschools, which covered private higherschools conducting programmes at thelicentiate level.7 The Act also provided forthe creation of state higher vocationalschools which are being created from theexisting physical plant of superintendents’

teachers’ colleges and better equippedpost-secondary schools. Additional invest-ments in these facilities are supposed tocome from local sources, because the pub-lic vocational schools are to be linked tothe local labour market and their activi-ties supported by the local authorities.

The 1997 Act aims to strengthen someelements of control over the quality ofvocational programmes through the es-tablishment of the Accreditation Commis-sion of Higher Vocational Education8,which came into being in March 1998. Thecommission assumed most of the powersof the Council for Higher Education forvocational education, namely to:

❏ determine the conditions that a voca-tional higher school must meet in orderto start up and conduct a vocational spe-cialisation;

❏ determine the staff requirements nec-essary for this purpose;

❏ determine the programmes and satis-faction of these conditions;

❏ assess the quality of education.

Initially, the commission concentrated ongiving opinions on applications to estab-lish new vocational schools. On accountof the lack of minimum programme re-quirements for vocational studies, thecommission sees the development ofstandards in this area as one of its mosturgent tasks. In the future it plans to takeup assessment of the quality of educa-tion.

Teachers colleges

Teachers colleges established and run bysuperintendents of education operate dif-ferently. Decisions on the principles con-cerning the creation, transformation andliquidation of colleges, the general out-line teaching plans and programmes, andsupervision are the responsibility of theMinister of National Education.

The basic condition for establishing acollege is that it must ensure the scien-tific-didactic guardianship of a higherschool educating teachers in the disci-plines in which they will educate students.This is done through an agreement be-

4) The Association has been in exist-ence since February 1993 and gath-ers representatives of more than 20business schools. Acreditation activ-ity is one of its major statutory goals(Loboda 1995).

5) FORUM, as the only supervisoryorganisation of this type from CentralEurope, was admitted to the associa-tion of European accreditation agen-cies of business schools, EQUAL.

6) These are 13 universities and theAcademy of Catholic Theology inWarsaw and the Papal TheologicalAcademy in Cracow.

7) Unless its provisions or the provi-sions of other acts stipulate otherwise.Dz.U. 1997, No. 96, item 590.

8) The composition of the commis-sion, the number of its members andthe procedure of their appointmentand removal are determined by theMinister of National Education in con-sultation with the Council of HigherEducation.

“The 1990 Act on highereducation did not cover ei-ther 3-year vocational pro-grammes (…). Conse-quently a number or the ti-tle of licentiate of privatehigher schools developedon the basis of the 1990 Actoffering 3-year licentiatevocational programme orthe title of licentiates. Theseprivate high schools nowform the backbone of anewly created sector of pri-vate vocational higher edu-cation.”


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tween the institution of higher educationand the superintendent of education. Thisagreement covers the principles of co-operation in deciding the organisation ofentrance and diploma exams, participa-tion in the educational process and se-lection of colleges’ teachers, arrangementsfor students to obtain the diploma ofhigher vocational studies, and the takingup of supplementary Master’s degree stud-ies in the school by graduates of the col-lege.

It is assumed that the main criteria forthe verification of educational pro-grammes are the teacher’s practical needs.However, vocational training integratedwithin the course of studies is an impor-tant element of the programmes. Wherethe superintendent of education agrees,teacher’s colleges can award the voca-tional title of licentiate to its graduates onthe conditions laid down by themselves.In most colleges the scope of the pro-gramme suffices to receive the title. Somecolleges, however, require additionalcredits in electives, which is a conditionfor taking the licentiate examination.

Conceptions of external quality assur-ance systems

Looking at the existing legal regulations,there are considerable differences in thepowers of educational institutions in re-spect of curriculum content. Academic in-stitutions have considerable freedom toshape their programmes of studies - in-cluding vocational curricula for whichthus far there are no minimum require-ments. The work of the AccreditationCommission of Higher Vocational Educa-tion applies only to 3-year programmesconducted outside the sector of academiceducation, while the Minister of NationalEducation, is responsible for the stand-ards of programmes in teachers’ collegesunder the supervision of superintendentsof education.

In this context it is worth pointing outthat an internal system of assessment ofeducational outcomes and examinationsdominates the Polish educational system.Work in this area by the Minister of Na-tional Education has concentrated mainlyon changing the secondary-school leav-ing examinations. The “New Secondary-School Certificate” programme aims to

gradually transform the existing internalsecondary-school leaving examinationsinto an external system based on uniformstandards. Preparations are going on inparallel to activate national agencieswhose task will be to make external re-views of the quality of education in voca-tional studies. Work in this area is in vari-ous stages of advancement.

Generally, there is agreement that someexternal quality assessment system foracademic institutions of education is nec-essary, however, it is still not clear whattype of system is needed. Given the con-siderable autonomy guaranteed to highereducation institutions by the 1990 Act, anattempt to impose a system unacceptableto the academic community would be re-garded as a violation of the law.

Also under discussion is the problem ofquality in teachers’ colleges subordinateto superintendents of education. Comple-tion of a project financed under PHARE9

funds proposed an accreditation systemof teachers’ studies (Jeffery 1993). How-ever, the system has not yet been imple-mented.

We can already note several importantinitiatives - including legal regulations andinter-collegiate agreements - that indicatethe line of thinking of the academic com-munity about the problems of the qualityof education.

With a new higher education act beingdrafted, the academic community hasgiven a clear signal of its preferences forthe voluntary concentration of universi-ties on the problem of quality, irrespec-tive of existing organisational structures.This is illustrated by inter-collegiate agree-ments such as the agreement of businessschools for quality of education and theagreement of Polish universities for edu-cational quality referred to above. Such asolution seems more acceptable to highereducation institutions as it preserves theirstatutory guarantee of considerable au-tonomy.

Why accreditation?

The extraordinary development of thisconcept in the entire bloc of countries ofCentral and Eastern Europe is not a coin-

9) PHARE is the European Communi-ty’s economic aid programme to sup-port economic resrtucturing anddemocratic refrom in central and east-ern Europe.

“(…) there are consider-able differences in the pow-ers of educational institu-tions in respect of curricu-lum content. Academic insti-tutions have considerablefreedom to shape their pro-grammes of studies - in-cluding vocational cur-ricula for which thus farthere are no minimum re-quirements. The work ofthe Accreditation Commis-sion of Higher VocationalEducation applies only to 3-year programmes con-ducted outside the sector ofacademic education, whilethe Minister of NationalEducation, is responsiblefor the standards of pro-grammes in teachers’ col-leges under the supervisionof superintendents of edu-cation.”

“(…) the academic commu-nity has given a clear sig-nal of its preferences forthe voluntary concentrationof universities on the prob-lem of quality (…). Such asolution seems more ac-ceptable to higher educa-tion institutions as it pre-serves their statutory guar-antee of considerable au-tonomy.”


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cidence. It has been argued that accredi-tation institutions established in the formercommunist countries in the 1990s are asubstitute for central control of the stateover higher education (Dill, Massy,Williams and Cook, 1996).

There are many arguments to support thisthesis. The rule is that accreditation agen-cies were established on the initiative ofthe governments of those countries, some-times even taking the place of formerpoliticised and bureaucratised state in-spections. In the best case the role of theminister of education is imprecisely de-fined, but often the dependency on thisoffice is clearly indicated.

Dill, Massy, Williams and Cook mentiontwo goals assigned to accreditation agen-cies in the region of Central Europe:

❏ to ensure minimum standards of edu-cational quality in conditions of masshigher education, diversification of pro-grammes and levels of the educationaloffer;

❏ to certify the quality of education inthe international perspective.

From the point of view of the internalneeds of each country, the effectivenessof accreditation is determined by howstandards are defined, namely the mini-mum requirements imposed on an insti-tution, faculty or particular study pro-gramme. Terminology is not an signifi-cant problem here, in the internationalperspective the notion of accreditation hasa precise meaning. However, among thequality assurance mechanisms in highereducation currently applied, it is regardedas the least effective and unsatisfactory.Why?

To answer this question it is necessary torecall the most important features of theaccreditation process by referring to theexperiences of the country where thisprocess feels “most at home” as it hasbeen an integral part of post-secondaryeducation since 1905 (Wolff 1993): the ex-periences of the USA.

One of the main goals of accreditation isto ensure minimum standards of quality.The accomplishment of this goal is per-ceived in the sense that the aim is to as-

certain whether the means and internalstructures, including the administrativestructure, of higher education institutionsguarantee effective action. Minimumstandards formulated in such a way areeasily achieved by all well-organised in-stitutions. However, the assumption thatgood organisation of an institution is anautomatic guarantee of educational qual-ity and effectiveness is an oversimplifica-tion,

“If one were to define minimum stand-ards in terms of the demonstrated edu-cational effectiveness of the educa-tional programmes, all institutions areequally challenged. An outsider notconditioned to American ideas withregard to resources and prestige mightwell define minimum quality to meanthat an institution can assure that eve-ryone graduating with a bachelor’sdegree will be able to write effectively,think critically, and be prepared for aprofessional career. Yet the accredita-tion process has not held colleges anduniversities accountable for issues suchas the writing ability of graduates orthe effectiveness of general-educationrequirements” (Wolff, 1993).

Attempts to transfer this concept to otherconditions require consideration of at leastthe following question: What is the at-tractiveness (usefulness) of this concept?Should this process be governmental ornon-governmental? Should governmentset minimum programme requirements forall study programmes, or only for some?Should the reviews and assessments bemade by peers (assessors) from otherhigher education institutions, or by gov-ernment officials? Should the accredita-tion decisions be taken on the basis ofperformance indicators, or on the basisof a focused more subjective (qualitative)criteria?

The answer to the first question appearsto be similar in the case of most, or evenall, of Central and Eastern European coun-tries. In the entire region interest in highereducation has greatly increased and theeducational supply has become more di-versified owing to a considerable expan-sion of the recruitment base into highereducation. The scale of the phenomenoncan be il lustrated by the followingstattistics. In Bulgaria the number of stu-

“It has been argued that ac-creditation institutions es-tablished in the formercommunist countries in the1990s are a substitute forcentral control of the stateover higher education(…).”


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dents rose by 160% between 1991 and1995, while the number of programmesoffered by post-secondary institutions in-creased from 170 to nearly 570 (QualityAssurance in Bulgaria, 1997). In Roma-nia, between 1991 and 1993 the numberof state universities rose from 3 to 36, andthe number of private higher educationinstitutions from 17 to 66 (Wnuk-Lipiñska1995). It should be remembered that thesudden quantitative increase in highereducation started after 1989 when the es-tablishment of new institutions was nolonger dependent upon legal measuresand national and local governments. Thislegally uncontrolled process soon gaverise to concerns about the quality of edu-cation.

In Poland also, higher education quicklybecame a mass phenomenon. This proc-ess was fostered by abandoning centrallyset limits on admissions and grantinghigher schools - through statute - the rightto conduct their own policy in this area.It was also encouraged by the educationalpolicy of the state to link the allocationof funds to the number of students en-rolled. As a result, between 1990 and 1996the number of students more than dou-bled from 403,800 to 927,500, almost threetimes the 340,700 enrolled in 1985. To-day Poland has 213 higher education in-stitutions, including 114 private ones (Sta-tistical Yearbook, 1997). More than adozen types of higher education institu-tions are subordinate to seven Ministers.

The first step higher education took toadapt to the new situation was diversifi-cation in the wide sense, not only institu-tionally, but also diversification of edu-cational programmes, intra-collegiatestructures, principles of admission tohigher studies, etc. Each higher educa-tion institution has a range of departmentsthat offer several specialisations. Further-more, programmes began to be differen-tiated by the level of study.

It is still hard to distinguish the main di-rections in which the educational supplyis changing. The spontaneous nature ofthese changes worries the authorities andan ever larger part of the academic com-munity. The main concerns are expressedabout the new type of education - licen-tiate programmes, in new types of pri-vate schools.

The attractiveness of accreditation in thiscontext results from the fact that - as theonly one among the external quality as-surance mechanisms applied in the world- it has the element of certification, anddifferentiates between higher educationinstitutions that meet the standards set andthose that do not. The spontaneous na-ture of the quantitative and qualitativechanges that have taken place in highereducation justifies interest in an instru-ment that has such characteristics.

Prospects

The only external agency in fact that isworking for quality assurance is the Ac-creditation Commission of Higher Voca-tional Education. The other initiatives ofthe academic community concentrate onthe quality of education in master’s de-gree specialisations and studies. In thisrespect the 3-year vocational studies be-ing conducted in various academic insti-tutions of education are in the back-ground, as they lie outside the direct in-fluence of the Minister, the Council forHigher Education and the AccreditationCommission of Higher Vocational Educa-tion.

It may be surmised that until a new highereducation law is passed, which will coverthe entire sector of higher education10,there will be obligatory accreditation forhigher vocational schools, and voluntaryaccreditation, instituted, administered andmanaged by the academic community inother higher education institutions.

However, the experiences of the initialfirst years of the recently established ac-creditation agencies will modify the origi-nal assumptions. The following scenarioseems likely as it reflects both domesticneeds and international experience.

It is in the interest of higher vocationalschools themselves to be assessed andaccredited to verify their educational pro-grammes. This interest will increase ascompetition on the educational marketbecomes ever greater. Competition willbe intensified by the newly establishedstate sector of higher vocational schools,which are supposed to be financed fromthe state budget and co-financed from

10) Except for science, which will stillremain separate.

“The attractiveness of ac-creditation (…) resultsfrom the fact that (…) ithas the element of certifica-tion, and differentiates be-tween higher education in-stitutions that meet thestandards set and thosethat do not. The spontane-ous nature of the quantita-tive and qualitativechanges that have takenplace in higher educationjustifies interest in an in-strument that has suchcharacteristics.”

“(…) a new higher educa-tion law is passed, whichwill cover the entire sectorof higher education, therewill be obligatory accredi-tation for higher vocationalschools, and voluntary ac-creditation, instituted, ad-ministered and managed bythe academic community inother higher education in-stitutions.”


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regional sources and will seek to meetthe specific needs of the local labourmarkets. This may stimulate higher edu-cation institutions - state and non-state -to become accredited to show that crite-ria for a given category of schools or pro-grammes have been met. The experiencesof the United States, which has the long-est tradition in using accreditation as aneducational quality assurance mechanism,indicate that this process is very usefulfor small higher education institutionsentering the market.

In the opinion of the international com-munity interested in the quality of educa-tion, accreditation is an unsatisfactoryquality assurance mechanism. Proof of thisis that assessment procedures and the aca-demic audit have developed in westernEurope,

“The assessment process evaluates thequality of specific activities - such aseducational or research quality -

within academic units. Assessment goesbeyond accreditation to make gradedjudgements about academic qualitylevels rather than binary judgementsrelative to threshold standard… Aca-demic audit is an externally drivenpeer review of internal quality-assur-ance, assessment, and improvementsystems. Unlike assessment, audit doesnot evaluate quality: it focuses on theprocesses that are believed to producequality and the methods by which aca-demics assure themselves that qualityhas been attained” (Di l l , Massy,Williams, and Cook 1996).

It may be assumed that the complicatedreality - more than 700 kinds of studyprogrammes in departments of highereducation institutions subordinate to theMinister of National Education - will turnthe attention of the academic communityto institutional audits, as a complementto assessment of educational quality inselected programmes.

“It is in the interest ofhigher vocational schoolsthemselves to be assessedand accredited to verifytheir educational pro-grammes. This interest willincrease as competition onthe educational market be-comes ever greater.”

Dill D.D., Massy W.F., Williams P.R., Cook Ch.M.(1996): Accreditation and Academic Quality Assur-ance. Can we get there from here? Change, Sep-tember-October.

Grigorescu D. (1997): Quality Assurance Systemand Procedures in Romanian Higher Education.Paper presented at the conference: Quality Assur-ance in Higher Education Institutions: Proceduresand Tools for Departments and Faculties. Konstan-cin, September, 11-13th.

Kawecki J. (1994): Works on Introducing a Systemof Evaluating the Quality of Teaching in Schools ofHigher Education. Paper presented at the seminar:Quality in Higher Education - Mechanisms of Evalua-tion”, Warsaw/Miedzeszyn, 1994, March,10-12th.

Lesakova D. (1997): Accreditation and Evaluationin Slovak Republik. Paper presented at the confer-ence: Quality Assurance in Higher Education Insti-tutions: Procedures and Tools for Departments andFaculties. Konstancin, September, 11-13th.

Loboda M. (1995): System akredytacji szkoleñmenedzerskich Stowarzyszenia Edukacji Mened-zerskiej FORUM (The Managerial Training Accredi-tation System Adopted by the Society of Manage-

rial Education FORUM), Nauka i Szkolnictwo Wyzsze(Science and Higher Education) No. 5.

Quality Assurance System in Bulgaria. Paper pre-sented at the conference: Quality Assurance inHigher Education Institutions: Procedures and Toolsfor Departments and Faculties. Konstancin, Septem-ber 11-13th.

Rocznik Starystyczny 1997 (Statistical Yearbook1997), Central Statistical Office, Warsaw.

Wnuk-Lipiñska E. (1995): Ocena jakoœci szkol-nictwa wyzszego w krajach Europy Œrodkowo-Wschodniej (Quality Assessment of Higher Educa-tion in the Countries of Central and Eastern Eu-rope), Nauka i Szkolnictwo Wyzsze (Science andHigher Education) No. 5.

Wnuk-Lipiñska E., Wójcicka M. (1995): ProjectQuality Review in Polish Higher Education (in):E.Wnuk-Lipiñska, M.Wójcicka (eds.): Quality Reviewin Higher Education. TEMPUS CME+ grant, WarsawUniversity, Warsaw.

Wolff R.A. (1993): The Accreditation of Higher Edu-cation Institutions in the United States, Higher Edu-cation in Europe, Vol.XVIII, No.3.

Bibliographical references:


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Europe International

Rea

din

g se

lect

ion

Reading

This section lists the most im-portant and recent publica-tions on developments in train-ing and qualifications at aninternational and Europeanlevel. Giving preference tocomparative works, it also listsnational studies carried out aspart of international and Eu-ropean programmes, analysesof the impact of Communityaction on the Member Statesand national studies seen froman external perspective.

This section has beenprepared by

MartinaNí Cheallaigh,and the DocumentationService with the help ofmembers of the nationaldocumentation network

Information, comparativestudies

Development of vocational qualifica-tions and competences: European vo-cational training conference.Vienna: Bundesministerium für Unterrichtund kulturelle Angelegenheiten, BMUK,1998, 87 [email protected] DE

This document presents the contributionsto the thematic conference organised inVienna by the Austrian presidency and theEuropean Commission (DG22) with theco-operation of CEDEFOP on the “Devel-opment of qualifications and compet-ences” on 3 and 4 July 1998. Four forumswere organised focusing on the follow-ing subject areas: 1) key qualifications andcompetencies: curricular implementation,framework conditions, strategies, market-ability, vocational training and generaleducation; 2) information technologies:input and benefits for vocational qualifi-cations, planning and harmonisation re-quirements at the European level, qualityrequirements; 3) changing qualificationrequirements; 4) access to continuingvocational training and collective socialresponsibility.URL: http://www.berufsbildungskonferenz-1998.vie.net//english.htm

Exploring the returns to continuingvocational training in enterprises: areview of research within and outsideof the European Union.BARRETT A et al.European Centre for the Development ofVocational Training, CEDEFOPLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 53 p.(Panorama, 83)ISBN 92-828-4450-1, enCEDEFOPP.O.B. 27-Finikas,GR-55102 Thessaloniki,[email protected]. no.: HX-09-98-001-EN-CEN

Inherent in the notion of lifelong learn-ing is that enterprises should increase in-vestment in continuing vocational train-ing. The general lack of information, how-ever, as to the returns of such training forthe State, sectors, enterprises, and indi-viduals means that there are a number ofdifficulties in evaluating current and fu-ture investment decisions. This reviewpresents research which as attempted toestimated the returns of employer-pro-vided training, discusses the conceptualand methodological issues which exist inthis context, and suggests ways in whichresearch in this area can be usefully ex-panded.

Output-related funding in vocationaleducation and training: a discussionpaper and case studies.FELSTEAD AEuropean Centre for the Development ofVocational Training, CEDEFOPLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 64 p.(Panorama, 80)ISBN 92-828-4388-2, enCEDEFOPP.O.B. 27-Finikas,GR-55102 Thessaloniki,[email protected]. no.: HX-16-98-837-EN-CEN

This report aims to provide informationon the issues arising from and the prac-tice of funding vocational education andtraining (VET) on the basis of programmeoutcomes rather than enrolment/attend-ance (i.e. switching the emphasis of fund-ing from inputs to outputs). It outlinesthe policy issues which output-relatedfunding (ORF) generates as well as anumber of real-word examples of its usewithin and beyond the European Union(the Netherlands, the United Kingdom andthe United States of America). The objec-tive of this report, therefore, is to com-bine, within one document, discussionand evidence concerning ORF.


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Approaches and obstacles to the evalu-ation of investment in continuing vo-cational training: discussion and casestudies from six Member States of theEuropean Union.GRÜNEWALD U et al.European Centre for the Development ofVocational Training, CEDEFOPThessaloniki: CEDEFOP, 1998, 170 p.(Panorama, 78)CEDEFOPP.O.B. 27-Finikas,GR-55102 Thessaloniki,[email protected]

The way in which the evaluation of in-vestment in continuing vocational train-ing is undertaken within, between andacross enterprises is becoming an increas-ingly important topic in an era when un-der-investment on a macro-scale is per-ceived as hindering economic perform-ance. This report summarises and drawsconclusion on six case studies that wereundertaken on different aspects of thisissue, in Austria, Denmark, France, Ger-many, Ireland and Italy. The studies ex-amine a number of issues at the micro-,meso- and macro-levels including: theeffects of training on enterprise produc-tivity, some indications why enterpriseschoose to invest (or not) in training andsome of the obstacles which exist in evalu-ating their investment. This report con-cludes with a discussion from a methodo-logical and policy perspective on how toovercome a number of these difficultiesand how future work might proceed.

Conseil et orientation professionnelletout au long de la vie: éléments desynthèse des expériences menéesdans l’Union européenne.CHIOUSSE S;WERQUIN PEuropean Centre for the Development ofVocational Training, CEDEFOP; EuropeanFoundation for the Improvement of Work-ing and Living conditionsLuxembourg: EUR-OP , 1998, 83 p.(Panorama, 79)ISBN 92-828-4122-7, frCEDEFOPP.O.B. 27-Finikas,GR-55102 Thessaloniki,[email protected]. no.: HX-09-98-001-FR-C

This synthesis document is addressed toall decision-makers and actors and evenusers of guidance on occupational inte-gration and social integration in the broadsense. It gives a response, in part, to allthose who have questions on the conceptsof target groups and forms of action. Itclearly delineates the areas which areunequally explored and questions the ideathat occupational integration is the soleand unique goal. It is certainly a centralgoal but should not be taken as the soleobjective because of the risk of neverachieving it. This document lists a numberof intermediate solutions which have beenexperimented upon or simply advocatedin some cases. It follows the EuropeanUnion guidelines for promoting employ-ment. It tries to identify recurring elementsin the reference texts and also the majorlines of analysis and potential debates.The intention of arriving at concrete rec-ommendations is present throughout thetext.

AGORA-1: Raising the level of diplo-mas and their distribution on the la-bour market: the lessons of the pastand prospects for the future:Thessaloniki, 30 June 1997.PLANAS JEuropean Centre for the Development ofVocational Training, CEDEFOPThessaloniki: CEDEFOP, 1998, 41 p.(Panorama, 76)ISBN 92-828-4117-0, enCEDEFOPP.O.B. 27-Finikas,GR-55102 Thessaloniki,[email protected]. no.: HX-14-98-776-EN-CEN FR DE ES

This document is the outcome of the dis-cussions held during the first seminar ofthe CEDEFOP “Agora Thessaloniki” on thetopic diplomas and the labour market in6 countries: Germany, Spain, France, Italy,The Netherlands and the UK. It is dividedinto 5 parts: 1) diplomas and the labourmarket: results and questions stemmingfrom European research; 2) shift in skilldemand; 3) diplomas versus skills; 4) im-plications for the training strategy; and 5)results of the debate. It concludes that inspite of a general increase in the numberof diplomas awarded over the last fewdecades, their distribution inside the la-


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bour market has tended to be driven bywhat education systems have suppliedrather than by what companies have de-manded.

Co-operation in research on trends inthe development of occupations andqualifications in the European Union:report on the current state, results anddevelopment of the CEDEFOP Ciretoqnetwork.SELLIN BEuropean Centre for the Development ofVocational Training, CEDEFOPThessaloniki: CEDEFOP, 1998, 27 p.(Panorama, 74)CEDEFOPP.O.B. 27-Finikas,GR-55102 Thessaloniki,[email protected] FR DE

The construction and development of theCEDEFOP’s thematic network on “(Circlefor) Research Cooperation on Trends inOccupations and Qualifications”, forwhich the acronym Ciretoq is used, wasa pilot scheme to avoid the need to fos-ter and carry out a large number of indi-vidual projects, studies and analyses butat the same time continue working on coreissues of vocational education and train-ing in the European context. This interim(April 1997) brings together the most im-portant and provisional findings of thetwo years’ work done by the network sofar.

Integration of work and learning: pro-ceedings of the 2nd workshop on cur-riculum innovation (September 1997,Bled/Slovenia).European Training Foundation, ETFLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 192 p.ISBN 92-828-3440-9, enETFVilla Gualino,Viale Settimio Severo 65,I-10133 Torino,[email protected]. no.: AF-13-98-572-EN-CEN

This document brings together the paperspresented to the three-day workshop or-ganised by ETF on the integration of workand learning whose aim was to bring ex-

perts from the partner countries and theMember States together to discuss prob-lems and achievements in the fields ofqualification processes and curriculum de-velopment and their consequences for thepartner countries. Its main outcome wasthat 1) the institutional difference betweeneducation and occupation has to be re-duced; 2) companies have to focuses theirattention on restructuring working proc-esses and work places; and 3) the tradi-tional educational process of being taughtshould be turned upside down, in thesense that education should become alearner-determined process which couldbe well mediated through activities car-ried out in a context that makes sense tothe learner and what matters to him.URL: http://www.etf.eu.int//etfweb.nsf

Key indicators: vocational educationand training in Central and EasternEurope.European Training Foundation, ETFLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 88 p.ISBN 92-9157-162-8, enETF,Villa Gualino,Viale Settimio Severo 65,I-10133 Torino,[email protected]. no.: AF-12-98-085-EN-CEN

This report presents statistical informationon the vocational education and trainingsystems of 10 countries in Central andEastern Europe: Albania, the Czech Re-public, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithua-nia, Poland, Romania and Slovenia. Thereport is divided into two chapters: 1)educational attainment of the populationand its relation to unemployment and 2)vocational education and training (VET)in the education systems: participation ofyoung people in all education and VET;recent trends in all education and in VETat upper secondary level; drop-outs ratesat upper secondary level and public ex-penditure on all education and on VET.This report is intended to be publishedon an annual basis.URL: http://www.etf.eu.int/


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Combating age barriers in employ-ment: a European portfolio for goodpractice.WALKER A; TAYLOR P (eds.)European Foundation for the Improve-ment of Living and Working ConditionsLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 220 p.ISBN 92-828-0412-7, enEUR-OP,L-2985 Luxembourg,or from its national sales officesCat. no.: SX-05-97-454-EN-CEN

Member States and the European Unionare beginning to show evidence of somerethinking of existing trends towards earlyretirement and early exit form employ-ment. This report is based upon studiesacross the EU which aimed to documentand assess initiatives in both public andprivate sectors, to combat age barriers inemployment, particularly in recruitmentand training. This portfolio presents morethan 150 examples of good practice in agemanagement. Its primary intention is toinform and stimulate positive action foran ageing workforce by providing practi-cal examples of how different private andpublic organizations have sought to mini-mize the impact of age barriers in theworkplace.

Under one roof: The integration ofschools and communities services inOECD countries.Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development, OECDParis: OECD, 1998, 65 p.(Programme on Educational Building,PEB)ISBN 92-64-16110-4, enOECD Publications Service,2 rue Andre-Pascal,75775 Paris Cedex 16,FranceEN FR

Recent years have seen a number of ini-tiatives which seek to provide a range ofcommunity services on schools sites, in-cluding adult education and other socialand welfare services. These developmentsaim at co-ordinating more effectively serv-ices which are usually provided separatelywhile optimising the use of increasinglysophisticated and expensive educationalbuildings and equipment. This report

draws on the proceedings of a conferenceheld in Stockholm in 1996 and presentscase studies from Finland, Italy, Japan, theNetherlands, Quebec, Sweden and theUnited Kingdom.

Staying ahead: In-service training andteacher professional development.Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development, OECDParis: OECD, 1998, 176 p.ISBN 92-64-16076-0, enOECD,2 rue André-Pascal,F-75775 Paris Cedex 16,[email protected] FR

This report is about the ways in whichteachers in different countries developtheir knowledge, understanding, skills andtechniques during the course of their ca-reers. It looks in particular at how differ-ent types of teacher learning and devel-opment can make it possible for schoolsand education systems to improve andchange. Eight OECD countries are re-viewed: Germany, Ireland, Japan, Luxem-bourg, Sweden, Switzerland, the UnitedKingdom, and the United States.

Secondary education in Europe: prob-lems and prospects.Council of EuropeCouncil of Europe Publishing: Strasbourg,1997, 232 p.ISBN 92-871-3220-8, enCouncil of Europe Publishing,B.P. 431 R6,F-67006 Strasbourg Cedex,[email protected] FR

This publication brings together the con-clusions contained in the country reportsthat have been submitted in the frame-work of the general theme of the project“a secondary education for Europe”. Itcovers the themes and issues with whichsecondary education is confronted in dif-ferent degrees of depth and detail. Oneof its principal conclusions is that second-ary education is more central to the edu-cational system than ever before and thatit has never been more needed than now:in fact, it is for all adolescents an obliga-tory stage in their educational career, the


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one with the greatest consequences fortheir later life.

What secondary education for achanging Europe?: trends, challengesand prospects.LUISONI PCouncil of EuropeCouncil of Europe Publishing: Strasbourg,1997132 p.ISBN 92-871-3414-6, enCouncil of Europe Publishing,B.P. 431 R6,F-67006 Strasbourg Cedex,[email protected] FR

From 1991-96, the Council of Europe car-ried out an ambitious project called “asecondary education for Europe”. It hadtwo elements. The first was a review ofdevelopment, trends and innovations insecondary education in the countries tak-ing part in the Organisation’s educationprogramme. Special attention was paid to:the setting of aims and objectives; cur-riculum content and teaching methods;guidance and counselling; and assessmentand certification. The second element wasan analysis of the place of Europe in sec-ondary school curricula and in extra-cur-ricular activities. This is the report result-ing from the final conference which tookplace in Strasbourg from 2-5 December1996.

European Youth Trends 1998.Council of EuropeCouncil of Europe: Strasbourg,1997, 41 p.(CEJ/RECHERCHE (98)2, 97/3)Council of Europe Publishing,B.P. 431 R6,F-67006 Strasbourg CedexEN

This report by the National Youth Re-search Correspondents endeavors to out-line common trends in the socio-economicsituation of young people in Europe. Fo-cusing primarily on similarities amongEuropean countries, the report is meantto contribute to a better understanding ofthe general convergence of modern youthconditions in Europe and thus to theelaboration of policy guidelines.

The participation of young people.European Steering Committee for Inter-governmental Co-operation in the YouthField, CDEJ; Council of Europe - YouthDirectorateCouncil of Europe: Strasbourg,1997, 34 p.ISBN 92-871-3235-6, enCouncil of Europe,B.P. 431 R6,F-67006 Strasbourg Cedex,Fax: 33.03.8841-2780EN FR

In modern society, young people encoun-ter difficulties in finding a role. Youth isoften regarded as a problem rather thana resource for society. This report by theEuropean Steering Committee of Intergov-ernmental Co-operation in the field ofYouth proposes a series of recommenda-tions for the promotion of youth partici-pation especially at local level. It is di-vided into three parts: 1) description ofthe terms “participation” and “youth par-ticipation”; 2) recommendations at prac-tical level; and 3) observations.

Education for all?.UNICEF - International Child Develop-ment Centre, ICDCFlorence: UNICEF - ICDC, 1998, 135 p.(MONEE project regional monitoring re-port, 5)ISSN 1020-6728ISBN 88-85401-38-4UNICEF - ICDC,Piazza Santissima Annunziata 12,I-50122 Florence,Tel.: 39-55-234.5258,Fax: 39-55-2448.17,e-mail: [email protected]

Educational policy has been the subjectof intense debate in recent years through-out the world. In the case of the 27 coun-tries covered by this report, educationalpolicy faces twin challenges. First, is thechallenge to protect the positive educa-tional achievements of past decades andsecond, is the need to adopt new ap-proaches during the transformation of theeconomies and societies in the region ineducation and other areas of publicpolicy. This report on education in Cen-tral and Eastern Europe, the Common-wealth of Independent States, and the


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Baltic republics contributes to the workof UNICEF in promoting education as afundamental right for children.

Industrie und Dienstleistungen imZeitalter der Globalisierung.GRÖMLING M;LICHTBLAU K;WEBER AKöln: Deutscher Instituts-Verlag GmbH,1998, 462 p.ISBN [email protected]

The authors give an overview of the mostimportant developmental directions ofstructural change, considering German aswell as international perspectives. Theyfind that globalisation has not been ac-companied by a drastic loss of jobs, onthe contrary, since 1980, more than 75million jobs have been created in theOECD. The de-industrialisation theory inalso refuted, in reality the manufacturingsector in industrialised countries contrib-utes as much to their wealth today as itdid 25 years ago. Many services now placestronger demands on industry which hasresulted in the two sectors growing to-gether to the extent that they have be-come both inseparable and complemen-tary. Industrial countries outside Europe,particularly the USA, seem better preparedto meet the challenges of structuralchange.

Key qualifications in work and educa-tion.NIJHOF W;STREUMER JDordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers,1998, 274 p.ISBN 0-7923-4864-8Kluwer Academic Publisher,Postbus 17,3300 AA DordrechtEN

This publication deals with key qualifica-tions in work and education and consistsof three parts. Part 1 focuses on the con-cept of key qualifications and other con-cepts such as core skills, ‘competence andcompetency’ and generic skills. Part 2 dis-cusses the various qualification systemsand/or programmes employed in theUnited States of America, the United King-dom, the Netherlands and the FederalRepublic of Germany, respectively. Part

3 deals with key qualifications in researchand practice.

European Union: policies,programmes, participants

Report of the Business EnvironmentSimplification Task Force, BEST: vol-ume 1; volume 2.BEST task force; European CommissionLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 25 p. (v.1);73 p. (v.2)ISBN 92-828-3418-2 (v. 1), enISBN 92-828-3431-X (v. 2), enDG XXIII/A/1;Rue de la Loi 200,B-1049 Brussels,Belgium,Fax: +32 2 295 9784;[email protected]. no.: CT-79-98-002-EN-CEN FR DE IT NL DA

This BEST task force report contains rec-ommendations in order to improve thequality of legislation and eliminate theunnecessary burdens which restrain thedevelopment of European businesses,particularly SMEs. There are 5 areas di-vided into 19 key recommendations .These include: 1) better public adminis-tration; 2) new approaches in educationand training; 3) employment and work-ing conditions; 4) access to finance; and5) access to new technologies and encour-aging innovation. Volume 1 contains thedetailed recommendations and volume 2the additional recommendations made bythe working groups. BEST makes someimportant recommendations in relation toeducation and training and the need foran entrepreneurial culture to begin inschools and be carried through into highereducation and training systems.URL: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg23/smepol//best1en.pdf

Report of the high level panel on thefree movement of persons: chaired byMrs. Simone Veil: presented to theCommission on 18 March 1997.European CommissionLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 102 p.ISBN 92-828-0409-7, enEUR-OP,L-2985 Luxembourg,


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or from its national sales officesCat. no.: C1-05-97-349-EN-CEN FR DE

This panel’s report contains a series ofconcrete measures to ensure that morepeople can take advantage of their rightsto free movement within the EU. The mainconclusion is that, apart from a few ex-ceptions, the legislative framework toensure free movement of people is inplace, and that the majority of individualproblems can be solved without changesin legislation. However, particular empha-sis is put on the need for Member Statesto improve co-operation among them-selves, notably in border regions, to en-sure better training of officials and to de-vote more attention to the protection ofindividual rights. Chapter 5 looks specifi-cally at mobility in education, training andresearch.URL: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg15/en/index.htm

From guidelines to action: the na-tional action plans for employment:communication from the Commis-sion.European CommissionLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 14 p.(Documents COM, (98) 316)ISSN 0254-1475, enISBN 92-78-36319-7, enEUR-OP,L-2985 Luxembourg,or from its national sales officesCat. no.: CB-CO-98-325-EN-CEN FR DE DA ES EL FI IT NL PT SV

This communication examines what theMember States have committed them-selves to doing in their National ActionPlans (NAPs) and whether this is in linewith the content and objectives of the1998 Employment Guidelines adopted inDecember 1997 by the Council in theframework of the European EmploymentStrategy. It demonstrates that there is nowa shared commitment to making progresson employment and to a more transpar-ent and politically-driven implementationof the commonly agreed employmentpolicy objectives. In terms of content thefollowing positive elements can be dis-cerned: 1) political commitment to anactive employment policy; 2) recognitionof the need for a stronger local dimen-

sion in employment policy; 3) need todevelop and modernise the Public Em-ployment Service (PES); 4) recognition ofthe importance of improving knowledgeand skill levels, especially apprenticeshipand traineeship are seen as playing amajor role; and 5) the enhanced involve-ment of the social partners.URL: http://europa.eu.int/ /comm/dg05/empl&esf/naps/naps.htm

Developing a European service in fa-vour of mobility and employment:report on Eures activities 1996-97 inaccordance with Regulation (EEC) no.1612/68, Article 19(3) (presented bythe Commission).European CommissionLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 22 p.(Documents COM, (98) 413 final)ISSN 0254-1475, enISBN 92-78-37591-8, enEUR-OP,L-2985 Luxembourg,or from its national sales officesCat. no.: CB-CO-98-424-EN-CEN FR DE DA ES EL FI IT NL PT SV

EURES is a European labour market net-work aiming at facilitating the mobilityof workers in the European EconomicArea in the context of the emerging Eu-ropean employment strategy. This reportdescribes the EURES network and assessesmajor developments and achievementsduring 1996-97, but also aims to look atsome of the challenges EURES will facein the years ahead.http://europa.eu.int/jobs/eures

Tableau de bord 1997: follow-up to theconclusions of the Essen EuropeanCouncil on employment policies.European Commission - DG VLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 231 p.(Employment and labour market)ISBN 92-828-1893-4, enIAS,Institute for Applied Socio-Economics,Novalisstr. 10,D-10115 Berlin,Fax: 49-30-282.6378,[email protected] FR DE

This is the 1997 version of the Tableaude bord (synoptic table) which was first


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published in 1994. Its purpose is topresent an overview of the principal em-ployment policies and labour marketmeasures taken by each Member State. Itis an instrument to assess progress to-wards structural reform of the labourmarkets, in the framework of the follow-up to the Essen Council decision of De-cember 1994. The thematic organisationis as follows: 1) vocational training: im-proving education and training systems,promotion of life-long learning, adaptingto change, and recent measures; 2) in-creasing the employment-intensiveness ofgrowth: more flexible organisation ofwork, income policies, promotion of ini-tiatives, recent measures; 3) reduction ofnon-wage labour costs; 4) improving theeffectiveness of the labour market policyand 5) improving measures to help groupswhich are particularly hard hit by unem-ployment.

Dissemination and commercialisationof training products: guidelines forpromoters of training projects.European Commission - DG XXIILuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 37 p.ISBN 92-828-2375-X, enDG XXII B7-0/31European Commission,Rue de la Loi 200,B-1049 Brussels,Fax: 32-2-296.4259EN

Since the Leonardo da Vinci action pro-gramme for vocational training began,dissemination has become an increasinglyimportant topic. Its importance is recog-nised in various Commission documentssuch as the Vademecum and the anno-tated application forms. These guidelinesare intended to give project promoters,past, present and future, a clear idea ofwhy dissemination is important, what itentails, how it can be done, when to planand implement it and who to target andapproach for help.

Analysis of the results of studies onvocational training in Europe: Find-ings of the COMMETT, EUROTECNET,FORCE, LINGUA and PETRA pro-grammes.European Commission - DG XXIILuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1998, 69 p.

ISBN 92-828-2600-7, enDG XXII B7-0/31European Commission,Rue de la Loi 200,B-1049 Brussels,Fax: 32-2-296.4259Cat. no.: C2-11-97-568-EN-CEN

This publication provides an overview ofthe results of all the studies undertakenduring the former programmes. It treatseach of the former programmes undersimilar headings. The first part of eachsection, dealing with one of the fiveformer programmes, presents an analysisof the results of studies in relation to theobjectives laid down in the respectiveCouncil Decisions, while the second partexplores the relevance of the findings toother key vocational training policies ofthe European Commission, includingthose outlined in the White Paper: ‘teach-ing and learning - towards the learningsociety’. This is the companion volumeto “Leonardo da Vinci - studies on voca-tional training in Europe”.

Strategies for achieving parity of es-teem in European upper secondaryeducation.LASONEN J;YOUNG M (ed.)European CommissionJyväskylä: Institute for EducationalResearch, Jyuväskylä University,1998, 290 p.ISBN 951-39-0108-4Institute for Educational Research,University of Jyväskylä,POB 35, FIN-40351 Jyväskylä,FinlandEN

The report considers reforms of Europeanpost-16 education and systems of voca-tional education and training and theirresponse to the challenge of promotingparity of esteem between initial vocationaleducation and general/academic educa-tion. Its conclusions have been drawnfrom the case studies of Austria, England,Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Scot-land and Sweden. This volume is the fi-nal report of the Post-16 Strategies Project.The two-year project was carried out withthe financial support of the Commissionof the European Communities under theLeonardo da Vinci Programme.


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New ways of accrediting the skills andcompetences acquired through infor-mal learning.LEONARDO DA VINCI National Co-ordi-nation UnitDublin: LEONARDO NCU, 1998, 26 p.NCU LEONARDO,189-193 Parnell Street,IRL-Dublin 1.EN

The seminar which was organised by theIrish NCU in partnership with its counter-parts in Denmark, France and the UK, andDG XX11 of the European Commissionattracted participants from all over the EU.It was one in a series of 8 being held onthe experiences and learning which havetaken place under the LEONARDO pro-gramme. The themes of this seminar werethe identification of the kinds of informallearning that need to be accredited; themethodology for assessing and accredit-ing informal learning; the acceptance ofand placing value on, informal learning;the issues of transfer at European level ofassessing and accrediting informal learn-ing. The Seminar pooled and disseminatedbest practice from the different experienceof people associated with the LEONARDODA VINCI programme, from training andeducation institutions, national accredita-tion authorities, large enterprises, SMEs,

sectoral associations, social partners andtrading partners.

Current situation regarding vocationaltraining in Latin America and the Car-ibbean.European Commission - DG XXIILuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1997, 78 p.(Studies, 9)ISBN 92-827-4569-4, enEUR-OP, L-2985 Luxembourg,or from its national sales officesCat. no.: C2-98-96-970-EN-CEN ES

This report aims to provide a better un-derstanding of the role of vocational train-ing in Latin America. It is divided into twoparts. Part 1 presents general ideas andtrends regarding the current situation ofthe main vocational training systems inLatin America; identifies the roles of pub-lic and private sector; current constraintsfacing vocational training; the role of in-house companies and private training;non-governmental organisations; currentparticipation in EU programmes and con-straints, problems and positive effects ofinternational assistance. Part 2 presentsthe regional reports for the following re-gions: Andean Pact, the Caribbean, Cen-tral America, Mercosur Chile and Mexico.

Bildungswege: von derSchule zur Weiterbildung.

LENZ WWien: Studienverlag Wien-Innsbruck,1998, 368 p.ISBN 3-7065-1262-9Studienverlag Wien-Innsbruck,Postfach 104,A-6010 InnsbruckDE

This book is a scientific work which dealswith current issues in education. This tran-spires from the standpoint of pedagog-ics, pedagogical psychology social peda-gogics as well as in systematic aspects.Moreover, issues in continuing educationare discussed in detail. As a result, this

volume provides interesting insight intoresearch in education for both educatorsand students of education, as well as sci-entists and practitioners.

Technisch-organisatorischeInnovation und Qualifkation.

ZAREMBA J H (eds.)Bundesinstitut für BerufsbildungBielefeld: W. Bertelsmann Verlag,1998, 250 p.ISBN 3-7639-0823-46, deWl Bertelsmann Verlag,Auf dem Esch 4,33619 Bielefeld,Fas: 05-21-911.0179,[email protected]

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This volume of collected articles givesinformation on the results of the coop-eration between Bremen/Lower Saxonyand Portugal. Experts from science andindustry present articles on vocational-training-related issues arising in CIM in-tegration and CNC-assisted manufacturein combination with “lean” productionconcepts, and on holistic strategies for thedevelopment of qualifications. The au-thors also discuss programmatic ap-proaches in initial and continuing train-ing and new qualification fields, and ex-amine questions inherent in teaching con-cepts. The volume closes with contribu-tions on work in the European pro-grammes and Community initiatives, andgeneral conclusions for the design oftransnational projects. The publicationdocuments the proceedings of the Euro-pean Technical Conference on “Network-ing and Qualification” in Bremen.

De tekniske skolersvidunderlige verden:

samarbejder om efteruddannelse.Teknisk SkoleforeningOdense: Teknisk Skoleforening,1998, 30 p.ISBN 87-7881-059-0Erhvervsskolernes Forlag,Munkehatten 28DK-5220 Odense SØDA

As a response to a proposal from theDanish Ministry of Education, the Asso-ciation of Technical Colleges has pub-lished this report on current co-operationinitiatives among vocational schools inDenmark. The Danish Ministry has pro-posed to establish new legal entitieswhose tasks would be to inform the in-dustry and the adult population aboutadult education and continuing vocationaltraining. Furthermore, these entitiesshould be responsible for the develop-ment of local school co-operation andother tasks hitherto handled by vocationalschools and local organisations. The As-sociation of Technical Colleges fears thatthese new entities would only result inmore bureaucracy. Instead, the Associa-tion calls on vocational schools to enterinto co-operation with other schools vol-untarily. In the publication, successful co-operation initiatives between vocationalschools and other organisations are de-

scribed. Co-operation is shown to takeplace within many different fields: in re-lation to the private business sector, theparticipants in continuing training, sub-jects, regional counselling, etc. The aimof the publication is to inspire vocationalschools in their efforts to co-operatewithin the field of adult education andcontinuing vocational training.

Titres et diplômeshomologués.

Commission technique d’homologation;Centre INFFOParis La Defense: Centre INFFO,1998, 427 p.ISSN 0769-0142, frISBN 2-911577-29-9, frCentre INFFO,Tour Europe cedex 07,F-92049 Paris-la-Defense

This directory contains all formally ap-proved titles and diplomas from therecapitulative Official Journal of 21 Au-gust 1980 to the Official Journal of 18 April1998. It consists of three sections andsome annexes. The first documentary partpresents the formal approval process(definition, key features and procedures)and reference texts. The second part liststhe 4,152 titles and diplomas which havebeen formally approved since 1981. Thethird, analytical, part enables a rapid andeffective search by means of indexes: in-dex of training fields, index of levels andindex of training establishments.

Repenser l’économie du travail. Del’effet d’entreprise à l’effet sociétal.GAZIER B et al.Toulouse: Octares, 1998, 195 p.

This tribute to Jean-Jacques Sylvestre, aneconomist who passed away in 1995, isa good opportunity for reviewing the de-velopment of labour economics. In the1970s the comparisons carried out in theLaboratory for Labour Economics andSociology (LEST) between French andGerman enterprises showed that the so-cial construction of categories of Frenchand German workers, based on theirtraining modes, led to different patternsof behaviour in work, cooperation andmobility, to which the enterprises re-sponded with variations in work or-

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ganisation and remuneration. This find-ing initiated a research project on whathas been termed “the societal effect” con-ducted jointly by a sociologist and aneconomist, M. Maurice and F. Sellier. Thetexts published in this work on themesdealing with the determination of salarystructures, the theory of human capitaland management issues in periods ofcrisis, are an illustration of the numer-ous contributions made by Sylvestre tothe revival of labour economics. Theapproach which he developed on thebasis of societal analysis, is a significantcontribution to the theory of relationsbetween the enterprise and society andopens new paths of research.

La formazione professionalecofinanziata dal Fondo sociale

europeo nelle aree obiettivo 1.BULGARELLI AOsservatorio Isfol (Rome) 1,1998, p. 180-220ISSN 0391-3775Isfol,Via G. B. Morgagni 33,I-00161 RomaIT

The ‘human-resource development’ strat-egies defined in the Community SupportFramework (CSF) are highly innovativecompared to Italy’s traditional vocationaltraining system. In particular, the follow-ing have been envisaged: for the first timeever in public policies, continuous voca-tional training for the employed; the in-sertion of human-resource developmentin sectoral and enterprise-creation poli-cies, actions addressing long-term unem-ployment, vulnerable segments and equalopportunities between women and men.These diversification strategies are sup-ported by technical-assistance and train-ing actions targeting programming unitsand Operational Programmes (OP) man-agement, as well as implementing organi-sations.

Onderwijsonderzoek inNederland en Vlaanderen

1998: proceedings van de OnderwijsResearch Dagen 1998 te Enschede.PIETERS J et al. (eds.)Enschede: Twente University Press,1998, 304 p.

ISBN 90-36511-38-0NL

The various presentations given duringthe Education Research Days [ORD] inEnschede have been collected in this pub-lication. The following subjects were ad-dressed: curriculum; teaching and instruc-tion; education and society; methodologyand evaluation; teacher training andteacher behavior; vocational, commercialand adult education; higher education;policy and organisation in education; tele-learning.

Internationaliseringin regionale opleidingen centra:van de rand naar de hoed.VAN DER VEUR DMax Goote Kenniscentrum voor Beroeps-onderwijs en Volwasseneneducatie, MGKBVEAmsterdam: MGK BVE, 1997, 92 p.ISBN 90-75743-16-5MGK BVE,Wibautstraat 4,1091 GM AmsterdamNL

This report sheds light on the studyaimed at implementation of governmentpolicy on internationalisation in voca-tional training and adult education. Theobjective of the study is to investigatewhether - and if so, how - the govern-ment’s increasing interest in internation-alisation in the vocational training andadult education [BVE] sector influencesthe concrete (structural) internationali-sation activities at the level of the Re-gional Training Centres [ROCs].

Sistema de acreditaçäo deentidades formadoras.

CARDIM MMinistério do Trabalho e da Solidariedade,MTSLisbon: MTS, 1998, CICTSociedade e Trabalho (Lisbon) 2,1998, p. 32-43ISSN 0873-8858Centro de Informaçäo Científica eTécnica,Praça de Londres 2-s/l,P-1901 Lisbon CodexPT

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The improvement in the quality of thetraining supply and the judicious use ofthe Community and National funds for thefinancing of the vocational training madeit necessary to institutionalise a traininginstitutions accreditation system. This sys-tem was also to contribute to structuringthe vocational training system, to the cred-ibility of the training supply, and to theprofitability of the training domain. Thesystem’s conception and development wasbased on the idea that training is not anend in itself, rather a means or a strategicalliance aimed at the protection of broaderobjectives. As such, the development ofthe system encompasses all the phasesranging from the needs diagnosis to theevaluation. In accordance, to the conceptof quality of training others surmount; rel-evance of training objectives, appropri-ateness of resources and usefulness of theresults. In this sense, the evaluation ofthe training institutions requires theknowledge of their core business.

Koulutusalansanasto.

Opetushallitus, OphHelsinki: Opetushalitus, 1998, 379 p.ISBN 952-13-0200-3National Board of Education/ Sales,PL 380,00531 Helsinki,FinlandFI

The glossary seeks to increase consistencyin the use of educational vocabulary. Itcontains the most essential terms in Finn-ish, Swedish, English, French, German andRussian. It has over 3,000 search terms.At the end there is a list of educationalsectors and fields of study in different lan-guages.

IVETA ’97 Conference proceedings:the challenges of the 21st century forvocational education and training.LASONEN J (ed.)Institute for Educational ResearchJyväskylä: Institute for Educational Re-search, Jyväskylä University, 1997, 466 p.ISBN 951-39-0035-5Institute for Educational Research,Jyväskylä University,POB 35, FIN-40351 Jyväskylä, FinlandEN

The report contains the papers presentedat the IVETA (International VocationalEducation and Training Association 97conference in Helsinki, Finland. The pa-pers are grouped under four headings: 1)the challenges of the 21st century for vo-cational education and training from glo-bal, national and regional perspectives;2) interrelationships between the role andresponsibilities of working life and voca-tional education and training; 3) oppor-tunities to enrich vocational education andskills training through applications of thephilosophy and methods of adult educa-tion; 4) implementing national standardsand qualifications: implications for the in-ternational labour market.

Education and Trainingin the European Union.

MOSCHONAS AAldershot: Ashgate Publishing Ltd,1998, 158 p.ISBN 1-84014-067-4EN

An examination of the EU’s initiatives andactions on education and vocational train-ing. It has a number of tables as an ap-pendix and includes an assessment of thedeficiencies and contradictions in EU ac-tivities.

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Members of CEDEFOP’s documentary network

BFOREM (Office communautaire etrégional de la formation profession-nelle et de l’emploi)CIDOC (Centre intercommunautairede documentation pour la formationprofessionnelle)Bd. Tirou 104B-6000 CharleroiTel.: +32.71.20 61 74 (Secretary)

+32.71.20 61 73 (S.Dieu)Fax: +32.71.20 61 98Ms. Sigrid Dieu(Chef de Projets)Email: sigrid.dieu@ forem.beMme Isabelle Hupet(Secrétaire assistante)Email: [email protected] Site: http://www.forem.be

VDAB (Vlaamse Dienst voorArbeidsbemiddeling enBeroepsopleiding)ICODOC (Intercommunautairdocumentatie-centrum voorberoepsopleiding)Keizerlaan 11B-1000 BrusselsTel.: +32.2.506 04 58-459Fax: +32.2.506 04 28Mr. Philippe De Smet(Literature researcher)Email: [email protected]. Reinald van Weydeveldt(Documentation)Email: [email protected] Site: http://www.vdab.be

DKDEL - Danmarks Erhvervs-paedagogiske Laereruddannelse(The National Institute forEducational Training of VocationalTeachers)Rigensgade 13DK-1316 København KTel.: +45.33.14 41 14 ext. 317/301Fax: +45.33.14 19 15/14 42 14Ms. Pia Cort (Research assistant)Email: [email protected]. Merete Heins (Librarian)Email: [email protected]

DBIBB (Bundesinstitut fürBerufsbildung)Referat K4Fehrbelliner Platz 3D - 10707 BerlinTel.: +49.30.8643-2230 (BC)

+49.30.8643-2445 (SB)Fax: +49.30.8643-2607Dr. Bernd ChristopherEmail: [email protected]. Steffi BliedungEmail:[email protected] Site: http://www.bibb.de

GROEEK (Organization for VocationalEducation and Training)1, Ilioupoleos Street17236 YmittosGR-AthensTel.: +30.1.976 44.64

+30 1.976 44 84 (E. Barkaba)Fax: +30.1.976 44.64

+30 1.976 44 84 (E. Barkaba)Mr. Loukas Zahilas (Director)Email:[email protected]. Ermioni Barkaba(Head of Documentation)WWW Site: http://www.forthnet.gr/oeek/

EINEM (Instituto Nacional de Empleo)Ministerio de Trabajo y SeguridadSocialCondesa de Venadito, 9E-28027 MADRIDTel.: +34.91.585 95 82

+34.91.585 95 80(M. Las Cuevas)

Fax: +34.91.377 58 81/377 58 87Mr. Juan Cano Capdevila(Deputy Director)Ms. Maria Luz de las Cuevas(Info/Doc)Email: [email protected] Site: http://www.inem.es

FINNBE (National Board of Education)Hakaniemenkatu 2P.O.Box 380FIN-00531 HelsinkiTel.: +358.9.77 47 78 19 (L. Walls)

+358.9.77 47 72 43 (A. Mannila)+358.9.77 47 71 24 (M. Kyro)

Fax: +358.9.77 4778 65Mr. Matti KyroEmail [email protected]. Liisa HughesEmail: [email protected]. Arja MannilaEmail: [email protected] Site: http://www.oph.fi

FCentre INFFO (Centre pour le dé-veloppement de l’information sur laformation permanente)Tour Europe Cedex 07F-92049 PARIS la DéfenseTel.: +33.1.41 25 22 22Fax: +33.1.47 73 74 20Mr. Patrick Kessel (Director)Email: [email protected]. Stéphane Héroult(Documentation department)Ms. Danièle Joulieu(Head of Documentation)Email: [email protected] site: http://www.centre-inffo.fr

IRLFAS (The Training and EmploymentAuthority)P.O. Box 45627-33, Upper Baggot StreetIRL-Dublin 4Tel.: +353.1.607 05 36Fax: +353.1.607 06 34Ms. Margaret Carey (Head of Library& Technical Information)Email: [email protected]. Jean Wrigley (Librarian)WWW Site: http://www.fas.ie

IISFOL (Istituto per lo sviluppo dellaformazione professionale deilavoratori)Via Morgagni 33I-00161 RomaTel.: +39.06.44 59 01Fax: +39.06.44 29 18 71Mr. Alfredo Tamborlini(General director)Mr. Colombo Conti(Head of Documentation)Mr. Luciano LibertiniEmail: [email protected] (Library)WWW Site: http://www.isfol.it/

LChambre des métiers du Grand-Du-ché de Luxembourg2, Circuit de la Foire internationaleB.P. 1604 (Kirchberg)L-1016 LuxembourgTel.: +352.42 67 671Fax: +352.42 67 87Mr. Ted MathgenEmail: [email protected]

NLCINOP (Centrum voor Innovatie vanOpleidingen) (Centre for Innovationof Education and Training)Pettelaarpark 1Postbus 1585NL-5200 BP’s-HertogenboschTel.: +31.73.680 08 00

+31.73.680 07 29 (M. Nieskens)+31.73.680.07.81 (E. van Hooft)

Fax: +31 73 612 34 25Ms. Marian NieskensEmail: [email protected]. Emilie van HooftEmail: [email protected] Site: http://www.cinop.nl


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Associated organizations

UKIPD (Institute of Personnel andDevelopment)IPD House35 Camp RoadUK-London SW19 4UXTel: +44.181.971 90 00

(Doug Gummery)Fax: +44.181.263 33 33 / 34 00

(library)Mr. Doug GummeryEmail: [email protected]. Cathy Doyle (Librarian)WWW Site: http://www.ipd.co.uk

ICERLO (Research Liaison Office)University of IcelandTechnology CourtDunhaga 5ISL-107 ReykjavikTel.: +354.525 49 00Fax: +354.525 49 05Dr. Gudmundur ÁrnasonEmail: [email protected] Site: http://www.rthj.hi.is/

NNCU Leonardo NorgeP.O. Box 2608 St. HanshaugenN-0131 OsloTel.: +47.22 86 50 00Fax: +47.22 20 18 01Mr. Halfdan FarstadEmail: [email protected]. Grethe KjelldahlEmail: [email protected] Site: http://www.teknologisk.no/leonardo/

Aabf-Austria (ArbeitsgemeinschaftBerufsbildungsforschung)Rainergasse 38AT - 1050 WienTel.: +43.1.545 16 71-31Fax: +43.1.545 16 71-22Ms. Susanne KlimmerEmail: [email protected] Site: http://www.ibw.atMs. Marlis Milanovich (IBE)Email: [email protected] Site: http://www.ibe.co.at

PCICT (Centro de InformaçãoCientífica e Técnica)Ministério do Trabalho e daSolidariedadePraça de Londres, 2 - 1° andarP-1091 Lisboa CodexTel.: +351.1.844 12 18 (OS)

+351.1.844 12 19 (FH)Fax: +351.1.840 61 71Ms. Odete Lopes dos Santos(Director)Ms. Fátima Hora(Documentation Department)Email: [email protected] Site: http://www.min-qemp.pt/cict/cict.html

SSEP (Svenska EU ProgramkontoretUtbildning och kompetensutveck-ling)(The Swedish EU Programme Officefor Education, Training andCompetence Development)Box 7785S - 10396 StockholmTel.: +46.8.453 72 00 (617.03.21)Fax: +46.8.453 72 01Mr. Fredrik GunnarssonEmail: [email protected] Site: http://www.eupro.seMs. Gunilla SpensEmail: [email protected](Arbetslivsinstitutet)WWW Site: http://www.niwl.se

EUEuropean CommissionDirectorate-General XXII/B/3(Education, Training, Youth)B 7, 04/67Rue de la Loi, 200B-1049 BrusselsTel.: +32.2.296 24 21/295.75.62Fax: +32.2.295 57 23Ms. Eleni SpachisMs. Dominique MarchalantWWW Site: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg22/dg22.htmlEmail:[email protected]: [email protected]

BEURYDICE (The Education Informa-tion network in Europe, Le réseaud’information sur l’éducation en Eu-rope)15, rue d’ArlonB - 1050 BrusselsTel.: +32.2.238 30 11Fax: +32.2.230 65 62Ms. Patricia Wastiau-Schlüter(Director)Email:[email protected] Site: http://www.eurydice.org

CHILO (International Labour Office)BIT (Bureau International du Tra-vail)4, route des MorillonsCH - 1211 GENEVE 22Tel.: +41.22.799 69 55Fax: +41.22.799 76 50Ms. Pierrette Dunand (Employment& Training DepartmentDocumentalist)Email: [email protected] Site: http://www.ilo.org

IETF (European Training Foundation)Villa GualinoViale Settimio Severo 65I - 10133 TorinoTel.: +39.11.630 22 22Fax: +39.11.630 22 00Ms. Catherine Cieczko(Information Officer)Email: [email protected] Site: http://www.etf.eu.int/etfweb.nsf/

ICentre international de formation del’OIT125, Corso Unità d’ItaliaI - 10127 TorinoTel.: +39.11.693 65 10Fax: +39.11.693 63 51Ms. Krouch (Documentation)Email: [email protected] Site: http://www.itcilo.org

UKDepartment for Education andEmploymentRoom E3MoorfootUK - SHEFFIELD S1 4PQTel.: +44.114.259 33 39Fax: +44.114.259 35 64Ms. Julia Reid (Librarian)Email: [email protected] Site: http://www.open.gov.uk/index/../dfee/dfeehome.htm

UruguayCINTERFOR/OITCentro Interamericano deInvestigacióny Documentación sobre FormaciónProfesionalAvenida Uruguay 1238Casilla de correo 1761Uruguay - 11000 MONTEVIDEOTel.: +598.2.920557-920063-986023Fax: +598.2.921305Mr. Pedro Daniel Weinberg(Director)Ms. Martha Piaggio(Head of Documentation)Email: [email protected]: http://www.cinterfor.org.uy


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Issues recently

published in

English

No. 12/97 What do we know? Measuring knowledge, skills and competencesin the labour market

Recruitment, career paths and the allocation of human capital

• Labour market trends and information needs: their impact on personnel policies(Carmen Alpin; J.R. Shackleton)

• Recruiting in a European Company (Gunnar Eliasson; Kurt Vikersjö)

The role of formal qualifications and certificates

• Certificates, skills and job markets in Europe (Louis Mallet et al.)• The evolution of systems of validation and certification. What are the possible models

and what are the issues for France? (Vincent Merle)• Spanish companies and the new vocational training system (Valeriano Muñoz)

Learning outside the formal learning system

• Assessment of non-formal learning: the quality and limitations of methodologies (JensBjørnåvold)

• A question of faith? Methodologies and systems for assessing non-formal learningrequire a legitimate basis (Jens Bjørnåvold)

Support for and action by the individual

• Individual and company information and counselling requirements: New challenges forvocational guidance (Karen Schober)

• Self-directed learning in the world of work (Gerald A. Straka)

No 13/98 Berufliche Bildung – wer zahlt? Verschiedene Ansätze in Fragender Berufsbildungsfinanzierung

Berufsbildungsfinanzierung: Verfahrensfragen

• Der Zusammenhang zwischen allgemeiner Bildung, Berufsbildung und Wirtschaft(Christoph F. Buechtemann; Dana J. Soloff)

• Probleme bei der Finanzierung beruflicher Bildung in der EU (Gregory Wurzburg)

Verschiedene Ansätze in Fragen der Berufsbildungsfinanzierung

• Abgaben, Bildungsurlaub und tarifvertragliche Anreize für individuelle und betrieblicheInvestitionen in Aus- und Weiterbildungsmaßnahmen (Vladimir Gasskov)

• Die Einführung marktwirtschaftlicher Prinzipien in das Berufsbildungssystem vonEngland und Wales (Anne West; Hazel Pennell; Ann Edge)

• Unterschiedliche staatliche Vorgehensweisen auf dem Gebiet der beruflichenFortbildung (Yrjö Venna)

• Finanzierungsalternativen für die Berufsbildung am Beispiel der aufstrebenden LänderLateinamerikas (David Atchoarena)

Unternehmen und Berufsbildungsfinanzierung

• Investitionen in berufliche Weiterbildung durch Unternehmen (Norman Davis)

Einige Aspekte der Debatte: Ost und West

• Finanzierung der beruflichen Bildung in Rußland: Probleme und Perspektiven(Ivo Gijsberts)

• Interview zur Finanzierung der Berufsausbildung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland(Regina Görner; Jobst R. Hagedorn)


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Please send me a copy free of charge

Yes, I want to read European and would like to subscribe to the European Journal “Vocational Training” for at least one year (3 issues, ECU 15 plus VAT and postage)

Please send me the following issues of the European Journal “Vocational Training” at a cost of ECU 7 per issue (plus VAT and postage)

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Please cut out or copy the order form and send it in a window envelope to CEDEFOP

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No 14/98 What’s it worth? The problems of measuring the benefits ofinvestment in human resources

Returns on investment: who pays? who benefits?

• Funding lifelong learning: key issues (Jittie Brandsma)• Investment in human resources - a dilemma? (Alexander Kohler)

Benefits to enterprises and to individuals

• Towards a rate of return on training: assessing the research on the benefits of employer-provided training (Alan Barrett; Ben Hövels)

• Remuneration of continuing vocational training and skill-building under the German andFrench education systems (Pierre Béret; Arnaud Dupray)

Human resource accounting and reporting

• The answer is blowing in the wind. Investment in training from a Human ResourceAccounting perspective (Ulf Johanson)

• Treating capital investment and investment in training on an equal basis(Isabelle Guerrero)

Measuring training activity

• Interpreting training statistics in Europe: Issuing a health warning(Alan Felstead; Francis Green; Ken Mayhew)

No 16/98 Job security and changing work organisation - new training needs Issues soon to be

published in

English


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Invitation to contribute anarticle to the European Journalfor Vocational TrainingThe Editorial Committee of the European Journal wishes to encourage articles fromauthors looking to stimulate critical debate about vocational education and trainingamongst and between policy-makers, researchers and practitioners in Europe.

The Journal is published by CEDEFOP (the European Centre for the Development ofVocational Training) three times a year in English, French, German and Spanish, andenjoys a wide circulation throughout Europe, both within the Member States of theEuropean Union and beyond. The Journal plays an important role in the dissemina-tion of information about and the exchange of experience of developments in voca-tional education and training policy and practice, and brings a European perspectiveto the debate.

In its forthcoming issues the Journal will examine the following subjects:

❏ Innovation in vocational education and trainingNo. 17/99 (May - Sept 1999)

Should you wish to write an article on any aspect of the above subjects, either in apersonal capacity, or as the representative of an organisation, please contact:

Steve Bainbridge,Editor, European Journal for Vocational Training,CEDEFOP,PO Box 27, Finikas,GR -55 102, Thessaloniki (Thermi), Greece.Telephone + 30 31 490 111,Fax + 30 31 490 174,E-mail: [email protected]

Articles should be sent in hard copy and on a diskette formatted for Word orWordPerfect, or as a Word or WordPerfect attachment by e-mail, along with briefbiographical details of the author, outlining the current position held and with whichorganisation. Articles should be 5 to 10 pages in length, 30 lines per page, 60 charac-ters per line. They can be written in Spanish, Danish, German, Greek, English, French,Italian, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Finnish or Swedish.

All articles submitted will be examined by the Editorial Committee which reservesthe right to decide on publication. Authors will be informed of its decision.

The articles published in the Journal do not have to necessarily reflect the position ofCEDEFOP. Rather, the Journal provides the opportunity to present different analysesand various, and even, contradictory points of view.

CEDEFOP

VOCAT IONAL TRA IN INGNo. 14 May – August 1998/II

ISSN 0378-5068

E U R O P E A N J O U R N A L

What’s it worth?The problems of measuringthe benefits of investmentin human resources

Self-assessmentA royal road to quality assurance for continuingtraining? Thomas Stahl

Case studies

Accreditation of training organisationsOrigin, objectives and methodology of thePortuguese accreditation system Carlos Capela

Quality assurance in continuing vocationaltraining for small and medium-sized enterprisesin the German craft sector - the training activitiesof the Central Office for Continuing Trainingin the Crafts Sector (ZWH)

Klaus Jenewein, Beate Kramer

Creation of an external quality assurance systemfor higher education - the example of Poland

Maria Wójcicka

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En

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VE

T Evaluating the evaluations

Public quality control of vocational training inGermany, France and the United Kingdom

Richard Koch, Jochen Reuling

Evaluation of quality aspects in vocational train-ing programmes. Results of a meta-analysis infive European countries Erwin Seyfried

Application of ISO 9000 standards to educationand training Wouter Van den Berghe

Ensuring training quality at the workplace

In-company continuing training:Trends in European enterprises Thomas Stahl

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