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National qualification frameworks

National qualifications frameworks (NQFs) are meant to act as a translation device to make national qualifications more readable across countries, promoting workers’ and learners' mobility. Developing NQFs has become an important field of development cooperation. However, different actors contest on pros and cons of NQFs and strongly disagree in their appraisal. 

NQFs shall facilitate competency orientation in education and training, lifelong learning and mutual recognition of competency
levels in the framework of labour migration. National governments and donor organisations have dominated the development of NQFs so far. This bears the risk of creating artificial and academic competency profiles in VSD, detached from the world of work. Participatory approaches incorporating organisations of the world of work are more promising in terms of producing NQFs relevant to the labour market needs that foster employability.


Consider the introduction texts from Markus Maurer and SDCs NVQF tool (2016) for a start on the topic (see working aid below). 
Working Aids
SDC [701 kB]

This VSD Project Typology tool aims to help SDC operations to clearly define the approach and orientation of their VSD interventions, to select the right partners, and thus to manage their Project (Portfolio) in line with the relevant SDC strategies, the policy goals of partner countries, and professional standards. The paper also supports the formulation of realistic and plausible expectations predominantly regarding the outcomes and Impact of VSD projects across time. 

The Typology Tool includes the ADD-ONs on Private Sector Development (PSD), Private Sector Engagement (PSE), Governance and Dual TVET
SDC [453 kB]

This short tool was developed to help SDC practitioners and SDC partners in dealing with national (vocational) qualifications frameworks, a mega-trend spreading around the world. It is a small first-aid kit, not a comprehensive presentation and analysis of the topic. It puts together the basic ideas of NQFs, provides you with key analytical questions to be asked and key features to be supported, identifies typical vested interests, weaknesses and pitfalls of NQFs, suggests strategies to follow when engaged in concrete situations, and provides ideas on further reading.
[496 kB]

Today, National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) are in the process of being developed and implemented the world over. The issue of formal skill specification and standardisation has been important for a long time for stakeholders in vocational and technical education and training (TVET) systems. In the context of accelerated economic globalisation and increasing international migration, skill standardisation has become one of the key domains of current reforms in the field of vocational skills development (VSD), many of which have also been formulated in order to promote lifelong learning and to thus facilitate the transition towards what has been called the knowledge society.

Featured Items

Chair of Education Systems at D-MTEC ETH Zurich [1.6 MB]

In many countries, academic education and vocational training pathways evolve in silos. Consequences: academic and general education pathways are the only option to “climb the ladder” within the system; vocational and technical education and training are limited and devalued; non formal and informal learning are not recognised; the education system lacks inclusivity and faces difficulties to respond to the needs of the labour market.

This report examines the various permeability models and ways on how to increase the “permeability” of education and training systems by building more bridges and ladder at the different levels with case examples from Nepal, Serbia and Benin. 
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Key Videos

Learning Journey Interlinking Basic Education and VSD, Permeability (2023) SDC

Key Documents

Cedefop

The sixth Cedefop national qualifications framework (NQF) monitoring report confirms that NQFs play a key role in the European qualifications framework (EQF) implementation and in improving transparency and comparability of qualifications nationally and internationally. The 39 countries monitored (28 EU Member States, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Kosovo, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and Turkey) are developing and implementing 43 national qualifications frameworks... [more]
CEMETS

The team from CEMETS conducted an extensive literature review on implementing VET reforms. The main conclusions are summarized in two blog posts. This is the first part... [more]
ETH [1.7 MB]
CEDEFOP The report details Cedefop’s first cross-nation study of apprenticeships in the European Union. The point of departure for the study is what countries define and offer as apprenticeship training. It then applies a purposive approach to identifying the changes that apprenticeships are undergoing in practice, based on their design characteristics... [more]
Stephanie Allais [523 kB]

Paper presented to the Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency Wednesday, 12 November 2014, Berne.

NQF policy proposals invariably consist of general design statements followed by claims as to what an NQF or NVQF will achieve. In other words, they tell the reader what a qualification framework is and what it is assumed it will achieve when implemented. What they do not address is the specific problems of the existing system and how developing an NQF or NVQF might help to overcome them. Instead, where frameworks are seen as desirable, policy makers should start by considering what qualifications can do, not all the problems in their system which they wish could be solved. Starting with a framework of outcomes and levels and then trying to make them ‘proxies’ for skills is to invert the way that the most successful qualification systems have been developed.
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Relevant Documents

Title Year Created Date
Seven Questions about Apprenticeships: Answers from International Experience

2018

 2018-11-30 17:23:25
Pathways of progression: Linking technical and vocational education and training with post-secondary education

2018

 2018-12-03 09:42:48
Analysis and overview of NQF level descriptors in European countries

2018

 2019-01-23 10:30:47
The changing nature and role of vocational education and training in Europe. Volume 2: results of a survey among European VET expert

2017

 2018-03-16 14:35:42
CEMETS Blog Post: The tricky thing about NQFs

2018

 2018-02-12 23:46:45
The SDC supports Serbia to reform its VET system

2018

 2018-03-13 13:25:29
The Challenges of Policy Transfer in Vocational Skills Development

2014

 2017-10-17 14:36:52
Institution Title Year
Institution Title Year
Cedefop Analysis and overview of NQF level descriptors in European countries

Analysis and overview of NQF level descriptors in European countries

Level descriptors are essential elements of national qualifications frameworks (NQF) established and implemented across Europe. They define what is meant by learning outcomes, describing what an individual is expected to know, be able to do and understand, having acquired a qualification at a particular level. This Cedefop publication shows that all 39 countries taking part in the implementation of the European qualifications framework (EQF) have now defined – and for a large part adopted – their levels of learning outcomes. The analysis illustrates the influence of the EQF on national level descriptors, and demonstrates how countries have adjusted and further developed the learning outcomes approach according to national needs and priorities. National level descriptors have mostly been developed through extensive dialogue between different stakeholders. This report celebrates the 10th anniversary of the EQF in 2018 and its further implementation, as anchored in the revised EQF recommendation (2017)... [more]

2018
UNESCO-UNEVOC Pathways of progression: Linking technical and vocational education and training with post-secondary education

Pathways of progression: Linking technical and vocational education and training with post-secondary education

Until recently, few graduates of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) aspired to further learning, particularly higher education. But higher-level qualifications are now a common expectation among young people, reflecting increased ambitions, labour market demand for higher-level skills, and a need to upskill and reskill throughout life. Clear and flexible learning pathways are necessary to ensure that young people have the necessary skills to enter the labour market... [more]

2018
OCED Seven Questions about Apprenticeships: Answers from International Experience

Seven Questions about Apprenticeships: Answers from International Experience

After a period of relative neglect in many countries, apprenticeships and other forms of work-based learning are experiencing a revival. Their effectiveness in easing school-to-work transitions and serving the economy is increasingly recognised. However, engaging individuals, employers, social partners and education and training systems in such learning remains a significant challenge... [more]

2018
SDC The SDC supports Serbia to reform its VET system

2018
CEMETS CEMETS Blog Post: The tricky thing about NQFs

CEMETS Blog Post: The tricky thing about NQFs

National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) are a very common type of VET reform. The blog post very briefly discusses some of the evidence—or lack thereof—for their hoped-for benefits and a few reasons they might help, or fail to do so... [more]

2018
Cedefop The changing nature and role of vocational education and training in Europe. Volume 2: results of a survey among European VET expert

The changing nature and role of vocational education and training in Europe. Volume 2: results of a survey among European VET expert

This research paper is the second in a series produced as part of the Cedefop project The changing nature and role of VET (2016-18). It discusses national definitions and conceptions of vocational education and training (VET) in European Union Member States, Iceland and Norway and describes how these have changed over the past two decades... [more]

2017
The Challenges of Policy Transfer in Vocational Skills Development

The Challenges of Policy Transfer in Vocational Skills Development

In the context of renewed global interest in the development of vocational skills, policy makers in many countries as well as representatives of technical organisations often hope to reform existing training systems by borrowing models and policies that seem to work elsewhere. One of these prominent models is that of ‘National Qualifications Framework’, the use of which now spans the entire globe. On a much smaller scale, the ‘Dual Model’ of vocational training – a systematic combination of school and workplace-based learning that is common in a number of countries ...

2014
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VSD
VSD Resource Box
VET Systems
Gender in VSD
Dual VET and engagement with the private sector
Digitalisation and Learning
National qualification frameworks
Basic Education & Vocational Skills
Youth Employment
Inclusion (VSD)
Informal Sector
VET System Development Webinar Series

Relevant News

  • 12 Mar 2018
    The SDC supports Serbia to reform the VET system

    The SDC supports Serbia to reform the VET system

    As first country in the region, Serbia has recently adopted a new Law on Dual Education. Inter alia, new profiles that are in line with European standards will be cerated in secondary schools .


    The SDC has already supported the development of a dual education program in the wood industry in Užice, through its Private Sector Development program.


    The SDC will remain committed to support the Government of Serbia to successfully implement the adopted Law on Dual Education through a new project with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. The project will include support to the regulatory framework, the introduction of the Monitoring & Evaluation and law promotion with continued advisory backstopping... [more].


    Further information about the project

    See the project's Portfolio Database entry here, visit the project's own website or watch a video about the project. More information about the collaboration of Austria, Germany and Switzerland to support dual VET in Serbia is provided here and here. 


    The photo is from the closing academy of the Education Caravan "The Spirit of Youth". Click here to enlarge it. 
  • 12 Feb 2018
    CEMETS Blog Post: The tricky thing about NQFs

    CEMETS Blog Post: The tricky thing about NQFs

    National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) are a very common type of VET reform. The blog post from the CEMETS team very briefly discusses some of the evidence—or lack thereof—for their hoped-for benefits and a few reasons they might help, or fail to do so. [more]
  • 28 Aug 2017
    “Systemic Approach” for the training of water sector specialists in Uzbekistan

    “Systemic Approach” for the training of water sector specialists in Uzbekistan

    The Swiss-Uzbek Skills Development Project (March 2015 until August 2018) contributes to further development of the VET system in Uzbekistan by introducing a systemic approach to cooperation among the Ministries responsible for the training, retraining and advanced training of specialists in the water sector.

    In addition, the project is an excellent expample of how the strategic orientations of the SDC's Education Strategy can be reflected in the project design.  At least three strategic orientations are adressed: "Education System Governance", "Quality and relevance" and "Sustainability, Cohesion and Resilience".

    The systemic approach to cooperation comprises all activities within the cycle process “Demand-Training-Job Placement”. The project also shows how VSD can contribute to the SDGs, in this case to the SDG 6 "Clean water and sanitation".

    Competences for cooperation of staff and managers of the Ministries involved have been developed in joint activities of the cycle process, especially while jointly developing tools for labor-market-needs analysis, new standards, curricula and further training programs, regulations for running of Regional Competence Centres.

    Read more about the project or access the e+i Portfolio Database for more information about the project [e+i members only].
12 March 2018
The SDC supports Serbia to reform the VET system

As first country in the region, Serbia has recently adopted a new Law on Dual Education. Inter alia, new profiles that are in line with European standards will be cerated in secondary schools .


The SDC has already supported the development of a dual education program in the wood industry in Užice, through its Private Sector Development program.


The SDC will remain committed to support the Government of Serbia to successfully implement the adopted Law on Dual Education through a new project with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development. The project will include support to the regulatory framework, the introduction of the Monitoring & Evaluation and law promotion with continued advisory backstopping... [more].


Further information about the project

See the project's Portfolio Database entry here, visit the project's own website or watch a video about the project. More information about the collaboration of Austria, Germany and Switzerland to support dual VET in Serbia is provided here and here. 


The photo is from the closing academy of the Education Caravan "The Spirit of Youth". Click here to enlarge it. 
12 February 2018
CEMETS Blog Post: The tricky thing about NQFs
National Qualifications Frameworks (NQFs) are a very common type of VET reform. The blog post from the CEMETS team very briefly discusses some of the evidence—or lack thereof—for their hoped-for benefits and a few reasons they might help, or fail to do so. [more]
28 August 2017
“Systemic Approach” for the training of water sector specialists in Uzbekistan

The Swiss-Uzbek Skills Development Project (March 2015 until August 2018) contributes to further development of the VET system in Uzbekistan by introducing a systemic approach to cooperation among the Ministries responsible for the training, retraining and advanced training of specialists in the water sector.

In addition, the project is an excellent expample of how the strategic orientations of the SDC's Education Strategy can be reflected in the project design.  At least three strategic orientations are adressed: "Education System Governance", "Quality and relevance" and "Sustainability, Cohesion and Resilience".

The systemic approach to cooperation comprises all activities within the cycle process “Demand-Training-Job Placement”. The project also shows how VSD can contribute to the SDGs, in this case to the SDG 6 "Clean water and sanitation".

Competences for cooperation of staff and managers of the Ministries involved have been developed in joint activities of the cycle process, especially while jointly developing tools for labor-market-needs analysis, new standards, curricula and further training programs, regulations for running of Regional Competence Centres.

Read more about the project or access the e+i Portfolio Database for more information about the project [e+i members only].

​​Relevant Links

Title Year Created Date
ETF - European Training Foundation

2018

 2018-06-08 08:56:56
  • ETF - European Training Foundation

    ETF - European Training Foundation

    The European Training Foundation is a European Union agency that helps transition and developing countries harness the potential of their human capital through the reform of education, training and labour market systems, and in the context of the EU's external relations policy. Based in Turin, Italy, the ETF has been operational since 1994.

    2018
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