EVENT NAME / MODERNISING VET QUALITY ASSURANCE – THE EUROPEAN APPROACH
ETF SEMINAR
LOCATION / ETF, Torino, Italy
DATE(S) / 1 – 2 March 2016

SUMMARY

In the context of the Torino Process Declaration 2015, partner countries stressed the importance of robust and reliable quality assurance to achieve the objectives of broader VET reform. Support for the modernisation of quality assurance in VET is an ETF strategic objective.

For the period 2015 - 2020, ETF is committed to support Candidate Countries to implement and monitor the medium term deliverables of the ‘Riga Conclusions’, one of which focuses on quality assurance in VET a priority theme of the EU Copenhagen Process (2002) from the outset.

For well over a decade, European co-operation on quality assurance in VET has focussed on the development and implementation of the EQAVET Framework. In the ‘Riga’ context, countries have committed to the closer alignment of their national approaches with this meta-Framework.

This seminar aims to take stock of progress in modernising quality assurance in VET in the participating countries. EQAVET Framework developments and EU Member States experiences will be presented. ETF support for monitoring and implementing the ‘Riga’ deliverable will be discussed.

Transnational co-operation can be a powerful tool for providing access to innovation, supporting development and evaluation and building trust. At the seminar, ETF will present for discussion its proposal for a Forum for VET Quality Assurance. The over-arching aim of the Forum, an assembly of quality assurance specialists, would be to support partner countries to modernise and improve quality assurance in their VET systems through transnational co-operation. The proposed Forum is modelled on the EQAVET Network.

Day one, 1 March

Sala Europa

08.30 – 09.00 / Registration and coffee
09.00 – 09.10 / Welcome and Opening
Ms Anastasia Fetsi, ETF, Head of Operations Department
09.10 – 09.20 / The context and seminar objectives
Ms Anastasia Fetsi
09.20 – 10.50 / Quality assurance in VET – the status quo
Chair: Ms Eva Jimeno Sicilia, ETF, Head of Systems Policy/Country Analysis Unit, Operations Department
Brief country presentations
10.50 – 11.20 / Coffee break
11.20 – 11.40 / EQAVET – quality assurance in VET and the quality assurance medium term deliverable in the Riga Conclusions
Chair: Ms Elizabeth Watters, ETF, Senior Specialist in VET Policies and Systems, Operations Department
Mr Koen Bois d’Enghien, Policy Officer, European Commission, DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion
11.40 – 12.00 / The EQAVET Network – activities and resources
Mr Keith Brumfitt, Quality Assurance Specialist, EQAVET Secretariat
12.00 – 12.20 / Aligning national quality assurance systems for VET with the EQAVET Framework, the case of Finland
Ms Tarja Riihimäki, Counsellor of Education, Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland
12.20 - 13.15 / Delegation discussions
Reflections on the EQAVET Framework and alignment – questions for the panel
13.15 - 14.15 / Lunch Break
14.15 – 14.45 / ETF monitoring of the Riga medium term deliverables
Chair: Mr Xavier Matheu de Cortada, ETF, Head of Thematic Policy Unit, Operations Department
Mr Georgios Zisimos, ETF, Senior Specialist in EU Education and Training Policies, Operations Department
14.45 - 15.15 / EQAVET and the Riga MTD, supporting implementation – Forum plans
ETF - Ms Elizabeth Watters
15.15 – 16.00 / Delegation discussions
Reflections on the Forum
16.00 – 16.30 / Coffee break
16.30 - 17.30 / Plenary discussion
Chair: Mr Helmut Zelloth, ETF, Strategic Project Leader “VET Provision and Quality”, Operations Department
Panel: Koen Bois d’Enghien, Keith Brumfitt, Tarja Riihimäki, Georgios Zisimos, Elizabeth Watters
19:00 – 21:00 / Dinner in the Restaurant “Taverna delle Rose”, Via Massena, 24

Day two, 2 March,

Sala Europa

09.00 – 10.00 / Quality assurance and VET teaching / training personnel
Chair: Ms Elizabeth Watters
Quality assurance and VET teachers and trainers – the case of Germany
Prof. Dr. Martin Fischer, Head of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, University of the State of Baden-Württemberg
EQAVET Indicator 2 - quality assurance and VET teachers and trainers
Mr Keith Brumfitt, EQAVET Secretariat
10.00 – 11.00 / Parallel working groups
Chairs:
Ms Dagmar Ouzoun, ETF, Specialist in VET Policies and Systems, Operations Department – Sala Europa
Mr Julian Stanley, ETF, VET Teachers and Trainers Specialist, Operations Department – Sala Roma
11.00 – 11.30 / Coffee break
11.30 – 12.00 / Feedback from the working groups
Chair: Ms Lida Kita, ETF, Specialist in VET and Social Inclusion, Country Desk Turkey and Israel, Operations Department
Guidance for the discussion
12.00 – 12.45 / Delegation discussions
Delegations consider their future plans to align their quality assurance approaches more closely with EQAVET, in response to the Riga MTD
12.45 – 13.30 / Tour de table: Country delegations report back on their plans
Chair: Ms Ulrike Damyanovic, ETF, Senior VET Specialist, Regional contact point for SEE T, Operations Department
13.30 / Ms Anastasia Fetsi
Closure
Lunch