The journal reports on research findings and practical experience with issues from vocational education and training, thus fostering an exchange between education research, day-to-day education practice and education policy.
Current issue
European transparency instruments (BWP 2/2025)
Transparency plays a major role in helping to shape a European Education Area. Its purpose is to facilitate communication between the various national education systems without standardising them.
The aims of this issue of BWP are to consider these different instruments and the context in which they have emerged and to reflect upon their relevance for vocational education and training at a national and European level.
National vocational education and training systems are complex constructs which have arisen within their respective contexts over the course of time. Various objectives and strategies have been pursued since 1957 with the view to creating a pan-European Education Area and labour market. Although the initial goal was the harmonisation of VET systems, greater emphasis has been placed on transparency since the 1990s. The present article briefly traces these developments in order to provide a background against which the most important transparency instruments over a past period of almost 20 years can be identified and reflected upon.
Building a European Education Area requires a seamless and connected learning landscape that enables mobility and lifelong learning for all. Over the past two decades, European countries have made significant efforts in this regard by adopting a learning outcome approach in vocational education and training (VET) and education and training more broadly. This shift has been driven by the need to improve the transparency and transferability of qualifications. This article presents the results of a Cedefop study on the current state of progress.
The Europass Portal has existed since 2020 and pools a wealth of information and tools relating to all aspects of the topic of learning and working in Europe. It enables personal profiles to be created and supports users in their search for suitable education and training provision and jobs within the EU whilst also making European taxonomies and databases available. This article describes how the Europass Portal allows access to the European Education Area and explains which transparency instruments are operating together in the background.
After having been in existence for over ten years, the German Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (DQR) reached a further milestone in 2024 when a non-formal educational qualification was aligned to it for the first time. This article explains the approach adopted against the background of the previous development of the DQR.
This article discusses the extent to which implementation of a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) in Austria has led to achievement of the desired objectives. The focus is on issues such as the impacts which the NQF has had and continues to have on the national qualifications system and on the impetuses which have been generated for its further development. The concluding question posed relates to the extent to which implementation of the NQF can be metaphorically interpreted as a “half-full” or “half-empty” glass. Assessments are based on the many years of experience of the authors. No systematic investigation of effects has been conducted thus far.
The Austrian Framework of Reference for Digital Competence was published in September 2024. Based on the EU’s Competence Framework DigComp, it provides a structured foundation to define digital skills and to make these competencies measurable and comparable in initial and continuing education and training provision. This article describes the background and the design concept of the Reference Framework and addresses its intended use for the governance and development of digital competencies.
The Netherlands Qualifications Framework (NLQF) was established in 2011 as the national adoption of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) and was enshrined in law in January 2025. This article explores the impact of the NLQF in enhancing the transparency, standardisation and governance of qualifications in the formal and non-formal education sectors, for lifelong learning initiatives, and how its future potential within the evolving educational landscape can be assessed.
The starting point of this article is the observation that much attention is given to the transparency of qualifications acquired in formal education and training institutions and less so to the transparency of competencies acquired at work, at home or during leisure time. The article explores the conceptual basis of existing transparency and transferability tools in the EU. Informed by European and national level experiences, this article underlines the importance of distinguishing between qualifications and competencies and how this can be achieved by precisely applying learning outcomes terminology.
The article describes the European labour market tool ESCO and its relationship to other European vocational tools. It is shown how ESCO can be used to structure occupations by aggregating skills and construct qualifications by mapping skills onto learning outcomes. However, qualifications constructed in this way are inadequate for a skilled labour market and often do not represent national traditions of occupational competence. The article concludes by suggesting an alternative approach to securing occupational mobility through qualifications.
ECSO is a European transparency instrument which was developed with the main goal of improving the comparability and presentation of occupations, competencies and qualifications across Europe. It forms a central support function for EURES, the European Network of Employment Services. This article investigates the further significance of ESCO for vocational education and training. A country comparison between Germany and Ireland reveals differences in the implementation and evaluation of this instrument. Commonalities exist in that both countries have thus far taken the view that the areas of potential use and the deployment of this instrument lie primarily in the labour market rather than in the (vocational) education sector.
This article deals with the impact of digitalisation on Continuing Vocational Education and Training (CVET) in Italy, focusing on microlearning and microcredentials. The results of a company survey will be presented to provide insights into the prevalence of microlearning and the perceptions of companies and employees regarding its use. Finally, the article discusses the integration of micro-certificates into the Italian qualification system. The focus here is on the regulatory progress made in Italy with aligning micro-certificates to European standards.
There is an abundance of reports relating to the future need for skilled workers in the nursing professions. Recruitment of qualified nurses from abroad and domestic training are the two main foundations to cover the need for qualified staff. But by no means all companies train nurses. This article presents the reasons nursing institutions give for deciding not to offer such training whilst also presenting what they perceive be the advantages of doing so. It also compares the attitudes towards generalist nursing training of institutions providing training and institutions not providing training.
Reading and writing are one of the keys to societal and occupational participation. Digital learning provision for trainees in the construction industry has been developed as part of the BMBF’s BauliG project in order to foster work-related literacy skills at the learning venue of intercompany vocational training centres.
BIBB has conducted a preliminary investigation to consider whether a new training occupation is needed in the area of facility or technical buildings management. Aspects examined for this purpose included the task area envisaged and the resultant skills requirements for employees. This article describes the most important outcomes of the investigation.
Saddlers manufacture individual, artistic and robust craft trades products such as hoods for vintage convertibles, made-to-measure riding saddles and elegant luggage items. This profile describes the three specialisms of vehicle upholstery, riding saddlery and luxury bags and presents figures relating to training.
