Changing qualifications, A review of qualifications policies and practices

In modern societies, qualifications fulfil many functions. They serve to signal an individual’s personal, social and professional status, but they also control access to education, training and the labour market. Moreover, these functions change in line with wider social changes.

This review examines how the role and functions of qualifications are changing Europe.  Covering a wide range of sources, including an overview of Cedefop’s own work and case studies of countries, it outlines four possible scenarios for developments in the next ten years, and identifies the cornerstones for a reform strategy. Download Changing qualifications.
3.1.2. France
In France qualifications (in French diplômes or more recently certifications) are traditionally used as the key criterion for access to work and study. The labour market is mainly regulated by collective agreements where workers qualification requirements are set out. In French qualification is defined through several descriptors including the qualification levels required to be considered as qualified to be recruited and paid a wage, thus as a licence to practise. In 1971, regulations were established to identify which qualifications have national currency, in order to protect individuals against organisations offering awards with little value. The identification of valid qualifications was done through the National Homologation Commission, which was replaced by the current Commission Nationale de la Certification Professionnelle (CNCP) in 2002, with extended responsibilities. A Cadre National de Certifications (CNC, or NQF) was introduced to make qualifications more transparent – in France the term legibility is preferred – in the labour market. The framework relates to work organisation, has five levels, and contains a grid showing pathways to employment through qualifications in the various economic or labour market sectors. For many occupations, a recognised qualification is a required condition of entry.
There are numerous systems of qualification in France. The State, the social partners, institutions with responsibility for quality assurance, even a range of public and private organisations may be designated as legitimate awarding authorities. However, the value of qualifications differs according to circumstances, and according to their usefulness to users in the labour market.
The creation of a Repertoire National des Certifications Professionnelles (RNCP, or VET qualifications catalogue) created an official inventory of all the qualifications delivered in France corresponding to this definition. To be included, the qualification must establish certification processes that cover formal, non-formal or informal learning, and a specific procedure named validation des acquis d’expérience (VAE) for the recognition of non-formal and informal learning recognition.
3.1.2.1. Main policies impacting on the qualifications system
According to Maillard et al. (2007), qualifications policies that have had a major impact derive from the development in 1984 of vocational qualifications at the Baccalaureate level (Bac professionnel), and in non-university higher education, such as the Diplôme universitaire de Technologie (DUT). These new qualifications had several features in common: they are part of a national development led by the government with the full support of the social partners, and they are firmly based on processes of identifying occupational competences and converting these into competence or learning-outcomes-based standards for assessment and VET programme development. The same year ‘qualification contracts’ were established, providing the opportunity to develop alternative curricula – partly in enterprises and partly in training centres – for young people. This led to a strong interest and investment in apprenticeship in the mid-1990s. This was accompanied by legislation introduced in 1992 and strengthened in 2002 to set up the system of validation of informal and non-formal learning, financed through awarding bodies...
3.1.2.6. Changing international perspectives on qualifications
The European influence is integrated in the creation of the CNCP. The main objectives of the CNCP are linked closely to the transparency approach developed through European collaboration and the French qualification landscape with its different subsystems reflects this. When the RNCP was created in 2003 it was derived from the Europass certificate supplement format. A permanent national workshop has operated since 2004, through which representatives of the CNCP tripartite membership are following implementation and designing a new French framework referenced to EQF.
There is a strong international influence specifically linked to the development of the licence to practise processes used to regulate activities such as sea, air, rail, etc, as well as engineering, energy and some other occupations. Such convergent qualifications are generally named habilitations: their scope is limited to specific competences or fields of activity, so they are not considered as qualifications that can be registered in the CNCP or be referenced to EQF. The award process follows different rules that bind awarding bodies according to the international norms decided on. Because such qualifications are required for the licence to practise, the French approach proposes a new system called ‘bi-certification’ (Caillaud, 2005), where those qualifications are units integrated in a qualification registered in the CNCP. However, both authorities must be involved in the individual certification process: one for the international component, the other for the usual qualification developed by the national awarding body. The current situation is certainly complex, and calls for further resolution.
3.1.2.7. Qualifications trends in France
The key trend in the French context of changing qualifications is the evolution of the ways in which qualifications are designed and used. Qualifications can now be seen more as reference points or milestones for life that provide social signals based increasingly on representing competence. Qualifications used to be a single, final milestone defining for life an individual’s achievement in education and training. This is no longer the case, and it seems that the individual needs to acquire further qualifications, often not in traditional ways, to demonstrate his or her currency in the mobile and changing situations of working life. The other side of this evolution is that the design of qualification has had to become more legible as a signal. Qualifications developers have to explain more clearly how learning inputs are transmitted, and how they are validated with reference to competences or outcomes. This is important for development in several related fields of activity: guidance, training, recruitment and other aspects of human resource management.