The activities of the national teams of ECVET experts

Special issue dedicated to the Joint ECVET conference held on 24-25 October 2013 in Brussels. Download ECVET Magazine No 17 - February 2014.
Article by Anette Curth, (ICF GHK). The activities of the national teams of ECVET experts  
25 National Agencies of the Lifelong Learning Programme 1 have established National Teams of ECVET Experts in their respective country. The purpose of these Teams is to promote and further develop the adoption, the application and the use of ECVET in their countries. In doing so, they support the relevant actors involved in Vocational Education and Training on a national level to ensure the best use of ECVET tools. Nearly 150 out of 200 appointed ECVET experts were present at the conference, using the opportunity to share experiences and expand their network...
How the ECVET experts helped to address key issues with ECVET implementation
The conference showed that there is a need to further work on the interface between policy, projects and mainstream practice - gateways between these strands should be created; and this should happen in the context of a broader national strategy. This strategy should create a link between the European transparency instruments, and should focus on the quality of VET as such. The national experts contributed significantly to paving the way towards such strategies.
• They addressed a large variety of stakeholders on policy level: European, national and regional authorities; decision makers involved in education and training; VET ex perts; school authorities; non-governmental organisations working in the field of ECVET; employers and employers’ organisations; social partners; and last but not least the business sector;
• They provided target support to practitioners to empower them in using ECVET and embedding it deeper into com mon practice;
• They were working towards greater coherence between the European transparency instruments and national frameworks: The experts were specifically asked to en sure the coherency of all European instruments for transparency of learning outcomes (such as EQF, EQAVET, ECTS, Europass), and advise on how they are interconnected. Moreover, the experts were asked to promote the development and use of ECVET as part of a broader lifelong learning approach which is an element of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.
• They helped to make the solutions developed more sustainable by acting as important links between policy and practice, and helping to ‘translate’ ideas from practice to policy - and the other way around.
• They helped to dissemination of information about ECVET and experiences with it by actively supporting the national efforts in the awareness-raising activities, the creation/ publication of information material (website, leaflets, etc.);
• In short, they helped to build up practical expertise on ECVET and the rest of the instruments. The high interest in the conference and the quality of the discussions shows that the ‘community of practice’ is growing, and the understanding of ECVET and its ‘sister’ instruments is advancing. There are more and more people with well- informed opinions and a wealth and diversity of experiences with ECVET. To a significant extent, this is an achievement of the National ECVET experts’ work to date. See more in ECVET Magazine No 17 - February 2014.