Introduction
ReferNet has proved a useful resource for VET projects most notably for the "Maastricht report" (Achieving the Lisbon goal: the contribution of VET) written for the European Commission details are listed below.
Learning Outcomes and Recognition
The international team at QCA are working on two projects regarding learning outcomes. One is writing the UK country report for the OECD on the Recognition of Informal and Nonformal Learning. A draft of the country report has been written and a group from the OECD itself and participating countries are due to visit the UK to consolidate the information from the report and to gain further insights. The second report is for Cedefop and is a report on Learning Outcomes across 32 European countries.
2006 Joint Report on the implementation of the “Education and Training 2010” work programme
QCA has been supporting the Directorate General for Education and Culture on writing the above Commission staff working document. In particular we are looking at national lifelong learning policies, coordination and implementation. The knowledge of EU member states systems, which has been supported by ReferNet, has been important in analysing national progress and coherence in implementation of strategy. A copy is available on the publications page of this website.
The Lisbon-to-Copenhagen-to-Maastricht Consortium - Achieving the Lisbon goal: the contribution of VET
The report was produced for the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture to assess the contribution of vocational education and training (VET), towards achieving the goals set by the Lisbon conference in 2000: the principal goal is for the EU to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, and socially inclusive by 2010.
The Consortium consisted of individuals, institutions and organisations across Europe who have an acknowledged expertise in the field of VET and an accurate understanding of current issues and trends. The findings and report were presented at the Maastrict Conference in December 2004, during the Dutch Presidency. It is structured on three themes.
- Theme One is to assess the progress of national VET systems towards meeting the challenges of Lisbon.
- Theme Two concentrates on innovation in teaching and learning processes.
- Theme Three addresses the factors needed in building European competences for a European labour market.
The report and supporting documents are available from the publications page.
Useful Websites
Below are links that relate to the Lisbon, Copenhagen and Maastricht Conferences, and to the Lisbon Strategy part of the Europa website:
Copenhagen:
Copenhagen Process
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/2010/vocational_en.html
Copenhagen Declaration
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/copenhagen/index_en.html
Maastricht:
http://www.vetconference-maastricht2004.nl/
Lisbon Strategy main page:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/lisbon_strategy/index_en.html
Lisbon Strategy Education and Training page:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/policies/2010/et_2010_en.html
