Qualification development
Qualifications are a link between the labour market and programmes for vocational education and training. Qualifications that describe training standards for occupations make a major contribution to high-quality education and training programmes by ensuring that they are directly linked to the needs of the workplace and the labour market.

Many countries have started to develop qualification structures for vocational education. Different methods are used, but in general three steps can be distinguished which are relevant to any method in qualification development:
1.    Labour market analysis, to determine for which occupations VET programmes should be developed.
2.    Development of occupational standards that describe the knowledge, skills and competencies of a competent worker
3.    Development of training standards that describe the knowledge, skills and competencies of a starting worker. Training standards correspond to the learning outcomes of a VET programme.

Based on our experience with qualification development in the Netherlands, we can assist governmental institutes and sectoral committees of social partners in other countries with developing qualifications for specific sectors. This assistance can include:
-    Organising study visits to the Netherlands to familiarise participants with the Dutch system of qualification development.
-    Organising training courses for experts in the fields of VET and industry, to learn how to set up labour market analysis and how to develop occupational and training standards.

In our training courses, Dutch experts transfer knowledge and know-how to local experts through ‘Training with production’. This means that concrete products are produced in the course of the training programme and local experts will be able to continue their work independently with the support of social partners after the training course.

For details, see our projects in Romania.
 
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