Romanian VET following ECVET recommendation National Centre for TVET Development Romania

Our responsibilities To assure both the relevance of the TVET developments in the perspective of the strategic, economic and social needs of the Romanian economy and society and the correlation between national approaches and European and international measures To contribute to the methodological developments referring to: the educational supply planning, the development of schools’ institutional capacity, the organization and development of the teaching-learning process, the students’ training examination and certification and the TVET quality assurance To promote social partnership for TVET development

Our responsibilities Through formal education and training, technical and vocational education (VET), medium - and long-term oriented, part of ongoing training pathways Through apprenticeship at the workplace, short-term oriented, depending on the needs of employers

Strategic Approach of the Initial Training through TVET to serve the interests of young people and adults from the perspective of lifelong learning by increasing the attractiveness to respond and, especially, to anticipate the needs and changes on the labor market to provide relevant qualifications for the labor market to integrate academic and vocational training to allow flexible entry and exit in and from the system to enable a quality training to integrate school learning with workplace learning to provide professional skills that enable mobility and labor market flexibility to provide equal opportunities for all learners, including those with SEN

The current architectural context of TVET European and National Tools: National Law of Education National Qualifications Framework correlated with the European Qualifications Framework The European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) European Reference Framework for Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training EUROPASS documents 2020 EU Strategy 2010 Bruges Communicate

What were the steps we take for ECVET In Romania, a consistent and comprehensive strategy for initial VET has been implemented through PHARE and then European Social Fund projects. It covers the following aspects: curriculum reform starting from learning outcomes-based qualifications; professional development of teachers, trainers, institutional leaders and social partners in order to increase VET responsiveness to labour market needs and also to develop student-centred learning; competency-based assessment and the semi-externalisation of final examinations; participation of social partners in the examination commissions; mechanisms, procedures and instruments for quality assurance; accreditation of VET providers, external validation and monitoring of VET providers self-evaluation reports; correlation of VET provision with labour market needs through strategic forecasts and planning instruments implemented through partnerships. 1

What were the steps we take for ECVET 2 For the IVET our system already experienced elaborating and piloting widespread application of the ECVET as being partner in other European projects aiming to generate a common vocational culture based on ECVET process and quality assurance instruments. The most relevant experiences are two projects: RECOMFOR – establishing a network for facilitating mobility in terms of ECVET recommendation and quality assurance tools, acting with partners from different EU countries. OPIR – promoting mobility for two qualification: stylist hairdresser and automation technician and testing ECVET instruments

What were the steps we take for ECVET 3 According to the Law of Education EQF Recommendation – a reference document for Romanian NQF National Qualifications Autority NQF based on stakeholders implication Partnership structures Occupational analisys (to present data on the skills, knowledge and attitudes required by people working in an occupation) Occupational standards (include general units, key units and specific units) Qualifications development - training standards (a document that describes learning outcomes for a qualification)

What were the steps we take for ECVET 4 Designing methodologies and regulations that are supporting ECVET implementation: Example: CRIPT (European Social Fund project) – one of the results is a methodology for revision the qualifications in terms of ECVET recommendations.

VET Qualifications VET training programs lead to obtaining academic and professional qualifications Professional qualifications Learning-based They are described by Units of Competences (Learning units); a unit of competences consists from a coherent set o competences/ learning outcomes They lay the accent on key competences training A professional qualification can be associated with one or more occupations A professional qualification satisfies the possibility of a long term Ensure the premises of the progress in career They can provide Continuous Professional Training

Qualifications design - IVET TRAINING STANDARD - document describing the units of LO composing a qualification Content of TS: The units – a coherent set of learning outcomes The level of qualification No of credit points The learning outcomes The performance criteria The requirements for assessment TRAINING PROGRAM – modular approach Modules are created on the basis on units of LO  1 module may consists in 1 or 2 units

The qualifications’ structure in IVET Training Domain « commerce » Training Domain “tourism” Q 1Q 2Q 3Q 1Q 2Q 3 Key Units of LO General Units of vocational LO Speciali zed Units of vocation al LO

Certification in TVET Certificate of professional qualification (national) levels 1, 2, 3 and 3+ (equivalently 2, 3, 4 and 5 in EQF) all competence units have to been demonstrated entitles practicing one or more occupations Certification Authority: Ministry of Education, Research, Youth and Sports

Accumulation and Transfer Credits Provides career development and occupational mobility in the training routes in the lifelong learning perspective IVET, CVT and HE should be based on systems compatible or at least transparent of credits allocation and transfer Recognition / transferability of credits between different learning systems are subject of: Ensuring consensus among all stakeholders Common principles of quality assurance in the different learning systems

Quality assurance in VET Professional training standards and curriculum Accreditation of training providers Self-assessment of training providers School inspections of training providers as external monitoring and external evaluation Semi-outsourced national examinations: the participation of employers in the certification exam committees Monitor quality assurance during the certification exams

Basics of TVET curriculum Curriculum developed on the basis of training standards Modular Curriculum Curriculum in local development for adaptation to local and regional qualifications relevant to the labor market Key skills units to develop employability and interpersonal skills Teaching methods based on student-centered learning Teaching methods Adapted to SEN students Competency-based assessment and certification

Instead of conclusions…… Qualifications are described using a learning outcomes approach. Qualifications are structured in units of learning outcomes. Qualification system uses national credit points. Recognition of non-formal and informal learning is possible, but still not yet for IVET. Recognition of periods of VET spent abroad is possible. Flexible individual learning pathways are available. Portability of learning outcomes within the country is possible. Recognition of parts of VET qualifications from other systems, qualifications or institutions is possible. Possibility for credit transfer across qualification systems and between qualifications exists.