3. mission is to support development of European VET policies
and contribute to their implementation
strategic objective is to strengthen European cooperation and
support the European Commission, Member States and social
partners in designing and implementing policies for an
attractive VET that promotes excellence and social inclusion
About CEDEFOP
4. Aim of the CEDEFOP study
A European HANDBOOK for VET providers
supporting Internal Quality Management and
Quality culture
... accompanied by practical tools
5. 16 “National” Cases in 13 Member States:
Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France (2), Germany (2) ,
Hungary, Italy (2) , Netherlands, Portugal, Romania,
Slovenia, UK/Scotland
4 Sector Cases:
Automotive Industry (CZ); Design/Industry, Related
Services (IT); Social Services/Rehabilitation (DE); Maritime
Management, Navigation and Engineering (LT)
Methodology I - Sample
6. Team of research experts enacting case studies
Common methodology: Guidelines, questionnaires, templates
for data-collection
On-site visits of selected VET institutions
In-depth interviews with
Heads of management
Quality department / quality officers
Teachers and trainers
Students
External stakeholders: Employers, chambers …
Collection of QA tools applied by the VET institution
Methodology II –
Research Approach
7. Basic information about the
examined VET institutions
Providers of IVET / CVET, both, + HE
>>> tendency towards complex institutions for LLL
Varying size, serving 200 -> 19.000 students
Wide range of VET programs offered
Variety of Quality Management Systems in place
Mature QM-Systems in place:
Long-standing experience with QM
8. Some common QA elements
Variety of self-assessment approaches
PDCA-cycle applied
Widespread usage of standardised
instruments for data collection
Goal attainment
Performance measurement
Satisfaction of stakeholders
Less used: methods/instruments for the improvement of
quality
9. Typical quality areas in
VET institutions
Manage the institution
involve all stakeholders
improve the quality of classes
adjust the organization of processes for service delivery
Develop the school
agree on quality objectives and targets
Lead the personnel of the institution
develop the capacities of teachers, trainers, other staff
Manage resources
Develop cooperation and networking
Create and develop facilities for educational supply
Observe, assess and analyse results and success
10. Indicators
Often direct or indirect reference to EQAVET indicators
(drop-out, graduation, destination)
Useful specifications towards early warning (absence
rate)
Meaningful extensions (cost-effectiveness)
Weaknesses:
Sometimes meaningless inflation and confusion
Lack of coherency – missing set of interrelated indicators)
11. Self-assessment –
Different functions
Formal exercise to gain external accreditation
Starting point for the creation of awareness and
commitment
In more mature stages: Instrument for continuous
analysis and reflection – often based on electronically
gathered data (tools)
12. Commitment, support and participation of the head of
management
Involvement of staff in the self-assessment exercise + a core
quality team to coordinate and integrate the self-assessment
activities
Openness towards data, facts and potential changes
Decisions on improvement strategies based on the self-
assessment results
Agreement amongst staff on the improvement actions
Proper information on processes and results on a continuous
basis
Preconditions for successful
self-assessment
13. Self-assessment +
Improvement strategy
Priorities and overall strategies for achieving improvement
Detailed and operational objectives, whose achievement
can be monitored and measured by appropriate indicators
Specific actions to be implemented within reasonable time
period
Provision of resources to turn improvement actions into
reality
Identification of individual responsibilities in the process of
improvement
Definition of indicators allowing to monitor the progress of
activities and the status of the problem to be solved
14. Impacts on teaching
and learning
More transparent student assessment
Better division of curricular content
Stronger coordination of teaching in classes
High satisfaction rate of students
More individualized learning
Enhanced use of e-learning
Development of blended-learning concepts
15. Cooperation and networking
Ensures a competitive edge, high visibility
and enhanced attractiveness for prospective
students, parents and companies
Supports modernisation of training programs
Allows new insights on competence
requirements for graduates
Supports learning from other educational
institutions
16. Establishing a quality policy
Definition of the mission and the vision of the VET institution
Definition of a set of institutional objectives for the
organisation and the related indicators
Definition of a quality strategy outlining the aims of having a
quality management system in operation
Commitment of the management towards quality
management
Provision of the necessary resources for the operation of the
quality management system
18. Role of external support structures
A reliable - national or regional - general framework for quality
management
A guide for enacting self-assessment
A lean set of coherent and clearly operationalized indicators
A small number of - preferably electronic - tools and forms for
valid data-collection and data-processing
Capacities for training of staff of VET institutions in
professional quality management
An initial consultation on how to apply and perform
the quality cycle
19. Thank you for your attention!
erwin.seyfried@hwr-berlin.de