Developing, Approving and Maintaining Qualifications: Selected International Approaches. Research Report

There are lessons for Australia in the key approaches to the development, approval, maintenance and quality assurance of qualifications adopted in countries overseas. This research takes into account a range of approaches used in selected European Union (EU) member states (Germany, Finland and Sweden), the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland and Wales, Scotland, and Ireland) and the nations of New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea. The processes used in Ontario, Canada, and selected accreditation agencies in the United States were also investigated. This work serves to inform the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia about practices used overseas. It provides a useful reference document for agencies charged with developing and reviewing qualifications and showcases the different approaches used to ensure that qualifications remain current for the industries they serve. This report highlights some key messages for Australia, some of which include: (1) The introduction of qualifications frameworks, implementation of competency-based or learning outcomes approaches to learning and assessment, recognition of prior learning, and effective regulation and quality assurance processes are all being debated overseas, with varying solutions to the perceived issues being applied; (2) The development of hierarchical national qualifications frameworks comprising progressively higher qualification levels is relatively widespread, and increasing; and (3) Collaboration between governments (or their delegated agencies) and industry stakeholders is key to developing and/or approving competency standards, educational standards and content that align with labour market needs. The following are appended: (1) The criteria for SQA accreditation of qualifications; and (2) Standards for the ACCSC in the United States. [This report has been prepared by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) under the National Vocational Education and Training Research (NVETR) Program.]