Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the internationalisation of nearly all spheres of society and the process of European integration will be leading to the development of a European vocational education and training VET architecture. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis of the "Copenhagen process" is based on…

Purpose: The paper's aim is to present a critical review of the current European process of co-operation in VET with a special view to the European Qualification Framework and its competence orientation. Design/methodology/approach: The approach reviews the official documentation and the consultation process and a contrastive analysis of the state…

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a critical analysis of the European Commissions and the member states attempts to introduce a European Qualifications Framework and national frameworks respectively. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is based on a review of policies and substantive desk research in countries that have applied a…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to look closely at the development of a European Credit Transfer System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET). The European Commission, together with the member States, are working on it and several pilot projects have been initiated within the Leonardo da Vinci Programme of the European Commission.…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address the development of a European architecture of vocational education and promote an alternative proposal. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is the result of discussions of researchers in the Institut Technik und Bildung on a European Qualification Framework. Findings: The paper provides an…

Purpose: The quality of an education system or a comparative international assessment refers more and more to quantitative parameters, i.e. "educational indicators." The paper aims to analyse the structure of several educational indicators and indicator systems and answer the question "What can educational indicators achieve?"…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to question the appropriateness of a proposal for a new European Qualifications Framework. The framework has three perspectives: historical; analytical; and national. Design/methodology/approach: The approaches are diverse since the first insists on the institutional and decision-making processes at European…

Purpose: This article aims to take up a mirror image-oriented position of the EQF and the announced ECVET system. It seeks to be concerned with the effects that the EQF transformation process into the respective NQF might have on the underlying systems of vocational education and training. Design/methodology/approach: A comparison is drawn between…

Purpose: This paper aims to explain the distinction between educational standards and learning outcomes and to indicate the problems that potentially arise when a learning outcomes approach is applied to a qualification meta-framework like the European Qualification Framework, or indeed to national qualification frameworks.…

Purpose: To explore social dialogue over vocational education and training in Europe, comparing the role of the social partners in different national training systems and different industrial relations contexts. Design/methodology/approach: A survey of European member states (EU15 before enlargement) and two EFTA countries addressed to the…