Valuing all learning

Last November the proposed National Qualifications Framework (NQF) for Lifelong Learning was launched by the Malta Qualifications Council. For many this title is just another mouthful and the meaning of its purpose may slip unnoticed.

Ignoring its existence would be a great disservice to the work behind it, especially since it is directly connected to the concept of lifelong learning and to the Lisbon Strategy. In order to keep abreast of the evolving job market, most of us will need to maintain learning as a constant throughout our working life, and in this context, the NQF will, in the near future, become of importance to us all, whether we're turning 20 or 62.

Meeting one of the people behind this framework is an eye-opener. Dr James Calleja, acting chief executive of the Malta Qualifications Council within the Ministry of Education, Youth and Employment, has been working on the NQF over the past years.

He explains how it all began: "In 2000 the Maltese government sought to build the capacity to make vocational education and training in Malta more visible and accessible. Legal Notice 215/2000 was introduced and the Malta Professional and Vocational Qualifications Awards Council (MPVQAC) was set up purposely to create an infrastructure that would establish the standards of training related to skills that do not fall within the competence of standard education or higher education."

The move was accompanied by the opening of MCAST in 2001 - a novelty at the time, which grouped together under one statute and as a separate entity from the Education Division a number of vocational education and training institutions.

MCAST embraced the sectors of building and construction, maritime affairs, hairdressing and beauty therapy, mechanical engineering, agribusiness, business and commerce, electronic and electric engineering and art and design, adding also a new institute focusing on information and communication technology (ICT).

While this national development was taking place, European education was rapidly developing, thanks also to a series of ministerial conferences which first led to the Bologna process (1999) for reform in higher education and later to the Copenhagen process (2002) for restructuring in vocational education and training, followed up by the Maastricht Declaration of 2004 and the 2006 Helsinki Communiqué.

Malta's bid to join the EU meant that all levels of education were being targeted in line with EU requirements, not because the EU imposed this, but because Malta felt it would be beneficial if we followed an established and functioning pattern.

The EU had established that educational knowledge, skills, and competences should be assessed according to eight levels of difficulty, starting from level one at the base and working up to level eight at the top.

Dr Calleja clarifies: "In both academic and vocational accomplishments, we already had three qualifications levels in place - levels six, seven and eight, these being the Bachelor's Degree, Master's Degree or Post-Graduate Diploma/Certificate and Doctoral Degree respectively.

"Levels one to five within the traditional academic route were also established, namely from the basic to the more advanced grades of SEC, through to Matriculation Certification and Undergraduate Diploma/Certificate.

"It was the vocational sector that needed particular attention and that is precisely what MQC is formulating - a VET qualifications system that values all learning whether in formal, informal and non-formal contexts. It is in the interest of our economy to accredit against national and international standards all skills".

For this purpose, in October 2005, a new Legal Notice (347/2005) was introduced to steer the development of a National Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning and to provide the structures to value all learning within the vocational education sector. This legal notice came into force last October."

"One of MQC's tasks", Dr Calleja said, "was to design and launch a consultation process leading to a nationally agreed qualifications framework and for this purpose the Council met some 16 times last year.

By the end of spring this year, we are planning to finalise our consultation process during which we are meeting stakeholders in the education sector as well as employers' associations to gauge what action must be taken to allow each and every sector in our economy to be fully embraced by the national qualifications framework."

The aims and ultimate benefits are multifold - namely to provide transparency and access to information on all qualifications and their value in the labour market. Dr Calleja asserts that in today's evolving world of educational facilities, there may be cases where phony qualifications are offered and training to obtain these qualifications leads trainees nowhere as they discover the qualifications are not guided by quality assurance, standards and hence of little or no value within our competitive world of work.

Valuing all learning is of tantamount importance and one of MQC's guiding principles. Whether learning is formal or informal or non-formal, hence within the curriculum or not, it should still be appreciated to all its worth.

"Take a person who has the skill of a baker, not through schooling or training but through tradition handed down by the family. Can one ignore that skill or not appreciate its worth? That would be unfair.

"And yet we still do not have the proper mechanisms to allow for the accreditation of that and many other skills."

The truth is that the whole system is not yet fully industry-driven and this can only be brought about when qualifications are in line with what the industry calls for.

Regulation is the next step towards quality assurance. While the necessary documentation is being studied and finalised, shortly detailed guiding policy documents will be made available to the general public on issues related to the national qualifications framework, a VET system which fits within the proposed NQF and the mechanisms necessary to quality assure learning and training in vocational education and training.

"Another advantage of the framework will be parity of esteem between a vocational education route and an academic qualifications route. The qualifications framework will be addressing both routes simultaneously."

Checking out key competences which will eventually be appreciated even at the lowest level within the framework, it is heartening to see that simple things, like the knowledge of the mother tongue, a second language, digital competence, entrepreneurial skills, cultural expression and interpersonal or civic skills will all be considered as viable.

"Ultimately, what MQC is hoping to achieve is not only parity of esteem but also parity of opportunities even to the 'second chancers'."

While it is disheartening to see that even in this day and age, we unfortunately witness school leavers who still do not obtain SEC certification to show for all their 88 months of formal curricular activity, we still believe that these so-called "unqualified" people have intrinsic skills that can be measured, accredited and given a currency.

It is with these skills that they can ultimately move on. Hopefully, the national qualifications framework will help place such people on the job market successfully and in the shortest time possible.