In October 2023, the Skills Validation Consortium celebrated its 20th anniversary. In 20 years, more than 63 000 Skills credentials have been issued to almost 34 000 beneficiaries by accredited validation centres in Wallonia and Brussels, confirming the success of this unique system in Belgium.

Created in 2003 by a cooperation agreement between the French Community, the Walloon Region and the French Community Commission (agreement revised in 2019), skills validation is conducted via a Skills Validation Consortium (CVDC) and validation centres managed by the five French-speaking public institutions for education and vocational training: Bruxelles Formation, FOREM, Adult Education, IFAPME and SFPME.

Skills validation enables anyone over the age of 18 to have their professional skills in a trade recognised, free of charge, through a practical test in a work situation. Successful candidates receive a Skills credential, which entitles them, among other things, to:

• – boost their professional career (the Skills credential is recognised by governments and sectors);
• – resume an educational or vocational training path;
• – access regulated professions.

An ever-evolving offer

Over the past two decades, the range of skills validation services has been continually developed with the financial support of the European Social Fund, the Brussels Development Fund (from 2016) and the Walloon Recovery Plan (from 2021), the permanent concern being responding to sectoral needs and changes in the economic situation in Wallonia and Brussels.

As a result, in 2023, 48 accredited validation centres (11 in Brussels and 37 in Wallonia) were offering more than 74 trades for validation (compared to only three occupations in 2003), covering more than 13 sectors such as administration, personal services, construction and logistics. In 2024, six new trades are due to be introduced, including kitchen assistant and customs officer, while several trades in the IT sector are being developed (system administrator, system operator and developer).

This wide offer reaches a large and constantly growing audience: in 2022, 2 834 people received a Skills credential, 46% of which were women. People aged between 25 and 44 are the most represented beneficiaries (65%). Jobseekers in particular benefit from the scheme, accounting for 43% of recipients, closely followed by workers (36%).

Diversifying the audience

Encouraged by these results, the CVDC intends to continue the efforts to expand its validation offer. To meet the needs of a sector with recruiting difficulties, and the challenges of evolving professions and an increasingly digital economy, future methodological developments will focus on IT professions, with, for example, the addition of new skills units or the creation of new validation repositories.

In addition, partnerships are being developed to reach people who are far from employment, for example:

• – between socio-professional integration centres (CISPs) and Walloon validation centres: within the framework of the Walloon Recovery Plan, a pilot project has been set up since September 2023 to provide information and support about skills validation for people furthest from employment and facilitate their socio-professional reintegration. Comprising information and focus on personalised support components, the aim of this project is to enable people to optimise their chances of passing a skills validation test;
• – between the CVDC, the Ligue Braille vocational training centre for blind or partially sighted people and Brussels Validation Centre for Tertiary Sector Professions to develop and contextualise the skills validation test for the job of reception agent. In June 2023, the first four candidates obtained their Skills credential.

Read more

• First skills validation test for visually impaired people in Brussels
• Strengthening support for people who are furthest from employment

Read this publication on Cedefop’s website

ReferNet Belgium; Cedefop (2023). Belgium: 20 years of skills validation in the French-speaking part of Belgium. National news on VET