Comparing the content of qualifications across European countries is part of Cedefop’s work on understanding qualifications, initiated more than two decades ago.Comparing the content of qualifications across European countries is part of Cedefop’s work on understanding qualifications, initiated more than two decades ago.

It comprises the shift to learning outcomes to measure qualifications, the development of a common language (ESCO) to underpin a common understanding and the promotion of qualifications frameworks across Europe to classify them.
A workshop, organised by Cedefop on 28 and 29 November in Thessaloniki, explored yet another aspect of this consequential work: Can we develop reliable and scalable methods to map, analyse and compare the content of vocational education and training (VET) qualifications to better understand similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses across borders?

Opening the workshop, Cedefop Executive Director Jürgen Siebel said that the agency has dedicated a project to comparing VET qualifications to fill a gap in the field.

Participants discussed the data sources on national qualifications, as concerns their content and profile, and the establishment of a common European reference system for comparing them. The debate focused on the differences between national skills priorities, and on how education and training systems respond to changing skills needs and to the internationalisation of labour markets and technologies.

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