3rd Annual Meeting of the ETF Forum for Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training

Forum Members from ETF partner countries have come together to share the latest developments of the ETF’s Forum for Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training. The 3rd annual meeting is taking place at ETF premises from 8 to 10 October 2019.  

Participants include National Contact Persons representing Forum Member institutions from Partner countries, representatives from the European Commission’s Directorate-General on Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion; Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE); and the Agency for Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education of Croatia.  

Discussions will focus on lessons learnt from a peer visit in Tunisia, in April 2019, piloting the Forum’s Peer Visit Methodology, hosted by the Ministry of Vocational Training and Employment of Tunisia, in cooperation with the Tunisian National Center for the training of trainers.  

The annual event will also contribute to preparations for the forthcoming peer visit in 2020. Participants will review Forum activities on quality indicators, and discuss and agree the Forum's strategy and action plan for 2020-2022.

Background

The European Training Foundation launched the Forum for Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training in November 2017. The Forum is a transnational collaboration initiative between national institutions with vocational education and training and/or vocational education and training quality assurance mandates in ETF’s partner countries.

The aim of the Forum is to support member countries to modernise and improve quality assurance in VET by providing the context and means for peer learning through multinational co-operation. A peer visit is an opportunity for external feedback to the host, which can support Forum members in their quality assurance development efforts.

The peer visit in Tunisia was an opportunity to pilot for the first time the ETF Quality Assurance Forum`s Peer Visit Methodology, which forms part of the ETF Peer Visit Guidance and Training Manual. The second peer visit will take place in March 2020, and a third visit will take place in the second half of 2020.

Forum members work on monitoring and reporting on their national developments in quality assurance in VET, mapping their understanding, relevancy, coverage and data collection characteristics using indicators from the Reference Framework of the European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET). Making use of data to improve VET is central to all quality assurance approaches. As well as exchanging information on their systems with other forum members, their systems are more transparent for an international community of experts.