PANEL - Spotlight on Qualifications Frameworks in Ethiopia and Austri...

This panel took place as part of the 12th International Researching Work & Learning Conference (RWL12), July 13-15, 2022, Toronto.

The number of Qualifications Frameworks (QFs) has been growing rapidly since the mid-1990s (Allais, 2017); a recent global inventory comprises over 100 regional and national QFs (CEDEFOP et al., 2018). QFs have become a global phenomenon and are increasingly being seen as instruments for addressing national objectives (Young, 2003). The rationale for countries developing QFs are multiple (OECD, 2007): strengthen the coherence of their qualifications systems; provide a reference point for quality assurance, create a platform for communication, cooperation, and dialogue between education and training and the labour market; make national qualifications systems more user‐friendly; increase the transparency of national qualifications systems; support lifelong learning; create a system of referencing and comparability of qualifications nationally, regionally, and internationally.

 A QF is an abstract construction that can be made explicit through levels and level descriptors, its principles, and producers (Lester, 2001). Its implementation is not superficial that leaves existing education and training systems to go on as before. It might involve a complete change not only in the way qualifications have traditionally been organized but also in the deeply embedded practices that underpin them.

The panel intended to provide a comparative spotlight on development and implementation of the QFs in Ethiopia and Austria, and their impact on TVET, continuing education/workplace learning and the labour market, focusing in particular on the aims of the respective QF, and the current state of play, referring to selected parameters from international comparative literature, based on Allais´s (2017) review of typologies.

The Ethiopian panellists aim at highlighting the structure-giving function of the Ethiopian QF, especially for the TVET sector, and intend to analyse practical effects, i.e., access to LLL, entitlements/qualifications, access to the labour market, permeability within the Ethiopian education system including non-formal and informal learning. The Austrian panellists present the development and implementation of the Austrian QF, which qualifies as a communication and transparency framework with a clear descriptive approach based on the 2008 European Parliament and Council Recommendation. However, enabled by the learning outcomes approach, a transformational facet can be identified: The non-formal sector (and recognition of prior learning) is gaining visibility, and the formal education sector is no longer the sole locus for awarding qualifications.

These two country cases are followed by a commentary from an international comparative perspective by Stephanie Allais, internationally renowned expert on researching education and labour. The comment intends to highlight potential and limitations of the respective QF and the two cases are framed within the international-comparative analysis. Based on the two country reports (i.e., how Ethiopia and Austria deal with implementation and effects), a clearer picture should emerge of what role QFs (can) take on.