Whether the EQF actually will function as an instrument for promoting validation of non-formal and informal learning is still an open question. The strong momentum created around the EQF, based on a general acceptance of the relevance of the framework, may however be seen as an opportunity for pursuing a more systematic policy in this field. This article will address this opportunity through an elaboration of the following issues and themes: – What caused the development of the EQF; which are the contextual factors requiring closer European co-operation in the field of qualifications? – Which are the core elements of the EQF; which are the strengths and limitations? – To which extent can the emergence (during the last decade) of national approaches to validation of non-formal and informal learning be seen as complementary to the shift in direction proposed by the EQF? – To which extent can the implementation of the EQF be used as a lever and an instrument for establishing permanent, high quality approaches to validation all over Europe?
8IZ B &VSPQFBO 2VBMJGJDBUJPOT 'SBNFXPSL Europe is characterised by a great diversity of education and training institutions and systems. This reflects a strong consensus that education and training must be able to respond to learning needs at local, regional and national level. One harmonised institutional and pedagogical approach would run contrary to the needs of individual citizens and the labour market. This richness and variety of European education and training can be seen as an important asset and something which makes it possible to react rapidly and efficiently to technological and economic change. As recognised by the European Councils in Lisbon and Barcelona in 2000 and 2001, increased transparency of qualifications is a necessary precondition for turning this diversity into an asset. A situation where education and training systems and institutions operate in isolation from each other leads to fragmentation and hinder rather than enable citizens to develop their knowledge, skills and competencies. Transparency of qualifications is defined (Cedefop 2005) as the degree to which the value of qualifications can be identified and compared on the labour market, in education and training and in a wider social setting. Transparency is thus related to – but not the same as – formal recognition of qualifications. Transparency of qualifications may be seen as a condition for the formal recognition provided by appropriate authorities at national or sector level. Increased transparency is important for a number of reasons at different levels: – Individual citizens must be able to make informed judgements on the relative value of one qualification compared to another – something which is not possible without a systematic approach to transparency of qualifications. This is accentuated by the fact that
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