Qualifications for everyone
150 people came from all over Poland to Warsaw on January 13, 2015 to discuss how to effectively develop vocational qualifications in the regions, support young people in choosing their future educational paths and promote lifelong learning. The meeting served as a summary of 17 regional conferences organised by the Educational Research Institute from April 24 to December 10, 2014.During the conference, experts presented:
- the status of work on the integrated qualifications system and its main elements, with a specific focus on sectoral qualifications frameworks,
- information on the work carried out by the Kraków Voivodeship Employment Office to verify several mechanisms being proposed for the system,
- information on the competencies of adult Poles based on PIAAC (Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) survey results,
- good practices in the region related to vocational education, lifelong learning, and supporting youth in choosing their future educational paths.
Conference participants attentively listened to the educational activities planned for the 2014-2020 programming period presented by Magdalena Marchlewska from the Structural Funds Department of the Ministry of National Education.
Good practices from the region were presented during the conference:
- Beata Matyszewska, a vocational counselor at the No. 69 Complex of Schools, spoke about the “Young Varsovians” project. She participated in the conference with a group of young people, who came to learn about the occupational tasks related to organising such an event,
- Zenon Kiczko, chairperson of the Municipal Urban Management Committee, Polish Chamber of Commerce, spoke about the qualifications of an urban manager,
- Kazmierz Stocki, vice-director of the Labour Market at the Lublin Voivodeship Employment Office spoke on “Promoting vocational counseling among lower secondary school pupils”,
- the project “Podkarpacie is betting on the pros” was presented by Małgorzata Kawalec from the Rzeszów Voivodeship Employment Office,
- participants learned about dual education in the Łódź Voivodeship from Ewelina Cygan, an employee of FON-SKB limited liability company SKA.
Additionally, Dr. Maja Rynko of IBE presented the results of the PIAAC study. She discussed the characteristics of highly qualified persons, who are the driving force of the economy, as well as those of persons with the lowest competencies, who particularly require additional opportunities for learning.
The first discussion panel, „Regional development planning by managing qualifications”, was led by Witold Woźniak, vice-director of the National Centre for the Support of Vocational and Continuing Education. Participating in the discussion were: Andrzej Martynuska, director of the Kraków Voivodeship Employment Office, Jacek Hordejuk, director of the Białystok Chamber of Crafts and Entrepreneurship, Zenon Kiczko, chairperson of the Municipal Urban Management Committee, Polish Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Maja Rynko from the Educational Research Institute and participants in the room.
The second panel discussion devoted to vocational education was led by Jolanta Kosakowska from the Polish Craft Association. Participating in the discussion were: Kazimierz Stocki from the Lublin Voivodeship Employment Office, Małgorzata Kawalec from the Rzeszów Voivodeship Employment Office, Ewelina Cygan from FON-SKB and Wojciech Stęchły from the Educational Research Institute.
The conference was organised as part of the project entitled „Developing the national qualifications system – pilot implementation of the national qualifications system and its promotional campaign”. As with all the regional conferences, this one also had the patronage of “Wspólnota” – the journal on local government.
