The IQS Stakeholder Council debate
On March 28, 2017. the fourth consultation and information meeting for IQS stakeholders was held. The group of representatives of, among others, workers' organizations, employers associations (including industries), central administration, institutions involved in non-formal education, IQS Stakeholder Council and the directors and employees of the Educational Research Institute (IBE) talked about monitoring the implementation of IQS.
The IQS project leader - Ms Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak, PhD - presented the main research activities in this area, which include:
- analysis of the demand for qualifications and qualifications supply in selected industries (hotel and catering, information technology, construction), defining the role and relevance of qualifications held by individuals in the process of recruitment in the analysed industries;
- analysis of the functioning of vocational guidance and certain aspects of education and vocational counseling;
- conditions and perspectives of adult learning in Poland; the objective of the study is to determine the extent to which the implementation of IQS support lifelong learning (LLL) among adult Poles, the interest in obtaining new qualifications, the impact of the participation in LLL on professional activity;
- evaluation of quality of qualifications; the objective of the study is to assess, from the perspective of the IQS guidelines, the solutions for internal quality assurance in the IQS reporting entities and the solutions adopted by the entities applying for permission to act as an external quality assurance to certifying institutions;
- monitoring the effects of formal education in the school system at the local level;
- evaluation of the IQS qualification inclusion; the objective of the study is to develop recommendations for improving the process; the study will be supported by, among others, gathering reviews on the procedure of submitting qualification for the IQS, the documentation requirements for the preparation, filing costs, including the costs of preparing the application, the information obtained during the evaluation stage of the application.
The programme of the meeting included time for comments from the applicants concerning the inclusion of qualifications in the IQS. Mr Marek Marczak VCC Foundation (2 requests for inclusion of qualifications in the IQS), Mr. Rafał Szymański from the National Association of Real Estate Professionals (3 requests) and Mr. Jacek Pulwarski (1 request) shared their experience. The attention was drawn to the problems arising, among others, from unclear laws, concerning, for example, additional validation requirements, lack of information on the websites of ministries and the IQS portal about the current stage of the inclusion procedure of a particular application, the need to develop communication standards between the Minister and the applicant.
Part of the meeting was devoted to monitoring the IQS in the area of vocational guidance. The ongoing studies will include giving answers to the following questions:
- what is the role of vocational and educational counselors in the development of skills of the people using their support?
- what is their level of knowledge of the IQS?
- to what extent they use or plan to use the tools offered in the IQS and support its development?
The debate also focused on what can be done and should be done to increase the efficiency at the junction of career counseling and the IQS. The conclusions of the study will facilitate the development of guidelines for more effective participation of the counselors in the activities supporting learning throughout life and the IQS. Mr. Mirosław Górczyński - counselor representing the Association of School and Vocational Counselors of Poland and the Trade Unions Forum - spoke about a new approach to the work of counselors in schools in connection with the reform of education, about the context of the IQS in these changes, about the impact of the IQS on increasing the role of counselors in the new core curriculum for general education and the core curriculum for vocational education, about how counselors can use Polish Qualifications Framework (PQF) and the Integrated Qualifications Register (IQR) as potential tools.
