Summary of the public debate - report

A conference summarising the public debate on the National Qualifications Framework was held in Warsaw on September 24, 2013. The occasion to bring together nearly 150 representatives from government, higher education, employers' organizations was the completion of the second stage of the public debate. During the conference, IBE experts presented the status of the work on the project, the NQS Glossary, the principles of the Integrated Qualifications Register, as well as an action plan for the future, including the information campaign.

Project leader, Dr. Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak, thanked the many guests for their participation and involvement in the public debate. She stressed, however, that this is not the end of consultations with social partners, but a change in the form of working - in groups representing business sectors,  through seminar meetings and regional conferences.

The second stage of public debate, which culminated in the Warsaw conference, began in February 2012. Participants included representatives of ministries, regional labour offices, employers' organisations, training companies, and non-governmental organisations. They worked in three thematic groups, focusing on: the Polish Qualifications Framework levels and their characteristics; the principles of assigning qualifications to PQF levels; and, the principles governing the national qualifications system and the national qualifications register. " Many of the issues discussed during the meetings, such as levels descriptors, sectoral qualifications frameworks or the ownership of qualifications, aroused heated discussions," said Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak. "This is very important, because the dialogue of the debates allows us to get all sorts of advice and suggestions from the participants; we learn what their expectations and needs are, as well as their concerns," she stressed.  

Next, Horacy Dębowski of the Educational Research Institute spoke about the work on the second edition of the "Glossary of the basic concepts related to the national qualifications system", which is supplementing the previous version. "The starting point, the basis of the second edition, is 17 terms found in the referencing report. These include, among others, credit accumulation, registered qualification, validation, the component describing a qualification level (descriptor), social competence," he said, adding that the revised glossary will be a good basis for further discussion on determining which concepts are still lacking. The publication has already been completed and will be published and made available at IBE by the end of this year.

Horacy Dębowski also presented the following topic on the results of work with sector groups. He spoke about cooperation with sectoral teams, which are working on, among others, proposals of the principles for determining the qualifications’ levels in the Polish Qualifications Framework and initially assigning them to PQF levels. The teams have been able to assign an initial PQF level to as many as 413 qualifications. "In order to determine a qualification’s level, not only are learning outcomes required, but also information on the conditions needed to be able to apply for the qualification, the scope and specificity of the tasks which must be able to be performed in order to possess the qualification, as well as information on the methods and tools of verifying the learning outcomes. A second key proposal states that the qualification should be assigned to a level that it is best suited to, that is, the level that better corresponds to its key learning outcomes when compared to other levels," stated Mr. Dębowski.

Elżbieta Lechowicz of IBE then spoke about the Integrated Qualifications Register (IQR). "Along with the Polish Qualifications Framework, the IQR will be the instrument that integrates the national qualifications system. This register will contain information about all the qualifications available from the formal education system in Poland, and each registered qualification will be assigned to an appropriate PQF level," she explained. "The IQR will be a "link" between qualifications subsystems that have been functioning thus far autonomously," noted Ms. Lechowicz. She also explained the proposed guidelines of submitting a qualification to the Register and the role of government ministries in this process.

The next speaker from the Educational Research Institute, Dr. Thomas Saryusz -Wolski, presented the results of the ECVET (European Credit System for Vocational Education and Training) pilot project, conducted at the National Vocational Education School in Elbląg. "One of the objectives of the pilot project was to answer the question - Is there convergence between the learning outcomes of the study programmes of first cycle studies (PQF level 6) and the professional competencies typical for the jobs held by graduates, and if so, to what extent are they in agreement? - By analysing typical jobs in conjunction with an analysis of study programmes, professional learning units were defined that then could be assigned ECVET credits. The analysis also enabled the project to determine whether all the competencies required to perform the general tasks of a given profession are present in the study programme. This allows additions or modifications to be proposed to the learning outcomes in order to better adapt them to labour market needs or to add vocational or practical elements to the programme to develop competencies," stated Dr. Saryusz-Wolski. "Separating out ECVET vocational learning units allows us to assess the "professionalism" of a study programme, or, to define the amount of professional education that is actually contained in the study programmes of a vocational school," concluded Dr. Saryusz -Wolski.

Achievements in the field of dissemination and planned activities of the NQF project were presented by Beata Balińska, Team leader for International Cooperation and Promotion at IBE. "Cooperation at the national level, through conferences, participation in external events and seminars for career and guidance counsellors, teachers and inspectors provided information to thousands of people about the NQF, explained Ms. Balińska. "During the seminars, presented in the form of workshops,  we explain exactly what the Polish Qualifications Framework is, show how it works and how it can be used to support the work of career and guidance counsellors. We are now planning academic publications, research reports, new brochures and promotional activities. There will also be successive national conferences and seminars for career and guidance counsellors throughout Poland," Ms. Balińska announced.

Representatives of employers who actively participated in the second stage of the public debate spoke about the NQS from their perspective. They included Krzysztof Chełpiński of the Chamber of Commerce for Electronics and Telecommunications and Andrew Butra from Pearson.

"Polish businesses need employees with skills matching labour market needs that are easily and effectively verifiable. An education programme for employees is needed, which is flexible and quickly responds to market needs, and ensures that qualifications meet the expectations of employers. Unfortunately, there is no system providing information about the needs of the labour market, and cooperation is lacking between academics and entrepreneurs in developing study programmes. In addition, the training offered is unsuited to the needs of the labour market and a quality assurance system for the training is lacking," stated Krzysztof Chełpiński in his diagnosis of key problems. "It is essential, therefore, to develop a national qualifications register and to work with representatives of education and business in defining the competencies for specific sectors," he summarised.

Andrew Butra spoke about what employers can gain from diplomas and certificates. "From the point of view of employers, the benefits of training confirmed by certified qualifications are primarily better results, bridging gaps in the skills of company employees, increasing employee motivation and lowering the turnover of personnel," he cited.

As usually happens at debate meetings, a lively discussion ensued after the presentations. At the meeting’s conclusion, IBE’s Promotion Team declared its readiness to send material about the framework to all interested persons and called for the participation of persons and stakeholder institutions in the conferences on the NQF.

Project leader Agnieszka Chłoń-Domińczak announced that debate participants will be invited to participate in on-line consultations (via a tool on the project’s website) on October 1 about the report of the debate, which will subsequently be published.

National Qualifications System - change for educational system and Polish labour market - animation

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