Valuing all learning. Guidelines for a vocational education and training system for Malta’s National Qualifications Framework. Vol 2

Abstract

The aim of publishing three working documents is to instigate an informed dialogue on the proposed National Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning and the implications of the Framework to vocational education and training, the sector which falls within the remit of the Malta Qualifications Council (MQC). MQC was set up in December 2005 to steer the development of a national qualifications framework and to oversee the training and certification leading to qualifications within the Framework and which is not already provided for by compulsory education institutions or degree awarding bodies. The working documents carry a single title Valuing all Learning. It indicates MQC’s objective of providing the standards, criteria and infrastructure necessary to value all formal, informal and non-formal learning within the parameters established by Legal Notice 347 of 2005.The working documents reflect the discussions carried out within MQC and with key stakeholders and international consultants commissioned to critically review these documents. The first document entitled A National Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning focuses on the philosophy underlying the level descriptors for each of the eight levels designed to represent all qualifications in Malta.The Framework has two distinctive routes: the academic and the vocational route which converge into the higher education sector defined in terms of the Dublin descriptors. Each level is described in detail indicating its implications to learners and other key stakeholders in particular training providers, employers, those representing workers and social partners. The second working document entitled A VET System for Malta’s National Qualifications Framework looks at our current VET system within the proposed NQF and focuses on aspects related to the acquisition of knowledge, skills and competences in relation to mobility, progression, transferability and employability.The document illustrates how our VET system requires the intensive capacity building and the support of a comprehensive policy which adopts an outcome approach to accreditation, learning, assessment and certification.The document also focuses on the importance of having VET programmes driven by industry. The third document spells out a Quality Assurance Policy for VET within the NQF. It illustrates MQC’s policy on quality assurance support mechanisms for vocational education and training. Aware of the fact that VET institutions in Malta may possess quality assurance policies, this document draws on the proposed VET quality assurance policy published by the European Commission to suggest an overall QA policy for Malta’s VET provision. We hope that these three documents will stimulate discussion and form the basis of an agreed policy for a National Qualifications Framework that adds quality and visibility to vocational education and training and opens up new opportunities for learning within and outside our public and private training institutions. Valuing all Learning is the goal that MQC aims to achieve through its policies and standards.We are confident that these documents will provide a valuable support to engage key stakeholders to participate in this ongoing dialogue.