Page 61 - Looking_after_school

2. The architecture: from the educational institution
to the learning environment

a person holding a particular qualification actually knows and is able
to do. Shifting the focus to learning outcomes supports a better match
between the needs of the labour market (for knowledge, skills, and com-
petences) and education and training pro- vision; it facilitates the valida-
tion of non-formal and informal learning; facilitates the transfer and use
of qualifications across different countries and education and training
systems. It also recognises that Europe’s education systems are so diverse
that comparisons based on inputs, say length of study, are impracticable.”
(European Commission, 2010, p. 4)

In this context, qualification does not refer to successfully passing a
curriculum and obtaining a degree, but to having competencies of a
certain level. A qualification, based on acknowledged and validated
learning outcomes, is a direct indication of the employability of the
learner. It is something that they can use to be competent or to perform
in one or more domains (such as another learning environment or the
job market). Degrees refer to the duration, the level, and the domain
of schooling. A qualification framework, however, starts from learning
outcomes, which means that the emphasis is on what specific com-
petencies are owned by a specific individual. The assumption of this
qualification culture is that people learn throughout their lives, that
formal learning (which takes place in an institution) is only one avenue
alongside informal and non-formal learning, and that it is learning
outcomes which matter (not the duration or the location of learning).
What is needed from this starting point is an open and flexible sys-
tem with very clear standards; those standards are needed in order to
recognise and validate any learning outcome that an individual may
achieve, and wherever they may achieve it. In European terms, this
means that a qualification framework functions as a ‘single currency’
for competencies or human capital. This does not mean, however,
that there is no trace of degrees in the architecture of the learning
environment. What changes is that authority shifts from the degree
and the issuing institution to the competencies or learning outcomes
which it contains. This implies, of course, that the job market - and
further education- will, rather than only taking degrees into account,
increasingly start to recognise these now-identifiable competencies.
For the learner, this means that their attention should go to acquiring,
accumulating, and validating competencies which can be employed,

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