Project VARE

Project duration:

Autumn 2015 – Autumn 2017

Project partners:

• UK Naric (Great Brain) – leading partner
• 3S – Research Laboratory (Austria)
• Cooperation Fund Foundation (Poland)
• Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training
• VTCT (Great Britain)

Short description of the project:

A recent research has shown lack of transparency in quality assurance in VET, particularly in assessment and recognition. So far, scarce regard has been paid to the role and competences of persons, who perform the role of an assessor, which could become an obstacle in procedures for recognizing attained qualifications of candidates in other countries. Uniform understanding of open questions in this area could facilitate trust among educational systems of different countries and thus contribute to “supranational” recognition of the qualifications attained by candidates. Facilitated recognition of qualifications would contribute to increased mobility of learning individuals and of the subsequent labour force.

The “Vocational Assessors Requirements in Europe” (VARE) project is focused on identifying the requirements for assessment and assessors in vocational education and training programmes across the European Union, with the purpose of ensuring greater transparency of attained qualifications among countries and with the purpose of encouraging mobility of both secondary school students/university students and of subsequent labour force.

The project attempts to answer the following questions:

• Who carries out assessments in VET programmes and how?
• To what extent are assessors required to hold specific qualifications, be members of a recognised profession, and be subject to regulations and meet specific standards of professional conduct?
• What occupational standards, qualifications and learning outcomes exist for those who carry out assessments?
• Are the requirements for assessors comparable between countries, and between parts of the vocational system within the same country?
• Are there differences based on the type of system, the sector, or the country setting the requirements?

Groups of different participants, who otherwise participate in VET, were involved in observations and in creation of project results.

Project results:

All project results are presented on the project website:

• Catalogue of Assessor Requirements
• Case studies of good practice
• Comparative Analysis of Assessor Requirements (among participating countries)

All information about the project are available at the project website.

The VARE project was selected by the European Commission as an example of a project management best practice.