In the vocational education and training system in the Netherlands, education institutions are primarily responsible for quality assurance. Their job is to determine, assess, assure and, where necessary, improve the quality of their own vocational training courses. Education institutions are free to choose their own model of quality assurance. They are also required to meet the following legal requirements:

• organise and employ a quality-assurance system to guarantee the quality of training and examinations;
• establish relevant policy and goals in dialogue with stakeholders and in cooperation with other institutions;
• assess periodically the quality of education with the involvement of independent experts and relevant stakeholders;
• publish periodically (for examination results annually) assessment results, information about the quality of education and institutional improvement plans.

Education institutions are visited by inspectors who consider the institution’s performance in terms of quality and quality assurance. The inspection is based on the education institution’s internal processes and documents (e.g. the institution’s annual report). Decisions on which institutions to inspect are based on an analysis of the risks associated with poor performance. Institutions that perform well have less supervision and those with severe problems are monitored more intensively.

When there are risks detected and an inspection follows, the inspectors looks at governing capacity, how well the legal requirements are met, learner accessibility to programmes, the content of the study programmes, the learning process, the quality of leaner guidance, performance in terms of completion rate and drop-outs, the education programme, relationships between learners and tutors and safety, examination results and satisfaction of the students on those areas. If the examination results or the quality of education is insufficient more than two years, the government reviews the financial arrangements or withdraws the institution’s licence to provide education or offer public examinations.

Reports of individual education institutions are published on the internet and an annual report on the performance of the vocational education and training system is send to the government. The Minister and State Secretary discuss the reports and their improvement policy in the Parliament.

For more information on the Dutch vocational education and training system, please go to www.minocw.nl/english Information about quality assurance in VET in the Netherlands can be found on the website of the National Quality Assurance Reference Point.

Go back to Guideline 03

The funding of adult and vocational education is governed by the Adult and Vocational Education Act. And the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science funds vocational education courses directly, based partly on the number of students per course/learning pathway (80 per cent of the available budget) and partly on the number of certificates awarded per institution (20 per cent of the available budget).

For more information on the Dutch vocational education and training system, please go to www.minocw.nl/english. Information about quality assurance in VET in the Netherlands can be found on the website of the National Quality Assurance Reference Point.

Go back to Guideline 08

In the vocational education and training system in the Netherlands, education institutions are primarily responsible for quality assurance. As part of the national quality assurance system vocational education and training (VET) providers are monitored through a risk-based national inspection system, organised by the Ministry of Education. As part of this system inspectors use a standard set of data, with common definitions. These national definitions are also used by VET training providers to ensure data collection, collation and analysis is simplified and there is a more consistent and reliable set of measures of performance.

Under the terms of the Adult and Vocational Education Act, the competent authority of a VET institution is required to set up a quality assurance system. This ensures that institutions pay systematic attention to their own performance and how they can improve it. Under the Act, VET institutions must regularly supply information to the Ministry and to the inspectorate. The institutions provide administrative data on registration and certificates of students to a central registration base (BRON) so that on a system level, as well as the institutional and educational level, data become available on completion rates and drop out. This data is also allows comparison to be made between individual institutions and the national level, so that benchmarking is possible based on the results and performance of the institution, including the success rate, the destination of target-group students and learners’ access to education. The information is used to determine how much funding the institution receives and to support and evaluate government policy.

Up to 2004 the inspectors issued a standardised report card on vocational education institutions following an inspection. These provided information on the institution’s quality of teaching and the results achieved in an easily readable form. Reports from individual VET institutions are published on the inspectorate’s website . In 2007 the format of the report card was adapted to take account of the risk based inspection system and the report cards have now been replaced by inspection cards, which provide information about the quality of each VET course.

For more information on the Dutch vocational education and training system, please go to www.minocw.nl/english. Information about quality assurance in VET in the Netherlands can be found on the website of the National Quality Assurance Reference Point.

Go back to Guideline 04

“In the Netherlands the outcomes of the inspections for each training provider are available on the internet and are used to compile an annual report on the system’s performance which is also available at internet.”

In the vocational education and training system in the Netherlands, education institutions are primarily responsible for quality assurance. As part of the national quality assurance system vocational education and training (VET) providers are monitored through a national inspection system, organised by the Ministry of Education.

The current monitoring and inspection system has been in place since 1 January 2008 (developed in July 2007) and is risk-based. Under the terms of the Education Inspection Act institutions which perform well ‘earn’ the right to less supervision, whereas inspection is intensified at institutions with deficiencies in quality.

The inspectorate draws up an annual inspection schedule which focuses on potential risks, which may be educational or financial in character. If no risks are detected, an individual institution is awarded a ‘basic arrangement’ or basic inspection status, which means the inspectorate does not think any further studies into the quality of education are required. However, if the inspectors identify one or more risks, documents and data from the institution are examined in greater depth.

If the inspectors decide that an inspection is required, supplementary information is collected and during the inspection there is discussion on the risks and problems that have been identified, and the ways in which the inspectorate intends to intervene. Intervention then follows at the institutions where this is necessary, with the aim of making a thorough quality assessment or introducing measures for improving quality. As part of the inspection, inspectors consider the VET provider’s performance in terms of the quality of provision and the internal quality assurance arrangements. In order to keep the inspection burden to a minimum for institutions, the risk analysis is based as far as possible on available data, such as educational outcomes, annual reports, signals and findings from previous inspections.

All institutions – including those that perform well – are visited at least once a year. The inspectors discuss in their visit the results of the risk-analyses with the board of the institution. Reports of inspections are published on the inspectorate’s website (www.onderwijsinspectie.nl ). Occasionally the report is not published, for privacy reasons or because the nature of the report does not lend itself to publication.

For more information on the Dutch vocational education and training system, please go to www.minocw.nl/english. Information about quality assurance in VET in the Netherlands can be found on the website of the National Quality Assurance Reference Point.

Go back to Guideline 05

“In the Netherlands the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science commissions two pieces of research to measure student satisfaction with VET training. These monitoring arrangements report at the system level and one of them also reports at the institutional level.”

In the vocational education and training (VET) system in the Netherlands, education institutions are primarily responsible for quality assurance. As part of the national quality assurance system, independent researchers monitor the students’ perception of their VET provision. Using indicators and measures that are particularly relevant to students (e.g. the quality of careers guidance, the reasons for “drop out etc ), the quality of provision is considered at institutional and national level. At a national level an annual report is produced to support policy developments in improving the quality of VET.

Training providers use this information and feedback from students mostly at the institutional or faculty level to improve quality.

For more information on the Dutch vocational education and training system, please go to www.minocw.nl/english. Information about quality assurance in VET in the Netherlands can be found on the website of the National Quality Assurance Reference Point.

Go back to Guideline 07

In Slovenia the quality assurance legislation for vocational education and training (VET) established an agreed set of quality indicators which are (the first annual report covers the school year 2007/2008) used at a national level. These national indicators were considered by the National Council of Experts for VET ² . The agreed seven national indicators are:

1. the percentage of training providers applying internal quality assurance systems defined by law;
2. the percentage of teachers and trainers with teaching qualifications;
3. the percentage of teachers and trainers participating in further training, the amount and share of funds invested by providers in their training programmes;
4. the percentage of students who successfully complete their programme on schedule;
5. the percentage of learners who succeed in final exams;
6. destination of VET learners in six and twelve months after completion of training
7. the percentage of programs developed in response to employers.

The National Council of Experts for VET decided that quality assurance systems should be implemented gradually. Therefore the first national report on quality in VET (for school year 2007/08) includes only the first three indicators, the second report (for school year 2008/09) will include the first three and the fifth indicator. Indicators four and six are going to be trialled in a few schools in order to develop the methodology for these two indicators. The methodology for collecting data is also being developed progressively taking into account the Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational education and training (hereinafter: Slovenian Institute for VET)’s capacity to prepare a yearly report, the needs of providers, and the interests of other stakeholders involved in the system.

Using this staged approach, Slovenia has identified that 30 per cent of providers have organised their quality assurance system in line with the legislation and a further almost 30 per cent of providers have established a group with responsibility for quality assurance. The new quality assurance system at provider level is mandatory and:

• providers have to establish a group with responsibility for quality assurance which includes school experts, employers, students and their parents (when learners are under age);
• requires the headmaster to be responsible for self-evaluation;
• requires training providers to publish an annual report on quality which is presented to the Constitutional school council which includes representatives from national and local government, parents and school employees.

For more information on the Slovenian vocational education and training system, please go to the National Institute’s website at www.cpi.si/en/ or the National Institute’s publication on developing a Common European VET Area.

² This National Council is a decision making body on most of VET area and consultative body for policy making decisions of government and ministry about VET. The Council has 14 members and a president, who is chosen by the ministry of education. At least one third of members must come from VET providers. Five members are proposed by ministries (at least two by the ministry of educations), five are proposed by chambers of commerce and four are proposed by the trade unions. The Council is one of three (the others cover general education and adult education) permanent (new members are elected every five years) expert bodies in the Slovenian education system.

Go back to Guideline 02

“Slovenia introduced new legislation to cover quality assurance at both the provider and national level in 2006. This was followed by legislation in 2008 to make self-evaluation the responsibility of training providers.”

In July 2006 Slovenia introduced the new Vocational and Technical Education Act which included provision for quality assurance at provider and national level. Each training provider or school is required to assure the quality of their provision based on the principles of total quality management, which consider the Common Quality Assurance Framework for VET (CQAF/EQARF). The legislation also established quality indicators for the national system which are determined by the National Council of Experts for VET.

In April 2008 Slovenia changed the Act of Organisation and Funding Education to assign new responsibility for headmasters (for all pre-university education and training) to complete an annual self evaluation which is used to report the school’s performance to the Constitutional school council. At a national level the minister of education is responsible for nominating members of the Council for Quality and Evaluation, deciding on the Council’s recommendations on how to measure quality assurance at a national level, and reviewing the Council’s proposals for evaluations.

The Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Vocational Education and Training (Slovenian Institute for VET) has prepared recommendations for training providers to evaluate their own performance. This suggests self-evaluation should cover the following areas:

• school management
• quality assurance system
• education plans
• learning and teaching
• testing and assessment
• meeting educational objectives
• work-based practical training
• counselling and support to students
• professional development of teachers and other practitioners
• the school as the centre of life-long learning
• development projects

Each area has defined a set of quality indicators, guidelines for improving quality and what quality looks like at a basic level. The guidelines for improving quality define optimal objectives that schools should strive to attain, while the basic quality level is seen as the lowest level that schools need to achieve without compromising their quality. This self-evaluation provides schools with a system to design their own assessment and develop improvement measures. Each school is asked to evaluate two or three areas in their first year of using the system with more areas being added over time. The Council of Experts for VET will in future determine mandatory areas and indicators that each school has to cover in its quality assurance report.

The Slovenian Institute for VET offers schools support in developing a methodology for self-evaluation and preparation of reports on quality. The Institute produces a yearly report on the quality of VET based on quality indicators for the national system. This yearly report is published on the Institute website.

For more information on the Slovenian vocational education and training system, please go to the Institute’s website at www.cpi.si/en/, the Institute’s publication on developing a Common European VET Area or at Cedefop publication on vocational education and training in VET (2007).

Go back to Guideline 03

“Romania piloted self-assessment quality assurance processes from 2003-2006 in order to introduce new requirements from the 2006-2007 school year.”

The Romanian national quality assurance framework in vocational education and training (VET) was introduced through legislation in 2006. The framework includes a set of national quality assurance principles, measures, methodologies and actions including standardised arrangements for assuring the quality of the initial vocational training at both the system and provider level.

The quality principles, the methodology and the quality assurance instruments are based on the four stages of the Common Quality Assurance Framework in VET (CQAF). For each of the principles (the management of quality, responsibility for quality, management of resources, development of learning programmes, teaching and learning, evaluation, the award of certificates, and the measurement of performance) a set of performance descriptors have been developed which set out what is expected at the provider and system level.

Self assessment (see case study self evaluation) forms the main quality assurance process which is supplemented by internal and external monitoring. From 2003 to 2006, the self evaluation and inspection system in the new framework were piloted as part of an EU-funded Phare technical assistance programme. In 2003-2005 the systems were piloted in 22 VET units with a further 122 units in 2005-2006 school year

Following the analysis of the pilots, the self-evaluation and inspection system, supported by nationally available manuals began in 2006-2007 school year

For more information on the Romanian vocational education and training system, please go to www.tvet.ro

Go back to Guideline 06

The Romanian national quality assurance framework in initial vocational education and training (IVET) was introduced through legislation in 2006. The framework includes a set of national quality assurance principles, measures, methodologies and actions including standardised arrangements for assuring the quality of the initial vocational training at both the system and provider level.

Using the EU-funded Phare project a self- assessment manual and an external inspection manual were developed. From 2003-2006 the manuals were trialed by 120+ IVET schools and adopted for all IVET providers from 2006-2007. The manuals include a series of self assessment activities external monitoring processes (see below) and a two-stage accreditation system (link to case study 29). The external monitoring processes include the following activities that are coordinated by the VET inspectorate:

• external monitoring of the quality of VET providers and their programmes. This includes offering guidance and support to VET providers on quality assurance process, quality control to ensure quality is maintained and enhanced, and proposals for quality improvement measures;
• validation of VET providers’ self-assessment reports;
• approval of TVET providers’ improvement plans

For more information on the Romanian vocational education and training system, please go to www.tvet.ro

Go back yo Guideline 05

“Romanian providers are required to complete an annual self-evaluation. All internal and external self-evaluation processes are co-ordinated by a national agency.”

The Romanian national quality assurance framework in initial vocational education and training (VET) was introduced through legislation in 2006. The framework includes a set of national quality assurance principles, measures, methodologies and actions including standardised arrangements for assuring the quality of the initial vocational training at both the system and provider level. Training providers are responsible for self evaluation. Their responsibilities are set out in the national quality assurance manual (see web link) and can be summarised as follows:

The self evaluation processes require training providers to:

• plan all their VET activities through a strategic and operational plan. This becomes the School Action Plan 2007 – 2013, which responds to regional and local priorities;
• internally monitor the planned activities are completed and includes evaluation of teaching and learning process through lesson observations. This process has to evaluate the school’s difficulties in meeting its objectives, issues arising from teaching and learning, and it identifies appropriate solutions;
• self-assess their performance based on evidence and produce a self-assessment report;
• identify revisions and develop an improvement plan, to underpin the next cycle of the operational plan
• develop a quality manual for the school.

For more information on the Romanian vocational education and training system, please go to www.tvet.ro

Go back to Guideline 03