| | | “Schools for Europe Community College III – Validation (valuing) of non-formal and informal learning in community college activities.” |
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| | Within this project, we have set up an expert community of previous participants in European European Community College courses.
The expert group members recognized already before participating, that European Community College courses (or similar learning formats) gave added real competence for living, working and/or for further educating themselves in a European context?
The SECC III was the third in a series of Community Colleges dedicated to policy development within our field.
A group of 20 Europeans has been working on identifying, assessing and describing added real competences resulting from European Community Colleges.
Inspired by Lucie Cizkova's term co-citizenship, the expert group even created their own European Qualification Framework for a European Co-citizenship education.
Moreover, the SECC III and its participants have wished to brand the concept of a European co-citizenship education by implicitly considering all previous participants co-citizenship accredited.
It belongs to the main point of the activity that identifying, valuing, validating as well as accrediting is on the authority of European citizens themselves.
A number of Europasses (CV's) were composed as model examples on how to refer to the co-citizenship accreditation.
Participants of all courses having the European Community College format as an important learning ingredience, are invited to make use of the co-citizenship logo and and add it to their personal CV. They are as well invited to make use of the identified skills, knowledge and competencies on the co-citizenship website. By taking serious the co-citizenship logo by using it, previous participants are as well helping to promote the added European value of European, non-formal and residential learning courses.
The activity should be seen in the context of EUropean policy development under headlines like "European Qualifications Framework", "Europass" and "validating non- and informal learning".
The general purpose of investigating methods for assessing/validating is to create enhanced visibility and comparability across learning cultures.
The Schools for Europe Community College III took place from September 3rd to September 10th 2006 at the International People's College in Helsingør/Elsinore, Denmark.
The motive of the ACC for undertaking this project was to create a forum in which Europeans get the opportunity to state their opinions on validation/assesment, to co-create and test validation-methods and to ensure that that it does not challenge the benefits from achieving within a non-examinational environment.
Due to globalization, a need for a dialogue about validation/assesment has emerged. By creating “Schools for Europe Community Colleges III” the ACC would like to take active part in this dialogue and encourage the citizens to take an initiative and be involved actively in the development of the European civil society.
The project was carried out by the ACC International Programme Office
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Preparatory documents for participants
Recognition debateAs many as there are stakeholders in the recognition debate, as many there are opinions on how to go about recognition. Manuel Souto (from EcoTec, a consultancy doing an "inventory of validation of non-formal and informal learning" for the European Commission and participant at Bridges) bumped into the following 'Hot Issues' nobody seemed to agree on. The text is copied from the “Non-formal and Informal Learning community” of CEDEFOP.
EuropassThe intention behind the Europass is to provide Europeans with a single framework for making qualifications and competences visible in a comparable way. The proposal announced in this release integrates more instruments (European CV, Mobilipass, Language Portfolio) into a coherent framework, identified by the single label “Europass”. Please find the EU press-release of the Council of the European Union, the EU press-release of January 7th 2004 and decisions on Europass made public in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Lifelong LearningThis communication from the Commission (November 2001) sketches the (political) context of all the efforts towards stimulating and valuing learning, not only at a young age in a school setting, but as well throughout life and in different other learning settings such as the youth sector. The text is cut out from the CEDEFOP
Making Learning VisibleAn article by Jens Björnavold (formerly Cedefop, now DG Education and Culture of the European Commission) about different ways to make out of school learning visible and be able to validate it. It gives an interesting comparison between different countries' approaches to the recognition issue. The text is copied from the “Non-formal and Informal Learning community” of CEDEFOP.
Common principles for validationThis working document, jointly developed by the Youth Unit of the European Commission and the Directorate of Youth and Sports of the Council of Europe lies at the basis of Bridges for Recognition. It sketches ways forward in the field of recognition of the education and learning taking place in the youth field, and a big visibility event such as Bridges for Recognition is part of the suggestions for concrete actions. The text is copied from the “Non-formal and Informal Learning community” of CEDEFOP.
Validation and recognitionThis working document, jointly developed by the Youth Unit of the European Commission and the Directorate of Youth and Sports of the Council of Europe lies at the basis of Bridges for Recognition. It sketches ways forward in the field of recognition of the education and learning taking place in the youth field, and a big visibility event such as Bridges for Recognition is part of the suggestions for concrete actions. The text is copied from the “Non-formal and Informal Learning community” of CEDEFOP.
Europass - a way to make your life easierWhether you are planning to enrol in an education or training programme, looking for a job, or getting experience abroad, it is important to be able to make your skills and competences clearly understood. The Europass will make it easier. Europass consists of five documents:
• two documents (Europass curriculum vitae (CV) and Europass Language Passport) ; and
• three other documents (Europass Certificate Supplement, Europass Diploma Supplement and Europass Mobility) filled in and issued by competent organisations.
You can read more about Europass, download relevant documents or fill in a Europass online on: http://europass.cedefop.eu.int/europass/preview.action?locale_id=1
Youth-Pas (SALTO-YOUTH)The Youth organisation SALTO-YOUTH is currently working to develop a European validation instrument which recognizes non- and informal education in the youth field (a youth-pas), hoping that in time this will also have an influence outside the youth programme. Keep an eye on their website to follow the latest development of the SALTO Youth-Pas.
ACC International Programme OfficeThe ACC International Programme Office is in charge of the Schools for Europe Community College III.
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.jpg "The expert group")
.jpg "Jens Björnavold (formerly CEDEFOP, now DG Education and Culture of the European Commission) explaining the European Qualifications Framework")
