Validation of non-formal and informal learning - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 398/1

The validation of learning outcomes, namely knowledge, skills and competences acquired through non-formal and informal learning can play an important role in enhancing employability and mobility, as well as increasing motivation for lifelong learning, particularly in the case of the socio-economically disadvantaged or the low-qualified.

At a time when the European Union is confronted with a serious economic crisis which has caused a surge in unemployment, especially among young people, and in the context of an ageing population, the validation of relevant knowledge, skills and competences has an even more valuable contribution to make in improving the functioning of the labour market, in promoting mobility and in enhancing competitiveness and economic growth.

Employer organisations, individual employers, trade unions, chambers of industry, commerce and skilled crafts, national entities involved in the process of recognising professional qualifications and in assessing and certifying learning outcomes, employment services, youth organisations youth workers, education and training providers, as well as civil society organisations are all key stakeholders with an important role to play in facilitating opportunities for non-formal and informal learning and any subsequent validation processes.

The ‘Europe 2020’ strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth calls for the development of knowledge, skills and competences for achieving economic growth and employment. The accompanying flagship initiatives ‘Youth on the Move’ and the ‘Agenda for new skills and jobs’ emphasise the need for more flexible learning pathways that can improve entry into and progression in the labour market, facilitate transitions between the phases of work and learning and promote the validation of non-formal and informal learning.

The Council conclusions of 12 May 2009 on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020) (1) noted that lifelong-learning should be regarded as a fundamental principle underpinning the entire framework, which is designed to cover learning in all contexts whether formal, non-formal or informal.

The ‘EU Strategy for Youth — Investing and Empowering; a renewed open method of coordination to address youth challenges and opportunities’ of 2009 called for better recognition of skills acquired through non-formal education for young people and stressed the need for full use to be made of the range of tools established at EU level for the validation of knowledge, skills and competences for the recognition of qualifications. It was endorsed by Council Resolution of 27 November 2009 on a renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018) (2).

In the Bruges Communiqué of December 2010, the European Ministers for Vocational Education and Training, the European Social Partners and the European Commission declared that participating countries should start to develop, no later than 2015, national procedures for the recognition and validation of non-formal and informal learning, supported, as appropriate, by national qualifications frameworks.

The Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers responsible for Higher Education held in Leuven and Louvain-la-Neuve on 28 and 29 April 2009 underlined that successful policies for...