Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe a revised approach describing occupational competence, with particular reference to its application in two European countries at the level of specific occupational fields and in relation to the models used in national vocational education and training (VET) systems. Design/methodology/approach: An…

National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) were launched in the United Kingdom (excluding Scotland) in 1987 as a framework for rationalising what was described at the time as the "jungle" of existing vocational qualifications. They were never intended to be the basis for a comprehensive NQF for all qualifications; however, successive…

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to review the use of competence frameworks in the UK healthcare sector and to explore characteristics of the sector that may influence the success of projects to develop new frameworks. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on project reports and evaluations of practice in a range of recent projects…

The title of this document is a deliberate play on the title of the biennial reports on the progress of Bologna produced by the European Students' Union, "Bologna With Student Eyes." It is a way of paying tribute to student involvement in the Bologna reforms, and marking a parallel student working participation in the state system…

Deans, officers, and staff of colleges in Northern Ireland (n=151) rated activities for effective college leadership and management based on national standards. The validity of the standards and their future usefulness were upheld by the results. (JOW)

This paper represents the second of two papers written as part of the National Standards and Accreditation of Career Practitioners project. The first, a scoping paper titled Shaping a career development culture: Quality standards, quality practice, quality outcomes (McMahon, 2004), provided information for and guided discussion at the National…

This booklet is designed to assist management development tutors, universities and other providers, and mentors in implementing standards-based management development within British further education colleges. Section 1 presents the case for using national standards for management development in further education. Discussed in Section 2 are the…

Recent concern over the standard of social work practice, as evidenced by inquiries into child abuse cases, have led to something of a crisis in trust in the profession. As a result, there is now an emphasis on increasing practitioners' competency to practice in complex situations. Critical reflection is seen as key to achieving this increase in…

In many countries throughout the world, efforts to articulate the knowledge, skills, and abilities required of workers have translated into the development of organizations with the specific charter to establish industry-based skill standards with attendant new and/or expanded forms of certification of competencies. The new emphasis on skill…

This booklet is designed to assist British further education college managers responsible for quality assurance, human resources management (HRM), human resources development (HRD), corporate development, strategic planning, staffing/personnel, and curriculum in using national standards for HRM and HRD in further education. A synopsis, users'…

This book, which traces the emergence of an official state-sanctioned learning policy for education and training in the United Kingdom, examines how the country's government has taken a concerted approach to accomplishing the following two goals: (1) integrating the reproduction of knowledge at all levels in the educational institutions under…