RECOGNITION OF NON-FORMAL AND INFORMAL ... - Solidar

RECOGNITION OF NON-FORMAL AND INFORMAL
COMPETENCES OF WORKERS’ REPRESENTATIVES
NON-FORMALLY AND INFORMALLY ACQUIRED
COMPETENCES IN THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT
PART III
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THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL
RECOMMENDATIONS
¬ The project, ‘Promoting the Agenda for New Skills and Jobs:
Strengthening Individual Learning Pathways by Developing
Skills Assessment Tools for Workers’, was aimed at identifying
and safeguarding the competences acquired informally, either
through work or in the private domain. To this end, the experiences
of the international project partners were utilised in
order to follow a viable path which was not dictated by timeconsuming
assessment centres, but which would lead to tangible
outcomes for workers, notwithstanding the limited time
available to the workers involved.
In numerous meetings, the international composition of the project
proved that this topic is still lacking clear defi nitions. Some
of the catchphrases included informal and non-formal competence,
informal learning, practical knowledge, prior learning,
soft skills, informal learning outcomes and many others.
Nevertheless, the project partners gained the following experiences
with other target groups which can be regarded as
intermediate results: Informal competences (potentials and
resources) can neither be clearly identifi ed nor measured correctly.
It is not possible to develop a system which can objectively
measure capabilities, skills, qualifi cations, knowledge and
values by mathematical means. Basic competences described
in the literature as personal, technical, methodical, and social
and communicative abilities are, however, manageable. With
this structure it is possible to analyse, document and provide
evidence of these competences more easily in cooperation with
those involved.
formal competences. Competences provide the ability to complete
certain tasks. This is especially true for informally acquired
competences, which is why it is all the more important that the
person is right for the role. What requirements do the tasks that
a person is already carrying out, or wishes to carry out in the
future entail? What requirements does the person already fulfi l?
What are the characteristics that the person needs to have?
Concentrating on only a few job profi les made categorising and
assessing informal competences easier for us. Measurement and
validation proved to be more diffi cult. However, this is also the
case when comparing formal competences. These problems will
arise even more frequently when general recognition and certifi -
cation are the goal. This will be the task of further projects which
are intended to carry out a practical validation of competences
and, most importantly, informal competences. We should not
leave validation to the bodies of the formal systems. We should
try to identify informal competences as practically and as differentiated
as possible and in cooperation with the person concerned.
Moreover, we should regard the enrichment of informal
competences in a specifi c job, at work, in civil and political roles
and in one‘s private and family life as a never-ending process.
Although the European Council and Cedefop are pursuing the
validation and assessment of informal competences within the
formal system, our experiences indicate that an entirely differentiated
course of action is required. We assume that the bodies
which will later issue certifi cations at a national level must
start their work at a level close to that of the workers’ practical
knowledge. Moreover, it will not be possible to base certifi -
cation solely on analysing defi ciencies (“What is lacking that
prevents you from entering this fi eld of work?”). Often, these
(purely) formal competences are less helpful for a job than in-
Photo credits: © Gene Chutka / istockphoto.com
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