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Continuing education and training
Formal education / Formal learning
Informal Education / Informal Learning
Non-formal Education / Non-formal Learning
Any training which takes place within the context of higher education (see below). Although, traditionally, this phrase has often been used to distinguish training of an intellectually-oriented nature from professional training (see below), training which leads to employability (see below) is now seen as important in all higher education study. back
A process of evaluating qualifications (or sometimes whole institutions) to determine whether they meet certain academic or professional criteria. A qualification which is accredited is recognised as meeting a certain standard and/or providing content which is required professionally. back
Action learning involves a group of people working together of a certain period of time, focused on the work-based issues brought by each individual to the group. Typically, the process takes the form of a reflective conversation in which the practitioner, with the support of colleagues, draws on his or her experiences to understand the situation, attempt to frame the problem, suggest action, and then to re-interpret the situation in light of the consequences of action. Action learning can however be implemented on a greater scale within the organisation, involving groups sponsored by the organisation with group advisers as well as groups initiated by employees. back
The sum of methods and processes used to evaluate the attainments (knowledge, know-how, skills and competences) of an individual, and typically leading to certification. back
A process by which standards are set in terms of levels of challenge and typical content for a given award (e.g. a Bachelor degree in music). back
The process of issuing certificates or diplomas which formally recognise the achievements of an individual, following an assessment procedure. back
A sharing of the self-assessment observations and comments with colleagues, mentors, co-workers and participants involved in the project. It helps students to develop transferable interpersonal skills and may help to save staff time.
Sources: Renshaw (2005), Zielhorst (2005, based on Brown, 1999) back
Sources: Renshaw (2005), Zielhorst (2005, based on Brown, 1999) back
Term developed by Lave and Wenger. Essentially maintains that Learning is about participation in communities of practice; becoming engaged in socially organised activities and so about membership and construction of diverse social bonds with other participants. Acquiring competencies and skills is almost secondary with respect to these processes of constructing new social identities and ways of thinking. back
The notion of equivalence between qualifications of the same type offered in different institutions or countries. Comparability does not require complete conformity (see below: diversity) back
Competence includes: (A) A cognitive competence involving the use of theory and concepts, as well as informal tacit knowledge gained experientially. (B) Functional competence (skills or know-how), those things that a person should be able to do when they are functioning in a given area of work, learning or social activity. (C) Personal competence involving knowing how to conduct oneself in a specific situation. (D) Ethical competence involving the possession of certain personal and professional values.
Competence is a measure of learning achievement. A student who is said to have achieved a given competence (sometimes competency) needs to have demonstrated that he or she has acquired a particular skill and is able to practise it at an acceptably high standard. back
Specifically chosen, adjusted, designed or created for one particular learning group/situation (context) alone. back
Education or training after initial education or entry into working life, aimed at helping individuals to:
- improve or update their knowledge or skills
- acquire new skills for a career move or retraining
- continue their personal professional development back
A system in which the total volume of study carried out by a student during the year (taught time plus independent study time) is given a numerical value. This value is then sub-divided to correspond to the various subjects, units or modules which the student takes. The number of credit points gained is not itself a measure of the standard achieved. If a student fails the unit, he or she gets no credits; if they pass, they get all the credits for the unit. Credits can be useful in course design in that they offer a measure of relative volume of the various elements of the course. Increasingly, they are used to enable learning in one institution to be recognised by another. This facilitates mobility. back
A set of actions followed when setting up a training course: it includes defining training goals, content, methods (including assessment) and material, as well as arrangements for training teachers and trainers. back
Concept developed by Giddens (1994). He argues that the proliferation of social movements and self-help groups in recent years is directly related to the growth of the information society, and reflects in a heigthened self-reflexivity. Such movements have played a major role in retrieving power from 'experts' and in the lay retrieval of expertise, and are instrumental in the growth of informal learning. back
The term ‘Diploma’ can mean a number of different things. The following three examples cover most cases:
- a document which functions as proof of a qualification having been obtained
- the qualification obtained at the end of the first cycle
- a qualification with professional meaning or status. For example, in some conservatoires,
all qualifications, including those given at the highest level, are called ‘diploma’. back
Recognition of titles, degrees, qualifications and periods of study abroad is an important instrument to facilitate the mobility of students and of graduates in Europe. Distinction must be made between recognition for academic purposes (because a person wishes to continue his/her studies) and recognition for professional purposes (because a person wishes to work in a certain profession). A network of national information centres for the recognition of diplomas has been established (NARICs: www.europa.eu.int/comm/education/socrates/adnaric.html). These centres provide information on national academic recognition procedures. back
A document providing information regarding course descriptions, volume of work and final grades. This document gives fuller information to employers, improves international transparency and facilitates the academic and professional recognition of qualifications (diplomas, degrees, certificates etc.). back
The Bologna Declaration is based on 'full respect of the diversity of cultures, languages, national education systems and of university autonomy’. back
Within the Bologna Declaration it is proposed that European higher education should be based on courses which are compatible with the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS). ECTS is a tool for conversion between national education systems and is an important instrument in removing barriers to mobility. The two main elements of ECTS are a credit system and a grading scale. In the ECTS credit system, one year of full-time study corresponds to 60 credits. ECTS also offers a grading scale which can be used to convert grades awarded in one national system into the most closely corresponding grade in another system. The two elements, when used together, enable a student’s learning achievement in one institution to be recognised by another. back
Definition from the Tuning glossary: The European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) is a student-centred system based on the student workload required to achieve the objectives of a programme of study. These objectives should be specified in terms of learning outcomes and competences to be acquired. ECTS is based on the principle that 60 credits measure the workload of a fulltime student during one academic year. The student workload of a full-time study programme in Europe amounts in most cases to around 1500-1800 hours per year and in those cases one credit stands for around 25 to 30 working hours.
ECTS is a system for increasing the transparency of educational systems and facilitating the mobility of students across Europe through credit accumulation and transfer. Credit transfer is guaranteed by explicit agreements signed by the home institution, the host institution and the mobile student. back
Definition from Bologna to Bergen: ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) is a credit system which provides a way of measuring and comparing learning achievements and transferring them from one institution to another. Since the introduction of the Institutional Contract in the SOCRATES/ERASMUS programme in 1997/98 all European universities can take part in ECTS.
Transparency is created by providing detailed information on the curricula and their relevance towards a degree. The main tools used to make ECTS work and facilitate academic recognition are the information package, the learning agreement and the transcript of records. back
Further information at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/ects_en.html
Transparency is created by providing detailed information on the curricula and their relevance towards a degree. The main tools used to make ECTS work and facilitate academic recognition are the information package, the learning agreement and the transcript of records. back
Further information at: http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/programmes/socrates/ects_en.html
The relevance of knowledge, skills and competences acquired through training to what the labour market/profession requires. back
When we surrender our autonomy and join a programme and accept its internally imposed discipline, we are immersed in formal education. Formal education takes place in schools and training institutions; formal learning occurs within an organized and structured context that is explicitly designated as learning and may lead to a formal recognition (diploma, certificate). It includes the hierarchically structured chronologically graded ‘education system’: primary school through university, including general and specialist (vocational) training.
Sources: Rogers (2004), Infed (www.infed.org) back
Put simply, generic skills are those that apply across a variety of jobs and life contexts. They include metacognition and metacognitive skills.
There is no definite list of generic skills since institutions and organisations each use their own listings. However, some common elements are visible: basic/fundamental skills (e.g. literacy, using numbers, using technology), people-related skills (communication, interpersonal skills, teamwork), conceptual/thinking skills (collecting and organising information, problem-solving, planning, organising, thinking innovatively, thinking creatively), personal skills and attributes (responsibility, resourcefulness, flexibility, time management), skills related to the business world (innovation, enterprise skills), and skills related to the community: civic or citizenship knowledge and skills.
Generic skills are also known by several other names including key skills, core skills, essential skills, key competencies, necessary skills, transferable skills, employability skills, life skills.
Source: NCVER (www.ncver.edu.au) back
Education which is carried out after the typical period of school-based training and at a demonstrably higher level. Students typically enter higher education at around 18, although higher education may form part of lifelong learning. Although the professional aspect of higher education is increasingly important (see above, academic training and below, professional training), higher education has traditionally been seen as entailing intellectual activity of a relatively advanced nature for its own sake. back
Informal education is the truly lifelong process whereby every individual acquires attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from daily experience and the educative influences and resources from his or her environment: family and neighbours, work and play, library and mass media. Informal learning may be both conscious and unconscious, and includes learning through interaction with others (peers, family, etc.) who are not acting as teachers in formal capacities. Informal learning contains unplanned learning activities and planned learning activities, but not formally recognised within the settings of education and training systems.
Sources: Infed (www.infed.org), Bjornavold (2002), Green (2002) back
Lifelong learning may be defined as a concept spanning an entire lifetime in a process of transforming experience into knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and convictions. In a fast-changing world the experiences from which people learn also change continually, creating new learning experiences from which people go on learning all their lives. Lifelong learning may be seen as a conceptual framework that clarifies the aims and implications of a knowledge society.
Source: Research approach of the lectorate ‘Lifelong Learning in Music’ back
Mobility involves the ability of students, teachers and professionals to move freely between institutions and countries, whether for the purpose of higher education study or employment. Improving mobility can be a tool for internationalising higher education, for acquiring intercultural skills and for preparing students for an international working environment.
When we step into a pre-existing learning programme but mould it to our own circumstances, we are engaged in non-formal education. Any organized educational activity outside the established formal system (i.e. schools and educational institutions – see formal education) that is intended to serve identifiable learning clienteles and learning objectives, can be defined as non-formal education. Non-formal education is usually highly contextualised and participatory.
Sources: Rogers (2004), Infed (www.infed.org) back
Assessment in which "students are involved in assessing other students, providing feedback opportunities to their colleagues and the development of comparative evaluative facilities for themselves." back
Training which is geared to preparation for a profession. This may involve a significant intellectual component if this is necessary to satisfy the general, transferable skills required by that profession. back
The collective term for the systems by which courses, qualifications and the institutions which run them are monitored to ensure reliability, consistency and the maintaining of fair, rigorous practices and high standards. The Bologna Declaration proposes a framework of European cooperation in quality assurance with a view to developing comparable criteria and methodologies. back
The area of quality assurance where standards of teaching and learning in institutions are directly evaluated. This may be by self-assessment, visits by external teams or, usually, some combination of the two. back
The extent to which a qualification and the way it is described by one institution can be understood in terms of the traditions and terminologies of another institution. back
In a reflective practicum a student shapes his further learning by his evolving answer to the question: What am I learning? Coaches use the answers to evaluate and guide their further coaching. Everything depends on how students assess their own learning. The evaluation of a coach's practice also depends on his ability to assess his own and his student's learning. Hence, a coach and student function not only as practitioners, but also as on-line researchers, each inquiring into each other's understanding. Source: Schön, 1987. back
Assessment which "involves students in the process of determining what is good work in any given situation and can help students to become more effective learners as they build up personal evaluative skills."
Source: Ziehorst (2005), based on Brown (Brown & Glassner, 1999) back
The knowledge and experience needed to perform a specific task or job. back
The quality achieved when there is a high level of readability (see above), enabling an outsider to see straight to the inner details of a qualification. back
The Bologna Declaration calls for the organisation of higher education throughout Europe into two phases or cycles – undergraduate and postgraduate/graduate (these terms are used interchangeably). In a number of European countries, one-cycle studies are still quite common in higher arts education. The total length of studies also varies. In many countries, the qualification of the first cycle is called ‘Bachelors Degree’ and that of the second cycle, ‘Masters Degree’.
Sources:
Commission of the European Communities: 'Towards a European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning' (Brussels, 8 July 2005)
Tavistock Report, 'Review of Current Pedagogic Research and Practice in the Fields of Post-Compulsory Education and Lifelong Learning (The Tavistock Institute, February 2002).
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