"State of the art on approaches in the United States of
accreditation of competencies through automated cards" FINAL REPORT:
SUMMARY Prepared for DGXII of the European Commission October, 1997
\doc\web\98\10\skillstd.txt
interesting linkage with the national skills standards board. Looks like the government wants control over people's resumes now. Just
freaking great. You won't have to type your resume, the government
will assign you one. I'll pass this on.
Date sent: 14 Dec 98 20:55:11 EST
From: Gary.M.Degasta@Dartmouth.EDU (Gary M. Degasta)
Subject: Re: Smart Card and Euro Comm.
To: arthurhu@halcyon.com
>
>
> --- Forwarded Message from "eca@fastlane.net" ---
>
> >Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1998 16:46:38 -0600 (CST)
> >In-Reply-To: <22627247@blitzen.Dartmouth.EDU>
> >To: Gary.M.Degasta@Dartmouth.EDU (Gary M. Degasta)
> >From: "eca@fastlane.net"
> >Subject: Re: Smart Card and Euro Comm.
>
> >Perhaps you have already seen this, but they have it set up so it can't be
> >printed off. Or it could be I am so computer ille=iterate, I don't know how.
> >
> >http://tavinstitute.guinet.com/finsum1.doc
> >
> >Fran
> >
> >PS Am leaving on Teus. for LA., so probably will not have access to any email,
> >but I do have a cousin who gets email. perhaps I willemail you from his house
> >and then if there are any important ,eassages, you could forward them to him
> >and he can print them off for me.
>
> Fran,
>
> This is the summary. Once upon a time Tavistock had the "working" document
> on line, and I ran off a copy. It was very long. I still have it --
> somewhere. Since they finalized their paper, it appears the online stuff
> has disappeared.
>
> Jeanne
> =============================
>
>
>
>
>
CONTRACT: ERB-SOE2-CT-96-2011
"State of the art on approaches in the United States of accreditation of
competencies through automated cards"
FINAL REPORT: SUMMARY
Prepared for DGXII of the European Commission
October, 1997
Joe Cullen, Evaluation Development and Review Unit, The Tavistock Institute, UK
Barbara Jones, Department of Library and Information Studies, Manchester
Metropolitan University, UK
1. Scope of the Summary Report
This Report presents a Summary of the results of a study carried out on
behalf of DGXII of the European Commission on state of the art of
approaches in the United States on accreditation of competencies through
automated cards. The study aims to prepare the ground for preparatory
actions associated with the implementation of Objective 1 of the 1995 White
Paper "Teaching and Learning: towards the Learning Society". As part of
Objective 1, the Commission is currently considering ways of developing an
initiative aimed at building a 'European Skills Accreditation System'.
The European Accreditation System aims to set up permanent and accessible
skill accreditation mechanisms that will allow individuals to validate
their knowledge however it has been acquired. Central to this vision is the
use of new technologies, such as personal smart cards that will allow
citizens to record their training and experience on portable,
computer-readable media. Another set of applications involve the use of
remote, electronic assessment and testing systems that can allow
individuals to obtain qualifications and credentials that in turn can be
recorded on their personal skills card, perhaps via existing frameworks
such as the European network of Chambers of Commerce, or even at home.
In pursuit of this aim, the study was carried out in three stages:
Firstly, a critical review of the literature was carried out. This was
followed by interviews with key actors involved, and a content analysis of
relevant documentation. At the same time, a dedicated electronic on-line
Forum was set up, to provide access to experts and user/supplier networks
on the ground, and to provide an opportunity for ongoing critical
evaluation of the study to take place. The review considered the following
key areas:
the structure and practice of vocational training
skills profiling and occupational classification
accreditation
technology applications for competence definition and accreditation.
Secondly, on the basis of stage 1, a set of case studies were carried out
involving recent innovations in the US in competence definition and
accreditation.
Thirdly, drawing together the results of the initial appraisal and the
detailed case studies, a set of major themes of interest to the European
Skills Accreditation System was selected and explored, leading to the
identification of key challenges and obstacles, and finally elaboration of
conclusions and recommendations.
The following Summary provides an overview of the study and its conclusions
and recommendations. It is set out as follows:
Section 2 provides a synopsis of the background to vocational training in
the USA and Europe, focusing on the socio-cultural context; legal and
political structures and frameworks; main actors involved and the key
issues relating to the implementation of a European Accreditation System.
In Section 3, we present a review of state of art in the USA in relation to
work going on in the area of skills profiling and occupational
classification.
In Section 4, we present a similar review of current thinking and
practices around accreditation, covering recent developments in the USA.
Section 5 considers state of the art in technology applications for
competence definition and accreditation.
Section 6 outlines the main themes drawn from the field work that are
considered to be particularly applicable to the vision of a European Skills
Accreditation system.
Finally, Section 7 presents conclusions and recommendations
A more extensive and detailed elaboration of the work carried out and the
conclusions of the Study is available in the accompanying Main Report.
2. Vocational training in the USA
The vocational training system in the US has three main features. It is not
system-structured, but a 'pattern of practice' that has evolved organically
without being rationalised or planned, and which has different features
within each State. It is primarily market-driven and locally determined,
reflecting consumer and employer demand. In this context, federal control
is reactive, rather than pro-active and largely consists of the influence
of national and state incentives on local actions. Vocational training is
an industry, and participants behave strategically according to their own
agendas.
Within this context, much of the vocational training supply is delivered at
a local level through community colleges, of which there are around 1,100.
Most are fairly small, with less than 5,000 students, but some of the large
urban colleges cater for student populations of up to 40,000. Broadly,
these colleges offer three main types of training: academic and vocational
training aimed at providing recognised credentials; customised training for
the private sector; public sector contracting, usually subsidised by the
federal government.
Present trends within US education and vocational training have to be
placed within the context of a decade or more of rising concern that
American workers (at all levels) - current and future - lack the workplace
skills necessary to meet the challenges of technological advance,
organisational restructuring and global economic competition. New jobs, it
is perceived, require individuals coming from high schools and post
secondary institutions to possess certain generic employability skills that
include problem solving, communications and personal skills.
A key contemporary trend then which has emerged in response to this
disquiet and which dominates current education thinking, is reform of the
US system of skill certification - the "skills standards movement". A
major output of this agenda has been the enactment of Goals 2000 : Educate
America Act (1994) which established the National Skills Standard Board
(NSSB). The 1994 Act established the business -led Board with the specific
remit of "stimulating" the development and adoption of a voluntary
national system of skill standards across broad economic sectors which
would be "guidelines" used to endorse standards created by groups called
"voluntary partnerships".
American and European education systems and conceptions of work have in the
main traditionally been based on dichotomies that distinguish mental
activities from physical activities. Both American and European educational
reform has been concerned with challenging those dichotomies by linking for
example structured work experience to classroom work as a strategy for
integrating conceptual and theoretical thinking with practical experience.
The Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act of 1990
(Perkins II) which underpins much of the US legislation already mentioned
above, has sought to integrate vocational and academic education and Tech
Prep and enhance skill certification.
3. Occupational profiling and skills definition
Definitional shifts in skills and skills profiling systems are currently
under scrutiny in most industrialised nations as profound changes occur in
the nature of work and occupations and the requirements made of workers
within new jobs and occupations.
There are currently ongoing initiatives in the US to develop comprehensive
taxonomies of occupational clusters, and which include O*Net, the
electronic adaptation of the new Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).
Many function as inter-related projects (as with O*Net) under the general
direction of America's Labour Market Information System (ALMIS) and US
Department of Labour (USDOL).
Whilst it is clear that no occupational analysis system is currently
sufficient to encompass all the new descriptors required in the changing
skill landscape the new DOT content model on worker attributes, the O*Net
content model for worker attributes and the SCANS typology indicate enough
of a consensus for well financed future development.
Both the content models of DOT and O*Net reflect current thinking in the US
that the skill profile needs of high performance work organisation can no
longer be served by skill needs derived from traditional conceptions of
work. These new types of skills are referred to as advanced generic skills
or SCANS skills (named after the Secretary's Commission on Achieving
Necessary Skills -USDOL 1991). Both Content Models are based on SCANS
typology.
SCANS broadened the conception of occupational skills by denoting the need
for generic workplace competencies which they identified as: - ability to
allocate resources; interpersonal skills; acquiring, evaluating and
managing information; understanding systems; using, selecting and
troubleshooting technology.
The SCANS approach broadens the base of skills categorisations by adding a
new more professionalised and autonomous dimension to worker's roles and
thus contains profound implications for the curriculum and training
changes that this will require. The SCANS approach is generally reflected
in many of the content models we examined and discussed and reinforces our
view of the desire for national convergence via voluntary agreements with
education, industry and government for nationally recognised generic
skill standards.
4. Accreditation
Historically, the accreditation system in the US has evolved in response to
the structural features of the vocational training system. Broadly (except
for 'non-credit' courses and remedial courses) students in the US pursue a
specific course or learning module and, on completing it to the
satisfaction of the instructor and institution, are awarded a certain
number of academic credits. These can be aggregated until the student meets
the institutional requirements for an awarded diploma or certificate. The
accreditation system is flexible and transferable, enabling transfer of
credits between programmes and institutions nationally - and sometimes
abroad.
In the US, the basic accreditation system is carried out by regional or
national accrediting bodies in which representatives of both higher
education and the professions participate. There are six regional and five
national accrediting associations, plus around forty three specialised
accrediting associations controlled by professional associations such as
the American Bar Association.
However, within the US Vocational -Technical Education System (Voc-Ed), for
example there are few nationally validated and commonly used (across all
states) skill standards and there is little evidence of consistency in the
level of education and occupational specialisation for which standards are
being set. There are few examples of standardised portable "credentials"
that accompany national industry validated standards.
Ultimately, accreditation in the US is driven by negotiation. Employers
negotiate with professional bodies in order to impose their needs and
agendas on curriculae and standards. Accrediting agencies have loose
guidelines and criteria (for example the Carnegie method, Commission on the
recognition of post-secondary education) they apply to transferable credits
to enable employers to obtain guidance of the value of credits submitted by
job applicants on the basis of a particular 'training history' involving
several training suppliers.
Having grown accustomed to this 'culture of negotiation', the accreditation
industry is resistant to the imposition of 'top down' regulation form the
federal government. There is a prevailing view among accreditation
'insiders' that government-imposed standardisation will not work; that
regulation is only relevant in instances where institutions are receiving
federal aid (as in the Job Training Partnership Act), and in relation to
fraud and abuse.
It is clear that there is agreed consensus that the National Skill
Standards Board (NSSB) should develop the framework and requirements for
nationally recognised skill standards. This is an innovative development in
a previously fragmented landscape. This common framework is perceived as
essential to facilitate the standard setting process through the use of
standardised language and format. The future task is to set the criteria
(generally acceptable) for recognition of valid accredited standards, which
it is felt, should be bench marked to international standards such as those
promulgated by the International Standards Organisation.
A problem which has been encountered and which is now being addressed
concerns "ownership" on the part of employers in organisations selected for
standard setting and certification purposes. NSSB holds the view that
without this sense of "ownership" it would be difficult to persuade
employers to share in the cost of development and maintenance of the
standard and certification procedures.
The next major step for the NSSB, together with other agencies of the
federal government, is to bring together the skills standards and
credentials under a common framework that results in nationally
recognised standards and portable credentials. This is viewed as a
"capacity building" effort which will bring the skills standard movement
fully into the human resource development system in the US.
There are parallels with the US experience within the EU and indeed much of
the reform currently being undertaken to achieve national convergence in
the US has been stimulated by observation of current practices within some
Member States (most particularly the Dual System in Germany and the
competence based NVQ in the UK) as well as practice in Japan, Canada and
New Zealand.
The varying legal definition of apprenticeship between different EU states
is a problem. There is a need for training which is practice-related, which
has little similarity with schooling and which is supported, There needs to
be a transaction cost/benefit analysis of factors involved in setting up
centres for knowledge and resources and observatories for innovation and
needs for vocational training.
5. Developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
Information and Communications Technologies of significance for the
development of a European Accreditation System focus on three main
applications areas:
Personal skills card (smart cards)
Skills profiling systems
On line testing and assessment
In general terms, smart card technology is capable of handling a number of
different organisational and governance models. At its most basic, the
smart card, together with its supporting card reader hardware and
management software, is a very efficient way of validating transactions,
whether they be financial transactions between a credit card company and a
customer, or an authorised examination result issued to a trainee by a
training provider. Such transactions can be validated locally, or
centrally.
At present, however, compared with other sectors, the application of smart
card technologies to education and training has been limited, and largely
confined to generic 'campus cards' used primarily to register student
attendance at lectures; process library borrowing; handle tuition and other
fees and in 'electronic wallet' applications, for example in student
refectories and bars.
There have been some (rare) examples of the use of personal skills cards in
the US in more extensive initiatives, aimed at moving towards skills
assessment, job placement assistance, storage and retrieval of resumes and
information on training and educational services, and at developing a
comprehensive taxonomy of skills based on occupational clusters applicable
to the entire US economy. These have tended to be on a small scale, and
typical problems encountered include cost of equipment, and lack of
interoperability between card readers.
One of the biggest obstacles towards utilising smart card technologies for
competence accreditation is likely to be the lack of standardised, robust
models and mechanisms for capturing and evaluating data on occupational
characteristics. In the US, the revision, following federal legislation
passed in 1994 affecting education and training accreditation, of the
outmoded Dictionary of Occupational Profiles (DOT) has resulted in the
development of O*NET.O*NET is structured on a content model incorporating
six domains corresponding to the organisation of the workplace. This
content model is designed to be continually updated through the use of
on-line questionnaires completed by participating employers. In return, the
O*NET database is intended to act as the hub of a network of collaborative
organisations which will receive information resources, counselling tools ,
performance appraisals and skills evaluation in return for provision of
occupational data.
In parallel, remote examination and assessment services have only begun to
develop with the expansion of client/server technologies and the
proliferation of Internet-based sites. The obvious advantages of such
services are that they can provide virtually global access to assessment
instruments from anywhere in the world. Typical examples are Question Mark
(QM) and Educational Testing Service Network (ETS).
6. Lessons: main themes
The main themes identified, which shape the conclusions and recommendation
set out in the final section of the report, are as follows:
cultural context
globalisation: liberalisation of trade; internationalisation of higher
education and global professional services
institutional and organisational innovations
skills integration
The results suggest that, whilst there are some aspects of state of the art
in the US on which the European Accreditation System can build, there are
fundamental socio-cultural, institutional, economic and legal differences
militating against the transfer of US theory and practice to the European
arena. These differences bring into play the notion of 'cultural
patrimony' as a major obstacle to building the European Accreditation
System. By this, we mean the socio-cultural, legal and institutional
structures that have evolved in different states in the US, and in
different member states in Europe, to shape the theories and practices of
education and training. Such patrimonies are reflected in, for example,
different pedagogic approaches to training and different pedagogic practices
Thus early results emerging from pilot projects the study evaluated are
highlighting cultural differences in the ways in which skills are defined
and utilised in the different locales involved. These differences are
articulated primarily in different interpretations of the skills required
to do a particular job, and in the terminology used to describe the skills.
Such differences in interpretation and definition mask deeper cognitive
processes that connect work, and the labelling of work, to the 'life world'
of a locale. This cognitive dimension is increasingly recognised as
important, and can provide a significant entry point in understanding how
skills may be collectively interpreted differently in different
socio-cultural settings.
Though the study emphasises the importance of addressing the 'local' in
relation to building a pan-European Accreditation System, nonetheless, a
review of current work on the globalisation of education and professional
practice, and on linkages between international education,
professionalisation and the liberalisation of trade, suggest that it would
be imprudent to consider the European Accreditation System without
reference to the globalisation debate. In the US, through governmental
collaboration between North, Central and South American states through
agencies like NAFTA, and through multilateral professional collaboration
(for example in the healthcare sector) there is increasing attention being
focused on developing global skills standards and accreditation agreements.
There are some parallels with this trend in Europe, and they could
constitute a base on which the Accreditation System initiative could build.
As is common with technological innovation, the technology itself is less
significant in terms of driving change than its organisational context. The
system will stand or fail on the putting into place of appropriate
partnerships between government, industry, and representatives of worker
organisations. In addition, it will need to be supported by innovations in
areas such as occupational classification systems and accreditation
networks. Such partnerships will only work if the partners - particularly
commercial organisations - see a clear value added to be gained by their
involvement.
Partnerships, and new institutional arrangements, imply a high degree of
integration. Such integration needs to take place at the macro-level, i.e.
by embedding skills within the broader context of economic and social
activity, and specifically within the areas of secondary education,
work-based learning and local and regional economic development. Recent
innovations in competence definition and accreditation within the US are
good illustrations of how integration can be achieved, in this case through
a strategic and systematic 'package' of measures, precipitated by the 1994
legislation on higher education and national opportunities - the National
Skills Standards Board, Goals 2000, School-to-Work Programme - that are all
combining to act as a catalyst to promote the formation of partnerships to
develop skills standards. In this regard, a system like O*NET can be seen
as the 'glue' that holds everything together, and could provide a useful
model for the Accreditation System infrastructure in Europe.
7. Conclusions and Recommendations
If we deconstruct the underlying 'vision' of the European Skills
Accreditation System, this vision encapsulates certain assumptions and
positions that may be difficult to sustain. For example, there is an
implicit assumption of a shared value system embedded in the model, and the
sense that, once developed, the System will evolve to become an integral
structural bedrock of European training, and work itself.
However, the study suggests that the development and diffusion of the
European Skills Accreditation System will involve highly segmentalised and
politicised strategic actors whose needs and visions may not 'align' with
each other or with the 'cultural logic' of the initiative. In turn, the
ways in which the system will engage with complex varieties of user groups
is highly problematic.
The main obstacles that need to be overcome are:
integrating the global with the local
maintaining a balance between transparency and equivalence in terms of
skills and accreditation standards
creating a 'skills culture'
developing relevant institutional arrangements and partnerships
setting up the necessary technical infrastructure
developing workable financial arrangements
developing appropriate methodological approaches to support the initiative
In relation to meeting these challenges, we envisage two broad 'scenarios'
that could shape the development of a European Skills Accreditation System.
These two scenarios are not intended to depict two mutually exclusive or
'competing' positions, but serve as exemplars of possible development
trajectories. They are:
The 'Big Bang' Scenario
The Evolutionary Scenario
i) Big Bang
Summary
'Big Bang' envisages a comprehensive pan-European European Skills
Accreditation System. The basis of the system would be a European version
of the US O*NET (E*NET). E*NET would encompass an evolving knowledge-base
of occupational titles, descriptors and competence definitions. It would
be structured on a content model incorporating domains corresponding to the
organisation of the European workplace. This content model would be
continually updated through the use of on-line questionnaires completed by
participating employers. In return, the E*NET database would act as the hub
of a network of collaborative organisations which would receive information
resources, counselling tools , performance appraisals and skills evaluation
in return for provision of occupational data. E*NET would both feed and be
fed by an integrated 'suite' of support actions, networks and Programmes
(Figure 7.1) , comprising:
Euro Job Bank - an on-line employment service that 'posts' job
opportunities on the Internet
Euro School-to-Work - a Programme to link secondary education with
industrial training programmes, enlisting the involvement of major employers
Elmis - statistical analysis of labour market information provided by
European, national and regional suppliers.
European Work and Education Observatory - providing monitoring of labour
market and education trends, as input to the above.
European Competence Standardisation Agency - responsible for collecting
data on the various skills classification systems used throughout Europe,
and working towards promoting agreements on standardisation of systems.
European Accreditation Agency, responsible for high level management of
devolved national, regional and local personal skills card and assessment
centres.
Figure 7.1: The 'Big Bang' Scenario, European Skills Accreditation System
Regional and local personal skills card and assessment
centres
National personal skills card and assessment centres
E*NET
ELMIS
Euro-School-to-Work
Euro-Job Bank
European Accreditation Agency
European Competence
Standardisation Agency
European Work and Education Observatory
Appraisal
A comprehensive and fully-integrated ESAS is a highly complex and hugely
resource intensive enterprise that would need:
high level political collaboration and investment
complex technical infrastructures, standardisation and interfacing
new institutional and organisational arrangements involving pan-European
partnerships, in order to put into place the networks necessary to sustain
the initiative
agreements on competencies and key skills
standardised data collection tools (for example like the US SCANS)
a standardised content model for the database, with common descriptors and
lexicon
data protection agreements
a legal and political identity to the whole system
new technical, management and support roles and personnel to run the
system, together with a large programme of support training.
The sheer scale of the enterprise, and the level of co-ordination required,
set against our assessment of the inherent plurality of national
education systems and the fragmentary nature of education and training
across Europe, suggest that such as 'top-down' scenario would be immensely
difficult to sustain.
ii) The Evolutionary Scenario
Summary
An alternative development trajectory, however, could focus on a set of
linked, but semi-autonomous 'seedbed' projects. In contrast to the 'top
down' approach of 'Big Bang', the main thrust of this, the Evolutionary
Scenario is to explore ways in which the centralised pan-European
components of ESAS can be contextualised to local milieus, as part of an
evolving knowledge diffusion process. Metaphorically, this process could be
likened to transplanting new grafts in order to replenish and strengthen
existing vineyards. The scenario would therefore involve:
building on existing initiatives
testing to what extent a pan-European initiative like ESAS is transferable
to different socio-cultural settings
implementing pilot projects in exemplary economic sectors (healthcare;
automotive; retail; digital/multimedia industries).
Appraisal
Figure 7.2 depicts schematically how the evolutionary model could work. The
approach could take the following existing initiatives:
the EURES cross-border partnership networks
existing work on European competence and accreditation standardisation
carried out by CEDEFOP and other similar agencies
ongoing work on labour markets and competence classification currently
being implemented in, for example, the Targeted Socio-Economic Research
Programme
and incorporate within these settings a number of pilot projects focusing
primarily on contextualising the major structural components advocated in
the 'Big Bang' scenario, that is:
an evolving database of competencies and profiles (E*NET)
local versions of Euro-Job-Bank
internship programmes designed to provide linkages between secondary
education and work
localised personal skills cards
local on-line assessment centres
Figure 7.2: Evolutionary Scenario, European Skills Accreditation System
TSER Studies
CEDEFOP Studies
Job-posting
On-line assessment pilot projects Studies
EURES cross-border sites
Mini E*NET
Internship programmes
Passport pilot projects
Personal skill card pilots
job-posting services (mini Euro-Job-Bank)
electronic 'passports' containing competencies, qualifications and c.v.
These pilot projects could be targeted within four economic sectors:
healthcare, automotive, retail and digital/multimedia industries. The
digital/multimedia sector is a particularly crucial space in which to
explore the possibilities of ESAS because, as is recognised by the US O*NET
pilot project in California, this sector constitutes the most rapidly
changing area where skills are evolving. Similarly, although the automotive
sector is relatively stable in terms of skills evolution, is is here where
there have been most advances in the utilisation of on-line assessment
systems. Healthcare represents one of the sectors where the problems of
legal and cultural transferability are most pronounced, and the retail
sector has some of the best examples of partnerships between the private
sector and public agencies, in Europe as well as in the USA. The retail
sector has also historically been one of the main sectors in which problems
of social exclusion - low pay, part time work, and so on - have been most
prevalent. Indeed, the evidence from the USA and elsewhere strongly
suggests that in sectors like retail, where there is a high representation
of part-time and poorly-paid workers, the skills debate becomes less
relevant. In these sectors, employers are more interested in worker
reliability and punctuality than skills
The 13 existing (and planned additional) EURES cross-border partnerships
offer a rich test bed to both explore the possibilities of a European
Skills Accreditation system, and to develop 'seedbeds' to grow it. EURES
provides:
a diverse range of different socio-cultural settings (each involving
cross-border labour markets and economic profiles) to explore the
transferability of ESAS innovations
existing partnerships (involving institutional - EU; national and regional
agencies - and social - chambers of commerce; trade unions; training
providers - partners) that could provide the basis for developing new ESAS
organisational networks
an existing telematics infrastructure (linking the Euroadvisers who provide
services to employers and workers) that could