Presentation on what are the elements needed for excellence in vocational education and training, iVETA conference, Helsinki.

1. Developing VET Excellence -
From Policy to Practice
Mervi Jansson
Satu Järvinen

2. Finnish VET Excellence - What Is Our
Secret Formula?
Image - not a second rate track!
Quality - recognised and rewared.
Relevance - qualifications are up-to-
date.
Employability - real world skills.
Governance - FNBE coordinated,
balanced mix of LLL and working
life input.
Flexibility - all learning counts, no
dead ends.
Lifelong learning - a
comprehensive qualifications
framework for all ages and
backgrounds.
!

3. Finnish education system
Universities!
Doctoral and licentiate degrees!
Master’s degrees!
Bachelor’s degrees
WORK EXPERIENCE
Basic education
General upper secondary schools
7-16-year olds
Polytechnics
Polytechnic master’s degrees
Polytechnic bachelor’s degrees
Specialist vocational
qualifications
Further vocational
qualifications
Vocational
qualifications
Vocational institutions and apprenticeship
training
Pre-primary education
Matriculation examination
6-year olds
NQF 8
NQF 7
NQF 6
NQF 5
NQF 4
NQF 3

4. VET in Finland
Finnish National Board of Education
!
Regulations on vocational qualifications
!
• qualification requirements
• assessment criteria
• other regulations concerning vocational education and training
!
At present, there are 371 qualifications in Finland
!
52 vocational qualifications divided into 113 study programmes
188 further vocational qualifications
131 specialist vocational qualifications

5. Image of Vocational Education and
Training in Finland
90 % state that vocational
education and training has a
positive image.
!
96 % state that VET is taught in
modern learning environments.
!
88% state that VET offers skills
needed by employers.
!
Eurobarometer study 2011

6. Quality and Relevance of Finnish VET
!
88% state that VET offers high
quality learning.
!
84% state teachers and trainers
are competent.
!
89% state VET leads to jobs
highly demanded on the labour
market.
Eurobarometer study 2011

7. The Future of Learning is Out There....
Learning is a social process.
!
Recognition of prior learning,
skills demonstrations and
assessing competence is
in the heart of Finnish VET.
!
Learning outcomes based
curricula enabling flexible study
paths.
!

8. Contextualised and Authentic
In Finnish vocational education:
!
" Competence is assessed by means of vocational skills
demonstrations in the most authentic settings possible.
Assessment makes diverse use of different methods. "
!
Example from the basic qualification in business and
administration:
!
The student
- prepares for service situations independently
- serves internal and external customers according to
company instructions
- carries out calculations required in sales situations

9. How do you measure and document?

11. Assessing Learning Outcomes
Is the end result enough...or is the process
acutally the outcome?
!
!

12. Authentic, transparent, mobile...

13. Using mobile devices to document learning outcomes
Based on Clark Quinn (2011), Designing mLearning,

14. Changing roles
Learner
Teacher
Co-creater Consumer
Participant

15. VET IN FINLAND

16. Breaking
boundaries
between education
and the real world...
Creating opportunities:
professional careers, start ups,
further studies...
Building bridges and opening doors!

17. Real people - Real world - Real skills!
Building the future of VET!

18. Thank you!