The development of the ACQF is underway, but sustainability and continuity will depend on leaders’ commitment and understanding, on practitioners’ competences and the eventually on the availability of a network of trained experts able to support countries in developing and improving their national qualifications framework (NQF) initiatives.

The Capacity Development Programme (CDP of the ACQF project continues the good practice started in 2020 with the programme of Peer Learning Webinars. In 2021 CDP combines diverse modalities of learning and networking, to connect, support knowledge-creation and experience-sharing on qualifications and qualifications frameworks and systems. This plan builds on the ‘Concept of ACQF Capacity Development Programme’ presented to ACQF Advisory Group, at the meeting of 8 April 2021.

Ready to learn about real African and international experiences of National and Regional Qualifications Frameworks? Please visit the Open Source webpage – all materials and recordings of the 7 Peer Learning Webinars 2020 are accessible for you!

Overview of CDP 2021

CDP 2021 starts on 3 June with the series of five Peer Learning Webinars (PLW) in the period June-October 2021. All PLWs are multilingual (EN-FR-PT).

• PLW 8 of 3 June: experiences of National Qualifications Frameworks (NQF) of Seychelles and Namibia and of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) of Kenya.
• PLW 9 of 30 June: to discuss African experiences of Quality Assurance in higher education – the cases of CAMES and of the ANAQ-Sup (Senegal). In addition, the Africa Early Childhood Network (AfECN) will present the work towards a continental framework for Early childhood education and development.
• PLW 10 of 22 July: to share African experiences of National Qualifications Databases and NQF Information Systems (cases of South Africa and Kenya), and of Recognition of qualifications.
• PLW 11 of 23 September: highlights on the agenda: Learning Outcomes – cornerstone of NQFs; discussion on ACQF level descriptors; Guideline on Quality Assurance in the context of ACQF.
• PLW 12 of 28 October: the final PLW 2021 focuses on African NQF experiences, presentation of the findings of the African School Curriculum Survey, discussion of the conclusions of the study on the nexus between TVET reforms and implementation of the NQF (case of Mozambique) and a conversation on the synergies between the ACQF and African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Panel of experts.

The ACQF conference and an in-depth training programme in December will complete the cycle of 2021 CDP activities.

• Conference theme: Validation of learning: the future is here – opportunities and demands for qualifications frameworks and systems
• Training programme - theme: Qualifications and qualifications frameworks – a 360o view of issues, components and tools and their interactions

Main objectives of the ACQF CDP:

• Create and share knowledge: contribute to creating common understanding and concepts of qualifications frameworks and systems;
• Share experiences: disseminate information on the state of play, good practice and experiences of QFs on the continent and across the globe;
• Create technical capacity: contribute to creating a growing pool of African expertise and consequently to sustainability of projects and initiatives across countries and regions;
• Create trust among countries and QFs: generate mutual understanding and networking between countries, qualifications frameworks (systems); and
• Provide information on the ACQF and create buy-in

Components of the ACQF CDP:

To reach the above objectives, the ACQF CDP combines a set of components, working in synergy:

• peer learning webinars: experience-sharing on a) NQFs and regional qualifications frameworks (RQFs) in Africa and across the globe; b) sessions on thematic developments and issues
• blended training: training workshops and online learning;
• e-learning: individuals, groups;
• support to countries (on demand): through coaching, facilitation, advice.
• conferences, seminars, workshops, calls for papers and publications.
• cooperation with education institutions (lectures, workshops, or even a module – on a pilot basis).

​

Main thematic areas of CDP

• Learning outcomes approach: concepts, uses in different contexts of learning, taxonomies, classifications
• Level descriptors in NQFs, RQFs, ACQF
• Referencing, alignment NQFs to RQFs; global transparency of qualifications systems;
• Validation of learning, including RPL, credit accumulation and transfer, recognition of qualifications
• Quality assurance in the context of NQFs and RQFs / ACQF;
• Registration and databases of qualifications: a pillar of NQFs
• Monitoring and evaluation in the context of NQFs / ACQF
• Innovation and technology in the context of NQFs; new trends in learning and qualifications: micro-credentials, digital credentials;
• Communication and outreach to users
• Qualifications, NQFs and qualifications systems: models, concepts, objectives, principles; developing NQFs; governance of NQFs; qualifications: concepts, types, development of qualifications; standards, curriculum and assessment; comparing qualifications; RPL in applications.
• African opportunities and demands – implications for qualifications frameworks and systems.

Peer Learning Webinars 2020

In the first year of the ACQF project and in the context of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the capacity development activities were organised as a programme of 7 Peer Learning Webinars (PLW). The Peer Learning Webinars 2020 brought together a wealth of information, views, and evidence on 22 real cases. In 7 webinars, the participants learned from the experiences of 20 NQFs and 5 RQFs, through live presentations and discussion with highly ranked officials and representatives from national and regional authorities and agencies.

For more information, contact:

Eduarda Castel-Branco, ecb@etf.europa.eu