{"schema_version":"ICEQC_NEWS_ARTICLE_V1","id":"iceqc-news-74fb4ce0920b245a","slug":"2015-11-18-adult-learning-and-technical-and-vocational-education-interpreting-the-new-international-recommendations","language":"en","publication_status":"PUBLISHED","publication_date":"2015-11-18","last_modified_date":"2015-11-18","title":"Adult learning and technical and vocational education: interpreting the new international recommendations","summary":"Sets out the scope, decision criteria and evidential basis relevant to adult learning and technical and vocational education, including the treatment of material limitations.","category":{"code":"STANDARDS_INTERPRETATION","label":"Standards Interpretation"},"article_type":"Standards interpretation","publisher":"International Council for Education Quality Certification (ICEQC)","jurisdictional_scope":"International","historical_reference_basis":"Recommendations adopted on 13 November 2015","reference_authority":"Relevant public authorities and official international sources","sections":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["The recommendations adopted on 13 November 2015 provides the immediate reference point for consideration of adult learning and technical and vocational education in 2015. The central issue is the meaning of the expectation in practice, including its scope, the evidence needed to demonstrate it and the circumstances in which it may not apply."]},{"heading":"Scope and application of adult learning and technical and vocational education","paragraphs":["The quality significance of adult learning and technical and vocational education follows from a basic distinction between availability and effective provision. For the issue under review, flexible learning should remain transparent about entry requirements, learning outcomes, assessment, progression and the uses for which a qualification or record is intended. For adult learning and technical and vocational education, review should cover the stages at which learners receive information, provision, assessment, support and remedy."],"bullets":["Recognise prior learning against published criteria.","Maintain portable records.","Review claims against evidence.","Monitor completion and progression.","State the purpose and limits of the learning offer."]},{"heading":"Evidence required","paragraphs":["The formal status of the recommendations adopted on 13 November 2015 should be preserved in any public account. For adult learning and technical and vocational education, the instrument should be used to identify the intended direction, the actors addressed and the implementation measures that remain necessary.","The technical issue within the assurance question concerns the basis on which a conclusion is reached. In the context of adult learning and technical and vocational education, the subject should be examined as a connected system of policy, people, resources, decisions and evidence. Transfer points should be tested because responsibility and information may be lost between otherwise sound functions. When examining adult learning and technical and vocational education, any condition preventing complete assurance should appear with the evidence on which the judgement relies."]},{"heading":"Decision criteria and exceptions","paragraphs":["A proper review of adult learning and technical and vocational education should establish the intended outcome before selecting controls or indicators. For decisions concerning adult learning and technical and vocational education, conformity should not be inferred from a policy document alone; operating records and outcomes should show that the stated arrangements are in use. The record for adult learning and technical and vocational education should explain why the approach suits the affected context, how material departures are authorised and when review will occur.","Failure in relation to the issue under review may arise even where the stated policy is reasonable. Material concerns include limited routes for progression, short programmes making unsupported outcome claims, prior learning assessed inconsistently, and fragmented learner records. As regards adult learning and technical and vocational education, an exception should be assessed by effect, duration, recurrence and reach, including possible exposure beyond the initial sample."],"bullets":["Which evidence establishes operation?","What outcome is intended?","Who controls each stage?","What action is required by the finding?","Where do exceptions occur?"]},{"heading":"Continuing assurance","paragraphs":["Assurance of adult learning and technical and vocational education should draw on more than one form of evidence. Useful records include admission and prior-learning decisions, assessment in relevant contexts, completion and progression data, learner and employer feedback where appropriate, and defined learning and competence outcomes. Where adult learning and technical and vocational education is under review, evidence of effectiveness should represent the declared scope, including adverse and exceptional cases.","The review method for the assurance question should be reproducible. The method for the relevant requirement is to map the complete process, identify the intended result and responsible authority at each stage, and test normal cases together with exceptions. Results should distinguish a single case from evidence of a wider control weakness. For the assessment of adult learning and technical and vocational education, a competent reviewer should be able to follow the record from source selection to conclusion and exception handling."]},{"heading":"Continuing assurance","paragraphs":["Assurance concerning adult learning and technical and vocational education should be expressed at the level established by the evidence.","Interpretation of the control should avoid two errors: treating a formal commitment as proof of effect, and treating one adverse case as proof that every part of the system has failed. Employment outcomes are affected by economic and labour-market conditions as well as education. They should not be attributed to a programme without an appropriate design and comparison. For the control, interpretive guidance should not create an obligation that is absent from the governing instrument or applicable law.","For adult learning and technical and vocational education, the evidential trail should allow an affected decision to be identified, examined and corrected. For the assurance question, the responsible body should be able to identify the evidence considered, the judgement made, the person or body authorised to make it and the action that followed. Historical decisions concerning adult learning and technical and vocational education should be assessed against the information then available, with later amendments separately dated and explained.","Where the assurance question involves partners, suppliers or several public bodies, responsibility should be mapped across the complete service. When examining adult learning and technical and vocational education, contractual or inter-agency arrangements should identify who holds records, informs learners and acts on incidents. For decisions concerning adult learning and technical and vocational education, protection should operate across the complete service, irrespective of how delivery is divided.","Assurance concerning the stated expectation requires corroborating evidence across the material scope. The final judgement on adult learning and technical and vocational education should connect the applicable expectation to implementation and outcomes while identifying unresolved risk."]}],"word_count":878,"content_hash":"sha256-fe5d042c542b5dd0e7166d41f2f3c2bc7679d4230302a518b0bbabca0daf5105","seo_keywords":["adult learning and technical and vocational education","education quality standards","education quality","ICEQC"],"schema_type":"TechArticle"}