SCIENTER ESPAÑA is a research centre and service provider organisation, active in the field of education and training that was created as a Limited Company at the beginning of 1.999. SCIENTER ESPAÑA builds on the SCIENTER operational office active in Granada since 1996 and it counts on the experience provided by its main partners: SCIENTER in Bologna (Italy) and the University of Granada.

SCIENTER is a research centre and service provider organisation, active in the field of education and training. It is a non-profit making consortium, which was set up in January 1988. Both Italian and other European public and private organisations involved in training systems innovation have joined it. SCIENTER is interested in innovation of training systems, with main reference to the field of open and distance learning and organisational learning.

The Regional Agency for Education, Training and Employment was set up as a technical component of the regional system for implementing integrated policies relating to Education, Training and Employment.

The Foundation European Centre for Valuation of Prior Learning strengthens the integral process of knowledge and information about general and specific aspects of the "Valuation/Validation of Prior Learning (VPL)" by:

• Enhance our position as one of the world’s leading research and teaching universities and to measure our performance against the highest international standards
• Provide the highest quality learning and teaching environment for the greater wellbeing of our students
• Produce graduates fully equipped to achieve the highest personal and professional standards
• Make a significant, sustainable and socially responsible contribution to Scotland, the UK and the world, promoting health and economic and cultural wellbeing.

The adoption of the learning outcomes approach to define and guide education, training and lifelong learning strategies has profound implications on the systems, from pedagogical, organisational, policy dimensions of learning. This should have an impact also on strategies and methods of assessment. The VALEW project addresses this critical point and it aims at developing a model for certification of competences acquired in non formal-informal learning environments (notably in the workplace), completed with the criteria for demonstrating the competences and their level. It includes thus the definition of:

a) the typology of evidences of the competences selected;
b) the ways of collecting them in non formal-informal settings;
c) the ways of structuring the final assessment;
d) the ways of assigning EQF levels.

The project will address specifically the contexts where a integration/complementarity exists between non formal/formal education/training, and work-based learning ((i.e. from internship of students from VET and HE, to dual system/apprenticeship, to well settled work situations), and where the levels of knowledge and skills could be very differentiated: it is envisaged that the more fruitful results could be reached by investigating the ICT competences and the organisational competences.

The key results of the project action will be a certification model of ICT and organisational competences and the Guidelines report containing recommendations for a general standard for certification of competences developed at the workplace and based on the indications emerged from the case on ICT-organisational competences.

The impact is expected to be exploited at methodological level, so to be usable in different contexts and levels and able to contribute to the general integrative strategy of lifelong learning and to facilitate the transfer of qualifications and competences for both academic and professional purposes across Europe.

Start and end date: 01 February 2009 – 31 August 2010

Project Number: 147634-LLP-1-2008-1-IT-EQF -Grant Agreement: 2008 – 4521 / 001 – 001
LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMME - Transversal Programme – Key Activity 1