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The most essential reason making the assessment in VET [vocational education and training] more important is the growing emphasis placed on lifelong learning. Assessment, qualifications and certificates are important determinants of students' future opportunities. Furthermore, there is a demand for more transparent qualifications and certificates which would promote workforce mobility across national boundaries, between levels of occupational hierarchies and from one geographical region to another. The focus of the project 'Quality Assurance and Practice-Oriented Assessment in Vocational Education and Training' (QUAL-PRAXIS) under the Leonardo da Vinci Programme is to identify current innovations and future developments in practices of, and approaches to, the assessment of work-based (formal and informal) learning in European countries such as in Austria, Germany, Estonia, Finland and Ireland. In the context of the project, practice-oriented assessment refers to performance- and competence-based assessment, one of the possible student assessment methods in VET. The aim of assessing practice-oriented learning is to guarantee the quality of students' skills and competencies in working life. Because of the diversity and varying developmental stages of the VET systems represented in the partnership, the project has a fine potential to analyse different assessment methods and tools. The QUAL-PRAXIS project will bring work-based assessment practices, their roots and future perspectives to the attention of the international audience. The primary target groups of the project are policy-makers, educational administrators and researchers. Secondarily the project is targeted at teacher educators, workplace trainers, teachers, employers and other social partners. The QUAL-PRAXIS project uses different modes of dissemination (networks, publications, seminars, workshops, conferences, participation in various events, the press, electronic media) at different levels (local, national and international). A manual of the good practices identified will be introduced. The features and models of assessment will be compared, paying attention to the country-specific roles and models of VET within educational structures. The results of the project will be published as a book. The duration of the project is from October 2003 to September 2006.