Ways toward a European vocational education and training space: a 'bottom-up' approach

Purpose - This paper seeks to concentrate on bottom-up approaches in order to promote a European vocational education and training (VET) concept. The overall aim of this article is to demonstrate that sophisticated approaches still have a chance of becoming common practice in European countries. Design/methodology/approach - The centre of the article is the discussion of a core occupational profile called ECO-recycler, which tends to be an alternative to the discussion of a uniform European Qualification Framework. The method of participatory discourse is applied in order to shape a VET space jointly with European partners. However, the partnership should not only discuss an abstract level because the implementation of the ECO-recycler is the main target of the discourse and it will be demonstrated how it works. Findings - After the clarification of a bottom-up approach, the implementation process of a core occupational profile in the partner countries is described. Research limitations/implications - The empirical approach for the creation of work process based core occupational profiles will be offered. Practical implications - European policies must be changed if these approaches are pursued. Originality/value - This article offers an alternative to existing European policy and will be of interest to those in the field.

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