System for the Assessment and Recognition of Competence

INTRODUCTION

For several years now, the European Commission has been recommending member states to implement Systems for the Recognition of Professional Competence.

The Assessment and Recognition of Professional Competence acquired through work experience and/or through formal or informal learning requires a system to be set up which enables us to check and verify that all interested candidates can perform work tasks in line with the current needs and requirements of the different sectors of production.

In short, the aim of the system is to recognise people’s competencies, to certify them and to further motivate those same people to increase their professional competence through lifelong learning, to thus be in a better position when looking for a job in an increasingly competitive market demanding ever more highly trained professionals.

In Europe, the UK pioneered such a System for the Recognition of Competence at the end of the 1980s. To date, around 2.5 million people have used this system. Subsequently, similar systems have been set up in Finland, Holland, Norway and France, and thousands of people have made use of these systems to gain official recognition for the professional competence they have acquired either through work or previous learning experiences.

RECOGNITION OF COMPETENCE IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY

The Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, through the Basque Government Department of Education, Universities and Research, and specifically on the initiative of the Office of Vocational Training and Lifelong Learning, was the first Autonomous Community in Spain to set up a System for the Recognition of Professional Competence.

In this respect, the remit of the Basque Agency for the Assessment of Competence and Quality in Vocational Training is to oversee and monitor the start-up of this System for the Recognition of Professional Competence, in line with Decree 70/2004 of 27 April regulating the examinations for qualification as a Specific Vocational Training Technician and Higher-level Technician (Official Journal of the Basque Country, 5 May 2004).