The goal of the National Reference Point Project 2016-2017 (Action Grant 2016 – Support to the European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training National Reference Points (EQAVET NRP) Decision number – 2016 – 0776 / 001 – 001 Project Nr 574310-EPP-1-2016-1-FI-EPPKA3-EQAVET-NRP) is to support the development of quality management of vocational education and training (VET) in line with the VET reform in Finland.

The Finnish National Agency for Education and the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture organised two seminars in 2016 to promote quality assurance as a part of the quality management systems of VET providers: in planning of education and training, evaluation of competences and award of qualifications.

A Finnish-language report was written on the basis of discussions in the seminars held on 3 June and 16 November 2016 (a report on quality assurance of qualification design, assessment and certification in VET). Two further, shorter articles also came out of this report, one in Finnish and one in English.

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VET providers should have a system to support quality management and continuous quality improvement. The quality management system should cover the work of VET providers comprehensively.

VET providers can use self-assessment criteria developed to evaluate their quality management systems and how they work. 

During the project, criteria for self-assessment of quality management systems used in VET were updated. They have also continued to be updated since the end of the project.

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Quality Culture (Q-KULT) is a tool that helps VET providers evaluate their organisational culture. The tool was developed in a Leonardo da Vinci project with six partners from five European countries. The tool has been developed based on the assumption that each training provider has a specific individual culture that can also be assessed in terms of its own specific characteristics and is related (in a way that has yet to be defined) to its quality management system. Six training providers have piloted the tool in Finland and the original Q-KULT tool and related guidance have been revised on the basis of these pilots.

The key question is how a certain culture in a training institution affects implementation of a quality management system and/or its development. The prevailing culture in the organisation can benefit the quality management system, but it can also limit the use of the system. For this reason, it is important to identify what kind of culture prevails in one’s organisation.

The guide describes how you can use the Q-KULT tool in your organisation. Annexed to the guide is a form to help carry out an analysis of your organisation. Below you will find the updated Q-KULT guide in Finnish and the original guide in English as well as a link to the online version of the tool.

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The National Reference Points (NRP) for quality management in VET in Finland and Austria ran two working seminars together on the topic of participation of teachers and trainers in quality management and assurance. Representatives from the NRPs of Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Scotland also took part in the seminars. VET training providers also attended.

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Teacher and trainer involvement in Quality Management Systems and Quality Assurance Procedures; Report on a Joint Activity of Austria and Finland with contributions from DE, NL, RO and Scotland/UK in EQAVET NRP .
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Within the framework of the EQAVET-NRP project 2016-2017, three national quality network meetings were organised in cooperation with VET providers. The purpose of the gatherings was to ensure that information on quality management is available to VET providers and to promote networking in quality management. The meetings were organised in April 2016, in October 2016 and in March 2017.
 

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