NETHERLANDS: A QUALIFICATION STRUCTURE: WHAT IS IT?
Good vocational education is of great importance to any industry. This also applies to four branches which are closely related to one another: the horeca, the institutional catering, the contract catering and the tourist/recreational branch. These four branches have known training courses in all shapes and sizes for many years. These training courses can be attended by way of daytime education, e.g. at a Secondary Hotel School or a school for Secondary Tourist/Recreational Education. In addition, there are several training courses according to the apprenticeship system. In this system an apprentice learns and works in a learning establishment for four days per week and goes to school for one day per week.
Until a few years ago the daytime education and the apprenticeship system were more or less separate from one another. Also, each of the four branches had its own training courses. Since 1996, however, all training courses have been brought together into one single system: the horeca, institutional catering, contract catering and tourism/recreation qualification structure. The reason for this was the passing of a new Act in the Netherlands: the Education and Vocational Education Act.
The qualification structure includes all vocations that can be found in the four branches of industry. It is described in detail per vocation which knowledge and capabilities one must have to start as a professional, a manager or an entrepreneur. All vocational descriptions are then "translated" into so-called final qualifications. Each final qualification consists of a number of partial qualifications. Someone who obtains a partial qualification receives a certificate. All certificates together entitle the holder to a diploma: the tangible proof that the final qualification concerned has been achieved.
The Dutch qualification structure is based on the official European Cedefop division and consists of four levels. To each level belong one or several final qualifications. We distinguish the following levels: - assistant (level 1 ) - basic professional (level 2) -professional (level 3) - middle management level adviser/specialist (level 4).
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
