Results of VISKA Flanders

This report presents the Flemish findings of the ‘Visible Skills of Adults’ (VISKA) Erasmus+ Key Action 3 project. A diploma in secondary education is an important instrument for the target group of low-skilled adults –  not only for increasing personal well-being, social integration but also for increasing (sustainable) job opportunities and for lifelong learning.  In accordance with the European directive on validation, a Parliamentary Act on VPL for professional qualifications was approved by the Flemish Government recently. The VISKA project was an ideal opportunity to draw more attention to the importance of a VPL procedure for educational qualifications.

Read the full executive summary here: Executive summary in Dutch 

The Higher Education and Adult Education Division of the Department is responsible for the Flemish partnership in VISKA. Participation in the project enabled the team to inform the Minister of Education and the Flemish government about the usefulness and the possibilities of providing an accessible validation of prior learning procedure in the general education programmes in the centres of adult education (CAEs) in Flanders, tailored to the needs of the target group.

The VISKA project is embedded in the European policy priorities formulated in Upskilling Pathways,and aligns with the decree on adult education to give adults more learning chances and it serves to give some policy advice on the implementation of Art. 63 §3 of the decree: CAEs are authorised to assess adult learners who have not followed courses at the centre in question within the field of (additional)general education (AGE) on basis of VPL.

With this research  first steps towards mapping out the current VPLprocedures for AGE in CAEs are taken. Field trials are used to investigate how more and equal VPL possibilities for AGE for the low-skilled are guaranteed and whether a VPL procedure for AGE is indeed an added value in order to obtain a diploma in Secondary Education is explored. By providing policy advice as a result of participation in the VISKA project, views are offered on the conditions for a high-quality VPL procedure for AGE. This way, policymakers with an interest in AGE will be able to create an adequate framework for VPL procedures for AGE, possibly in line with the VPL decree for professional qualifications but certainly contributing to a win-win situation for both society and for the individual.

Read the full national evaluation report here: National Evaluation Report Flanders

As part of the VISKA project, we tried to gain insight into the profile of adult learners in additional general education (AGE) in secondary adult education, the causes of their unqualified outflow and the exemption policy of centres of adult education (CAEs). To this end, three studies were carried out.

Read all about the three studies here (in Dutch)