PISA Vocational Education and Training (VET)

Annex A. Glossary

This glossary provides definitions of the main concepts used in this framework document. They are substantively compatible with the glossaries of UNESCO and the EU (Cedefop):

• Glossary | CEDEFOP (europa.eu)

• https://unevoc.unesco.org/home/TVETipedia+Glossary/lang=en/show=char/char=C#start

Competency and competencies

Each of these two terms refer to the ability to do something.

A competency is more than just knowledge and skills. It involves the ability to meet complex demands, by drawing on and mobilising psychosocial resources in a particular context. For example, the ability to communicate effectively is a competency that may draw on an individual’s knowledge of language, practical IT skills and understanding of those with whom he or she is communicating. https://www.oecd.org/pisa/definition-selection-key-competencies-summary.pdf.

Competencies are the plural of competency and are the combination of abilities, knowledge and skills that may be occupation specific, non-occupation specific, professional or transversal.

Educational institutions

Educational institutions are defined as entities that provide either core or peripheral educational goods and services to individuals and other educational institutions.

Knowledge and content knowledge

Knowledge includes theoretical concepts and ideas related to a domain in addition to practical understanding based on the experience of having performed certain tasks in the domain. The OECD Learning Compass 2030 recognises four types of knowledge: disciplinary, interdisciplinary, epistemic & procedural, https://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/teaching-and-learning/learning/knowledge/:

• Disciplinary knowledge (or content knowledge) includes subject-specific concepts and detailed content, such as that learned in the study of business and administration, for example.

• Interdisciplinary knowledge involves relating the concepts and content of one discipline/subject to the concepts and content of other disciplines/subjects.

• Epistemic knowledge is the understanding of how expert practitioners of disciplines work and think. This knowledge helps students find the purpose of learning, understand the application of learning and extend their disciplinary knowledge.

• Procedural knowledge is the understanding of how something is done, the series of steps or actions taken to accomplish a goal. Some procedural knowledge is domain-specific, some is transferable across domains. The OECD Learning Compass 2030 highlights transferable procedural knowledge, which is knowledge that students can use across different contexts and situations to identify solutions to problems.

Learning outcomes

Learning outcomes are statements of what a learner knows, understands and is able to do on completion of a learning process, defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competences. Education and training institutions can describe their qualifications in terms of learning outcomes.

Occupational areas

An occupational area refers to one or a group of related occupations in the labour market. These occupational areas can be linked to fields of study and qualifications. For example, the occupational area “electricians” includes a broad range of specialised electrician occupations. Various VET programmes within the broad field of “engineering, manufacturing and construction” can prepare students for work in this occupational area.

Occupation-specific competencies

Skills and knowledge that are specific to the occupation or occupational area that the education and training programme prepares for. These occupation-specific competencies can be practice-oriented competencies and employability skills (see below).

Professional competencies

Are occupation-specific and transversal competencies (see below) that include:

Practice-oriented professional competencies: Practice-oriented knowledge and skills refer to applied competences needed to carry out certain professional tasks. They are also referred to as technical competencies.

Employability skills: Skills related to an individual’s ability to function in a professional setting are referred to as employability skills. Most of these skills are transversal skills, but they may have an occupation-specific element reflecting the different working environments and tasks of occupations (e.g. communicating with patients in health-related occupations is different from communicating with clients in sales-related occupations).

School-based VET programmes

In school-based VET programmes instruction takes place predominantly in educational institutions. These include training centres for vocational education run by public or private entities (e.g. schools, colleges, technical institutes). These programmes can have a small on-the-job training component, i.e. a component of some practical experience at the workplace, but this does not exceed 25% of the curriculum (covering the whole educational programme).

Social partners

Social partners are representatives of employers and workers, usually employer organisations and trade unions.

Transversal competencies

Transversal competencies are those knowledge areas and skills that are not specific to one particular occupation or occupational area but can be applied across many different types of occupations. They include cognitive competences (e.g. problem solving, critical and creative thinking, ICT literacy, numeracy) and socio-emotional competences (e.g. perseverance, communication and collaboration skills). Many of these transversal competencies can be considered employability skills, as they are often crucial for individuals to function in a professional environment.

Underlying or fundamental capabilities

Underlying or fundamental capabilities are the set of domain specific capabilities that underpins each of the processes included in the framework. These include the ability to execute a specified course of action or to achieve certain outcomes related to the processes identified in the framework in each of the selected occupational areas.

Vocational education and training

Vocational education and training (VET) programmes are designed for learners to acquire the competencies specific to a particular occupation, trade, or class of occupations or trades, in addition to more general knowledge and transversal competencies. Such programmes may have work-based components (e.g. apprenticeships or dual-system education programmes). Successful completion of such programmes leads to labour market-relevant, vocational qualifications acknowledged as occupationally oriented by the relevant national authorities and/or the labour market. The PISA-VET Assessment only concerns formal VET programmes, i.e. leading to formal recognised qualifications. Moreover, the PISA-VET Assessment focuses on initial VET programmes, i.e. excluding those that are purely designed for the upskilling and reskilling of adults.

Work-based learning

VET programmes often include a work-based component, i.e. part of the curriculum is delivered in a real work environment. These programmes are classified as combined school-and-work-based programmes if less than 75% of the curriculum is presented in the school environment or through distance education. Such programmes include, for example, apprenticeships and dual VET programmes as well as “traineeships and internships” and “on-the-job training” as stated in the joint IAG leaflet “Investing in Work-Based Learning”: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---ifp_skills/documents/publication/wcms_565923.pdf.