CEN WORKSHOP CWA 16052 December 2009 AGREEMENT ICS 35.240.99 English version ICT Certification in Europe This CEN Workshop Agreement has been drafted and approved by a Workshop of representatives of interested parties, the constitution of which is indicated in the foreword of this Workshop Agreement. The formal process followed by the Workshop in the development of this Workshop Agreement has been endorsed by the National Members of CEN but neither the National Members of CEN nor the CEN Management Centre can be held accountable for the technical content of this CEN Workshop Agreement or possible conflicts with standards or legislation. This CEN Workshop Agreement can in no way be held as being an official standard developed by CEN and its Members. This CEN Workshop Agreement is publicly available as a reference document from the CEN Members National Standard Bodies. CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom. EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG Management Centre: Avenue Marnix 17, B-1000 Brussels 2009 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved worldwide for CEN national Members. Ref. No.:CWA 16052:2009 E
Contents Foreword Executive Summary 1. Introduction 2. Features of e-certification in Europe 3. Action 1: Market dynamics 4. Action 2: e-certification landscape 5. Action 3: Deploying the e-competence Framework 6. Action 4: European Model for e-certification schemes 7. Conclusions and Recommendations Annexes A. Project summary B. Methodology C. Market structure C1 C2 List of certification providers Metrics data sheet D. Landscape maps D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D9 D10 EU UK Germany Italy Ireland Belgium France Methodology Country Maps E. European e-competence Framework F. References G. ISO standards related to e-certification H. Experts consulted in this project
Foreword The formal decision to start work on this CEN Workshop Agreement "ICT certification in Europe" was taken at the CEN ICT Skills Workshop meeting of November 2007 in Brussels. The development of this CEN Workshop Agreement took place in the CEN ICT-Skills Workshop between March 2008 and July 2009. The draft CWA was made available for a 60 days commenting period, which period closed at 1 August 2009. Between 6 August 2009 and 30 September 2009, the paying registered participants of the CEN Workshop were requested to express their opinion on this CWA in a written process. Their validation of the CWA focuses on the main part of the CWA, the CWA's annexes (mostly factual information) may not have received a similar detailed review by the registered participants. Experts from the following organizations expressed their support: AICA CEPIS CIGREF (with comments) ECDL Foundation E-Skills ILB (with comments) EXIN HBO-I KWB ev Microsoft DE GmbH UNI Global Union Uni Karlsruhe/ AIFB No paying registered participant expressed opposition against the CWA. The final draft was sent for publication on 9 November 2009. This CEN Workshop Agreement is publicly available as a reference document from the National Members of CEN : AENOR, AFNOR, ASRO, BDS, BSI, CSNI, CYS, DIN, DS, ELOT, EVS, IBN, IPQ, IST, LVS, LST, MSA, MSZT, NEN, NSAI, ON, PKN, SEE, SIS, SIST, SFS, SN, SNV, SUTN and UNI.
Executive Summary This CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) reports on the CEN e-certification in Europe project, operating from March 2008 to July 2009. It follows on and updates an earlier HARMONISE project, conducted by CEPIS. It describes the e-certification market in Europe, relates it to the new e-competence Framework, and includes recommendations to strengthen the operation of the market. The project has created a set of landscape maps showing the main organisations involved in certification in some of the member states, and for the EU. These provide a useful tool to understand the certification scene in each country, which varies considerably because of legal, educational and cultural differences. We recommend that CEPIS undertake to extend and maintain these maps, using the template provided in this CWA. The certification market worldwide continues to grow at around 25% per annum, with a worldwide cumulative total of 10 to 11 million. We have been unable so far to detect any slowdown resulting from the economic recession, nor to establish a figure for Europe alone. Even so, this figure substantially understates the total volume of related learning, because of the effect of non-assessed or unsuccessful candidates. We recommend an annual cycle of market statistics, including regional figures, to be operated by EITO and the ILB Certification Council, using the data sheet provided in this CWA. This project now considers that earlier language describing e-certification, such as certification jungle, parallel universe and vital eco-system, whilst convenient shorthand at the time, is now outdated. Certification should not be seen as being in competition with traditional education. A new understanding of the market structure sees education, training, certification, and experience as mutually supporting components of lifelong learning and professionalism. This CWA includes techniques, based on self-assessment with peer review, for certification providers to position their qualifications against the European e-competence Framework, and thus to relate them to the European Qualifications Framework. We recommend that the ILB Certification Council oversee this task. We further invite CompTIA to work with the Council to redevelop their Certificate Roadmap to align with the e-cf. The CWA also includes a European Model for certification schemes, consistent with ISO standards in this area. It includes co-operation with the elements above, together with information and quality assurance requirements. We recommend that certification providers compliant with the Model are allowed and encouraged to use the European e-skills branding on their certification literature. The CEN Workshop invites academia, industry and the profession to unite in a new common understanding of the role of certification in the overall learning market, based on this CWA. www.ict-certification-in-europe.eu
1. Introduction This project responds to the EC Communication on e-skills 1 of 7 September 2007 endorsed by the EU Council of Ministers on 23 November 2007 which explicitly refers to: Encouraging the development of European quality criteria for existing e-skills industry based certifications, taking into account the upcoming European Qualifications Framework and industry self-regulation initiatives. These criteria should be available in 2009. The project has studied the market for e-certification, concentrating on ICT professionals, covering all types of certification products, resulting in this CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA). It follows four earlier CWAs produced by the Workshop. The CEN Workshop on ICT Skills is the mechanism to achieve consensus amongst all stakeholders related to e-skills. The project commenced in March 2008, and concluded in July 2009. An Interim Report was issued in September 2008, and was approved by the European Commission. An immediate predecessor project has been the EU Leonardo funded HARMONISE project conducted by CEPIS. HARMONISE reported in late 2007 and has been formally accepted by EU, with good external evaluation. HARMONISE had four main themes: Statistics on the ICT labour market, as one of the parent markets driving the market for ICT certifications Extensive research and analysis of e-certification processes Research and analysis of the e-certification market Review of quality assurance processes and standards HARMONISE (adopting language used by an earlier researcher) concluded that the market was a certification jungle with over 60 providers, over 600 types of qualification, and 5 million certifications issued over the previous six years. This position was contrasted with that for ECDL/ICDL where a single (user) qualification set had achieved around 7 million certifications although it should be recognised that the practitioner market is considerably more complex. (www.cepis-harmonise.org/harmonise) This e-certification project has not repeated that research, but has updated and extended it considerably, leading to a new understanding of the market structure for e-certification. An important sister project under the same Workshop has been the European e- Competence Framework (http://www.ecompetences.eu). That project has produced CWA 15893 establishing the new e-competence framework for Europe, together with user guidelines (Annex E). A follow-on project e-cf in Action is maintaining, developing and promoting the new e-cf. This e-certification project has used that European e-competence Framework to position the level of particular qualifications, and thus to relate such qualifications to the European Qualifications Framework (EQF). The project has worked with the Industry Leadership Board s (ILB) new Certification Council. The project has also examined other ongoing activities in the field of ICT certification such as ISO/IEC 24773 (http://www.iso.org) and IFIP IP3 (http://www.ipthree.org). Contact has been established with these initiatives and relationships established. 1 http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/policy/ict-skills.htm
2. Features of e-certification in Europe 2.1 What is e-certification? e-certification (or ICT certification) can be considered as the set of processes by which an individual gains a credential in a particular ICT skill or more generally a range of skills. Such credentials are usually granted by recognised bodies, themselves often but not always accredited by some governmental or official organisation. In order to achieve the qualification, that individual must achieve a declared standard, judged by a formal assessment process. The whole scheme is governed by quality assurance processes, covering both the development and maintenance of the skills standard, and the assessment procedures. Definitions of certification: We refer first to the definition of certification from Dixon and Beier (CWA 15515, CEN 2006): Certification often means the awarding of a certificate, or other testimonial, that formally recognizes and records success in the assessment of Knowledge, Skills and/or Competencies, as the final step in the completion of a Qualification. However, it is also used, in particular in relation to ICT Practitioner occupations, to mean the Qualification as a whole. It is important to be aware of these two ( narrow and broad ) meanings of Certification. Another definition can be found in (Tissot, 2004): Certification is the process of formally validating knowledge, know-how and/or skills and competencies acquired by an individual, following a standard assessment procedure. Certificates or diplomas are issued by accredited awarding bodies. A yet a third definition: In general, ICT professional certifications are seen as a credential - the result of an objective assessment procedure run by an approved third party, in which an individual meets the performance specifications delineated in job profiles which are recognised by industry stakeholders. (CEPIS, 2004), (Cedefop, 2006). 2.2 Value of e-certification Such e-certification provides value at several levels: For employees, or candidates for employment, in providing an independent yardstick of their value to (prospective) employers, thus improving their prospects of selection or promotion, and thus pay For employers, in providing that same external judgement, and a convenient tool of differentiation For learners undergoing training, and their teachers, a benchmark of the competence to be achieved For customers of IT products and services, a degree of confidence in the skills of their suppliers