Activities of Thomas MANN related to 2016/0304(COD)
Plenary speeches (2)
Europass: framework for skills and qualifications (debate) DE
Europass: framework for skills and qualifications (debate) DE
Reports (1)
REPORT on the proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on a common framework for the provision of better services for skills and qualifications (Europass) and repealing Decision No 2241/2004/EC PDF (801 KB) DOC (122 KB)
Amendments (50)
Amendment 51 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 2
Recital 2
(2) Differences in language, definitions, document formats, as well as assessment and qualification validation methods, all pose considerable challenges for individuals, employers and competent authorities. These challenges arise especially where individuals move between countries, including third countries, but also when looking for a new job or engaging in learning. Clear information and shared understanding isare necessary to address these challenges, while respecting subsidiarity and diversity and providing clarity on responsibilities.
Amendment 58 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 3 a (new)
Recital 3 a (new)
(3 a) The new Europass framework adapts the existing Europass services to the needs and expectations of users and providers: learners, job-seekers, workers, employers - in particular small and medium-sized enterprises -, public employment services, guidance practitioners, education and training providers, social partners, volunteers, youth organizations, youth work providers, National Europass Centres and the national authorities responsible. While respecting national structures and administrative arrangements, simplification, effectiveness and efficiency are the main objectives of this Decision. All instruments should be designed and aligned appropriately and without unnecessary overlap in their specific goals and tools and should not overstretch Europass.
Amendment 63 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 4 a (new)
Recital 4 a (new)
(4 a) The activities offered by National Europass Centres provide support to users and promote the documentation of skills and qualifications. The Euroguidance Network has also contributed to the development of information provision regarding EU tools for skills and qualifications. Support for and greater coordination of these national services should be ensured to enhance their impact while respecting the diversity of national systems.
Amendment 65 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 7 a (new)
Recital 7 a (new)
(7 a) The Council Recommendation of 20 December 2012 on the validation of non-formal and informal learning invited Member States to have in place, no later than 2018, in accordance with national circumstances and specificities, and as they deem appropriate, arrangements for the validation of non-formal and informal learning which enable individuals to have knowledge, skills and competences, which have been acquired through non-formal and informal learning validated and to obtain a full qualification, or, where applicable, part qualification.
Amendment 72 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 10
Recital 10
(10) A European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations framework (ESCO) has been piloted by the Commission as a common language and operational tool for education/training and work30 . ESCO structures concepts that are relevant for the EU labour market and education and training in three interlinked pillars: i) occupations, ii) knowledge, skills and competences and iii) qualifications. The ESCO pillars can be complemented by auxiliary vocabularies covering related domains, such as work context, fields of education and training or economic sectors. It is not possible to use ESCO classifications as a basis for the Europass referencing terminology. _________________ 30 The Europe 2020 Strategy announced that the Commission would work on such framework, Communication from the Commission on "Europe 2020 - A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth", COM(2010) 2020 final.
Amendment 74 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 10 a (new)
Recital 10 a (new)
(10 a) Currently, ESCO cannot be considered as basis for a Europass reference terminology. ESCO is an instrument, which is currently a project that has been neither fully developed or tested nor has been approved by the Member States. The use of ESCO as reference terminology is, therefore, conditional on an effort by the Commission to assess its acceptance by and usefulness to users and other stakeholders, as well as on an effort to show the positioning of ESCO within the space of EU instruments, in order to show the value added of its use to labour markets, employers, employees and job- seekers, and the synergies created by the use of ESCO in in a way that is consistent with the EQF in Europass. Once ESCO is recognized to be an acceptable reference terminology for Europass, it is to be regularly updated, in close cooperation with Member States and with stakeholders, such as social partners, professional associations, education and training institutes, research institutes, statistics institutes and employment services.
Amendment 75 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 11
Recital 11
Amendment 82 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 11
Recital 11
(11) Regulation (EU) 2016/589 of the European Parliament and of the Council31 establishes European Employment Services (EURES), a network of employment services and a mechanism for an automated matching of people to jobs through the EURES common IT platform. To enable the exchange and the matching of job vacancies with candidates, this mechanism needs a common and multilingual list of skills, competences and occupations. By developing ESCO the Commission is providing a multilingual classification system of occupations, skills and competences and qualifications that is suited to this purpose. _________________ 31might be suitable for this purpose after thorough review. _________________ 31 OJ L 107, 22.4.2016, p. 1. OJ L 107, 22.4.2016, p. 1.
Amendment 94 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 14
Recital 14
(14) There is an acknowledged growing importance of transversal orand 'soft' skills that can be applied in different fields. Individuals require tools and guidance on self-assessing and describing these and other skills, for example digital or language.
Amendment 103 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 17
Recital 17
(17) The current focus of the Europass framework on documentation is too limited to respond to current and future needs. To communicate skills and qualifications and make decisions on employment and learning opportunities users need access to relevant information and tools for understanding skills and qualifications as well as tools for documenting their own skills and qualifications in accordance with the European Qualifications Framework (EQF).
Amendment 105 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 18
Recital 18
(18) Union tools and services for skills and qualifications should adapt to changing practices and advances in technology to ensure they remain relevant and of value to users. This should be achieved by, among other things, creating more synergy between related tools and services, including those developed by third parties, to offer a more comprehensive and effective service. In addition, authentication measures could be used to support the verification of digital documents on skills and qualifications.
Amendment 110 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 19
Recital 19
(19) The revised Europass framework approach should respect the voluntary nature of Europass and the principle of subsidiarity and should consider the needs of all potential users, including learners, job seekers, workers, employers - especially in small and medium-sized enterprises -, guidance practitioners, public employment services, social partners, education and training providers, youth work organisations and policy makers.
Amendment 121 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 21
Recital 21
(21) The Europass framework established by Decision No 2241/2004/EC should therefore be replaced by a new voluntary framework to address evolving needs while preserving national structures and administrative arrangements and clarifying the synergies between existing instruments.
Amendment 137 #
Proposal for a decision
Recital 27
Recital 27
(27) The Commission will guarantee a platform of cooperation with Member States and relevant stakeholders to ensure the overall coherence of implementshould ensure the coherent implementation and monitoring of this Decision through a Europass expert group composed of representatives of Member States and relevant stakeholders. The expert group should, in particular, advise on the development of web-based tools for documenting information on skills and qualifications and monitoring of this Decision. information provided through the Europass online platform.
Amendment 147 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
1. This Decision establishes a European framework ('Europass'), comprising web- based tools, information and the development of open standards to support the transparency and understanding of skills and qualifications. The framework shall be known as ‘Europass’ acquired in formal, non-formal and informal settings and through practical experiences, including mobility. Europass consists of web-based tools and relevant available information intended to help users to better communicate and present their skills and qualifications.
Amendment 148 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 1 – paragraph 1
Article 1 – paragraph 1
1. This Decision establishes a European framework, which is founded on a voluntary personal portfolio of documents with the aim to make qualifications and competences transparent and interoperable within and between the Member States, comprising web- based tools, information and the development of open standards to support the transparency and understanding of skills and qualifications. The framework shall be known as ‘Europass’.
Amendment 153 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 1 – paragraph 2
Article 1 – paragraph 2
Amendment 159 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 1 – paragraph 3
Article 1 – paragraph 3
3. The use of Europass is voluntary and shall not impose any obligations or confer any rights other than those defined in this Decision.
Amendment 163 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point c a (new)
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point c a (new)
(c a) 'guidance' means a continuous process that enables individuals to identify their capacities, competences and interests, to make educational, training and occupational decisions and to manage their individual life paths in learning, work and other settings in which those capacities and competences are learned and/or used;
Amendment 170 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point g
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point g
(g) 'organisations' means employers, recruiters, education and training institutions, and other stakeholders, e.g. chambers, with an interest in education, training and employment issues;
Amendment 173 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point h
Article 2 – paragraph 1 – point h
(h) 'qualification' means a formal outcome of an assessment and validation process which is obtained when a competent authority (e.g. competent bodies nationally designated by law) determines that an individual has achieved learning outcomes to given standards;
Amendment 183 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) tools to (self-)assess individual skills, including through questionnaires, by reference to established descriptions of skills or through the integration of data from other existing aligned and synchronized EU self-assessment tools such as the Youthpass;
Amendment 184 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) tools for documenting learning outcomes or/of qualifications, i.e. the Europass Qualification Supplement template(s), as referred to in Article 5;
Amendment 185 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point d
(d) tools as necessary to support the presentation and exchange of information by organisations.
Amendment 186 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 3 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. tools for documenting and describing skills and qualifications acquired through working and learning experiences, including cross-border mobility;
Amendment 187 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. Europass shall providemay link and provide existing information on the following:
Amendment 191 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point a a (new)
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point a a (new)
(a a) qualifications and qualifications frameworks
Amendment 195 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c
Article 3 – paragraph 2 – point c
(c) existing national recognition laws in Member States, recognition practices and decisions in different countries, including third countries, to help individuals and other stakeholders understand qualifications;
Amendment 211 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 3 – paragraph 3
Article 3 – paragraph 3
3. Europass shall support cooperation on the development, use and dissemination of open standards, comprising metadata schemata and semantic assets, to facilitate more effective exchange of information on skills and qualifications at EU level and by Member States and third parties. The multilingual classification system ESCO (European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations) referred to in article 6 shall be used to support this work.
Amendment 219 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 4 – paragraph 2
Article 4 – paragraph 2
2. Europass shall seek to enhance transparency and understanding of learning acquired in formal, non-formal and informal settings and through practical experiences, including mobility. Assessment tools need to go through a quality assurance process before being integrated in the Europass.
Amendment 223 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 4 – paragraph 3
Article 4 – paragraph 3
3. Europass shall include coordinated and proven tools to facilitate the understanding of skills through assessment by third parties and self-declaration by individuals.
Amendment 224 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 4 – paragraph 4
Article 4 – paragraph 4
4. The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) shallmay be used as a supporting framework to provide information in Europass. The EQF will be referred to in information on qualifications, descriptions of national education and training systems and other relevant topics. Any dissonance between the frameworks proposed by the EQF and ESCO shall be cleared before the implementation of Europass.
Amendment 232 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 4 – paragraph 5
Article 4 – paragraph 5
5. Europass shall use the European Classification of Skills/Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) established in Article 6 to ensure semantic interoperability between the tools for documentation and information. ESCO shall also provide a platform for interoperability with other relevant services such as those developed by the labour market.
Amendment 233 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 4 – paragraph 5
Article 4 – paragraph 5
5. Europass shall use the European Classification of Skills/Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) established in Article 6 to ensure semantic interoperability between the tools for documentation and information only after ESCO has been subjected to a thorough review process and has been shown to add significant value to the existing framework. ESCO shall also provide a platform for interoperability with other relevant services such as those developed by the labour market. Assessment tools need to go through a quality assurance process before being integrated in the Europass.
Amendment 239 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 4 – paragraph 6
Article 4 – paragraph 6
6. The Europass framework may include an option for users to store personal information by users, such as a personal profiledata such as a personal profile. Union data protection law shall apply to the processing of such personal data. Users may choose from a number of options to restrict access to their data or to certain attributes.
Amendment 248 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 4 – paragraph 10
Article 4 – paragraph 10
10. Europass shall be operated to support and ensure interoperability and synergies with other instruments and services offered at Union level and, where appropriate, national level. The development of open metadata schemata shall be compatible with the technical standards applied under Regulation (EU) 2016/589.
Amendment 252 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 5 – paragraph 1
Article 5 – paragraph 1
1. Europass Qualification Supplement(s) shall be issued by the competent national authorities in accordance with templates developed by the European Commission and other stakeholders32 such as the Council of Europe and UNESCO, insofar as these are congruent. _________________ 32 Current supplements are the Certificate Supplement and the Diploma Supplement.
Amendment 276 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – introductory part
1. The Commission shall, in cooperation with the Member States, while fully respecting the responsibility of the Member States for education and training policy:
Amendment 278 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) develop web-based tools for the operation of Europass. The Europass documents created under Decision No 2241/2004/EC shall be transferred to the reviewed Europass system;
Amendment 287 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
Article 7 – paragraph 1 – point d
Amendment 300 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – point c
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – point c
Amendment 301 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – point c
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – point c
Amendment 312 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – point g
Article 7 – paragraph 3 – point g
Amendment 322 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) designate and manage, in accordance with national circumstances, a National Skills Coordination PointEuropass Centre, to support coordination and cooperation of activities among the national services referred to in this Decision;
Amendment 325 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point a
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point a
(a) designate and manage, in accordance with national circumstances, a National Skills Coordination PointEuropass Centres, to support coordination and cooperation among the national services referred to in this Decision;
Amendment 330 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point c
Article 8 – paragraph 1 – point c
(c) provide Europass users, in a cost- efficient way, with access to the relevant information or data available within the Member State, in particular access to information on learning opportunities, qualifications and qualification systems and to semantic assets on national level;
Amendment 344 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 8 – paragraph 2 – point d
Article 8 – paragraph 2 – point d
(d) support the transparent referencing of levels of qualifications within national qualifications frameworks to the EQF, and provide information on the EQF to national stakeholders and communicate the results of the referencing process and on qualifications to the Union web-based tool;
Amendment 354 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1
The measures provided for in this Decision shall be carried out in accordance with EU law on protection of personal data, in particular Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) No 45/200133 . Personal data must be protected by highest standards. Personal data remains in the authority of the individual. The individual user can change, add, delete and modify the information on his profile. Whenever data analysis is being performed within the infrastructure of the Europass, it must be assured that there is no possibility to trace back the information on individual users. _________________ 33 Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).
Amendment 355 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 9 – paragraph 1
Article 9 – paragraph 1
The measures provided for in this Decision shall be carried out in accordance with EU law on protection of personal data, in particular Directive 95/46/EC33 and Regulation (EC) No 45/200133 . _________________ 33Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).
Amendment 359 #
Proposal for a decision
Article 12 – paragraph 1
Article 12 – paragraph 1
The implementation of this Decision shall be co-financprovided through Union programmes. Annual appropriations shall be authorised by the European Parliament and the Council withmulti-annual operation grants to the National Europass Centres. The Commission shall provide a 5-year perspective comprising the limits of the financial frameworkestimated financial implications for the Member States.