Slovene qualifications framework between global, European and local

Klara Skubic Ermenc and Borut Mikulec

Summary:   The authors explain the formation of modern qualifications frameworks and their position within EU educational policy, while discussing the potential effects of the introduction and implementation of Slovene and European qualifications frameworks on the Slovene education area. The authors argue that the introduction of national qualifications frameworks, influenced by the European and global agenda, affects the very core of national educational systems, leading to varied effects depending on their interaction with local networks and flows (Castells). They demonstrate how learning outcomes have become the cornerstone of qualification frameworks, since they supposedly function as neutral, ahistorical and objectified (scientifically based) criteria for the classification and comparison of qualifications. Therefore, they formally adhere to the principle of subsidiarity, but actually affect relationships between different types of qualifications within and between the countries, thus changing the function of knowledge in society. Different outcomes can be expected in different contexts; some positive (for example, better parity of esteem between vocational and general education), and some negative (for example, the supremacy of the pragmatic educational paradigm).