| dc.description.abstract | This study will contribute to a better understanding of the development of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF), a new policy solution proposed at the European level, with its stated aim being to create more transparency of qualifications across Europe by providing a standardized translation tool. The research problem of this study is to identify the main factors that have led to the introduction, development and implementation of the EQF. The study composes of four articles and an extended abstract.
In this study, the EQF is conceptualized as a process of standardization, a process that can take different functions – the symbolic, instrumental and informational function. To zoom into the process of standardization, the analytical toolbox relies on three key themes that are based on an overall institutional perspectives. The first theme concerns decision-making about standards in the context of various formal and informal rules. Decision-making is conceptualised as a coupling between problems and solutions. This coupling is outlined according to four possible patterns: historical contingency, rational problem solving, solution driven normative process, and processes of chance. The second theme examines how specific structures can become institutionalized, in that they become taken-for-granted, acquire legitimacy and assure stable access to resources. The third theme is focused on the coupling between problems and solutions in a multi-level context, with emphasis on the scope of change and degree of coupling, highlighting possible patterns for how a European policy solution can be coupled to national policy problems. These three themes form a basis for examining the process through which the EQF was introduced, the intergovernmental structures that have been developed on European level, and the national processes that have taken place.
Methodologically, the EQF is viewed as a case, and an unlikely case. The study has examined the process of developing a national qualifications framework (NQF) in three countries (Estonia, Ireland, and Norway). In Ireland the NQF was developed before the EQF, in Estonia and Norway the NQF was developed as a response to European initiatives. In addition, these countries provide a mix of other similarities and differences (EU attachment, policymaking context, NQF status, etc). The study is qualitative and relied on document analysis and expert interviews as data sources. The main time frame for the collected data here is from approximately year 2002 to 2013.
The findings of this study are threefold. First, part examines the origins and development of the EQF. The analysis indicated a dual source for the EQF, with an expanding lifelong learning agenda in the EU, and the Bologna process as a source of inspiration. The analysis highlighted how the process of introducing the EQF was dialectic – being both problem driven and solution driven at times, and that serendipity and path-dependencies played a role at other times. The various interests that have been incorporated have also lead the EQF as a policy solution to be characterised by internal tension. Second, the study has examined the changing function of the EQF advisory group (EQFAG). The study shows how the EQFAG went through a process of rapid creation of procedures and norms, and fast expansion of informal power, to the extent that this can be considered stretching of the subsidiarity principle. Third, the study shows how national processes can vary substantially in how far European solutions are coupled to national policy problems. The distinct nature of processes that take place as a consequence of European initiatives is highlighted, and how this can lead to ad-hoc processes and weak links to national policy domain. The study shows how local policymaking traditions have an effect on the coupling of problems and solutions, where actor composition and interests have considerable effect on the process.
From a standardization lens, the study discuses the EQF in light of the three functions. First, examining the symbolic function, the EQF can be seen to create common language, placing various educational systems in one larger meta-system, all of these represent an idea of a closer integrated Europe in the area of education. However, the EQF is not a very coherent and unified expression of values. The study proposes a view of “EU on demand”, where member states can pick and choose various ideas packed into the EQF. Second, examining the instrumental function, the EQF as a means for standardization can also be seen as a new mode of policymaking, where the Commission has taken the role of the standardizer, representing a more indirect mode of policymaking. Third, examining the informational function, the EQF is frequently presented as value-free, technical, the ultimate Babel fish that instantly translates any set of European educational qualifications into another set of qualifications. The case studies in this study have shown that this neutrality is to a large extent illusory. | en_US |