2019 AASVET Plenary Speech

Prof. Seung-Il Na
(Seoul National University)
silna@snu.ac.kr
Introduction

NCS Policy as a National Task

Development and Applications of NCS

Implication for VET standards

Introduction
Korean Education for the Age of 100 years old?
“Living the 30 years of education, 30 years of work, 40 years of retirement”
(average age group of first employment/retirement : 29 years/55 years)

First half of life Second half of life

Graduate
school
실직/이직자
University
Dismissed/displaced
high school
General

Early Post
retirement
retirement
Primary school

Middle school

college
Junior

Unemployed life ??
high school
Specialized
vocational

Working Mandatory
life retirement
high school
Meister

Business start-up, professionals, simple labor

< Working life > < Post retirement life >

< Student life>
Insufficient education & Inadequate aging retirees preparation
Education system centered
training support system • Highest rate of increase in elderly population
on entrance preparation
• Unemployed, dismissed mass • Lacking opportunities to participate
• Lacking work preparation
• Lowest level of OECD labor in lifelong learning
• Late employment age
productivity
4
No Signal Means between Education and the Labor Market
Specifications of the demanded talent?

Vicious
cycle
Supply of talent to meet demand?
“After choosing based on specs, their
“What spec is considered grades are high but they don’t even have
at when selecting?” the basic knowledge required for their jobs
and roles ”
“After joining SME
Re-training period and expenses
(small medium enterprise)
for new university graduates =
even after years of
19.5 months(‘07), KRW 60.88
working salary is
million /person (‘08)
almost the same.”

Youth unemployment, mismatch Wastage of national human resources

5
Opposition between Recruiters and Job Seekers

CEO’s concern, Talent drought!

Many applicants but few talent and leaving early… More specs!

Job Seekers’ concern , infinite specs competition!

Lack of job opportunities, excessive specs competition, increasing employment private
education costs, preparing for exams unrelated to job, more students delaying college
graduation, etc.

6
No Comparison Criteria for Various Qualifications

Education Vocational qualifications Lifelong learning

National professional Private

NTQ qualification qualification
Certificate

Professiona Medical
Master GED
Doctorate l Engineer Doctor
Private certified
qualification(91) Bachelor’s Degree
Master Lawyer Exam
Engineer
Unauthorized Academic
private qualification
Bachelor (4,066)
Credit Banking System
Architect Lifelong learning
College degree Business certificate accounts
Industry Engineer (116)
Real Estate
High school
Middle Craftsman
Labor
Elementary consultant No
Kindergarten Criteria!

7
NCS is the Key to Transforming Korea!
Academic clique
/ specs-based society Competency-based society

Passive education Active education

Academic clique/ spec-centered resume

Competency-based education
Admission-oriented education Break
Down Competency-based
Excessive academic education Recruitment / promotion

Private education cost for employment

Trusted public education
Wage discrimination by education
Facilitating early employment
Extreme concentration on popular majors

Extend studying to build specs

Late first employment

High social awareness of education and specs

8
NCS policy as a National Task
History of NCS
National Technical Qualifications System (1973)

1997 Framework Act on Qualifications

NOS 2002 KSS

(National Occupational Standard) (Korea Skills Standard)
HRD KOREA & Ministry of Labor KRIVET & Ministry of Education

May 2010
NCS
(National Competency Standard)

March 2013 ~present

A National Task
In order to build Competency-based Society

10
Concept of NCS
A competency is a combination of knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to perform a
job in an industry by industrial sector and level (Framework Act on Qualifications)

* Using job/task analysis, DACUM, etc, transform KSA into competency

December 2002, developed 5 divisions of NCS (auto-maintenance, welding, beauty

treatment, etc.)

11
KECO and Classification of NCS
Based on KECO(Korean Employment Classification of Occupations)
24 major groups, 77 division(minor) groups, 227 section(broad) groups, 857
subsection(detailed) occupations

12
A Conceptual Framework of Competency-based Society

Realizing a Competency
-Based Society

Competency-based assessment
(Hiring & promotion)

Industri
National
al and
Qualification
Sector
NCS Framework
Field (NCS-based learning module)
(NQF)

Working
School Vocational Lifelong Vocational
experience
education training learning qualifications
recognition
system

13
Basic Policy Tasks (Ministry Roles)

1 Settlement of competency based 『Spec-free hiring system』

(Ministry of Employment and Labor)

2 Building the NCS system

NCS Development (Ministry of Employment and Labor)
Development of NCS-based learning modules (Ministry of Education)
Restructuring public training institution and revising national technical qualification standards
(Ministry of Employment and Labor)
Introduction of 『a course evaluation-type qualification』(Ministry of Employment and
Labor
Building a NQF (both Ministry of Education and Ministry of Employment and Labor)

Implementation of 『 Competency-based assessment system 』

3 for a competency-based society
Building a Korea recruitment model infrastructure not on the basis of spec but based on
competency-based assessment
Applying first to public institution and spread to private sector based on the
results
4 Building a lifelong vocational competency development system
14
NCS Working Group (Governance)

15
Composition of NCS

Competency Unit Code

Competency Unit Title

Competency Unit Descript

Competency Unit Element

National Competency Standards Performance Criteria & Knowledge/Skill/Attitude

A set of competency units
Working Situation
competency unit
Individual job competency composing
the whole job competency that is Guide of Assessment
needed from the relevant job

16
Structure of NCS

KECO Unit Group 1

Unit 1 Element 1 Performance Criteria
category (NCS)

Unit 2….etc Element 2 Knowledge

Skill
Attitude
Element 3
Job Conditions
1) Consideration
Element 4
2) Documents
3) Equipment
Unit Group 2
Unit 1 Evaluation Guidance
(NCS)…..
1) Checklist/Method
Unit 2….etc 2) Criteria

17
What is National Qualification Framework?

National Qualification Framework(NQF) is a system that represents the equivalence of

education, training, qualification and work experience.
※ NQF is operating in 160 countries globally\
* European Union: EQF Establishment – promoting cross-border manpower movement among nations,
building bridges into further education
The development of NCS provides the foundation for the operation of NQF

Work experience Qualification

National Qualification
Education Framework Training
(NQF)

National Competency Standards

(NCS)

18
SCOTTISH Credit and Qualifications Framework

19
ENGLAND National Qualifications Framework

20
Development and Applications of NCS
 NCS Development and Update

Unit of competency that is required for particular workers

※ what we called HR specifications, HR specs, HR Instruction manual and HR Demands

Used for linking “industry and occupations”, “education and training”, and “qualification
standards”

Classification Systems of NCS according to KECO system

1 NCS = consist of about 10 competency units

Unit of Competency level: 1~8 levels(stages)

Carry out continuous updates by HRD Services of Korea

*** 1,001 NCS(sets) as of September, 2019

22
Category of NCS development

24 Categories, 78 divisions, 228 sections, and 928(897) subsections (2017)

78 228 897

SQF building
process

SQF building
process

SQF building
process
SQF building
process

23
Usage of NCS

National Competency Standards

Standardization of competencies required to perform a job effectively in One’s
occupation at the national level

NCS
Qualification Standards Curriculums
Testing Standards Trainng programs

Qualification TVET
Vocational competency
information and Career
• NCS based assessment development Roadmap • NCS based curriculum
• Workplace job and tasks • Flexible VET program
• Career development roadmap Employment developments
• Strengthen connections Labor market • VET on the needs of
service
between qualifications industry(or workplace)
• NCS based Vocation Training Program(HRD-net)
• Competency based recruitment
• NCS based Vocational Education curriculum(NEIS)
• Individual career development
• NCS based assessment(Coursed based assessment(CQ-net)
• Corporative HRD
• Employment information(Work-net)
• VET information(HRD-net, Career-net)

Performance-Based, Activity-Based, Quality-Based HRD Infrastructure

24
Development of NCS-based Learning Modules

NCS-based learning modules (standard teaching materials) developed by

KRIVET with Ministry of Education (since 2013 ~ present)

Development principle: each competency unit = each learning module

Effective modular development and operation of the VET curriculum

Used as mechanism for quality management of VET

※ Reduction of textbook development expense

NCS-based Learning Modules should be used to ensure the quality of vocational

education and training.
Completion of competency units comparable to higher education using NCS
learning modules may be credited.

25
Reforming Education and Training standards

Strengthening the field competency in vocational education programs:

※ (High school curriculum) Revised high school vocational curriculum based on NCS (in 2015)

- Specialized Subject II – teaching all Practical Courses by using NCS unit of competency (Learning Modules)

※ (Junior colleges) 83 Colleges reorganized and operated NCS Integrated Curriculum

(SCK, Specialized College of Korea program, 2014.3-2019.2, KRW 1.5 trillion for five years)

Enhancing vocational training quality: Restructuring training standards, vocational

training process evaluation,
※ Use of NCS in 227 Private training institutions 1,052, Polytechnic colleges, all training process of 34 campuses

Strengthening links between vocational education and vocational training – Can

be possible by using the same NCS-based Learning Modules

26
Enhancing NTQ standards

Reforming exam questions and skills test guidelines (subjects to be examined) for NTQ items
Designed new NCS based qualifications (600 items) but stopped into action (Ministry of
Employment and Labor)
Introduction of a course evaluation-type qualification(CEQ) selected from National Technical
Qualification items (‘15~’19, 143 items)
- Enacted by ‘14 amendment of the National Technical Qualification Act (Ministry of Employment
and Labor)

※ (‘15) 15 → (‘19) 143 items (craftman, industrial engineer, engineer, and service qualification)
-Alleviation of separation problems of major education and preparation for qualification testing
-Produce talented workforce through systematic education and training to guarantee the quality of
qualification holders rather than limited tests(written and skill tests)
-CEQ Curriculum Standards = Required competency units + Optional competency units +
common basic competencies (total 400-600 hrs)

27
Enhancing Lifelong Education System

Reforming Academic Credit Bank System (ABCS)

Completion of the learning module of competency units corresponding to higher education may be
credited.

Review the validity of credit recognition of existing qualification holders

Introducing Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

Issuing competency certificate by objectively referring to each individual’s learning portfolio

Prepare work experience recognition standards for “work and learning dual system” participants

28
Working on Korean Qualification Framework

Developed Sector Qualification Framework(SQF) for selected industry sectors: (’14)

Car maintenance, hair beauty, accommodation services field, etc

Proposed a Korean Qualification Framework (see the next slide)

Enacted by amending the Framework Act on Qualifications (February 15, 2019)

- Components(Descriptors) = Knowledge, Skills, Autonomy and Responsibilities

- Levels = 1(lowest) – 8 (Highest)

- Must update every three years as of July 1, 2019

29
 A Proposed Korean Qualifications Framework (2016. 12)

(Articulation) (Articulation)
KQF
Degree level Qualification
Doctor
al
Master
Bachel
or
Diploma(3ye
ars)
Diploma(2ye
ars)
Accreditation High school
Degree requirement Course exemption
Admission Middle school Qualification
prerequisite requirement
Primary school

Recognition of Prior
Learning(RPL)

(Education) (Employment) (Training)

Career Development Pathway

30
Expanding Competency-based Assessment and Hiring system

To do this, employers are required to disclose core competency units in each

hiring track/category and to open mid- and long-term hiring plans.

Required all public institutions that recruit new employees based on competency-
based assessment according to occupation, job, and duty groups (since 2014)

Spread to private sectors based on the success results of public institutions

Since 2017, implement the Blind Hiring system that various discriminating
factors such as education, home, age should be kept private and evaluated fairly
based on job competency.

31
Implications for VET Standards
Using NCS and Qualification for VET standards

Setting the Units of Competency for Each NTQ Standards

Too many units of competency and completion hours for a CEQ
No common units of competency for test-type and CEQ
Only the required units of competency for regular schools/universities
The required units of competency could be used as NTQ standards

Establishing the Credit Recognition System between VET

NTQ standards could be used as a mutual recognition criterion for VET

Units of competency and their levels should be clearly stated.
Units of competency corresponding to higher education might be credited.

33
Recommendation

Korean NCS and proposed KQF benchmarked by other countries

Qualification standards be used for VET content standards

Need to develop Asian or ASEAN qualification framework

Need to develop Asian VET standards for mutual recognition

34
 NCS Homepage (http://www.ncs.go.kr)

To Provide NCS References

1 2 3 4 CDP, Job
Existed Classification NCS Description,
Development NCS system & NCS understanding Module teaching
reference Code movie of use materials, etc.

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Thank you for your attention!

Q&A