INFLUENCE OF THE EQF ON NQF IN ORDER TO DEVELOP NEW BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS USING COMPETENCIES

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1 INFLUENCE OF THE EQF ON NQF IN ORDER TO DEVELOP NEW BEHAVIORAL PATTERNS USING COMPETENCIES Ionela Gabriela Solomon PhD Student, Bucharest University of Economic Studies Abstract: This article analyzes the relationship between the European Qualifications Framework - EQF and National Qualifications Frameworks - NQF within the European Union, and identifies how competencies, qualifications and occupational standards for instance the ones related to mentoring are defined.the need of EQF implementation by all Member States resulted from the primary purpose of providing labor mobility, transparency and quality of education and training without discrimination. National systems of education and training, should be correlated only with the labor market of a Member State and the European labor market should be harmonized with the EQF, where skills of a graduate / employee are ensured, equalized and recognized through diplomas and graduation certificates to all levels (1 to 8). These skills represent not only the interests of the employer, but also the targets of education and / or training by designing an appropriate program, learning plan or training program. To make effective use of public money, the demand for labor jobs should underpin educational opportunities and training. The skill levels of employee / graduate was introduced to secure and facilitate the comparability and recognition of competences acquired in EU Member States, for each of the Member State. These levels operate as a single European system for reporting and referencing, using the measurement unit / equivalence competences acquired by an individual. The employer is interested in competences with or without probation. Then higher education, secondary education, etc., along with other training providers are interested in learning outcomes or units of learning outcomes. So, the article presents a comparative analysis of mentor occupation in Romania and UK. The purpose of this review is to highlight the specific skills of the leaders, which are included in these occupational standards. The article shows the influence of the European Qualifications Framework on National Qualifications Frameworks, creating new patterns of behavior for occupational standard of mentor and also shows the possibility of progression on their career based on skills. Keywords: EQF; NQF; skills; occupational standards; leadership; intelligences; JEL CODE: J24 640

2 1. Introduction The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) is a translation tool that helps communication and comparison between qualifications systems in Europe. Its eight common European reference levels are described in terms of learning outcomes: knowledge, skills and competences. Community cooperation in the field of education developed since its inception at the beginning of the 70s (Pepin, 2007). This framework allows to any national qualifications systems, national qualifications frameworks (NQFs) and qualifications in Europe to relate to the EQF levels. Learners, graduates, providers and employers can use these levels, in order to understand and compare qualifications, awarded in different countries and by different education and training systems. Each of the eight levels is defined by a set of descriptors indicating the learning outcomes relevant to qualifications at that level in any system of qualifications. These indicators refers to skills, knowledge and competencies. These competencies can be obtained in a formal, informal or a non-formal way (Colardyn and Bjornavold, 2004). In the context of European Qualification Framework, the National Qualification Framework has set a number of goals, in order to adapt and harmonize with the European system, such as: To define qualifications in terms of valuable learning experiences; To improve skills and knowledge; To adapt personal behaviours to the labour market requirements; To increase mobility among adults; To create a functional frameworkfor qualifications, recognised at national and international level, based on the principles of Quality Transparency Transferability Progression. In order to achieve these goals, the national authority for qualification from some European member states uses occupational standards. The occupational standard for vocational education and training is a tool that establishes the link between labor market needs, expressed by the skills and competencies required to practice an occupation and defining elements of education and training expressed as: knowledge, skill level, educational level, plan and schedule 641

3 for theoretical and practical training, access requirements, conditions for promotion, personal development, certificate / diploma, supplement diploma, under quality assurance system. Table 1: Mentoring implementation across a range of European countries = Full implementation with teachers/trainers o = Partial implementation with teachers/trainers Source: Data gathered through research within the TTnet network , according to The Mentor Handbook A Practical Guide for VET Teacher Training, 2013 As it can be observed from the table above, data about Romania were not included at that moment. Mentoring was implemented full or partial in 13 countries from EU: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, UK. 642

4 From defining the context of national and European qualification, the article aims to compare two occupational standard related to mentoring activity, in two member state of the European Union, namely United Kingdom and Romania. First it would be analyzed the mentor in UK and Romania, as they are presented by their national authority which is in charge with this activity, and after that it will be made an comparative analysis in order to see the differences between the two of them. Before we start analyses the standard occupation for mentor, we should first consult the literature, to see how it defines the concept of mentor. For example, Kram (1985) noted that mentoring involves an intense relationship whereby a senior or more experienced person (the mentor) provides two functions for a junior person (the protégé), one function being advice or modeling about career development behaviors and the second function being personal support, especially psychosocial support. The mentor is usually a senior, experienced employee who serves as a role model, provides support, direction, and feedback to the younger employee regarding career plans and interpersonal development, and increases the visibility of the protégé to decision-makers in the organization who may influence career opportunities (Noe, 1988, p. 458). In literature, articles and studies refers also to gender in mentoring. For example, male mentors in homogeneous relationships were associated with lower levels of role modeling than female mentors in either homogeneous or diversified relationships (Sosik and Godshalk, 2000), that means gender does matter in mentoring and it not related to opportunity and gender equality(marian, 2015) 2. Occupational Standard in UK - Mentor individuals According to National Occupations Standard from United Kingdom, this standard is about helping individuals either within someone s own team, or from another work group, with the aim to develop and maintain their performance through mentoring. Mentoring activity includes providing information and advice to individuals and facilitating their access to the people and resources they need in order to develop and progress. This activity is fundamental for any organization in public or in private sector. The most important fact is that this standard is relevant to managers and leaderswho have a specific responsibility for mentoring individuals. This standard template highlight two essential direction: behaviors and skills. 643

5 2.1 Behaviors developed by mentoring This standard shape a behavior pattern centered on features, such as: 1- to seek opportunities to improve performance 2 - to find practical ways to overcome obstacles 3- to present information clearly, concisely, accurately and in ways that promote understanding 4 - to keep people informed of plans and developments in a timely way 5 - to show empathy with others needs, feelings and motivations and take an active interest in their concerns 6 - to support others to make effective use of their abilities 7 - to give feedback to others to help them maintain and improve their performance 8 -to recognize the achievements and success of others 9 - to inspire otherswith the desire to learn 10 - to model behaviorthat shows, and inspires others to show, respect, helpfulness and cooperation So, as we can see above, There is a set of skills that this standard develops. It refers to: communicating, empathizing, empowering, evaluating, influencing, information management, inspiring, leading by example, learning, mentoring, monitoring, motivating, networking, planning, presenting information, problem solving, providing feedback, questioning, reflecting, reviewing, valuing and supporting others. 3. Occupational Standard of Mentor in Romania This occupation standard is used in domains as education, learning, culture and media. According to the Romanian occupational standard, the mentoris the professor specialized in a school or college, who has a responsibility to lead and coordinate students through teaching practice using these concepts and apply knowledge acquired in college and teach students how to 644

6 teach. It must be underlined, that the standard is applied only in the domains of education, learning, culture and media. The competence units described in the standard are enumerated below: 1. Interactive communication 2. Communication mentor trainee 3. Maintaining balance in the working group 4. Develop capacities of teaching knowledge and training skills 5. Guidance on observation of the teaching - learning process 6. Guiding students in designing of the didactic project 7. Assessment of student performance 8. Organization of practice 9. Planning the practice of students Observing the standard, we can conclude that this competencies unit refers in an indirect manner to behavior and skills. In the standard it is only shown the activity that leads to achieving these competencies, but the skills and behavior are not namely expressed. 4. Comparative analysis of mentor standards In literature, Daniel Goleman (1998) explain in his book Working with emotional intelligence., which are the competencies that an effective mentor need to demonstrate. These competencies can be found in the figure below: Figure 1. Competencies of an Effective Mentor, adapted from Goleman (1998) 645

7 For this comparative analysis it was design a grid of indicators - in management they are applied in time, space and context (Nită, 2014 a) related to skills, competencies, attitude, behavior, purpose, and place. Table 2. Comparative analysis of standards in UK and Romania. o. crt. Criterion Mentor standard (United Kingdom) Mentor standard (Romania) Key Purpose To support and motivate an individual in a given context, through a facilitated relational process, in order to achieve desired professional or personal change. Educational counseling for students, lead and coordinate student teaching practice. Field application of Management leadership; Counselling; & Education; Culture; Media; Relevant occupations Sales & marketing for non-specialists; Commissioning; Supervisory management; Learning delivery; Learning and development; Career Development. Team leaders; first line managers; supervisors; Learning Mentor; School inspector for mentoring; 646

8 Mentor; Mentor Competencies Establish and develop mentoring; Implement mentoring processes; Review and evaluate mentoring processes; Establish approaches to mentoring; Develop added value support and services for the client; Develop own practice as a mentor; Develop and apply ethical practice to mentoring; Conclude the mentoring relationship; Develop as a reflective mentor; Develop mentoring within organizational strategies; Interactive communication; Communication mentor trainee; Maintaining balance in the working group; Develop capacities of teaching knowledge and training skills; Guidance on observation of the teaching - learning process; Guiding students in designing of the didactic project; Assessment of student performance; Organization of practice; Planning the practice of students 5.Emotional and spiritual intelligence in mentoring Behavior modeling by the mentor, creates opportunities for mentee to observe effective actions in different professional contexts, especially those involved with demonstrating leadership and building instrumental relationships around an organization. The behavior modeling of particular value often is demonstrating self-awareness, selfmanagement, empathy, and relationship management competencies, the defining components of building a high EQ (O Connell and Kohn, 2015). After comparing the two standards for mentor, we can conclude that emotional intelligence is essential in the mentor - mentee process. Skills, abilities and competencies of a mentor are closely related to emotional intelligence feature described by Daniel Goleman, and not only him. Niță (2014, b) makes a review of literature regarding emotional intelligence models. Today we recognize three main models for emotional intelligence: 647

9 1. Salovey and Mayer s model, rooted in traditional intelligence, defined through studies for over a century of IQ; 2. Reuven Bar-On s model, based on his studies of individual welfare; 3. Daniel Goleman s model, aimed at achieving performance in the workplace and at developing leadership skills within the organization. Spiritual or quantum intelligence and emotional intelligence are related to each other. (Wigglesworth (2011); Niță (2015); Zohar (2012); Amram (2005); Martin and Hafer (2009)). According to Frances Vaughan, (2003) the spiritual intelligence can be developed by practice and may help someone distinguish reality from illusion. It may be expressed in any culture as love, wisdom and devotion to the others. These are values that apply also in mentoring activity and are related to motivating and inspiring the mentee. Characteristics related to spiritual intelligence we can observe from the list of competencies in UK but also in Romania, such as: develop a reflective mentoring, apply ethics, using empathy, motivate and inspire others. 6. Conclusions By comparing the two standards for the occupation of mentor, the UK and the one from Romania, we notes that the standard for mentor in Romania has a more restrictive area. It refers only to the educational field, while in UK the mentor refers to managers and leaders who have a specific responsibility for mentoring individuals. The standard for mentor in UK shows us what skills of a mentor are, such as: communicating, empathizing, inspiring, leading by example, etc., while in Romania the standard give us only a short list of competencies. Competencies should describe as in UK standard, not only knowledge and competence, but skills and behavior, too. Another important aspect refers to mentoring activity that we can observe in educational field as well as in organizational environment work related. It means that through EQF, the National Qualifications Frameworks should adapt and harmonize, in order to decrease the gap between national occupational standards from EU member states and to reduce differences that may occure. 648

10 References: Amram, J. (2005). Intelligence beyond IQ: The contribution of emotional and spiritual intelligences to effective business leadership. Institute of transpersonal psychology, Colardyn, D., & Bjornavold, J. (2004). Validation of formal, non formal and informal learning: Policy and practices in EU member states1. European journal of education, 39(1), Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam books. Kram KE. (1985) Mentoring at work: developmental relationships in organizational life. Glenview, IL: Scott Foresman, MARIAN, B. (2015). The impact of workers free movement on innovation. Romanias rdi strategy-between set objectives and their degree of fulfillment. The Juridical Current, 60, Martin, T. N., & Hafer, J. C. (2009). Models of emotional intelligence, spiritual intelligence, and performance: a test of Tischler, Biberman, and McKeage. Journal of Management, spirituality and Religion, 6(3), Niţă, A.M. a (2014). The Importance of Image Management for a Good Society. Revista de Cercetare şi Intervenţie Socială, (44), Nita, A.M. b (2014). From Emotional To Spiritual Intelligence In Public Administration. The Juridical Current, 56, Nita, A.M (2015). The New Intelligence, the New Leader and the Organizational Stress. Revista de Management Comparat International, 16(3), 335. Noe, R. A. (1988). An investigation of the determinants of successful assigned mentoring relationships. Personnel Psychology, 41(3), Pépin, L. (2007). The History of EU Cooperation in the Field of Education and Training: how lifelong learning became a strategic objective. European Journal of Education, 42(1), Sosik, J. J., & Godshalk, V. M. (2000). The role of gender in mentoring: Implications for diversified and homogenous mentoring relationships. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 57(1),

11 Vincent O Connell and Stephen E. Kohn., (2015) 9 Powerful Practices of Really Great Mentors: How to Inspire and Motivate Anyone, Career Press. Vaughan, F. What is Spiritual Intelligence? Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Vol 42, No. 2. Spring 2002, 16-33, 2003 Sage Publications. Zohar, D. (2012). Spiritual intelligence: The ultimate intelligence. Bloomsbury Publishing. CEDEFOP, The Mentor Handbook, A Practical Guide for VET Teacher Training,