The European Youth Forum (YFJ) is bringing together youth organisations, other Non-Formal Education providers, and European decision-makers on 28-29 May in Brussels to hold the ‘3rd dialogue on the recognition of Non-Formal Education (NFE)'.
Under the theme ‘United for the Quality of Non-Formal Education', the event aims to jointly reflect on the recognition process of NFE and work on developing ways of assuring its quality.
Taking into account its contribution in the youth field, youth organisations can promote the recognition of NFE by ensuring its quality through the setting up of a framework. In its recently adopted policy paper on ‘ Non-Formal Education: A framework for indicating and assuring Quality' , the YFJ proposes a Quality Assurance Framework at European level. How to develop such a framework will, therefore, be the core issue discussed during the event with policy-makers: Manfred Von Hebel, from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Education and Culture, Rui Gomez, from the Council of Europe and Darja Štarkl representing the Slovenian Presidency.
Koen Geven , President of the European Students' Union (ESU), will be giving an overview of the European Qualifications Framework, adopted by the European Parliament and the Council on 23 April this year. Furthermore, the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) and the Association for Teacher Education in Europe (ATEE) will be presenting their work.
The 1 st Dialogue on the recognition of Non-Formal Education took place in 2006; the YFJ aims to facilitate this gathering between different stakeholders on a yearly basis building on the previous year's results. By so doing, the YFJ takes the lead in a process that brings together youth organisations and other relevant actors so they can exchange their own understanding on NFE and its applicability. The need for NFE recognition is therefore seen from different perspectives.
On 30 May, the European Confederation of Youth Club Organizations (ECYC) -YFJ member-, the Flemish Federation of Youth Clubs (Formaat) and the City of Antwerp will be holding ROLO ‘the European conference on the recognition of non-formal learning outcomes in youth work' which will be gathering 130 participants in Antwerp, Belgium. Bart Staes, Member of European Parliament, Bert Anciaux, Flemish Minister for Youth, and Bettina Schwarzmayr , President of the European Youth Forum, will be among the speakers; the morning session will be live streamed on www.rolo-youthwork.be .
