Foreword

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) Vocational Education and Training (VET) initiative being developed by the OECD is designed to measure the skills of learners who are about to complete their vocational education and training programmes in selected occupational areas. The PISA-VET assessment project supports countries in strengthening their skills systems by developing, piloting and implementing an internationally standardised assessment of outcomes of initial VET programmes, the analysis of the results of which will enhance comparative policy insights on how to improve the relevance, quality, equity and effectiveness of initial VET programmes.

The assessment focuses on five occupational areas: Automotive Technician; Business and Administration; Electrician Craft /Industry; Health Care, with a focus on Healthcare/Nursing Assistants; and Tourism and Hospitality, with a focus on Employability Skills. Students’ proficiency in a set of Employability Skills is also assessed. These Employability Skills are: Task performance as defined by the OECD’s Survey of Social and Emotional Skills (SES); Literacy, as defined by the OECD’s Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC); Problem solving, as included in the OECD’s PIAAC as “Problem solving in technology rich environments”, and/or “Adaptive problem-solving”; and Collaboration as defined by the OECD’s Survey of SES.

The PISA-VET initiative builds on a range of national and industry-specific efforts to measure practice-oriented skills, but it would be the first time to apply these methods at scale and across countries. The initiative has the potential to pay huge dividends in terms of improving the labour-market relevance, quality and social status of vocational education and training. To achieve these benefits, the OECD, international experts, and participating countries must confirm the validity of the metrics and the international comparability of results that will come from this assessment. To address this, the OECD has established a three phased approach to the development of the assessment with multiple opportunities for countries to review progress and decide on subsequent work, and for industry experts to provide inputs.

This publication presents the theory underlying the PISA-VET assessment. It includes frameworks for assessing the five occupational areas selected for the assessment together with frameworks for the employability skills. These chapters outline the content knowledge that learners need to acquire in each occupational area, the processes that learners need to be able to perform, and the contexts in which this knowledge and these skills are applied. The publication also discusses how each occupational area is assessed. The chapter on employability skills outlines how these will be assessed using existing OECD frameworks and instruments. Subsequently, the publication presents the frameworks for the various questionnaires distributed to learners, the leaders of VET training institutions, teachers, and trainers in work-based learning environments. It concludes with the framework for the system level data that will be used to help the interpretation of the assessment and contextual data that will be collected.

This framework publication will act as a roadmap for the assessment. It sets out guidelines for test design and data analysis. The test design builds on the experiences of successful professional skills assessments such as the ASCOT research programme in Germany and WorldSkills. It also makes the most of recent technological advances in assessment methods, such as the use of digital simulation to assess practice-oriented skills in the workplace.

PISA-VET is the product of a collaborative effort between OECD and the governments of both OECD countries and countries that are participating in the Development Phase of the initiative (Australia, Brazil, Belgium (Flanders), Germany, Greece, Ireland, Mongolia, Netherlands, Portugal, Republic of Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States). The development of PISA-VET is overseen by the OECD’s Working Party on International VET Assessment which is chaired by Luís Pereira dos Santos of Portugal. Technical guidance is provided to the OECD on PISA-VET by an Expert Group which is chaired by Erik Hess of Germany. PISA-VET is also the product of the OECD’s collaboration with a range of international partner institutions and organisations, including the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD, Business at the OECD (BIAC), WorldSkills, the Technology-based Assessment of Skills and Competences in VET (ASCOT+) initiative of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), UNESCO, ILO, World Bank, Cedefop (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training), European Training Foundation (ETF) and several corporations, industries, businesses and enterprises.

The Automotive Technicians framework was developed under the guidance of a sub-group of the Expert Group led by Stephan Abele (Dresden University of Technology, Germany). Other experts who contributed to the Automotive Technicians framework are Tobias Gschwendtner (Country Expert, Germany), Tanja Käser (Expert, Switzerland), Grant Petch (WorldSkills Expert, Australia), Peter Hesse (Country Expert, Germany), Dave Rexhäuser (Country Expert, Germany), Stefan Hartmann (Country Expert, Germany), Johanna Telieps (Country Expert, Germany), Daniel Santos (Country Expert, Portugal), Veerle Vandeput (Country Expert, Belgium (Flanders)), Jeferson Leandro Mateucci (Country Expert, Brazil), Cesar Cruz (Country Expert, Brazil), Bruno Assis (Country Expert, Brazil), Matthias von Davier (Expert, USA) and Lucas de Jesus (Country Expert, UEA).

The Electricians framework was developed under the guidance of a sub-group of the Expert Group led by Michael Hourihan (Munster Technological University, Ireland). Other experts who contributed to the Electricians framework are Nico Link (Country Expert, Germany), Gerard Galligan (Country Expert, Ireland), Leo van Waveren (Country Expert, Germany), Veerle Vandeput (Country Expert, Belgium (Flanders)), Luke Boustridge (WorldSkills Expert, New Zealand), Adelino Santos (WorldSkills Expert, Portugal), Robson dos Santos (Country Expert, Brazil), Gustavo Henrique Moraes (Country Expert, Brazil), Paulo Roberto Wollinger (Country Expert, Brazil), Sally Messenger (WorldSkills Expert, United Kingdom), Robert Smart (Valid-8 Expert, Canada), Gert Zinke (Country Expert, Germany), Fábio Lima de Deus (Country Expert, Brazil), Carlos Junior (Country Expert, UEA).

The Business and Administration framework was developed under the guidance of a sub-group of the Expert Group led by Esther Winther (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany). Other experts who contributed to the Business and Administration framework are Viola Deutscher (Country Expert, Germany), Jürg Schweri (Expert, Switzerland), Antonio Jorge (Country Expert, Portugal), Annick Denys (Country Expert, Belgium (Flanders)), Hilde Klykens (Country Expert, Belgium (Flanders)), Rosamaria Sobral (Country Expert, Brazil), Inês Filipa Pereira (Country Expert, Brazil), Eduardo São Paulo (Country Expert, Brazil), Joelma Kremer (Country Expert, Brazil), Gabriele Jordanski (Country Expert, Germany), Rami Khamis (Country Expert, UAE).

The Healthcare/Nursing Assistant framework was developed under the guidance of a sub-group of the Expert Group led by Jenny Shackleton (WorldSkills, United Kingdom). Other experts who contributed to the Healthcare/Nursing Assistant framework are Carolina Lopes (Country Expert, Portugal), Sally Messenger (WorldSkills Expert, United Kingdom), Inge Biot (Country Expert, Belgium (Flanders)), Natalia Lohmeyer (Country Expert, Germany), Robert Smart (Valid-8 Expert, Canada), Samuel Greiff (Country Expert, Germany), Sabina DeCurtins (WorldSkills Expert, Switzerland) Eduardo São Paulo (Country Expert, Brazil), Eveline Wittmann (Country Expert, Germany), Chee Nguk Lan (WorldSkills Expert, Singapore), Patrick Rouble (WorldSkills Expert, Canada), Miriam de Paula (Country Expert, UAE).

The Hotel Receptionist framework was developed under the guidance of a sub-group of the Expert Group led by Regina Madruga (School of Hotels and Tourism, Estoril, Portugal). Other experts who contributed to the Hotel Receptionist framework are Susan Relly (Country Expert, Australia), Elisabete Mendes (Country Expert, Portugal), Inês Filipa Pereira (Country Expert, Brazil), Soetkin De Knijf (Country Expert, Belgium (Flanders)), Séverine De Bruyn (Country Expert, Belgium, (Flanders)), Eduardo São Paulo (Country Expert, Brazil), Tânia Denise Ferreira (Country Expert, Portugal), Anita Milolaza (Country Expert, Germany), Raimund Lainer (WorldSkills Expert, Austria), Sarah Elson-Rogers (UNESCO-UNEVOC), Bruno Lanvin (WorldSkills Expert, France), Anita Milolaza (Country Expert, Germany), Hatim Urabi (Country Expert, UAE).

The Employability Skills framework was developed under the guidance of a sub-group of the Expert Group led by Samuel Greiff (University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg). Other experts who contributed to the Hotel Receptionist framework are Francesca Borgonovi (OECD), Dragos Iliescu (Expert, Romania), Haizheng Li (Expert, USA), Martina Lubyova (Expert, UK), Andreas Rausch (Country Expert, Germany), Catharina Gress-Wright (OECD), Claudia Tamassia (OECD), Alexandra Figueiredo (Country Expert, Portugal), Pedro Moreno da Fonseca (ILO), Hugo Nakatani (Country Expert, Brazil), Anna Christina Aun de Azevedo Nascimento (Country Expert, Brazil), Stefanie Velten (Country Expert, Germany), Laura Visan (European Commission-ESCO), Paulo Roberto Wollinger (Country Expert, Brazil), Gustavo Henrique Moraes (Country Expert, Brazil), Robson dos Santos (Country Expert, Brazil), Jennifer Diedrich (Country Expert, Germany), Anabela Serrão (Country Expert, Portugal), Jenny Shackleton (WorldSkills, Expert, United Kingdom), Kinga Szebeni (European Commission), Hiromichi Katayama (UNESCO), Agnes Dietzen (Country Expert, Germany), Stefanie Velten (Country Expert, Germany), Umut Erkin Taş (Country Expert, Türkiye), Ziwen Teuber (Expert, Luxembourg).

The framework for the PISA-VET questionnaires was developed by Lucia Tramonte (University of New Brunswick, Canada) with the guidance of and input from the Expert Group sub-group on questionnaires. This sub-group includes: Francesca Borgonovi (OECD), Alex da Silva Barbosa (Country Expert, Brazil), Viola Deutscher (Country Expert, Germany), Kinga Szebeni (European Commission), Herbert Emery (Expert, Canada), Samuel Greiff (Country Expert, Germany), Hiromichi Katayama (UNESCO), Tamara Kastorff (Country Expert, Germany), Viktoria Kis (OECD), Anthony Mann (OECD), Sally Messenger (WorldSkills Expert, United Kingdom), Mihaylo Milovanovitch (ETF), Hugo Nakatani (Country Expert, Brazil), Inês Filipa Pereira (Country Expert, Brazil), Eduardo São Paulo (Country Expert, Brazil), Annalisa Schnitzler (Country Expert, Germany), Anabela Serrão (Country Expert, Portugal), Jenny Shackleton (WorldSkills Expert, United Kingdom), Umut Erkin Taş (Country Expert, Türkiye), Silvia Taurelli (ETF), Marieke Vandeweyer (OECD), Michael Ward (OECD), Eveline Wittmann (Country Expert, Germany).

The framework for the PISA-VET system level data questionnaire was developed by Viktoria Kis (OECD) with the guidance of and input from the Expert Group sub-group on system level data. This sub-group includes: Marieke Vandeweyer (OECD), Hugo Nakatani (Country Expert, Brazil), Henrik de Moel (Expert, the Netherlands), Eveline Wittmann (Country Expert, Germany), Samuel Greiff (Country Expert, Germany), Anabela Serrão (Country Expert, Portugal), Kinga Szebeni (European Commission), Hiromichi Katayama (UNESCO), Robert Smart (Valid-8 Expert, Canada), Andrew McQueen (Country Expert, UK), Mihaylo Milovanovitch (ETF), Stefan Thomas (ETF), Siria Taurelli (ETF), Cristina Mereuta (ETF), Hugues Moussy (ETF).

The publication was prepared by the OECD Secretariat. Michael Ward and Marieke Vandeweyer co-ordinated the production of the framework with Isis González Pérez, Duniya Dedeyn, Dongwook Choi, Federico Bolognesi, and contributions from Yuri Belfali, El Iza Mohamedou, Francesco Avvisati and Tiago Fragoso. Charlotte Baer and Della Shin provided communications assistance, and Sasha Ramirez-Hughes provided editorial and administrative support. The report is published under the responsibility of the Secretary General of the OECD.