Policy Paper on Non-Formal Education: A framework for indicating and assuring quality

COMEM 0009-08-FINAL 2 0. Executive summary Non-Formal Education (NFE), and the increase in its recognition, is a top priority for the European Youth Forum (YFJ). That the recognition has not been sufficiently achieved is in part due to a lack of confidence in the quality of NFE within society and within youth organisations themselves. The YFJ believes that youth organisations can further the recognition of NFE by clearly ensuring the quality of NFE through the setting up of a framework to assure and communicate this quality. With this Policy Paper, the YFJ proposes a Quality Assurance Framework based on a solid understanding of quality and coming from the specific reality of NFE as provided by youth organisations. The Policy Paper provides a comprehensive set of concepts based on the cornerstone definition: The quality of NFE in youth NGOs is the degree to which selected needs of society and of learners are reached and addressed. Based on this definition Quality Assurance (QA) is the process designed with a dual purpose: of improving quality and of communicating clearly with stakeholders about it. The definition further differentiates between needs of learners and of society and proposes different approaches for both. The understanding of quality and of the needs that NFE wants to address form the basis for the proposed QA Framework which is an agreement between all stakeholders in a certain field on how quality assurance in the NFE field will be organised. This Framework, consisting of an internal QA process, an external QA component and a set of Quality Indicators should be formalised by all stakeholders in a common Charter. The YFJ proposes to base the external component of QA on the innovative concept of 'Peer Feedback'. The development of a Quality Assurance Framework for NFE will be a long-term process. The European Youth Forum therefore proposes a Road Map with 2015 as a concrete deadline. Leading up to 2015 a political process, an expertise building process and a capacity building process need to be combined on the European, national and local levels. Youth organisations provide quality education through their non-formal education programmes and the Quality Assurance Framework will provide the way for recognising this quality. With this Policy Paper the European Youth Forum therefore calls on all stakeholders to follow its lead in this process to assure and recognise the quality of NFE in Europe.