Instruments are designed at high speed – from self-assessment forms to personal development plans, from self-perception inventories to competence improvement maps – resulting in a cacophony of abbreviations that seems only a little shy of setting new records.

A rigorous evaluation of these instruments – looking at aims, scopes and approaches as well as usage, usefulness and impact – is as much missing as a painstaking analysis of underlying frameworks and tacit assumptions.

It is clear already, however, that the entire assortment of self-assessment instruments fails to respond to some key questions, among them:

• In the absence of quality standards, what do you measure yourself against?
• In the absence of external expertise for validation, how exactly should recognition and accreditation come about?

Even when leaving all political intentions and inconspicuous ambitions in relation to validation, recognition and accreditation aside, I have trouble finding value in any of these instruments for their most palpable purpose – self-assessment.

Take whichever you want – SAF, SPI, CIM, PDP – they all start from yourself as a trainer and educator. Not yourself as a trainer and educator in a particular project or context, but rather yourself as a trainer and educator in life. Through this inherent claim of being universally relevant and the resulting decontextualisation, the self-assessment process loses most of its value for me.

Let me pick three quandaries to exemplify and justify my defiance:

Firstly, this approach implies that there is a potentially agreeable set of competences for non-formal educators. It assumes that there is a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes that, once mastered, makes for a non-formal educator of tolerable, decent or outstanding quality.

Secondly, this approach implies that there is a universally acceptable scale along which any set of competences could and should be measured. It assumes that there is a common understanding of what it means to be moderately or exceptionally competent or incompetent in a specific area.

Thirdly, this approach implies that educators are generally aware of what specific competences entail before they have fully mastered them. It assumes that there is sufficient understanding of knowledge, skills and attitudes required to achieve basic or advanced levels of proficiency.

Research can prove what common sense and practical experience tell us: none of this is true, none of these assumptions hold, they crumble at first sight. And yet we continue to invent and re-invent self-assessment tools, defeated before we start by their envisaged universality…

How then, you ask, could a useful self-assessment instrument look like?

A very good question indeed :)

I will gladly take on the challenge to develop some ideas for alternative tools in the second part of this mini-series, but let’s first leave some time for your questions and ideas, your criticism and feedback. Fire away!

There are a lot of
pools in this world.

When I look at the different trainers’ pools I am swimming in, I feel alternately like an amoeba, a piraña, an octopus, or a fool – depending on my mood. In all of them I feel like a fish that doesn’t quite belong there.

This got me to thinking about my pool dreams:
If I were in charge and could decide, what would I do?

My first thought goes to breaking down barriers. The current pools are very specific, and most of them are too small for all the fish. And it is very difficult to jump from one pool to the next; the small club of fish are mostly self-referential. Some of the owners should get together and co-operate!

My second thought goes to transparency. Every time pool owners are looking for some fish for a special assignment, it gets foggy inside the pool – like all octopi are loosing their ink at the same time. When the water clears up, a few fish are gone. Some return, others you never see again. What happens to them, I wonder…

My third thought goes to learning. Every fish is swimming around like they always did. It seems repetitive, and can get quite boring after some time. Learning new ways of swimming would be fun!

My fourth thought goes to renewal. Whenever there is a new fish, most of the oldies simply ignore them. Sometimes there are bitter arguments because a crazy greenhorn is trying to swim in the waters of the wise, old fish. Over the years, I have seen many sad fish, and some even injured. Shouldn’t we be a little nicer?

My fifth thought goes to democracy. Our pool owners tell us we are swimming in a democracy. Funnily enough, this seems to be true only inside our small waters: someone else decides how much food there is for us, and who is allowed to eat. Some of us are kept hungry for too long; and I am wondering whether the perspective from up and out there isn’t slightly distorted. Don’t we see better what’s going on inside the depths of our own waters?

My sixth thought goes to quality. Some fish are jumping when someone can be seen outside of the water, but snooze away the rest of the time. Some others invent crazy ways of flipping around that make a lot of waves for no good. Very few try to eat and grow so much that they can outshadow the smaller buddies. Some others work away quietly but are hardly ever noticed. I think every fish should get the chance to show what they are doing, why they are doing it, how good that has been and what it has given our community of fish. Should calm down the waters for the better!

My seventh thought goes to freshness. I think our pool needs some connection to the world out there. Some canals we can all use to go elsewhere and bring back new experiences, together with some fresh water. It gets muddy quickly, otherwise.

My eigth thought goes to mentoring. Why do all fish need to learn everything by themselves? Why is there no scheme in which more experienced fish can support, observe, guide, mentor less experienced fellas?

My ninth thought goes to self-management. I really have enough of being administered by someone out there. Not only is it blurry out there and difficult for us to see what’s going on, it also seems to take so fishy long! Why don’t we elect a couple of crazy and clever fish to manage our own business?

My tenth thought goes to creativity. I would love to see a gathering of all fish every six months for trying out all sorts of flippy ways of swimming, jumping, and diving. A safe pool to test the waters, so to speak :)

Well, I am off to watch «Find Nemo» and eat some sushi…

What are your wet dreams?

“Le Portfolio européen pour travailleurs et animateurs de jeunesse vise à augmenter la reconnaissance de l’éducation non formelle et du travail de la jeunesse!”

S’il échoue, personne ne pourra prétendre qu’il n’était pas suffisamment ambitieux…

Mais répondons tout d’abord à quelques questions de base, telles que : qu’est-ce que le Portfolio, pourquoi a-t-il été conçu, qui l’a conçu, pour qui a-t-il été conçu, que peut-on en faire, que se passe-t-il en ce moment et comment pouvez-vous vous impliquer?

Le Portfolio est un outil qui permet à ses utilisateurs d’évaluer et décrire leurs compétences sur la base d’un ensemble de standards de qualité européens.

Du moins c’est ce que le Conseil de l’Europe décrit sur son site web, bien que vous ne trouverez nulle part la mention de standards de qualité dans le Portfolio…

Le Portfolio se veut être un instrument, un outil, un livre d’actuellement 52 pages qui tend à aider des travailleurs et animateurs de jeunesse opérant dans le contexte de l’éducation non formelle à élaborer un ensemble de standards de qualité européens et à:

• identifier, évaluer et enregistrer leurs compétences
• décrire leurs compétences à d’autres personnes, et
• à se fixer leurs propres objectifs d’apprentissage de développement.

C’est pour ces raisons que le Portfolio a été conçu – dans un contexte politique qui de plus en plus soutient et reconnaît l’éducation non formelle, requérant dans un même temps une approche plus structurée et plus transparente en ce qui concerne la garantie et les contrôles de qualité.

Dans le contexte du Conseil de l’Europe, cet historique politique a été exprimé par le Comité des ministres à travers sa recommandation N° 2003 (8) au sujet de la promotion et la reconnaissance de l’éducation/de l’apprentissage non formel des jeunes, dans laquelle il indique:

“Le Comité des ministres, (…) convaincu que l’apprentissage non-formel peut contribuer à garantir le savoir et les capacités dont les jeunes ont besoin afin de réussir au sein de nos sociétés contemporaines (…), recommande que les gouvernements des Etats membres (…) soutiennent la création et l’utilisation d’un Portfolio européen en tant qu’outil descriptif visant à consigner les expériences, les capacités et les savoirs (résultats d’apprentissage) acquis à travers l’éducation/l’apprentissage non formel (…)”

Basé sur cette décision politique substantielle et constitutive prise à un niveau élevé, le Conseil de l’Europe a invité un groupe d’experts à examiner la « praticabilité » de produire un tel instrument pour tous les jeunes. Après avoir apprécié les options envisagées, le group en est arrivé à la conclusion qu’il serait plus efficace dans un premier temps de se concentrer sur des travailleurs et animateurs de jeunesse. Ceci a conduit à la formation d’un nouveau groupe qui a alors défini les objectifs plus détaillés du Portfolio:

Le groupe a réalisé une analyse fonctionnelle de ce que les travailleurs et animateurs de jeunesse devraient être et devraient faire, ce qui a permit d’élaborer un cadre de compétences que des individus sont invités à a) utiliser en tant qu’outil d’auto-évaluation, et puis b) demander un feed-back de leur pairs et collègues.

Le Portfolio est destiné à être utilisé par les travailleurs et animateurs de jeunesse. Le groupe d’experts entends par animateurs de jeunesse des jeunes adultes assumant une responsabilité dans une organisation de jeunesse, réseau ou autre structure de jeunesse essentiellement sur une base volontaire. Les travailleurs de jeunesse assument le même type de responsabilités, mais essentiellement sur une base professionnelle.

Dès lors, que trouvent ces travailleurs et animateurs de jeunesse dans le Portfolio – ainsi que tout être humain intéressé, en fait ? Laissez-moi vous montrer un autre graphique qui illustre le contenu:

Plusieurs personnes ont été consultées durant le développement du Portfolio, permettant l’apport d’un large éventail d’expertise et de perspectives que le groupe d’experts (petit afin d’être plus opérationnel) ne pourrait fournir. Si ceci a mené à quelque chose d’utile et pratique ou non reste à voir dans la pratique.

Ce explique pourquoi, essentiellement, une phase test a été mise en place jusqu’en juillet 2006. Durant cette période vous tous – si vous êtes un travailleur ou un animateur de jeunesse tel que décrit plus haut – êtes chaleureusement invité à utiliser le Portfolio – en complétant les tableaux de compétences, obtenant un feed-back d’autres personnes élaborant un plan futur – et surtout, prenant le temps de fournir un feed-back pertinent au groupe d’experts. Ce qu’ils recherchent sont des personnes qui ont vraiment une volonté d’UTILISER le Portfolio – ils ont déjà eu assez de feed-back de personnes qui l’ont juste lu!

Les objectifs sont-ils appropriés? Sont-ils appropriés au niveau européen seulement ou applicables dans des contextes locaux? Le Portfolio satisfait-il une demande pratique – ou est-il simplement un outil politique? Les praticiens sont-ils motivés à l’utiliser? Le contexte est-il compréhensible? Le contenu est-il accessible? Le cadre de compétences est-il assez et générique, et spécifique afin d’être universel mais précis? L’investissement du temps et de la réflexion est-il adéquat? Les pairs peuvent-ils comprendre votre auto-évaluation? Le cadre de travail pour leur feed-back est-il utile? Qu’est-ce qui devrait être changé d’une façon générale au sujet du Portfolio, ainsi que par rapport aux parties spécifiques de son contenu?

Celles-ci sont certaines des questions auxquelles le groupe d’experts cherche des réponses. Afin d’en donner certaines basées sur votre expérience lors de l’utilisation du Portfolio, vous êtes joyeusement invité à employer le formulaire d’évaluation supplémentaire –développé dans ce but- que vous trouvez ici en format pdf ou ici en format doc – selon votre préférence.

Évidemment, tous les commentaire et pensées que vous avez peuvent également être partagés ici sur « Nonformality » en tant que commentaire à cet article, qui sera transmis.

D’une manière ou d’une autre: mille merci!

Liens et documents relatifs

Le Portfolio (pdf, 7.5 MB)

Le Formulaire d’évaluation (pdf)
Le Formulaire d’évaluation (doc)

Le site Web du Portfolio (www.coe.int/youthportfolio)

Note:

Évidemment, vous trouverez également d’autres documents sur ce site Web du Conseil de l’Europe, où ils sont librement disponibles pour le téléchargement. Il est contre nos normes éthiques, en tant que bloggers de marcher sur les plates-bandes des autres sans qu’ils le sachent, raison pour laquelle nous vous offrons le téléchargement directement de notre emplacement.

Indépendamment de cela, la propriété de et le crédit du Portfolio appartiennent seulement à la Direction de la Jeunesse et des Sports du Conseil de l’Europe – qui a une longue tradition de partage de sa connaissance avec une plus large communauté, tradition que nous accueillons, honorons et respectons.

Written by Andreas Karsten (andreas@nonformality.org) with assistance from Mark Taylor, consultant for the portfolio (brazavil.training@yahoo.com).

Many thanks to Gisèle Evrard for the translation!

“The European Portfolio for Youth Workers and Youth Leaders aims to increase the recognition of non-formal education and youth work.”

If the Portfolio fails, nobody will be able to claim it wasn’t ambitious enough I’d say…

But let’s answer some basic questions first, such as: what is the portfolio, why was it designed, who designed it, for whom was it designed, what can be done with it, what’s happening right now and how can you get involved?

The portfolio is a tool to enable its users to assess and describe their competences on the basis of a core set of European quality standards.

At least that’s what the Council of Europe describe it as on their website, although you won’t find mention of quality standards in the portfolio itself…

The portfolio understands itself as an instrument, a tool, a book of presently 52 pages which wants to help youth workers and youth leaders working in non-formal learning environments to

• identify, assess and record their competences,
• describe their competences to others, and to
• set their own learning and development goals.

This is what the portfolio has been designed for — against a political backdrop which increasingly supports and recognises non-formal education and, at the same time, calls for a more structured and transparent approach towards quality assurance and quality control.

In the context of the Council of Europe, this political background was expressed by the Committee of Ministers in its recommendation N° 2003 (8) on the promotion and the recognition of non-formal education / learning of young people, where it says:

“The Committee of Ministers, (…) convinced that non-formal learning can contribute to secure all the knowledge and capacities which young people need to succeed in contemporary societies (…), recommends that the governments of member states (…) support the creation and use of a European portfolio as a description tool aiming to record experiences, skills and knowledge (learning outcomes) acquired through non-formal education/learning (…)”

Based on this high-level substantial and constitutive political decision, the Council of Europe invited an expert group to look at the feasibility of producing such an instrument for all young people. After looking at the options, they came to the conclusion that it would be more effective as a first step to concentrate on youth workers and leaders. This led to a new group being formed which defined then the more detailed aims of the portfolio:

The group performed a functional analysis of what youth workers and leaders should be and do and from this drew up a framework of competences which individuals are invited to a) use as a self-assessment tool and then b) to gain feedback from their peers and colleagues.

The portfolio is intended for the use of youth leaders and youth workers. The expert group understands youth leaders as young adults holding a responsibility in a youth organisation, network or any other youth structure, mainly on a voluntary basis. Youth workers are, then, holding the same kind of responsibility mainly on a professional basis.

So what do these youth leaders and youth workers find inside the portfolio — and any other interested human being as a matter of fact? Let me show you another graphic to illustrate the contents:

Quite a few people were consulted during the development of the portfolio, bringing in expertise and perspectives from a wider range than the (small to be operational) expert group could provide. Whether or not this has led to something useful and practical, remains to be seen in practice.

Which is why, essentially, a test phase has been put in place which runs until July 2006. During this time you all — whether or not you are a youth leader or youth worker in the understanding described above — are warmly invited to have a go at using the portfolio — completing the competence tables, getting feedback from others and making a plan for the future — and, most importantly, take the time to provide some qualified feedback to the expert group. What they are looking for are people who really have a go at USING the portfolio – they have enough feedback from those who have just read it!

Are the aims relevant? Are they relevant for European level only or applicable in local contexts? Is the portfolio meeting any demand from practice – or is it just a political tool? Is motivation out there amongst practitioners to use it? Is the context understandable? Are the contents approachable? Is the competence framework both generic and specific enough to be universal but precise? Is the investment of time and thought adequate? Are peers able to understand your self-assessment? Is the framework for their feedback useful? What should be changed about the portfolio, both in general terms and in relation to specific parts of its contents?

These are but some of the questions for which the expert group is seeking answers. To give some based on your experience of using the portfolio, you are happily invited to use the extra-for-this-purpose-developed evaluation form which you find here either in pdf-format or here in doc-format — as you wish. Just send the form by email to youthportfolio@coe.int.

Obviously, any comments and thoughts you have can also come in here on Nonformality as a comment to this article which will be passed on.

Either way: Thanks a million!

Related links and documents

The Portfolio (pdf, 4 MB)

Evaluation Form (pdf)
Evaluation Form (doc)

COE Youth Portfolio Website (www.coe.int/youthportfolio)

Note:

Obviously, you will also find all the documents at this website of the Council of Europe, where they are freely available for download. It is against our ethical standards as bloggers to steal bandwidth from other people without them knowing it, which is why we offer you the download directly from our site.

Independent of that, ownership of and credit for the Portfolio belong solely to the Youth and Sport Directorate of the Council of Europe — which has a long tradition in sharing its knowledge with the wider community, a tradition we honour, respect and welcome.

Written by Andreas Karsten (andreas@nonformality.org) with assistance from Mark Taylor, consultant for the portfolio (brazavil.training@yahoo.com).