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At the European level, the outdoors sub-sector is a fast growing and developing activity area; as a
consequence, employment needs are increasing rapidly and employers are seeking well trained professional
employees, able to match the requirements of a more and more demanding clientele. Unfortunately until
now, there has been no formal link at European level between the competences required by outdoor
employers, and the learning outcomes acquired by the employees through training supplied by training
providers, no matter how good this training may have been. In other words, never have European outdoor employers mutually agreed, the functions and competences
they required, nor has a bridge ever been established between these requirements and the Vocational and
Educational Training provided by training bodies.
To respond to that problematic, a first European Leonardo da Vinci project called EQFOA was run
from 2006 to 2008 with the objective to develop a range of European Standards to organise the outdoors
in terms of Vocational and Training in Europe. The project is now completed and gave the opportunity to
design an “Occupational Map”, and “Occupational description”, a “Functional Map” and a “Competence
Framework”.
Following that first phase, another 2 years Leonardo da Vinci project called CLO2 has started in October
2008 with the objective to bridge from the EQFOA’s Competence Framework to the skills and learning
outcomes delivered by the training providers in the field. This process will give the possibility to obtain a detailed picture of employment in the Outdoors in Europe,
to analyse the occupations and to determine the expected skills people need. Only from this picture can
relevant training and vocational education be developed to help the industry to grow and support people in
their chosen careers.
This will ensure that through a transparent VET system those entering the sector and those already
working within it will have clear career pathways where their skills and competences will be recognised and
transferable both inside and outside the industry.
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