Market qualifications are what we learn outside of school and higher education - they are gained thorugh courses and training offered by training companies, employers or various associations; it's also the knowledge and skills gained on one's own or resulting from professional experience.
Market qualifications may be submitted to the Integrated Qualifications System by stakeholders or various groups e.g. training institutions, industry organisations, associations. All market qualifications are partial qualifications the awarding of which is based on the freedom of establishment as opposed to full qualifications obtained in the school and higher education systems.
Any market qualification, before being included in the Integrated Qualification System, must be described and its quality - evaluated.
The method of describing market qualifications is determined by Art. 15 of the Act on the Integrated Qualification System. According to this law, any application for the inclusion of a market qualification in the System must include, among others, a description (including the expected demand for the qualification, an indication of groups of persons who may be interested in obtaining the qualification, review of possible uses of the qualification on the labour market), a thorough review of the learning outcomes required for the qualification, as well as validation requirements and awarding bodies.
The description of a market qualification provides a valuable source of information for:
- persons who plan the path of personal and professional development,
- employers who are looking for people with appropriate skills and are interested in taking action to develop their employees,
- educational and professional counselors, school counselors, parents and others who support learners in education and career planning,
- teachers who prepare curricula and assess their effectiveness in the course of their implementation,
- institutions responsible for validation.