Self-assessment for centres of vocational excellence

ENESAT

The ETF’s Network for Excellence (ENE) self-assessment tool – ENESAT – has been developed to help ENE members build a shared understanding of vocational excellence. 

• ENESAT enables centres of vocational excellence (CoVEs) to compare their own level of development (including their strengths and weaknesses) with what may be expected from a CoVE. 
• ENESAT also contributes to identifying key priorities and to building partnerships.

Rather than facilitating accurate and comprehensive self-assessment, ENESAT works best as a tool for rapid diagnosis, currently focusing on 10 dimensions of vocational excellence:

• Lifelong learning and vocational excellence
• Education-business cooperation (e.g., work-based learning, public-private partnerships) 
• Pedagogy and professional development 
• Entrepreneurial dimension of vocational excellence
• Industry 4.0/5.0 and digitalisation
• Autonomy and institutional development (financing, leadership, governance) 
• Going green – supporting sustainable goals 
• Smart specialisation – mobilising innovation, ecosystems, and SMEs
• Excellence in social inclusion and equity
• Career guidance and vocational excellence

ENESAT is available to ENE members. Vocational education providers interested in joining ENE are encouraged to conduct the self-assessment – in EN, FR or RU.

ISATCOVE

As part of the EU-funded project ‘Internationalising Vocational Excellence’, the ETF has developed a new international self-assessment tool for CoVEs – ISATCOVE – to build upon the achievements and practices of CoVEs and disseminate them more widely.

• ISATCOVE allows vocational education providers to design and implement self-assessments based on their contexts, needs and future development plans. 
• ISATCOVE may also help providers improve their activities aiming at sustaining or enhancing vocational excellence. 
• Moreover, ISATCOVE allows providers to benchmark their performance, activities and targets, while opening up their horizon towards excellence.

The ETF has designed ENESAT as an ‘entry ticket’ to ISATCOVE, the latter offering more integrated ways of collecting and evaluating data, engaging with actors, and planning and implementing actions. As such, ISATCOVE seems more suitable for international cooperation (e.g. participation in Erasmus+) or recognition of vocational excellence.

Learn more about vocational excellence and self-assessment tools

• Exploring vocational excellence EN FR RU – a working paper on the self-assessment carried out by ENE members
• Exploring vocational education – a blog
• ENESAT 2020–2023 – a report describing two cycles of self-assessment
• ISATCOVE – a self-assessment tool