This article examines the influence of the European qualifications framework – a key European lifelong learning policy instrument for improving employability, comparability and mobility in the European educational space – on the establishment of national qualifications frameworks in Europe. The European qualifications framework and national qualifications frameworks are analysed through the lens of the process of the Europeanisation of education, and they are embedded in the broader context of the development of national qualifications frameworks in Anglo-Saxon and developing countries around the world. Against this background and through an analysis of established national qualifications frameworks in four European countries, i.e. Denmark, Germany, Portugal and Slovenia, we argue that the national qualifications frameworks in these countries cannot be understood to be tools for the deregulation, marketisation and commodification of education and knowledge, although this could be interpreted as one of the underlying hidden assumptions of the European qualifications framework recommendation.

This article addresses the issue of marketisation in the field of adult education by reflecting on the Europeanisation of education currently taking

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In this article, we examine the vertical influence of the European Union (EU) policy on recognition of prior learning (RPL) in one Southern European country (Portugal) and in a Central European one (Slovenia). We stress the influence of the EU policy on adult education (AE) policies and the development of RPL granting professional qualification. Although not widely acknowledged in adult education theoretical discussions, we use the RPL models introduced by Judy Harris to debate the main aims of core official RPL national policy documents from 2000 to 2018 using documentary analysis. Comparative analysis of the two countries is made, and similarities and differences between the RPL provisions are debated. Our findings indicate the relevance of the utilitarian approach to RPL within national policies. Furthermore, these findings allow us to question why employers give little attention to adult learners’ qualification acquired through RPL.

International and European intergovernmental organisations and the adult education research community all emphasise the importance of well-qualified personal working in the field of adult education. However, as previous research has shown, the diversity of the field is a ‘challenge’ to the greater professionalisation of adult education. Therefore, this paper investigates how the European Union conceptualises adult education professionalisation in the 21st century and how this is reflected in the Slovene adult education policy. For this purpose, the core official European Union and Slovene policy documents on the professionalisation of adult educators were analysed using documentary analysis. The theoretical framework of the Europeanisation of education was used, along with international and comparative perspectives in studies of adult education. Our findings indicate that in the Slovene context, the emphasis is on the recognition of different professional roles and competences that adult educators need to work successfully in different contexts rather than on the unification of their competences, which can be found in the European context.