leonardo-project bolsterup wp 2 qualification and...

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Bolster-Up II – WP2 – RO analysis

Leonardo-Project BolsterUP

WP 2 – Qualification and needs analysis

Country reports about the national situation of VET for upholsterers and cabinet makers

List of criteria and questions - final version per 04.01.2013

O V E R V I E W

A. Basic information and classification of the apprenticeship

as cabinet maker & upholsterer

B. Acquirement of qualification: Organisation and system of apprenticeship

C. Placement of qualification: VET-Institutions, learning models and learning places and social partner involvement

D. Profile of qualification: Professional skills and key qualifications (knowledge, skill and competence elements)

E. Utilisation of qualification: Requirements and needs from workplaces, employment system and currency of qualification

F. Alteration of qualification: Trends, transformation and future development of qualification

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A. Basic Information and classification of the apprenticeship as cabinet maker & upholsterer

1. Exact occupational title

According to the current national Occupational Standards and the latest national Classification

of Occupations in Romania – RCO (endorsed in February 2012) the exact occupational titles

are:

Tâmplar universal (COR code: 752201) for universal cabinet maker

Tapiţer (COR code: 753401) for upholsterer

The National Qualification Framework encompasses a lot of other occupational titles having

the main word „tâmplar” as part of the occupational title, yet the other occupations refer to

somehow more specialized occupations.

An occupation is recognized in Romania only if it is mentioned in the Classification of

Occupations in Romania and recorded in the Registry of Occupations in Romania.

The Classification of the Occupations in Romania (latest update 2013)

...

7 Craft Workers and Related Trades Workers (major group)

...

75 Craft Workers in the Food Industry, Woodworking Industry and Textile and Clothing

Industry and Related Trades Workers (sub-major group)

...

752 Craft Workers in Wood Treatment and Related Trades Workers (minor group)

...

7522 Ébénistes (cabinet makers) and similar workers (basic group)

752201 Universal cabinet maker (occupation)

752202 Wooden vehicle bodies maker (wainwright) (occupation)

752203 Manual / artisan cabinet maker (occupation)

752205 Wooden box assembler (occupation)

752206 Wooden products maker and assembler (carpenter) (occupation)

752207 Wooden barrel elements maker-bender-assembler (cooper) (occupation)

752208 Manual pressing and glueing joiner (occupation)

752210 Manual cabinet maker-fitter-assembler (occupation)

752211 Manual veneer joiner (occupation)

752213 Sanding and polishing worker (occupation)

752214 Surface varnishing preparator (occupation)

752218 Woodworking industry-specific chemicals preparator (occupation)

752219 Wooden products restaurator (occupation)

752221 Wooden window and door maker (wooden window frames and door carpenter)

(occupation)

…

7523 Tuners and operators of wood processing machines (basic group)

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...

752317 Dimension cutting wood machinist (machinist for cutting to dimension wooden raw

materials) (occupation)

752318 Wood planning machines operator (occupation)

752319 Wood milling and drilling machines operator (occupation)

752320 Wood turning machines operator (occupation)

752321 Wood grinding and sanding machines operator (occupation)

752328 Woodworking CNC machine tools operator (occupation)

...

753 Craft workers in the textile and clothes industry (minor group)

7534 Upholsterers and assimilated workers (ISCO-88) (basic group)

753401 Upholsterer (occupation)

753402 Mattresses maker (occupation)

753403 Duvet maker (occupation)

...

2. Occupational category (handicraft / industry)

Both occupations are referred to as skilled crafts and trades for the industry 3. Duration of vocational training (total period/years / if appropriate, duration of different training phases)

The duration of vocational training depends on several factors, out of which student's age, the

type of VET provider and the qualification level intended are the most important ones.

Both cabinet maker and upholsterer are level 2 occupations in NQF (EQF-5), so trainings

leading to qualifications in each of those occupations have equal durations.

a. Training provided by a technical upper secondary school (technical high school)

specialised in providing woodworking training:

• Two pathways are available: direct pathway and progressive pathway (the so-called

'arts and trades school').

For students enrolled in direct pathway day courses (candidates are 14-

16 years old), the duration of the training is 2 years followed by an additional 720

hours practical training, while for those enrolled in direct pathway evening courses

(candidates are 14+ years old) the duration of the training is 2,5 years followed by

an additional 720 hours practical training.

For students enrolled in progressive pathway day courses (candidates

are 14-16 years old) the duration of the training is 3 years (on the progressive

pathway students have to complete an additional school year), while for those

enrolled in progressive pathway evening courses (candidates are 14+ years old) the

duration of the training is 3,5 years. No additional practical training is needed as

evening courses students are usually already working in a furniture company.

• For both pathways, specialized training (both theoretical and practical) is provided

throughout the entire school duration according to the national curricula. The first training

phase with a duration of 1 year is reserved for basic technical training. In the 2nd

phase, with a

duration of 1 year (1,5 years for evening courses), general training in cabinet making is

provided and such training corresponds to a level 1 qualification, namely “Worker in cabinet

making”. All technical vocational high schools’ students who want to get their level 2

qualification either as cabinet makers or upholsterers have to train first as “Worker in cabinet

making”, as the first 2 phases of the training are common for both specializations.

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b. When training is provided by an authorized VET provider (usually this is adult

education) the duration of students' schooling amounts to 720 hours for each of the two

qualifications cabinet maker and upholsterer, respectively. The training curricula is approved

by the National Agency for Qualifications (ANC) (Note: ANC is also the public institution

that is responsible for the accreditation of VET providers in general and for the accreditation

of each of their vocational education courses).

c. When training is undertaken according to the provisions of the Apprenticeship Law

(Law 279/2005), the apprentice and the company that accepts him/her as apprentice sign an

Apprenticeship Agreement. The duration of the apprenticeship is a mandatory element of the

Apprenticeship Agreement and legally it can be 1, 2 or 3 years, depending on the level of

qualification intended. Being level 2 occupations, the duration of apprenticeship (as stated in

the Apprenticeship Law) for qualification as cabinet maker or upholsterer is 2 years. Both

theoretical and practical training are included within the normal working time of the

apprentice. In case the theoretical training of apprentices is provided by a VET provider it

takes at least 240 hours.

d. Very often furniture companies in Romania prefer to train apprentices by their own.

Such a non-formal learning process and apprenticeship do not necessary lead to a

certification, but companies recognize internally the qualification of their workers. Both

knowledge and skills acquired during apprenticeship refer to the specific technology used in

the company and the products made in that company. The duration of such an apprenticeship

can vary from 1 to 2 years for each of the two occupations. There is no official curricula for

apprenticeship in this case. This kind of apprenticeship is usually called 'qualification at the

work place'. 4. Job-specific application areas

(e.g. Furniture industry, cabinetmaking, carpentry, production of seats)

• For cabinet makers the job-specific application areas are: furniture industry (whatever the

furniture products are) within either large-, small- and medium-sized companies, individual

cabinet makers' workshops or joinery workshops, companies which manufacture wooden-

based boards, furniture restoration and repairing workshops, furniture components

manufacturers, furniture assembling companies, interior decoration companies, custom-made

furniture companies, carpentry, production of wooden seats, furniture warehouses, retailers

offering post-sale services to end-customers.

• For upholsterers the job-specific application areas are: furniture industry within either large-,

small- and medium-sized companies, individual upholstery' workshops, furniture restoration

and repairing workshops, furniture components manufacturers, furniture assembling

companies, interior decoration companies, custom-made furniture companies, production of

beddings, furniture warehouses, retailers offering post-sale services to end-customers.

5. Recognised professional qualification (by state, school, sectoral)

Professional qualifications obtained as a result of formal training attained in any of the 3

afore-mentioned situations are recognized by all Romanian employers. Professional

qualifications are certified by an official document such as Training Completion Diploma,

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Course Completion Certificate, accompanied by a Descriptive Supplement, which lists all

of the units of competences acquired during the training period (as stated in the

occupational standards or VET standards). In the qualification diplomas it is mentioned

the code of the occupation in which the student has been trained according to the

Classification of the Occupations in Romania. According to Romanian law (Order no.

1832/2011 of the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Security regarding the approval

of the Occupations Classification Registry in Romania (COR)) there is an obligation for

all central or local public administration bodies, for all companies, either public or

private, employers organizations, trade unions, professional or political organizations,

foundations, associations or other natural or legal persons that run an economic or social

activity on the Romanian territory to frame each activity in a recognizable occupation that

has been included in the Classification of Occupations in Romania. The code of every

occupation is made up of 6 digits. Such codes are used in all official documents whenever

it is necessary to mention an occupation, so they have to be written in all Training

Completion Diplomas or Certificates as well.

Informal and non-formal vocational training can be recognized by all Romanian employers

provided that a formal assessment of individual's competences has been carried out in an

authorized Competences Assessment and Certification Centre. The diploma obtained as

such is similar to the certificates explained earlier: Competence Certification Diploma

and Descriptive Supplement.

6. Developments/number and profiles of a apprentices in the respective trade (over the past 5 years)

It is difficult to know the accurate number of apprentices that exist in the furniture companies

at the national level (the informational system is not very well developed in relation to that

aspect). We estimate the total number of apprentices at about 1% of the labour employed by

the furniture companies that are members of APMR, which results in about 3500 'apprentices'

at different stages of their apprenticeship. The largest part of those are vocational high school

students and other VET providers' trainees that carry out their practical training, as well as

apprentices trained in rather non-formal ways. Only a few of them are apprentices in the spirit

of the Apprenticeship Law. The reason for this is that there are only a few authorized

Competence Assessment and Certification Centres in the whole country and while furniture

companies themselves could be authorized as centres for competence assessment, the whole

bureaucratic process seems unattractive for most manufacturers.

The number of apprentices have steadily decreased for the last 5 years. Because the

companies had to reduce the number of employees due to furniture market shrinkage, even

some of the older larger companies that used to train apprentices on a regular basis gave up

this activity. However, since the beginning of the year the industry has started to re-employ

workers and updated statistics show the number of employees in the Romanian furniture

industry reached 55.7 thousand people in January 2013, while there were 50.3 thousand

people employed in the furniture companies in 2011, 67.7 thousand people in 2008 and 48.9

thousand people in 2010, so it’s only natural to expect that the number of apprentices will

grow in the near furniture.

Profile of cabinet maker apprentice:

• Usually a young man 20-30 years old, with no university or college education degree, who

completed the compulsory education (the first 10 grades) or 12 grades (perhaps graduated a

technical upper secondary school specialised in providing forestry or other technical training),

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living in a small or medium-sized town or village, yet sometimes he lives in a county

municipality. An incentive for him to become a cabinet maker can usually be either the

existence of a prosperous furniture manufacturing company in the region where he lives or

another member of his family (usually his father and / or grandfather) being also a cabinet

maker or a carpenter or having had a cabinet making workshop or a carpentry. His natural

technical skills or manual skills are usually another factors for which he chooses to train in

cabinet making. Sometimes there is not necessary a question of skills or aptitudes, but a

question of actually having a job, as there are no other options for him within the region. His

performance during his apprenticeship will depend not only on his previously acquired

knowledge, his skills and motivation but also on the professional and pedagogical skills of his

trainer (usually a foreman), the technical endowment of the furniture plant and last but not

least on the social environment in the plant. His prospects to become a permanent employee

in the plant after the completion of his apprenticeship is a strong motivational factor for him

to make every effort to acquire all the necessary skills, knowledge and competences for the

job (including the necessary social and organizational skills such as team working skills etc).

Profile of upholsterer apprentice:

• Young man or woman 20-30 years old, with no university or college education degree,

usually he completed the compulsory education (the first 10 grades) or 12 grades (perhaps

graduated a technical upper secondary school or a school group specialised in providing

forestry or other technical training), living in a small or medium-sized town or village, yet

sometimes he lives in a county municipality. An incentive for him to become an upholsterer is

usually either the existence of a prosperous upholstery manufacturing company in the region

where they live or another member of his family (usually their father and / or grandfather)

being also an upholsterer or having a small upholstery or duvet / mattresses making workshop

run in the family. Their natural technical skills or manual skills are also factors for which they

choose to train in upholstery. As with cabinet makers, sometimes there is not necessary a

question of skills or aptitudes, but a question of actually having a job, as there are no other

options for them in the region. Their performance during their apprenticeship will depend not

only on their previously acquired knowledge, their skills and motivation but also on the

professional and pedagogical skills of their trainer (usually a foreman), the technical

endowment of the upholstery plant and last but not least on the social environment in the

plant. Their prospects to become a permanent employee in the plant after the completion of

their apprenticeship is a strong motivational factor for them to make every effort to acquire all

the necessary knowledge, skills and competences for the job (including the necessary social

and organizational skills such as team working skills etc).

As regards the profile of the technical high schools' students, some of them are really skilled

and smart, while others are average or under average level students in respect of their capacity

to acquire theoretical training. The mix of students in technical high schools results from the

official access-to-upper-secondary-education procedure. After completing the first 8 grades,

students in a county have to opt for continuing their education in a certain high school in their

county and a certain curricular field available. They fill in a standard application form writing

down double input tops (high schools and curricular fields in each high school) in the

descending order of the preference for both inputs. As each high school is able to enrol only a

limited number of students, candidates are sorted afterwards in a complex top, where on the

first places are the pupils who scored higher grades in national tests and have a better

education assessment history (average marks got during previous 4 schooling years, i.e.

grades 5th

-8th

). Within the limit of places available candidates with higher grades are then

accepted to the high schools and curricular fields listed in the descending order of their

options. Candidates who neither did qualify for the high schools and curricular fields they

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had opted for, nor have expressed enough options in their application forms, have to wait for

the organization of a second application session. The second application session is organized

after the same methodology but only for the remaining places available, so candidates can

apply only to the high schools that didn't yet complete the maximum number of students they

can enrol. Obviously, candidates' enrolment in woodworking technical high schools depends

on the attractiveness of the industry for which they train students. 7. Number of completions (skilled workers and young professionals over the last 5 years)

There are about 1000 employable graduates (i.e. having qualification certificates) that

graduate each year from the technical high schools (40 woodworking-specialized vocational

schools in total and about 10 more having 1-2 woodworking-specialized classes). Only 20%

of them actually get hired within the Romanian furniture industry. The others get hired in

other industries or abroad, apply to university or become unemployed. County Employment

Agency – AJOFM and the Bucharest Municipality Employment Agency are the bodies that

have exact evidence of unemployment in Romania.

Within the framework of the European Structural Funds, Romania is a beneficiary of the

Sectoral Operational Programmes for Human Resources Development (POSDRU). The

scope of these programmes is the promotion and development of

the social dialogue, the improvement of the employees’ qualifications and requalification.

With those scopes in mind, the Romanian trade unions in the woodworking industry – FSLIL

– have managed three POSDRU projects for the last 2 years. 2,600 employees have been

involved, out of which 472 were trained and validated through certification as universal

cabinet makers (267), upholsterers (56), forestry operators and forestry machine operators.

External lecturers from accredited VET providers took on the theoretical aspects of the

training, while foremen from the furniture companies involved were responsible for the

practical aspect.

The enterprises provided rooms for theoretical courses and practical activities, and most of the

training took place outside the working hours.

The training took place as level 2 qualification training, and included 240 hours of theoretical

and 480 hours of practical training per student, the time period needed for qualification was 5-

6 months.

While lecturers and foremen had been previously authorized by ANC to carry out the training,

all courses were monitored by the Territorial Work Inspectorates, FSLIL and the Educational

Foundation. The students took advantage of subsidies amounting 700 lei/student or 350

lei/student for those who took classes during their work program.

The qualification certificates obtained have been endorsed by ANC and received official

recognition accordingly.

8. Number of employees (and if possible proportion of cabinet makers/upholsterers employed) in the furniture industry (over the last 5 years)

Since the beginning of the year the industry has started to re-employ workers and updated

statistics show the number of employees in the Romanian furniture industry reached 55.7

thousand people in January 2013, while there were 50.3 thousand people employed in the

furniture companies in 2011, 48.9 thousand people in 2010, 53.3 thousand people in 2009 and

67.7 thousand people in 2008.

Furniture companies' employees - breakdown by occupation:

Total in January 2013: 55,700 people, out of which:

• cabinet makers – about 60%

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• upholsterers – about 30%

• others (tools sharpener, CNC operator, maintenance operator, electrician, welders, etc. ) –

about 10%

9. Number of companies (in furniture and upholstering industry over the last 5 years)

In Romania there were 4,800 furniture companies ranging from workshops to large companies

in 2008, 3,717 furniture companies in 2010, 3,084 furniture manufacturers in 2011 and there

were about 3,000 furniture companies in 2012. For the last five years the industry underwent a

deep restructuring process due to the economic crisis. The most affected have been the small

workshops and SME's, especially those that relied on the domestic market only; many of them

closed or went bankrupt, while others changed their activity in order to survive.

Out of the total (3,000), about 218 furniture manufacturing companies are APMR members

currently employing around 35,000 people (62.83%). Furniture production of APMR

members represents about 65% of the national furniture production.

Furniture manufacturing companies in Romania – breakdown by company size:

• micro-companies (1–9 employees): 70%;

• small-sized companies (10–49 employees): 18%;

• medium-sized companies (50–249 employees): 9 %

• large companies (more than 250 employees): 3 %

In the Romanian furniture industry the manufacturing specialization is not very deep, so most

of the firms do not have a very clearly delimited object of activity. There are no official

statistics regarding the accurate number of furniture manufacturing companies in each

segment of furniture manufacturing. Based on APMR's membership mixture, we estimate the

following structure:

Furniture manufacturing companies in Romania – breakdown by activity:

• 68% are general purpose furniture manufacturing companies;

• 20% are general purpose and upholstered furniture companies;

• 12% are upholstered furniture manufacturers.

Most of the companies (90%) were established more than 5 years ago.

B. Acquirement of qualification: Organisation and system of apprenticeship

1. Institutional organisation of training / regulation, inspection, responsibilities (companies,

chambers, social partners and inspection by public institutions and/or state administrative bodies)

Institutional organisation of training provided for those wanting to become either cabinet

makers or upholsterers is ruled by several specific laws in Romania, such as:

• the Law of National Education 1/2011;

• Apprenticeship Law 279/2005 (it refers to 16-25 years old individuals);

• Government Decision 234/2006 - application norms for the Apprenticeship Law

• Government Ordinance 129/2000 – the law of VET providers

• Government Decision 522/2003 – application norms of the law of VET providers

• Law of Health and Safety at the Workplace 319/2006;

• Law of Work Accidents and Professional Illnesses 346/2002

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The last of those laws have special chapters referring to training and trainees. There are also

certain provisions regarding apprentices in the Law 53/2003 – the Work Code, which is

the law ruling work and work relations in Romania.

The institutions that are authorized to carry out VET activities are:

• Technical high schools that run their activity under the authority of the the Ministry of

Education. They provide initial vocational education and training for young people mostly.

Besides a Bachelor diploma, technical high schools give their graduates access to level 2 or 3

qualification (NQF/EQF-5) certifications, which facilitate labour market integration and

labour mobility;

• companies. Within the companies training is carried out under mandatory supervision of a

trainer called 'apprentice's supervisor' according to the Apprenticeship Law's provisions. Final

examination is administered by a special Assessment Commission appointed by the National

Authority for Qualifications (ANC) in a Competences Assessment and Certification Centre;

• other VET providers authorized by the National Authority for Qualifications (ANC), such

as:

• private VET providers;

• Regional (County) Agencies for Employment (AJOFM);

• trade unions and employers' organizations that run national qualification programmes

or international training projects;

• other public institutions (agencies) specialized in providing VET (such as CRFPA –

Regional Council for Lifelong Learning).

Inspection regarding the training is provided as follows:

• for the institution that ensure initial vocational education and training, by the Ministry of

Education through regional School Inspectorates (organized at the level of each county, while

for the Capital city they are organized at the level of each administrative sector and supervised

by School Inspectorate of the Bucharest Municipality);

• for all the other VET providers, by the Ministry of Education through the National Authority

for Qualifications (ANC). In certain cases (Structural Funds co-financed programmes)

inspection is carried out jointly by ANC and programmes' national management authorities,

while inspection for apprentices trained according to the Apprenticeship Law is carried out

jointly by ANC, the regional Unemployment Agency, Work Inspection and other agencies of

the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Security (agencies that support apprenticeship by

reimbursing part of employers' expenses occurring as a result of training apprentices).

Companies which accept apprentices under the Law of Apprenticeship have the obligation to

ensure apprentices' access to theoretical and practical training and organize the assessment of

their theoretical and practical training in an authorized Competences Assessment and

Certification Centre. The law allows companies that signed an Apprenticeship Agreement

under Apprenticeship Law provisions to request monthly reimbursement for the whole

duration of the apprenticeship for a certain percent of the expenses incurred by them in

training apprentices. Should it be the case, both company and apprentices are hold liable for

qualification certification in due time.

The activity of authorized institutions is also inspected periodically by other institutions

whose tasks are to ensure that VET activity runs smoothly and safe for the trainees. Such

institutions are the Work Inspection, Sanitary and Environment Inspection, Fire Brigade, etc.

Their inspections ensure that training institutions respect all legal requirements to perform

training for the jobs.

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Within the national education system, VET is coordinated by the National Centre for the

Development of Vocational and Technical Education (CNDIPT), which is a specialized body

subordinated to the Ministry of Education, aiming to make propositions regarding both the

national education policy and development strategies for initial VET, and to coordinate the

methodologies of planning, elaborating, implementing and reviewing VET curricula.

VET classification within the national education system includes:

• Formal learning:

lower secondary school, i.e. grades 5-8: day courses, general education with a national

curriculum framework that involves very basic knowledge and skills from several

technological areas as well

upper secondary school, i.e. grades 9-12 , which refers to education provided in

technical high schools;

post-secondary education meaning additional technical education through 1-3 years,

some of which lead to 3+ level qualifications (specialist technician or foreman);

Short term higher education - 3 years - and long term higher education: 4-6 years

(bachelor degree, then master degree and doctorate - Bologna system accordingly).

Access to level 4 and 5 qualifications. It can be organized either as day courses,

evening courses, distance courses. Exam-based admission. Degrees earned are

woodworking engineer Bachelor degree, woodworking engineer Master degree,

Ph.D woodworking engineer, other academic degrees. “Transylvania” University

in Brasov – Faculty of Woodworking Engineering is the oldest (and for a long time

the only) higher education institution for woodworking in Romania.

• Informal and non-formal learning carried out as:

apprenticeship under the Apprenticeship Law provisions.

2. Nature of training: Only company / full-time vocational school / dual system (company/school) / school with industrial work placement

Training is both theoretical and practical.

Training occurs as follows:

• in the woodworking-specialized technical high schools training is provided according to the

national curricula. The education framework plans for technical secondary schools are

essential education guiding documents – part of the National Curriculum – and thus

essential tools for promoting the educational policy at national level. Education

framework plans for the technical branch of the secondary education are VET standards-

based and have 3 conceptual components: the 'Core Curriculum', the 'Differentiating

Curriculum' and the 'Local Development Curriculum'. While the Ministry of Education

states the structure of education provided, it also give schools the freedom to choose

between full-time vocational school and collaboration with companies, so as to provide

students the best education possible. In other words, the education framework plans and

the different orders and their application regulations coming from the Ministry of

Education allow schools to provide for level 2 qualification education of their students

either full-time vocational school, all practical training being provided in schools'

workshops or a type of dual-system education by which students are provided part of their

practical training in school's technological labs and part in companies at real work places

under a school teacher and several company foremen's supervision. In the latter case, the

school signs a Partnership Agreement with a furniture company, by which school's

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students are allowed 'apprenticeship' (internship) in the company. Thus all practical

training, i.e. several (3-6) hours weekly and the block practical training which usually

takes place during the last weeks of the school year, can be done in a furniture company.

Theoretical training always takes place in school. The 'Differentiating Curriculum' and the

'Local Development Curriculum' are made up considering the requirements of the specific

VET standards (SPPs) for 'Wooden Products Manufacture' curricular field. As the first 2-3

vocational school years (depending on the courses being day courses or night courses)

have common curricula, it is only the 3rd

and 4th

school year, respectively, when 'Cabinet

maker VET Standard' and 'Upholsterer VET Standard' is specifically followed when

training students who opted for level 2 certification in one or the other of these

qualifications. However, during the first 2-3 school years about 2/3 of the time is reserved

for theoretical training and 1/3 for practical training;

• in the institutions that carry out VET (authorized VET providers, others than technical high

schools), training is both theoretical and practical. It is provided according to curricula

made up by each VET provider according to the vocational training standard (SPP) or the

occupational standard (SO) for each of the qualifications and approved by the National

Authority for Qualifications (ANC). In order to be authorized, the private VET providers

have to have not only classrooms to provide theoretical training, but also specialized

workshops for the practical training. In case they do not have specialized workshops, they

have to rent workshops from furniture companies for their students' practice, so training is

somehow similar to that provided by technical high schools.

• in case of apprenticeship carried out in companies:

• if the apprenticeship is ruled by an Apprenticeship Agreement i.e. apprenticeship occurs

according to the Apprenticeship Law, the company has to provide access to theoretical and

practical training, which can be done either as in company only training or by means of a

VET provider. In the latter case the training is more like a type of dual system training.

• if the apprenticeship occurs as 'qualification at the work place' (see section A question 3,

letter d) ), apprentice training takes place in company only and is strictly available-

technology dependent. Although it is carried out under the supervision of an apprentice'

trainer, it rarely leads to recognition of the qualification outside the company. However,

the Romanian law allows the non-formal and informal learning to be certified under the

condition that a formal assessment should be carried out in an authorized Competences

Assessment and Certification Centre, so any individual who would like to have their

competences certified should consider their competences be assessed in an authorized

Competences Assessment and Certification Centre for a certain assessment fee.

In case of the formal learning and the theoretical training of apprentices being provided by a

VET provider, the curricula has to encompass training modules / themes that ensure the

trainees will have the opportunity to acquire necessary knowledge and skills for the job of

cabinet maker or upholsterer, i.e. the acquirement of the general and specific skills

mentioned in the respective VET standards (SPP) or occupational standards (SO) of both

professions (cabinet maker / upholsterer).

VET in the Romanian national education system is formal training mostly.

3. Extent of vocational education: The number of young people to be arranged in full-time schooling apprenticeship, in companies, in dual system (each total numbers / by years / differentiated by type)

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The number of young people trained in the companies according to the Apprenticeship Law is

very small, partly because there are only a few authorized Competence Assessment and

Certification Centres in the whole country and partly because Law provisions (including

later modifications) seems not very attractive for the companies in general. In order to

compensate for the small number of authorized Competence Assessment and Certification

Centres, the Law has given companies the possibilities to become themselves

Apprenticeship Schools under the condition they will become accredited for such an

activity. This later modification was introduced in 2011, while the industry struggled to

survive the economic crisis and labour faced a pretty slow recovery after dropping sharply

through 2008-2010, so companies have shown little interest in filling in accreditation

papers or having apprentices thus far. Statistics by years are not available.

Young people that have enrolled in VET in order to acquire the necessary skills to become a

cabinet maker or an upholsterer for the last 4 years received their training either attending

the courses organized by private VET providers or attending technical high schools. There

are about 40 woodworking technical high schools in Romania and they have an average of

900 young people who would like to specialize in cabinet making and about 100 to be

specialized in upholstery in each generation. This mean about 4500-5000 young people

training in technical woodworking specialized high schools to have a career in the

furniture industry. Only a small part of them will choose to have a career as simple cabinet

makers or upholsterers, most of them will opt for a level 3 qualification: technician in

woodworking, furniture and interior decoration technician-designer, finished wooden

product technician. Only 20% of them actually apply for hiring in the Romanian furniture

industry (5% go on with higher education; 25% choose to find jobs in woodworking

industry and 10% in building industry). The others look for hiring opportunities in other

industries or abroad, apply for university in other fields of activity or become

unemployed. County Employment Agency (AJOFM) and the Bucharest Municipality

Employment Agency are the institutions that keep track of unemployment in Romania.

Vocational technical high schools enrol an average of 1000 young people to specialize in the

'Wooden Product Manufacture' curricular field every year, but many of them face

problems in attracting students to this curricular field because of both a false poor image

of the furniture sector among young people and poor earnings in the furniture companies

in Romania.

4. Duration of apprenticeship: Years, possibly time sections/modules

As apprenticeship is ruled by the Apprenticeship Law 279/2005, it officially lasts between 1

and 3 years. The apprentice signs an Apprenticeship Agreement. Both theoretical and

practical training is included in the normal working hours of the apprentice (8 hours/day, 5

days/week). Apprentices are 16-25 years old.

The levels in apprenticeship training depend on the qualification level intended and are as

follows:

• level 1: 1 year,

• level 2: 2 years. This is the case for cabinet maker and upholsterer;

• level 3: 3 years.

5. Amount of training allowances / subsidies (in each year of apprenticeship)? Who pays the

14


remuneration?

During apprenticeship (organized Apprenticeship Law accordingly), the apprentice receives a

monthly basic salary, whose amount is written in the Apprenticeship Agreement. However,

apprentice's salary cannot be less than the current before-taxes minimum monthly salary paid

for normal working hours during normal working week (8 hours/day or 40 hours/week) at

national level (settled by the National Collective Bargaining Agreement). The current

minimum national level monthly salary has reached 750 lei, i.e. 175 Euro, since February this

year (previously amounted 700 lei i.e. about 160 Euro, while it will be 800 lei from the 1st

July 2013, i.e. 186 Euro). Apprenticeship pay is borne by the employer.

If an apprentice is 18+ years old they are entitled to state allowance for young people in

school, as apprenticeship is assimilated to continuing school education.

Employers are due to financially support their apprentices’ assessment and certification in an

authorized centre. The employer who signs an Apprenticeship Agreement is entitled to receive

60% of the current value of the reference social indicator according to the Law 76/2002

regarding the system of unemployment insurance and employment incentives. The current

value to be received by an employer for each apprentice is 300 lei, i.e. about 70 Euro (this is

valid only for the first apprenticeship agreement between the apprentice and the employer).

Students enrolled in vocational technical high schools do not receive any payment for the

work done during their practical training, but they are entitled to receive a monthly state-

granted allowance for continuing their education (equal with the monthly state-granted child

allowance). This type of state support is granted even if students are 18+ years old until the

completion of student’s education.

Vocational technical high school education is state-financed.

6. Entrance criteria for vocational training (criteria for selection and placement, e.g. defined school-leaving qualification, possibly age limit, admission exam, work experience etc.)

Entrance criteria for VET depend of the type of the VET provider. A criterion that is common

to all VET providers is that regarding the health of the candidate, who must provide a medical

examination document that states their health condition. The document has to be released by

either their physician or by a generalist MD in a medical centre.

If VET will be provided by a vocational technical high school, enrolment is based on the

admission procedure as described in the section A point 6. If VET will be provided by a

private VET provider, enrolment in its classes is simply application-based, or interview-based.

Criteria are the same for both potential cabinet making or upholstery trainees.

Admission in a technical woodworking-specialized high school (grades 9-12) – criteria:

National tests or capacity exam passed;

8th grade completed;

maximum age limit for day courses only: 18 years. Evening courses and distance

courses enrolment is not restricted by maximum age limits;

candidate’s option for such a school expressed in the application form;

scoring high enough during the application of the national high school-admission

15


procedure so as to fit within the maximum available enrolment places in the intended

vocational technical high school.

Entrance criteria for vocational training ensured by a private vocational training provider

(720 hours training for either cabinet makers or upholsterers):

8th grade completed preferably;

minimum age limit: 14 years old;

no maximum age limit.

Apprenticeship at the work place – entrance criteria:

minimum age limit: 16 years old,

maximum age limit: 25 years old,

apprentice does not have any qualification for the occupation for which their

apprenticeship is organized,

Apprenticeship Agreement signed by both the company and the apprentice under the

Apprenticeship Law provisions.

Apprenticeship undertaken as “qualification at the work place”:

Entrance criteria depend on employers’ requirements, which are usually basic technical skills

demonstration-related. However, work legislation has to be considered.

7. What are the completion- and dropout rates (in the last 3 years)

Dropout rates for both cabinet maker and upholsterer trainees varied between 1.5% and 2% in

the last 3 years. The reasons for the dropouts are various: health conditions, increased

attractiveness of another course (for example, dropping out cabinet making courses in

favour of tourism operator courses), changing the place of residence etc

8. Exams and certificates: Examination boards (local, regional, national); Certificates, testimonials, entitlements

After the completion of the training period students take both theoretical and practical exams

as it follows:

A) Students in woodworking technical upper secondary schools take a theoretical exam and a

practical exam. The practical exam is taken in the form of a school project: the student have to

either design a furniture piece or manufacture a furniture piece after their own design. The

student has to start the school project several weeks before he/she takes his/her theoretical

exams and works at his/her project in the school workshop.

The regional School Inspectorates appoint a Professional Examination Board for the final

exam. Such a board is composed of both teachers from the school and teachers outside the

school as it follows:

• the President of the commission (usually the technical high school principal),

• a Vice-President (a representative of a furniture company),

• a Quality Monitor (a specialized teacher from another high school of the county; his/her

specialization is similar with the specialization examined, either cabinet making or

upholstery),

• 2 examiners (specialized teachers from other woodworking high schools),

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• a school project coordinator (the teacher who coordinated the students while they worked at

their final exam school projects),

• a commission secretary (a teacher from the same school).

Final evaluation is made after both exams – theory and practice - were taken, and the student

receives a final grade (from 1-10, 10 being the maximum grade for passing the exams,

meaning the student acquired best skills and knowledge, while 5 is the minimum grade for

passing the exams, 1 is the grade that penalizes any trial of exam fraud).

Passing the exams entitles the student to receive a Professional Qualification Certificate. Such

a certificate will be accompanied by a Descriptive Supplement, which lists all the skills

acquired during the training period.

B) Trainees trained within the private VET system take an examination that includes testing of

both theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge, skills and competences. Final grade

takes into consideration both aspects (theory and practice). An Examination Commission

is appointed by the National Qualification Agency for graduates' assessment.

C) In case of apprenticeship at the work place final examination of apprentices is carried out

in an authorized Competences Assessment and Certification Centre, according to the

Apprenticeship Law. The law specifically requests that the employer has to ensure both

theoretical and practical training of the apprentice during the apprenticeship (duration of

apprenticeship has to be written in the Apprenticeship Agreement). At the same time the

employer bears all the costs of skills assessment and certification of his apprentices.

After passing the exams the VET provider provides the former student with a Training

Completion Certificate. Training Completion Certificates are signed, stamped and

registered by the VET provider (this is part of the entitlement of an authorized VET

provider). Beside the name of the owner and details of the issuing institution, such a

certificate states the qualification obtained (name of the occupation for which its owner

trained and qualified) and the code of that occupation as it appears in the Occupations

Classification Registry in Romania (a 6-digit code; last version of the Occupations

Classification Registry in Romania was approved in February 2012). A Descriptive

Supplement is also provided and encompasses all or only a part of the skills encompassed

in the professional training standards or occupational standards, as the case may be.

Note: Skills evaluation within the Competences Assessment and Certification Centres follows

the EUROPEAN GUIDELINES for validating non-formal and informal learning. –

CEDEFOP (European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, 2009 edition by

Office for Official Publications, Luxembourg).

9. Levels of qualification and learning sites: Basic qualifications, specialisations, different learning venues (in company / switching between company/school etc.)

The levels of qualifications acquired by the students are in line with the standards. Both

cabinet maker and upholsterer are level 2 qualifications within NQF/EQF-5. According to

EQF-8, the qualification level for both cabinet maker and upholsterer is 3 or 4.

Within the national technical upper secondary school system basic qualification for both is

worker in carpentry which is a level 1 qualification in NQF. However, students enrolled in

high schools have access to at least level 2 qualification as they have to complete the 10th

17


grade (compulsory education day courses) and the perspective of obtaining within a

shorter time interval a level 2 qualification is more attractive than just complete

compulsory education with a level 1 qualification. Specialisation as cabinet maker and

upholsterer occurs during the 3rd

year of study only (the 4th

year of study for evening

classes).

Training provided by other VET providers (other than technical high schools) in order to give

access to qualification as cabinet maker or upholsterer does not necessary require basic

qualification such as being a worker in carpentry, but people can opt to qualify first as

worker in carpentry or worker in upholstery (level 1 qualifications) and later on as cabinet

maker or upholsterer. However, when training for having access to a level 1 qualification a

360 hours training is required, while for a level 2 qualification, a 720 hours training is

required.

Companies that train apprentices according to the Apprenticeship Law can opt for training

apprentices either for level 1 qualifications or level 2 qualifications, as Apprenticeship

Law provisions stipulate clearly that people who become apprentices have to have no

qualification in the respective occupation and companies can take advantage of

apprenticeship subsidies only for apprentices that are involved for the first time in the

respective apprenticeship training (however, the law shall suffer some changes as some of

the apprenticeship aspects are not so clear; a proposition has been made at the end of the

last year, but it's still under discussion).

Note: In Romania one can train as worker in upholstery in the private system only, as all

technical high schools train their students as workers in carpentry first and then specialise

them either as cabinet makers or upholsterers. At the same time, training of adults to

become upholsterers in the VET private system is rather rare in Romania and requires

special organization of assessment, as there is no Competences Assessment and

Certification Centre that is able to ensure upholsterer assessment on a regular basis in the

country thus far (and only 5 such centres that can assess people's competences as cabinet

makers – one of the reasons for which companies find official apprenticeship

unattractive).

Learning venues are as follows:

• Woodworking technical high school students are trained in school and school workshop

most of the time. They have also to practice in a company what they were taught during

classes. The number of hours for the practice in a company varies largely depending on

the pathway that students have chosen, which can be either the technological branch of

high school - professional qualification direct pathway - or the arts and trades school -

professional qualification progressive pathway (1 supplemental school year). Note that the

term 'arts and trades school' does not necessary involve a different school, but it's rather a

concept, so high schools can organize enrolment of candidates and training in both

pathways. It's just the learning process and the duration of training that is different.

They have about 90 hours/year practice in a company (grade 9 and grade 10, day courses,

technological branch of the secondary school) (school for 36 weeks + 3 weeks practice

only), but the law allows technical high schools' students in the 9th

and 10th

grades to have

their practical training in school workshops as well. See Annex 2 Education Planning

Framework. Direct pathway students in the 11th

grade in evening courses have 70

hours/year practice in a company and 56 hours/year technical culture courses, as they

usually already work in a furniture company.

18


Internship is based on agreements between high schools and companies. Direct pathway-

enrolled students in the 10th

grade in day courses or in 11th

grade in evening courses who

wish to obtain a level 2 Certificate of Qualification have to also complete practice

(internship) training in a company for 720 hours (24 weeks, 30hours/week) for either

cabinet maker or upholsterer.

• Private VET providers' students learn in VET provider's own classes and workshop or in

VET provider's classes and a workshop rented by the VET provider from a company, as

one of the provisions of the Romanian law regarding VET is that VET providers have to

make a workshop available for their students' practical training.

• Apprentices learn in the company only or alternatively the company can hire a VET provider

to provide their apprentices with theoretical training at the VET provider's venue, while

practical training occurs in the company as normal working with the aim to train the

apprentice for a certain occupation (cabinet maker or upholsterer). Both types of training

occur during the working hours.

10. Organisation, structure and learning processes (regulatory instruments, e.g. VET framework curricula / exam regulations)

The learning process for every grade in the woodworking technical high schools develops

following an education planning framework. The learning process develops similarly in

the case of the courses provided by private VET providers, but the detailed curricula

depends on the age and experience of the students. However, the framework curriculum

encompasses both theoretical and practical modules to acquire the necessary knowledge

and skills as stated in VET standards or occupational standards for that occupation.

Usually the theoretical training is conducted by a woodworking engineer with pedagogical

training (there are special Pedagogy & Psychology courses taught at the

University which woodworking engineering students have to attend in order to have the

right to teach technical courses in high schools later) or Trainer Diploma (in case of

teaching in the private VET system), while practical training is conducted by a

woodworking engineer or a foreman. Education planning frameworks are available in

Annex A2.

Trainees are continuously assessed during their training. Tests and discussions are carried out

in order to check their progresses. However, some tests are taken just once, but the

competences being assessed by them can be reassessed on the occasion of the final

assessment.

11. Classification/position of apprenticeship in the National Qualification Framework (NQF-scale)

The classification of the qualifications is ruled by the National Qualification Framework

(NQF). NQF is a tool for the classification of the qualifications in Romania, according to a

set of criteria taken into consideration by EQF-5, which corresponds to specific levels of

training. NQF aims at the integration and coordination of the national qualification

subsystems and enhancing the transparency, access to, development and quality of the

qualifications towards the labour market and the civil society.

NQF implementation is related to the system of national qualifications obtainable as a result

of attending general secondary education, initial VET, further VET, apprenticeship, or

higher education, in either formal, informal or non-formal framework from a lifelong

19


learning point of view.

NQF makes it possible for the recognition, measure and connection of all learning outcomes

within formal, informal and non-formal learning frameworks and ensure the consistency

of the qualifications and of the certified professional titles.

NQF contributes to quality assurance in the VET system. Technical education encompasses:

● grades 9, 10, 11 and 12 in day courses of the technological branch of secondary education

(direct pathway) or grades 9-13 in evening classes. It has 2 training stages: in day courses

the first stage encompasses the 9th

and the 10th

grades, and the second stage encompasses

the 11th

and 12th

grades, while in evening classes the 1st stage encompasses grades 9 and

10 and the first semester of the 11th

grade and the 2nd

stage encompasses the second

semester of grade 11 and the 12th

and the 13th

grades;

● grades 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 in day courses of the arts and trades school (technical education

progressive pathway) or grades 9-14 in evening classes. It has 2 training stages: in day

courses the first stage encompasses the 9th

, 10th

and 11th

grades, and the second stage

encompasses the 12th

and 13th

grades, while in evening classes the first stage encompasses

the 9th

, the 10th

and the 11th

grades together with the first semester of the 12th

grade, and

the second stage encompasses the second semester of the 12th

grade and the 13th

and the

14th

grades.

Apprenticeship as such is not classified in the NQF, but apprentices that are employed in

furniture companies can be assimilated in one of the occupations of the minor group 932

Unqualified Workers. In case of apprentices training to become either upholsterers or cabinet

makers under the provisions of the Apprenticeship Law, apprenticeship is just an intermediary

stage giving access to those level 2 qualifications in NQF. All the other trainees (apprentices

that involved in the so-called “qualification at the work place”, and evening course students

who are employed in furniture companies) that do not have a Qualification Diploma as

cabinet maker or upholsterer can be very well classified as unqualified workers in one of the

occupations below (see list).

However, those apprentices who completed 10 grades in technical woodworking-specialized

high schools without getting their qualification certificates as cabinet makers or upholsterers

are officially considered as having a level 1 qualification: worker in cabinet making / worker

in carpentry without actually having a special diploma certifying they are level 1 qualified.

They just have a Graduation Diploma or an official paper issued by a woodworking-

specialized high school stating they completed their compulsory education in such a school.

The Classification of the Occupations in Romania (latest update 2013)

...

9 Unqualified Workers (major group)

...

93 Unqualified workers in the extractive industries, building industry, manufacturing

industries and transport industry (sub-major group)

...

932 Unqualified workers in the manufacturing industries (minor group)

...

9321 Packagers (basic group)

932101 Manual packager (occupation)

...

20


9329 Unqualified workers in the manufacturing industries, which have been not classified yet

in other basic groups (basic group)

932904 Solid and half-solid products packaging unqualified worker (occupation)

932906 Component-assembling unqualified worker (occupation)

...

12. Level and character of qualification (descriptors) in NQF

NQF is in line with EQF-5, as NQF in Romania implemented the EQF-5 levels of

qualifications (however, we expect Romania to start the transition to EQF-8 soon, as the legal

procedures have already started). Both cabinet maker and upholsterer qualifications are level

2 qualifications in NQF. Both qualifications are classified in the sub-major group of Craft

workers in the food industry, woodworking industry, textile and clothing industry of the major

group 7 - Craft and related trades workers – of the Classification of the Occupations in

Romania (see 1st answer in section A for details).

While cabinet maker has been classified as a level 2 qualification in the basic group of

Cabinet makers and related trades workers, which is part of the minor group of Craft workers

in wood treatment and related trades workers, upholsterer has been classified as a level 2

qualification in the basic group of Upholsterers and related trades workers, which is part of

the minor group of Craft workers in the textile and clothes industry.

Individuals trained in both qualifications are considered as having average education.

Classified under the major group 7 - Craft and related trades workers – cabinet makers and

upholsterers are regarded by the NQF as workers who apply specific knowledge, skills and

competences in order to manufacture and assembly wooden products, including artisan

products, and to adjust the machine tools they are working with. They work either manually

or using different types of electric tools and machines in order to reduce the efforts and time

necessary to perform specific tasks or to improve the quality of products. The tasks they

perform require that they understand completely all phases of the production process, the use

of the raw materials, the tools and machinery they work with, as well as the nature and scope

of the final product.

13. Relevance and placement in EQF

Professional competences associated with both cabinet maker and upholsterer imply specific knowledge application with a variety of non-routine work tasks that involve responsibility and team work. Both qualifications are level 2 qualifications according to EQF-5 or level 3-4 qualifications according to EQF-8.

14. Career opportunities / advanced vocational training (entitlements for eg. upgrading training, studies)

Students who completed their level 2 training in a technical high school (either direct or

progressive pathways) can be employed in furniture companies as junior upholsterer /

junior cabinet maker (or in any company running in one of the areas listed in section A.4)

or they can choose to go on with their education for about 2 more years in order to get

their level 3 qualification as technician in woodworking or designer technician along with

their Bachelor's Diploma (if they pass the Bachelor exams).

If they have a Bachelor Diploma, they can go on to study in a university and become step by

21


step a woodworking engineer, a Master woodworking engineer or a Ph.D. Woodworking

engineer. Having their Ph.D., they can follow a career in the university.

If they do not wish to go on with the university, they can choose post-secondary education

farther on (1-3 years) in order to get a 3+ level qualification as technician or foreman.

Technical woodworking high school graduates who got their level 3 qualifications as

technicians in woodworking or designer technicians are employable in furniture

companies, as draftsmen or junior product designers or as technicians working in the

Orders Department of the company. At the beginning of their career they are usually

tutored by experienced employees or foremen in order to get accustomed with the

technology available in the company.

Adult workers who attended cabinet maker or upholsterer specialized courses with a VET

provider are employable in furniture companies as qualified workers, and they can be later

promoted as team leaders or can be assigned as responsible leaders for a certain product

line, etc.

After certification former-apprentices can be employed as qualified workers by the furniture

company where they carried out their apprenticeship or they can look for another

employer. This is one of the major reasons for which Romanian furniture companies are

not so enthusiastic about apprenticeship in its official form. For the former-apprentices

who are employed in the furniture company where they trained the career path is similar

to that of the technical woodworking high school graduates, but the position they will

occupy immediately after they get hired depends strongly on the appreciation they earned

from their employer during their apprenticeship.

Upgrading trainings are usually organized in the company as they are acquiring a new

equipment. Sometimes the upgrading training is carried out by a VET specialized

provider, by an external specialist or with the assistance of the specialists from the

equipment provider. Most of the time the upgrading is supported by the woodworking

engineers employed in the company as they are the main source of knowledge for the

workers in relation with the new technologies that the company has recently acquired.

New knowledge can also be acquired from the staff which ensures technical assistance

during the assembly of the new equipments at the work place. If the company hires a VET

provider to provide upgrading training, the VET provider can issue Training Completion

Diplomas, but in order for the upgrading training to be recognized at the national level the

new competences gained have to be assessed in a Competences Assessment and

Certification Centre. Such an upgrading training can be organized in order to enhance

workers skills and competences (reassessment of competences) or to specialize the

workers in similar level 2 qualifications. The new machinery such as CNCs makes it

necessary for formal upgrading / additional trainings undertaken with a VET provider and

following the CNC operator occupational standard (COR code 824025: Operator of

woodworking CNC machine tools – level 2 in NQF).

Upgrading training in the sense that workers get a level 3 qualification certificate is most

often the result of workers going back to high school and enrolling in evening classes,

because in order to become at least a technician or a foreman they need to complete their

technical high school education. After completing their high school education they have

the same opportunities as all technical woodworking high school graduates (see the first 3-

4 paragraphs above).

22


15. As social partners are involved in the training? What cooperation and participation opportunities exist (bodies, objects, effects-results)?

Initial VET is not a concern of the education system only (not any more), but it became more

and more an important issue on social partners' agenda. VET providers from the

education system have signed partnership agreements with companies, with professional

associations and employers association, trade unions, employment agencies, chambers of

commerce and industry and so on with the aim to involve all these organisations in the

education process, as all social partners are equally interested that school in general and

the VET system in particular provide well trained workers. Although different, social

partners' interests in this matter converge. Employers associations want that industry

workers are well trained for the industry to efficiently get high quality output and high

productivity, while trade unions are interested in well trained people being remunerated

according to the quality of their work, as well as in good working conditions in

accordance with EU Directives on H&S at the work place. As both supply and demand on

the labour market are dynamic socio-economic phenomena adjusting the supply to

demand assume ongoing adaptation of workers training to industry needs. The

Government as the third main social partner wants social harmony, which can be attained

also through a reasonable level of unemployment. The Government is involved in the

process by means of 2 ministries: the Labour Ministry and the National Education

Ministry.

Counties' employment agencies are under the coordination of the Labour Ministry. Their

mission is accomplished whenever labour demand on the market is met by the available

labour supply, not only quantitatively, but also qualitatively, i.e. in terms of training and

level of qualifications of the available workers. Based on the information received from

the companies in the county, each Employment Agency elaborates a monthly prognosis

concerning the VET courses needed to be organized in the near future (both an annual

prognosis and monthly prognoses). They contact the specialized VET providers (own

specialized departments or private providers) and announce the organization of the

training courses using all their available channels. Unemployed people or under qualified

people are targeted. Harmonization of social partners activities with the aim to improve

workers training are often concluded with partnership agreements in which a key role is

played by the companies, as they provide both a good training / skills upgrading

environment and the bolts and gears of the demand on the labour market. They

accomplish an important social mission: to create and maintain work places.

The National Authority for Qualification (ANC) is a public institution under the coordination

of the Ministry of Education. It partly assures the logistic support for VET: VET

standards, occupational standards, examination commissions, competences assessment,

authorization of VET providers. It coordinates the Sectoral Skills Committees, such as the

Sectoral Skills Committee Forestry, Woodworking and Furniture Industries which is

made up of representatives of the main social partners in these areas: employers

associations from forestry and woodworking industry, as well from the furniture industry

(APMR), trade unions (FSLIL) and a representative of ANC.

As a representative of the social partners and VET providers, the Sectoral Committee Forestry,

Woodworking and Furniture Industries has a major role in the qualification system. Under

ANC's coordination it develops and updates relevant qualifications for each industry,

validates qualifications and the standards associated with each qualification, identifies the

experts from the companies that would carry out occupational analysis, competences and

qualifications definitions, as well as the evaluation and certification based on the

standards.

23


Structural Funds co-financed projects often offer great opportunities for the social partners to

get directly involved in VET through useful specific projects (see section A.6 for

reference - involvement of the trade unions from the woodworking industry in workers'

qualification as both cabinet makers and upholsterers).

C. Placement of qualification: VET-institutions, learning models and learning places

1. Where does the training offered mainly place (school/college, classroom, apprenticeship workshop, workplace)? How are they integrated together?

Technical woodworking-specialized secondary schools use their own infrastructure –

workshops, classrooms and technological labs - to train their students, but they also take

advantage of the legal framework, which offers them the opportunity to train their students

within companies (voluntary Partnership Agreements signed by both companies and high

schools offer the legal framework for a good cooperation in the area of practical training).

Theoretical training carried out in the classroom and partially in the technological labs

alternate with practical training carried out in school workshop, technological labs and

workplace during the school week according to a timetable specific to each grade.

Theoretical training and technological labs training are usually provided by a

woodworking engineer while practical training is usually provided by a foreman, so it is

the responsibility of those two learning facilitators to integrate theoretical knowledge with

practice. However, VET standards, national woodworking-specialized curricula and

education planning frameworks for the main pathways act as main guidelines in order to

make it possible for the integration of the different types of training.

• Students of the technical woodworking-specialized high schools are offered training both in

school's workshops and classrooms and in companies at work places during their

mandatory internships.

• Adults are offered training in the classrooms of the technical high schools (evening classes)

or in the classrooms of the specialized VET providers, such as the Centre for the Training

of Industry Employees, which is coordinated by the Ministry of Economy, or other VET

providers (Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Employment Agencies of each county or

other private providers), while practical training is offered either in:

the VET providers' own workshops or

directly in the companies where adults work or

in companies that have partnership agreements with VET providers, which do not

own specialized workshops

Internships in companies are usually carried out under the supervision of a tutor who is a

teacher in that school and 1-2 foremen from the company. Practice in VET providers' own

workshops or in the companies is also supervised by a tutor from VET provider and a

foreman / engineer from the company. Tutors are usually in charge with helping students

24


to make the necessary connections between theory and practice and help students apply

what they have been taught during classes.

2. How do employers / colleges / schools / training centres work together in the areas of vocational training and education?

There are 2 ways employers, high schools and VET providers work together in the areas of

VET in Romania. The first is working together within the Sectoral Skills Committee in

order to obtain the best possible occupational standards and VET standards (vocational

training standards) and update them. The second is by partnership agreements between

employers and VET providers which give students the opportunity to practice at real work

places.

Another way is by means of sponsorship that companies carry out in order to give the high

schools the opportunity to buy additional raw materials for their students and support

better practical training in school workshops. Machinery donations is also a way

employers get involved in and support VET.

3. On-the-job training: Do apprentices follow day school visit or block school visit?

Apprentices employed in companies (Apprenticeship Law accordingly) attend their

theoretical training at VET providers or at company premises during working hours

alternating theory and practice days. Apprentices are trained by rotating work places, so as

to become familiar with each and every specific work place in the company during their 2

year apprenticeship.

High school students' in-company training is organized partly during the school week (3-6

hours/week) and partly just before the end of the school year (3-6 weeks, 30 hours /

week). For the part of the practical training carried out normally during the school week

students follow day school visit, while for the part carried out just before the end of the

school year (block practical training) they block school visit.

4. Off-the-job training / fulltime school-based training: Practical phases in companies are defined (internships, fixed sections)?

As shown above, for high school students the practical training during the school year (3-6 h /

week) is carried out in school workshops or in companies at real work places. As an

observation, schools sign partnership agreements with companies so as to carry out

practical training in a company not only because they want their students be better trained

(in a real work environment and to accustom students with other technologies), but also to

save funds in case the equipments available in their workshops are too big power

consumers and they cannot afford such expenses (this is usually the case when their

workshop equipment has been provided by way of donations, for example). Partnership

agreements between schools and companies ensure practical training in companies as fixed

section during ordinary school weeks (3-6 h/week on the same day(s) of every week

according to school schedule) and as internships just before the end of the school year.

During their internships students receive no payment for their work. Theoretical training is

performed in school only. In case the technical high school affords it financially and / or do

not find companies willing to support practical training during ordinary school weeks, the

training occurs in school only (classrooms, technological labs and school workshop).

However, the compact practical training scheduled just before the end of the school year

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usually occurs within a furniture company.

People who are trained by private VET providers attend theoretical training in classrooms at

each VET provider venue, while practical training occurs in the workshops of the furniture

companies with whom the VET providers had previously signed Partnership Agreements.

5. How are apprentices expected to learn in the workplace, e.g. in-house training, rotation?

Mainly we are talking about in-house training, while rotation refers to work places rotation

only.

6. Who is responsible for apprenticeship training? What qualifications are expected from the in-company trainers?

Apprentices trained under the conditions stipulated in the Apprenticeship Law are supervised

by an apprenticeship supervisor. He / she is also responsible for teaching the apprentices

the H&S norms as well as for the application of the H&S rules & regulations by the

supervised apprentices. In-company trainer can be either a foreman or a woodworking

engineer who attended special courses during their own training such as Psychology&

Pedagogy courses or completed a 'Trainer's Training Course' and have a 'Trainer Diploma'.

Sometimes they are a production line responsible or the Prototypes workshop chief.

7. Is there a mandatory training program (guidelines, curricula)?

Yes. There is. Technical woodworking-specialized high schools carry out the training of their

students according to the National Curricula. The curriculum for each school year is briefly

set in the education planning framework and consider each 2 years (or 2,5 years in evening

classes) as a separate part of the training the lower secondary & the upper secondary

school. A student can enrol for the first or both training stages.

Private VET providers train their students following curricula that are elaborated according to

the competences that their students should acquire and that are specified either in the

vocational training standard or in the occupational standard of an occupation. Sometimes a

consultation with teachers from technical high schools or employers occurs in order to

cover the entire educational curricula of the state-organized VET. However, the students in

the private VET system have to attend 720 hour schooling with their VET provider in order

to aspire to certification as cabinet makers or upholsterers (out of which 1/3 theoretical

training and 2/3 practical training).

Apprenticeship under the Apprenticeship Law is carried out considering the occupational

standard for each occupation – cabinet maker and upholsterer, respectively. The

occupational standard offers the guidelines for apprentices' training, so the company that

organizes the apprenticeship will create the necessary conditions for apprentices to acquire

the required knowledge, skills and competences.

Apprentices trained in-house through “qualification at the work place” approach (which

cannot expect their competences to be certified officially unless they undertake the costs by

their own) do not necessary follow a curriculum (although sometimes the specialists in the

company / the apprenticeship supervisors can elaborate guidelines to run the training, but it

will most certainly depend on the technologies available in the company and the specificity

of the products that the company manufacture).

8. What is the structure and content of the curriculum for years of education and/or training sections?

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- What are the areas of knowledge/subjects/practice? - What is the scope of activities involved? - What are the general educational elements?

An example of structure and content of the usual curriculum for the VET provided in

technical woodworking-specialized high school is available in the annex 1 of the

report - Structure and curriculum.

• The curriculum is divided in several modules that encompasses both theory and practice.

The areas of knowledge / subjects / practice are as it follows:

1. Occupation description, workshop description, health & safety general norms

2. Solid wood study (wooden raw material study), properties / characteristics of wood,

possible defects in solid wood / recognizing possible defects in solid wood raw

materials

3. Notions of area-specific technical drawing

4. First stage of woodworking; lumber cutting

5. Wood processing by using hand tools - main operations

6. Mechanical wood processing - machinery and main operations

7. Types of joints that are used to build wooden assemblies / systems

8. Tools, devices, gauges, accessory tools

9. Wood humidity, steaming, drying

10. Working simple wooden products

11. Ensemble drawings, technological operations plans

12. Working with wooden-based boards: particle boards, fibreboards, blockboards

13. Technological flows, sequence of operations for large series production

14. Manufacturing a complex furniture product, the notion of furniture(programme) range

– team working

15. Manufacturing windows and doors

16. Notions of bent furniture manufacture

17. Furniture finish, materials for and techniques of furniture finish

18. Notions of work and production organization, applying work safety and environment

protection; reviews

Additionally, students who will become upholsterers will have to study the following areas as

well:

19. Materials used in upholstery: textiles, fillers, elastic elements, polyurethane foams,

webbing, straps, connectors, etc.

20. Properties of the materials used in upholstery;

21. Cutting fabrics, notions of patterns for cutting fabrics

22. Knowledge and use of cutting and sewing machines

23. Upholstering technology, order of operations

24. The finish of upholstery

• The scope of the activities involved is to enable students of the woodworking-specialized

high schools to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to perform a job in a work

context. Students go through a learning process during which they assimilate a large

range of theoretical and practical knowledge under a specialized teacher's supervision.

The training aims to help students acquire certain social skills such as team working

skills, as well as health & safety norms application skills and environment protection

related skills. It also aims to assist students in developing a certain positive attitude

towards working.

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• The general education elements contained in the VET framework plan refer to both

consolidating and enhancing basic skills and new basic skills (students are accustomed to

most of the topics studied from the previous schooling years). They are part of the 'Core

Curriculum' (which encompasses subjects that are common to all high schools in the

national education system and is grade specific; however, the number of hours allocated

to training for each subject depends on the type of secondary school and the

specialization attended). General education elements are grouped into curricular areas in

the education framework plan as it follows:

'Languages and Communication” area contains elements of general education

such as: reading, writing and communicating in Romanian and 2 other foreign

languages (European languages);

'Mathematics and Natural Sciences' area contains elements of general

education in the following fields: Mathematics (Geometry, Calculus, Algebra,

Trigonometry), Physics, Chemistry, Biology;

'Human Being and Society' area contains elements of general education in the

following fields: History (national and international), Geography, Social

sciences / Social and civic education, Religion;

'Physic Education and Sports';

'Technologies' area contains elements of general education that pertain to new

basic skills area such as: information and communication technology and

entrepreneurship (Note: The 'Technologies' area in the VET framework plan

also includes specialized technological culture and practical training carried out

on a weekly basis, but those two fields are treated separately within the so-

called 'Differentiating Curriculum' and 'Local Development Curriculum' areas

of the education planning framework).

All the other VET providers (namely, private VET providers, unemployment

agencies and the Regional Councils for Adult Vocational Education) have their

own VET standards-based curricula to train individuals as cabinet makers or

upholsterers. As a result, the general education elements provided by other VET

providers also refer to both consolidating and enhancing basic skills and new

basic skills such as: communication in Romanian and numeracy, basic

information and communication technology elements, a foreign language, quality

assurance, performance-oriented personal development, work safety and hygiene,

social skills.

9. What is the amount of time attached to the different elements (theory and practice) at each section?

As public VET providers, all technical woodworking-specialized high schools use the

National Curricula as well as the pathway- and branch-specific educational framework

plans to train their students. Detailed plans in relation to the time amount attached to

the different elements at each section of the specific educational framework plans are

shown in annex 2 – pathway-specific educational planing frameworks for grades 9-12

of the technical woodworking-specialized high schools.

Private VET providers elaborate their own curricula taking into account the necessary

learning outcomes mentioned in the VET standards and / or occupational standards for

cabinet maker and upholsterer (see annex 3 – VET standards' units and learning

outcomes for cabinet maker and upholsterer). The time attached to each unit depends

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on the number of credits and learning outcomes. However, when elaborating such

curricula, VET providers have to take into account the fact that, being level 2

occupations, both cabinet maker and upholsterer trainings have to amount to a number

of 720 hours, out of which 240 hours should be devoted to theoretical training and 480

hours to practical training.

10. What pedagogical approaches are involved (e.g. directive, self-directed, interactive, collaborative)?

The pedagogical approaches are the responsibility of the learning facilitators, but they usually

depend on the age category of the students, on the training environment and the skills

level of the students. For students of the technical high schools, the pedagogical approach

changes as the learning process progresses. For key skills such as health and safety at the

work place and key concepts teaching, it is usually directive, while for other elements the

pedagogical approach is usually interactive or collaborative, according to the complexity

of the subject and how much did the training advanced. VET standards recommendation is

to gradually involve students in the training process, so pedagogical approaches are quite

similar for all VET providers.

D. Profile of qualification: Professional skills and key qualifications

1. How are occupational standards defined, and what is their role?

Occupational standards are elaborated by the experts from the industry and then validated by

the Sectoral Skills Council (experts and representatives of VET providers, trade unions,

employers' organizations and the National Authority for Qualifications). An occupational

standard in Romania is a competence-structured document. It presents competence areas

and units of competence. Each and every unit of competence is structured by elements of

competence, which are assigned accomplish criteria. A list of unit of competence-related

variables and assessment guidelines are provided for each unit of competence.

An occupational standard describes in learning outcomes what an individual qualified in the

respective occupation is expected to know, understand and be able to do accordingly. It

plays a major role in the assessment and formal recognition (validation leading to

certification) of professional competence of an individual no matter how the learning

process occurred (formal, informal or non-formal). It also helps VET providers to properly

organize the training process for an occupation and the National Authority for

Qualification to asses a VET provider capability to organize training for qualification in a

certain occupation.

A VET standard is a unit of competence-structured document, which describes in learning

outcomes what a student enrolled in initial vocational education should demonstrate by

the end of their training. It states who is the public authority that issued the standard,

vocational education area addressed by it, the occupation denomination, the qualification

29


level as stated in the NQF / EQF-5, standard version and year of issue, and authors. It

presents the list of units of competence grouped by: key skills, general technical

competences and specific technical competences. Each and every unit of competence is

then described separately using a standard template which states: the level of qualification

(EQF-5 accordingly) for which it is required, the number of credits assigned to that unit of

competence, the elements of competence making up the respective unit of competence.

Each and every element of competence in a VET standard has a short description of what

a student should know, understand or be able to do as a result of learning, along with the

assessment criteria, application conditions, assessment of the learning outcome.

As an essential reference document, a VET standard plays a major role in the elaboration of

every curriculum used by VET providers for training individuals in a certain occupation

and the assessment and validation of the learning outcomes.

Both occupational standards and VET standards play an important role in the final

competence assessment of trainees / apprentices, as well as in the competence assessment

of any individual who would like their competences being recognized as qualification, no

matter if they acquired those competences by formal, informal or non-formal learning, so

occupational standards and VET standards are means to support informal and non-formal

learning recognition in the furniture industry.

2. How learning outcomes are defined and what is their role?

The learning outcomes are defined in the respective occupational standards and VET

standards. They are usually defined as units of competences and have the role to offer a

detailed description of what a trainee should know, understand and be able to do

accordingly (knowledge, skills, abilities). The units of competence are identifiable

components of a certain qualification.

3. What processes of assessment (including on company and workplace) are applied at each level and who is involved?

Two types of assessment processes are most commonly carried out. The first is continuing

assessment of the progress each student/apprentice has made since the beginning of their

training. The second type is the final competence assessment, which confirms that

student's skills, know how, abilities and knowledge deserves certification.

For VET occurring in technical high schools continuing assessment encompasses direct

assessment through oral evaluations (such as discussions, explanations, answering

questions etc. by which students demonstrate they understood, retained and are able to

correlate and properly use the information being taught), practical evaluations (such as

role playing, exercises, case studies and school projects) and written evaluations (such as

writing essays, by means of which they can demonstrate they master the specific technical

vocabulary and are able to express correctly their opinions on technical issues, different

written tests, etc.). Teachers and practical training supervisors are directly involved.

Teachers' evaluations are predominant, but auto-evaluation is also encouraged. During the

practical training carried out in companies direct observation and the resulting reports of

the foremen in charge with students' supervision are also considered.

For training provided by specialized VET providers continuing assessment is similar with that

occurring in technical schools (oral, practical and written), but oral and practical

assessments are predominant. Discussions, explanations, exercises and school projects are

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the most common methods. Assessment is carried out by the trainers, while auto-

assessment plays an important role, too.

As for the training provided through apprenticeship, continuing assessment is the

responsibility of the employer and of the apprentice's supervisor. It is both oral and

practical assessment.

The final competence assessment is carried out as it follows:

A) Students in woodworking technical high schools take a theoretical exam and a practical

exam. The practical exam is taken in the form of a school project: the student have to either

design a furniture piece or manufacture a furniture piece after their own design. The student

has to start the school project several weeks before he/she takes his/her theoretical exams and

works at his/her project in the school workshop. The project is presented to the assessment

commission that asks questions about how the object was made (order of operations, raw

materials, tool and equipment used, etc.)

The regional School Inspectorates appoint a Professional Examination Board (assessment

commission) for the final exam. Such a board is composed of both teachers from the school

and teachers outside the school (see section B point 8 for details).

B) Students trained within the private VET system take an examination that includes both a

theoretical test and a practical test. Final grade takes into consideration both exams. An

Examination Commission is appointed by the National Qualification Agency for trainees'

examination. The assessment is organized in a Competences Assessment and Certification

Centre.

C) In case of apprenticeship at the work place final examination of apprentices is carried out

in an authorized Competences Assessment and Certification Centre, according to the

Apprenticeship Law. The assessment is made by an Examination Commission whose

members are certified experts from the field. The Commission is appointed by the

National Qualification Agency.

A third type of assessment occurs as a result of the need for competence upgrading or

improving. This type of assessment is typically carried out whenever a worker would like

to upgrade his/her competences but need to know the competence level reached thus far.

Such competence assessment are carried out either at the employee's or the employer's

request and is similarly conducted by certified examiners appointed by ANC in a

Competences Assessment and Certification Centre. The assessment encompasses the

following techniques of assessment: direct observation, oral questions, assumptions

followed by structured demonstration, written test, project, third party reports, display of a

portfolio of previously finalized works. After the assessment, the worker gets an official

document – the Competence Certificate.

4. What specific knowledge, skills and competences are taught?

For VET provided by technical high schools the first stage of the training is a level 1

qualification (worker in cabinet making) training which is common to both cabinet maker

and upholsterer. A number of specific units of competence are aimed at during this first

stage training:

- Technical drawing representation norms

- The use of raw materials to manufacture wooden products

- Wood type identification (wood species identification)

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- Efficient use of faulty solid wood

- Use of technological materials in woodworking industry

- Manual woodworking

- Lumber drying and storage

- Solid wood cutting

- Semi-finished wooden products – manufacturing operations

- Solid wood components assembly

Cabinet maker training (2nd

stage of the training) - knowledge, skills and competences

taught (VET standard accordingly) – units of competence: Working systems in woodworking machinery

Furniture products representation in technical drawing

Artificial lumber drying

Solid wood components mechanical processing

Superior semi-finished products cutting technology

Melamine and veneered boards manufacturing; frames manufacturing

Wooden-based boards and frames mechanical processing

Wooden surfaces sanding

Finishing of wooden surfaces

Furniture assembly and packing

Upholsterer training (2nd

stage of the training) - knowledge, skills and competences

taught (VET standard accordingly) – units of competence: Working systems in woodworking machinery

Furniture products representation in technical drawing

Artificial lumber drying

Upholstery frames manufacturing

Stuffing materials preparation – choosing the right materials and pattern cutting of

elastic stuffing cores

Covering materials and decorations preparation – choosing the right materials and

decorations and pattern cutting of covering materials

Upholstering furniture with completely covered frames

Interior decorations and wall upholstering

Detachable upholstery (mattresses, sleeping bags, duvets, pillows)

Upholstery packing

See Annex A4 for a synthetic presentation.

5. What key knowledge, skills and competences are defined?

Key knowledge, skills and competences provided for both cabinet maker and upholsterer

trainings are:

Communication and numeracy

Basic ICT skills (digital literacy)

Communication in a foreign language

Performance-oriented personal development

Work safety and hygiene

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Team work

Work place and working time organization

Work place integration

School – work place transit

Problem solving

Client satisfaction skills

Quality assurance

6. How important is informal learning? Formal and informal learning are interrelated? Where does it take place? What methods are applied?

Romanian law allows informal and non-formal learning to be recognized provided that a

formal assessment of the individual who acquired knowledge, skills and competences

going through such a learning process is carried out in a Competence Assessment and

Certification Centre. Informal and non-formal are both important because they allow

equal chances for everybody on the labour market and this is one of the main reasons for

which standard-based learning and assessment (VET and occupational standards) have

been widely promoted in the national vocational education system.

However, formal and informal learning are most obvious interrelated by way of

apprenticeship. Informal learning takes place in company or at home as a result of the

interaction with peers – peers' critique – or a hobby which is somehow related to work or

school e.g. individuals who like fixing things home such as furniture, doors, windows and

locks or try to restore old pieces of furniture will usually try to use what they were taught

in school or company, but they will also deepen their knowledge without such a thing

being intended.

On the other hand, high school teachers usually encourage the use of certain “resources”

which subtly consolidate knowledge and cognitive skills:

encouraging students to involve themselves in helping at home and trying to fix

things or pursue hobbies related to work;

encouraging collective school projects and mock-up construction;

working with samples and skill exercises;

encouraging students to see certain classic or historical films, “how it is made”

documentaries, on-line clips presenting hobbies, or look at picture albums;

encouraging or organizing visits at history museums, furniture museums, memorial

houses and so on;

organizing class visits to raw materials providers, to equipment providers or furniture

specialized fairs etc.

7. How are the different elements (occupational knowledge and skills; practice; general education) assessed? How are they weighted in each section / training years?

They are continuously assessed by teacher's feedback, peer group critique, written tests,

33


portfolio development, school projects, school contests, practice tests, skill exercises,

written essays on “how to”. Occupational knowledge and skills on one hand and practice

on the other hand are usually equally weighted. General education and specific education

weights equally during the first 2 years of vocational training (until completing

compulsory education) in vocational technical high schools, but the weight shifts to

vocational specific training (65%) in the 3rd

schooling year in high schools for those

training to become a cabinet maker or upholsterer.

If training is provided by other VET providers (other than technical vocational high schools)

occupational knowledge and skills and practice tend to be much more important than

general education (80%). The approach is similar when we talk about apprenticeship (no

matter what kind of apprenticeship we are talking about).

8. What qualifications are comparable with that of neighbouring occupations (e.g. cabinet maker & wood mechanic)?

• Carpenter and cabinet maker: Occupational standards for both occupations include common

units of learning: recognizing the wood species and how to efficiently make use of wood

with defects, cutting wooden raw materials to dimensions according to the technical

drawings, making wood joints, mechanical woodworking by machine tools, wood glueing,

application of fire retardants and fungicides on wooden products

• Joiner and cabinet maker: Both occupational standards include common units of learning:

recognizing the wood species and how to efficiently make use of wood with defects,

making wood joints, wood glueing, using tools and machines to process the wooden

elements machine tools, application of fire retardants and fungicides on wooden elements

• Cabinet maker and upholsterer: Both occupational standards include common units of

learning: recognizing the wood species and how to efficiently make use of wood with

defects, cutting wooden raw materials to dimensions according to the technical drawings,

wood glueing, using tools and machine tools to process the wooden elements

• Cabinet maker and wood mechanic: Both occupational standards include common units of

learning: recognizing the wood species and wood defects, as well as how to efficiently

make use of the wood with defects, and cutting wooden raw materials to dimensions

according to the technical drawings, wooden raw materials machining

9. How important are new qualifications requirements, life-long learning/further training, changes in the respective job description, acquisition of additional qualifications etc. for future developments?

Current occupational standards and VET standards do not yet contain references to the new

qualifications requirements. However, both types of standards are reviewed from time to

time and updated. The Sectoral Skills Committee is the institution that initiate

occupational standards reviews as a result of changes occurring in the sector while the

National Authority for Qualifications (ANC) initiates reviews of VET standards so as to

harmonize occupational standards and VET standards for a certain occupation. However,

as occupational standards and VET standards are developed, trainers have to update their

knowledge and skills as well.

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10. How will this be reflected in the apprenticeship?

As occupational standards and VET standards are the basis for any vocational training any

future development of the standards will most certainly reflect in apprenticeship whatever

its type especially because those are also the documents against which every summative

assessment is carried out. However, in an early stage both apprentices and vocational

technical high schools students who will have access to newer technologies or will have

the opportunity to carry out practical training in companies that have already begun to

implement such changes will be at an advantage (at least in an early stage).

E. Utilisation of qualification: Requirements and needs from workplaces, labour and employment system

1. Brief sector analysis (trends and developments in national furniture/upholstery industry

– focused on employment and workforce situation)

There are about 3000 companies in the Romanian furniture sector and its downward trend

may still persist for a while. Several negative phenomena have occurred for the last 5

years:

Decrease in the number of small-sized and micro-companies that manufacture

furniture. As a result of the decrease in their sales due to domestic furniture market

shrinkage on one hand and the increase in the number of hyper-markets offering kit

furniture, on the other hand, many small-sized companies had to close down their

business or changed their activity. Small (usually family-run) businesses are renown

on the local market, so their selling possibilities are pretty small, too. As the financial

and economical crisis still affects our economy, the small-sized companies are the

most vulnerable by far.

Skilled labour migration to other industries or other EU27 countries. Unfortunately,

the furniture sector in Romania is not among the economic sectors that offer high

salaries to its workers. On the contrary, it is renowned as one with the lowest earnings.

The construction sector, carpentry, windows and doors manufacturing or flooring

manufacturing and assembly fields became more attractive for the large majority of

the individuals trained in woodworking fields. The activity in the building industry,

which had flourished in Romania before the crisis, attracted a lot of skilled workers

and their replacing has been difficult. The mobility of labour in EU also contributed to

the decrease in the number of skilled workers in our furniture industry.

Romanian companies employed unskilled workers or insufficiently skilled workers

with the aim to decrease labour costs pressure on the product costs as a whole, with

negative consequences on the quality of the furniture products and on productivity.

Other companies employed partially trained workers for wrong reasons, such as: local

workforce unemployment or even nepotism, missing the point that even in case of the

so-called “qualification at the work place” workers training takes time and individuals

need time to adjust to the work specificity. Natural phenomena, such as people

35


retirement, and the lack of skilled workers in the companies that preferred trying to do

their work with less workers than give up the quality of their products negatively

impacted activity, too.

The competition on the furniture market goes further upstream the supply chain and

small companies struggle to get high quality materials. Solid wood acquisition is

usually the result of public tenders in Romania, so the stronger a company is, the

better its chances to get premium quality raw materials, so small companies are

usually at disadvantage towards the large companies.

The downward trend in the building industry for the last five years has negatively

impacted on the furniture industry, too.

Cheap furniture imports (of lower quality most of the time) contributed to the decrease

in the demand for local furniture products in Romania.

Positive aspects:

The large majority of the Romanian furniture companies still have qualified workers

(owing qualification diplomas).

Romanian furniture companies become gradually specialized in manufacturing certain

types of products for certain markets, which results in a higher productivity and better

economic indicators, in general.

Furniture companies managed to meet the requirements of the European Directives

(which have been transposed in the national legislation) regarding environment

protection, health and safety at the workplace and product safety. Authorities carry out

periodical risk assessments and control the application of the legal provisions in these

areas. Most of the companies become highly aware of the importance of complying

with the environment protection legislation and H&S legislation, so they carry out

internal audits periodically in order to be sure they would successfully pass any

official inspection.

A larger number of furniture companies shown an increased interest in participating in

furniture fairs at home and abroad and in consolidating their public image and brand

image. As a mater of fact Romanian furniture manufacturers pay more attention to

their image in the eyes of the public and of the authorities these days than let's say 5

years ago.

In spite of the uncertainties more and more companies are willing to be involved in

activities that would attract public's attention, especially young people's attention to

the sector. They organize activities such as company's day, product presentations and

furniture design contests or become sponsors of the furniture design contests

organized by vocational schools or APMR or participate voluntary in European co-

financed projects in order to improve the image of the industry in the public's eyea nd

explore new ways to attract young people to the sector. They also pay more attention

to the opportunities resulting from Structural Funds co-financed projects in relation

with employees' training or new technology acquisition.

2. Typology of companies and branches where cabinet makers/upholsterers are employed!

36


(furniture industry, carpentry, joinery)

Highly skilled cabinet makers are offered jobs in the furniture industry, but also in the

woodworking industry as a whole, in carpentry, and in building industry in joinery, while

well trained upholsterers can find a job in the furniture industry, but also in interior

decorations and in a more specialized sub-sector of the furniture industry – the bedding

industry.

Cabinet makers are usually employed by:

• cabinet furniture manufacturers – companies and workshops

• furniture retailers that have their own Post-sale service department

• furniture warehouses

• doors and windows frames manufacturing companies

• interior decorations companies

• furniture repairing and restoration workshops

• floorings manufacturers

• handicraft cooperatives

• wooden houses plants (cabinet makers are usually able to make the house elements

and carry out assembly control at the plant, while carpenters and joiners do the final

assembly on site),

• furniture components manufacturers

• wooden toys factories

• semi-finished wooden products manufacturers (plywood, veneer, wooden-based

boards)

• theatres

• custom-made furniture companies

Upholsterers are usually employed by:

• companies that manufacture cabinet furniture

• upholstery manufacturing companies and workshops

• furniture retailers that have their own Post-sale service department

• interior decorations companies & custom-made furniture companies

• furniture repairing and restoration workshops

• handicraft cooperatives

• bedding manufacturers

• theatres

3. What are the typical job profiles/workplaces of the cabinet maker/upholsterer?

Typical job profiles / workplaces for the cabinet maker are those related to wood processing

such as: lumber drying (kiln-dryer), lumber cut-off and rip-sawing, glued-up stock

making, cutting the raw materials to dimension, milling, making holes and dowels,

planning, wood machining in general, veneering, pressing, assembly, final quality control.

37


Typical job profiles / workplaces for the upholster are those related to preparing the

upholstering materials and their application: cutting the fabrics / leather and the fillings

according to the patterns, making the wooden frames, apply them to furniture frames,

stapling or nail fastening them, final quality control.

See also occupational profiles in Annex 4.

4. What are the tasks and types of activities cabinet maker/upholsterer fulfil in companies/at workplace?

The working tasks of the cabinet maker and upholsterer are those in relation to carrying out

different work phases until they get the finished product. The order in which the tasks are

performed is provided by the operations plans (the list of the technological operations),

the technical drawings and the quality assurance procedures, as well as by the technical

projects or client's quality specifications. See also occupational profiles in Annex 4.

5. Are qualified workers adequately employed?

Yes, because highly skilled cabinet makers and upholsterers are in great demand in Romania

nowadays.

6. Are there references to other professions (cross references)?

Yes, there are.

7. What related occupations are there? Does cabinet maker/upholsterer fulfil work from these neighboured professions?

In the case of cabinet maker there are references to other occupations in the same company,

because the cabinet maker is expected to be able to accomplish all or some of the tasks of

the following occupations: draftsman, operator for wood drying, painter, packing operator,

manual pressing and glueing joiner, manual veneer joiner, sanding and polishing worker,

surface varnishing preparator, dimension cutting wood machinist, wood planning

machines operator, wood milling and drilling machines operator, wood turning machines

operator, wood grinding and sanding machines operator.

In the case of upholsterer there are partial references to the cabinet maker profession and to

mattress maker.

8. What changes are observable at workplaces/in employment - regarding products, processes, technology, organisation of work, social and employment standards (eg. contract workers/unskilled workers)?

There is an increase in the variety of products that the Romanian companies offer to the

market most of them as a result of investment in new technologies. Although Romanian

furniture industry has been mainly renown as a supplier of solid wood furniture either in

classic or rustic styles, more and more companies extended their range of products

enriching them with modern furniture programmes or new interpretation of the classic and

rustic styles. As a result of this development wood machining gained ground over

handicraft and in general over manual labour. CNC machine tools also gain ground and

companies become interested in hiring CNC operators, too. However, there are companies

mainly SME's that still value manual labour and are not willing to give it up completely as

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it adds value to the final product.

As a result of the increased mobility of workers from the furniture industry to other economic

sectors or to other countries and the natural decrease in the number of skilled cabinet

makers and upholsterers, some of the companies hired unskilled workers, which are

qualified most of the time by “qualification at the workplace” approach. That means

workers specialized in working with certain machine tools most of the time or at least in

the first stage of their apprenticeship. This trend lead to an increase importance of the

skilled cabinet makers or upholsterers who are placed in key work places such as

prototypes workshops, quality control workshops and assembly section of the plant or in

the Customer Service department, assuring the assembly of the furniture on customer site

or repairing / adjusting the furniture products on customer site. Regardless of what is the

case, they are given an increased responsibility towards the final products and usually get

better salaries – even better than the collective bargaining agreement requires.

9. Currency of qualification: Value of qualifications/skills on the labour market

A qualified worker's earnings is usually 20% higher than that of an unskilled worker. A skilled

cabinet maker or upholsterer has a gross average salary of € 320, while the net salary is

about € 235. A foreman earns a 30% higher salary than a qualified worker, while an

engineer's salary reaches 200% of the salary of a qualified worker.

10. What is the link between qualifications/skills and pay/output (earnings, wage structure, bonus, e.g. through collective agreements)?

According to the collective bargaining agreement a qualified worker's base minimum gross

salary is 20% higher than the base minimum gross salary of an unskilled worker. The

collective bargaining agreement also stipulates the following bonuses that may refer to the

working conditions of a cabinet maker or an upholsterer: • +12.5% - bonus for strenuous

working conditions (heavy weights etc), • +20% - bonus for dangerous working

conditions (such as working in a workplace exposed to explosion risks), • +20% - bonus

for harmful working conditions (e.g. working in the finishing workshop). A worker,

however, can receive cumulatively at most 2 of the types of bonuses listed above.

There are also other bonuses stipulated in the collective bargaining agreement:

• overtime: working hours (over the normal working time of 8 hours/day) during the

normal working week are compensated by at least +75% of worker's base salary per hour,

while working during official holidays (including Saturday and Sunday) is compensated

by +100% of worker's per hour current base salary for the additional time worked;

• night work lead is compensated by +25% of the worker's base salary;

• experience bonuses: at least +5% of the base salary for 3 years experience in the job, and

+25% of the base salary at maximum for people with more than 20 years experience in the

job. Other elements of a worker salary can be: • individual working agreement bonuses, •

bonuses from the company's Bonus Fund accounting for at least 1.5% of the whole

monthly Salary Fund of the company, • other bonuses agreed at the company level; • meal

vouchers; • exceptionally a profit share of maximum 10% of company profits can be

shared among company employees with the company shareholders' approval.

11. Are there any labour rights and/or benefits associated with qualification (e.g. unemployment benefit)?

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Yes, for most beneficiaries the unemployment benefit is indirectly associated with

qualification by the fact that it is calculated as 75% of the reference social indicator (the

minimum payment-guaranteed base gross salary) + a certain per cent of the average salary

of the individual in the last 12 months, depending on his/her contribution to the national

Unemployment Fund, as it follows:

• contribution to the national Unemployment Fund for at least 1 year: 75% of the

reference social indicator;

• for people who had contributed to the national Unemployment Fund for 3-5 years: 75%

of the reference social indicator + 3% of the average salary of the individual in the last 12

months (which depends on individual's qualification);

• contribution to the national Unemployment Fund for 5-10 years: 75% of the reference

social indicator + 5% of the average salary of the individual in the last 12 months;

• contribution to the national Unemployment Fund for 10-20 years: 75% of the reference

social indicator + 7% of the average salary of the individual in the last 12 months;

• contribution to the national Unemployment Fund for more than 20 years: 75% of the

reference social indicator + 10% of the average salary of the individual in the last 12

months.

Unemployment benefit is paid on a monthly basis. However, for graduates the unemployment

benefit is not associated with qualification in any way; it amounts to just 50% of the

reference social indicator.

12. How the economic crisis has affected the development of workforce and apprenticeships (job losses, bankruptcies, reduction of apprenticeships, job change, migration abroad / in other sectors, etc.)

There were 18.8 thousand job loses in the Romanian furniture industry between 2008 and

2010, but due to recent trends we can talk about 12 thousand job loses between 2008 and

2013. 1800 furniture companies went bankrupt or changed their activity between 2008 and

2012. These phenomena have been accompanied by reduction of apprenticeship and a

decrease in the number of students in woodworking specialized vocational high schools.

Some of the vocational high schools diversified their educational offer in order to attract

young people. As a result, the number of places available in the woodworking classes for

high school candidates decreased, as schools enlarged their educational profiles.

Losing their jobs, some of the skilled workers migrated in other sectors, while some migrated

abroad to work mostly in other sectors of the economy, such as the building industry and

later on agriculture, as unemployment has risen in the building industry in the Western

countries.

13. What are the assessment of training needs and demand for skilled employees in the respective trade – if applicable, field of employment and principal place of employment? How important are the diversification of job activities?

On the labour market in Romania the supply of cabinet maker or woodworking technician

skills is larger than the supply of upholsterer skills, partly because not all of the technical

vocational schools train students to become upholsterers and partly because there is no

permanent Competences Assessment and Certification Centre authorized to assess

upholsterers in Romania for the moment, so informal and non-formal learning in the

upholstery field are very difficult to assess and certify. Most of the upholstery

manufacturing companies train workers by means of the “qualification at the work place”

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approach. However, in spite of the lack of wide recognition of the skills acquired as such,

companies still have difficulties in keeping those workers within the company after the

“apprenticeship” period ends. Interviewed people from the industry appreciated that the

demand for skilled cabinet makers will be stagnant at the level of the industry, while for

skilled upholsterers will grow steadily. The principal place of employment will be the

SMEs from the furniture industry. Diversification of job activities would be very much

welcome especially in relation with employees acquiring CNC machine tools operating

skills or any other skills in relation with production processes and machinery that involve

information technology.

F. Alteration of qualification: Trends, transformation and future development of qualification

1. Development of workforce: What developments in the need / demand for trained cabinet makers / upholsterers can be expected? What factors are crucial for this prognosis?

Romanian employers recognize openly that there is a shortage of well trained cabinet makers /

upholsterers in their companies. Two phenomena have contributed mainly to this shortage:

• ageing of the high skilled workforce, • migration of the skilled workforce to other sectors

or countries before the beginning of the economic crisis. Although the need of the

companies for well trained cabinet makers / upholsterers is quite important, the demand in

real terms is much more prudent, as having more skilled workers would mean larger costs

and as long as the economic crisis has not come to an end any increase in production costs

would be dangerous for the company. While we asked the opinion of the management of

some companies that are members of our Association, two potential developments became

visible in the short run: • there are certain companies – especially upholstery

manufacturers - whose businesses have started to go well recently as a result of the

Western markets increased demand for their products and such companies are willing to

hire skilled upholsterers or to start in-company training, • other companies, especially

cabinet furniture manufacturers, will keep their demand for skilled workers (both cabinet

makers and upholsterers) quite steady. For a better assessment of the development in the

demand for trained cabinet makers a more detailed survey would be required.

2. Development of workplaces: How will jobs and occupations continue to change in future? What is added / what's remain important and what is becoming less important resp. is no longer needed?

There is an increased demand for workers that are familiar with the new technologies and

production integration with information technology. Those trends are likely to grow

stronger. The need for good new basic skills and cross-functional skills (communication

skills, social and organizational abilities and competences, sustainability-specific

competences) is constantly increasing. While there is a growing demand for CNC

operators, the specialists we asked appreciated cabinet maker, upholsterer, technician-

designer, furniture and interior decorations technician-designer will remain important

occupations for the furniture industry, while manual carver and marquetry worker will

become less important for our industry.

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3. Requirement for vocational education: How is the need for training expected to develop in the near future (less trainees / without change / more apprentices)?

Given the decline in the birth rate and the low earnings in the furniture industry less trainees

are expected. However, woodworking vocational high schools will still make efforts to

attract young people in the furniture sector.

4. Demand for vocational education: Attractiveness of occupation / interest of young people in vocational education as a cabinet maker / upholsterer? What are relevant factors (advantages / disadvantages or interests / obstacles)?

The demand for cabinet maker / upholsterer VET among young people have slowly

decreased. Young people do not feel attracted by the perspective of having a career as

cabinet maker/upholsterer. Relevant factors for this development have been:

• Advantages: • highly skilled cabinet makers / upholsterers are more likely to find a job

even during difficult economic times, • a still large number of companies running in the

furniture sector and related sectors, • the possibility to become self-employed or start their

own business after the training completion, • work satisfaction have several sources, • the

sector underwent a modernization process and modern technologies become available in

many companies, • the possibility to study further on to become a woodworking engineer

• Disadvantages: • low earnings as employee in a company, • accident risks while working

with wood processing machinery, • a slow domestic market, • the technologies available in

some schools' workshops, • the number of layoffs in the sector during the economic crisis.

5. What steps and measures are needed to make the training in both occupations attractive to young people?

• Building a better image for our industry in the public's eyes in terms of the production

processes involved

• Increasing in the salaries of the skilled workers and advertising of the possible earnings in

the furniture industry

• Promotion of the opportunities and rewarding challenges that the furniture industry can pose

to young enthusiasts

• Promotion of the skills upgrading opportunities

6. Qualification standards: Are the current qualification sufficient? What kinds of new skills / part-skills are expected from labor market/by the companies?

Not really. Companies would expect stronger technical design skills, better knowledge of the

tools and machines as well as how they should be operated. Moreover, they would also

expect more creativity from their employees.

7. Modernisation: Are there any considerations for reorganization / summarizing of the existing occupations (eg cabinet maker (handicraft) and wood mechanics (industry)?

The large diversity of the woodworking machinery and technologies available on the market

make it possible for more specialization and the appearance of new, more specialized,

occupations.

8. Development of qualification („new skills for modern jobs“): What is the influence of products, process and technology innovations for changes in future-oriented qualification

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structure of employees? – For instance:

New knowledge, skills and competences from product development;

New knowledge, skills and competences of material, process and technology developments (e.g. saving resources as material, energy, knowledge of dangerous materials or using IKT);

New qualifications from changes in the organization of work (e.g. job enrichment, new production systems or using health and safety standards);

New knowledge, skills and competences from labor political changes (e.g. job rotation, planning, observation, cooperation);

New knowledge, skills and competences from international production networks (e.g. changes in design, diversification, new languages)

What are the main implications for the current situation in vocational education and training?

New knowledge, skills and competences from product development mean, on one hand,

trend recognizing skills while new emergent idea and social trends are converted into

new useful products. On the other hand, product development means creating the full

concept of the product from the idea to the recycling of the product at the end of its

life span. The development of new finishing materials makes it necessary for the

workers to know how these products can be prepared and applied on the product

surfaces. i.e. chemistry knowledge and environment protection knowledge. Wood

machining lines are serviced by electricians, mechanics and software engineers which

have to have good knowledge regarding the final product and the woodworking

technology.

Sustainable development, which offers answers to present needs without endangering

future generations' needs make it possible for a new approach of the industrial

processes. Woodworking technicians' competences will have to be accompanied by the

competences of environment protection technicians (cross-functional skill). Future-

oriented technologies will have to be both creative and restrictive bringing new

products to the market but taking care that such products comply with EU Directives

on environment protection, H&S at the work place and product safety. The new

knowledge, skills and competences will particularly consider the technical progress

implementation in the the industrial processes. The new qualifications will have to

take into account skills that will enhance work ergonomics (e.g. replacing strenuous

physical work of a worker with mechanical / automatic processes). Using specialized

spraying robots or robots for the manipulation of heavy loads have already become

reality nowadays.

Furniture companies' specialization and automation or furniture components

manufacturing and the cooperation between furniture manufacturers result in an

increased productivity and justify the development of work organization competences.

Trainers - such as teachers and foremen – or examiners have to have pedagogical skills as

well as the competences required in order to transmit knowledge.

9. Are there additional or new specific skills that become important in the future? What they are?

Additional or new specific skills should refer to future-oriented qualifications i.e. future-

oriented technologies and education. Communication skills in both mother tongue and a

foreign language, the new basic skills, social skills and personal competences in general

could become even more important in the future.

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10. What key knowledge, skills and competences are taught today - and what will be needed in the future?


trainings are:

Communication and numeracy





Team work


Work place integration

School – work place transit

Problem solving


Quality assurance

Future key knowledge, skills and competences will probably also encompass other

knowledge, skills and competences implied by the technological development occurring in

those 2 occupations and reflected by newer versions of the occupational standards:

• advanced ICT skills dealing with automation and replacement of the physical work by

machines / robots;

• sustainability and environment protection-oriented creativity and skills

11. How should look a modernized and professional qualification-profile for the current cabinet maker/upholsterer-profession?


trainings:

Communication in mother tongue and numeracy



Learning competence

Basic skills in Physics – Mechanics and woodworking technology

Social and civic competences



Team work


Interactive communication at the work place

Fire fighting and fire prevention skills

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Health and Safety norms application skills


Quality assurance

Environment protection and ecological recycling skills

Specific knowledge, skills and competences provided for cabinet maker training:

Reading technical drawings

Solid wood study (wooden raw material study), properties / characteristics of wood,


materials; wood species recognitions

Organization of the work place for every technological operation

First stage of woodworking; lumber cutting

Wood processing by using hand tools - main operations

Mechanical wood processing - machinery and main operations

Preparation of wood-based boards for veneering

Preparation of aesthetic veneers

Veneered wood-based boards machining

Solid wood elements assembling

Sub-assemblies and wooden elements assembling

Cabinet furniture assembling

Furniture finish, materials for and techniques of furniture finish

Packaging manufacture

Furniture packing

Specific knowledge, skills and competences provided for upholsterer training:

Reading technical drawings

Solid wood study (wooden raw material study), properties / characteristics of wood,


materials; wood species recognitions

Materials used in upholstery: textiles, fillers, elastic elements, polyurethane foams,

webbing, straps, connectors, etc.

Properties of the materials used in upholstery;

Organization of the work place

Manufacturing the wooden frame

Cutting fabrics, notions of patterns for cutting fabrics

Cutting elastic elements according to the cutting plan / pattern

Upholstering specific preparatory operations

Upholstering specific operations

Knowledge and use of cutting and sewing machines

Upholstery covering and trimming application

Final product elements assembly and assembly checking for the sub-assemblies that

will be packed separately

Technological operations checking

Packing the upholstery

leonardo-project bolsterup wp 2 qualification and...

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