by Tiziana ChiappelliSome few reflections by Tiziana Chiappelli after the International San Sebastian Conference:Skillman project Consortium works for the implementation of the indicators included in the “Recommendation on the establishment of a European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training” of EQAVET [http://www.eqavet.eu/gns/home.aspx], accomplished through common principles for quality assurance.Skillman project has based its work on the quality assurance and improvement cycle of Planning, Implement, Assess/evaluate and Review/Revise supported by common quality criteria, indicative descriptors and indicators as requested by the EQAVET INDICATORS’ TOOLKIT [http://www.eqavet.eu/Libraries/Working_Groups/EQAVET_Indicators_Toolkit_final.sflb.ashx ])At European level, these common principles are defined in the “Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2008 on the establishment of the “European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning” , which are listed in Annex III [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:111:0001:0007:EN:PDF].For instance:[…]quality assurance should include regular evaluation of institutions, their programmes or their quality assurance systems by external monitoring bodies or agencies,external monitoring bodies or agencies carrying out quality assurance should be subject to regular review,quality assurance should include context, input, process and output dimensions, while giving emphasis to outputs and learning outcomes,quality assurance systems should include the following elements: >clear and measurable objectives and standards, >guidelines for implementation, >including stakeholder involvement, > appropriate resources, >consistent evaluation methods, >associating self-assessment and external review, > feedback mechanisms and procedures for improvement, > widely accessible evaluation results,quality assurance should be a cooperative process across education and training levels and systems, involving all relevant stakeholders, within Member States and across the Community,quality assurance orientations at Community level may provide reference points for evaluations and peer learning.