Sectoral Qualifications Framework for Tourism
Hanna Zawistowska
Instytut Badań Edukacyjnych, 2017
The Sectoral Qualifications Framework for Tourism (SQFT) is a tool for classifying qualifications in the labour market of the tourism industry. It describes the competences of four branches of tourism (the hotel industry, food services, organising tourism, guiding and leisure time animation), which people working in the sector should have. The framework illustrates the progressive advancement of knowledge, skills and social competence required for implementing tasks of varying degrees of complexity in the industry. The SQFT “translates” the Polish Qualifications Framework (PQF) into the language of the sector, and is referenced to the PQF, enabling tourism industry qualifications to be compared to each other, as well as to those in Europe. It uses the terminology specific to the tourism sector and refers to their specific tasks and competences. This is intended to facilitate the understanding of its descriptors and to assist in applying them to determine the PQF levels for industry qualifications. The SQFT was developed by the sector, for the sector, and is intended to meet the needs of employers, learners, training institutions, and persons describing qualifications for their inclusion in the Integrated Qualifications System.