ELABORATING PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS IN UKRAINE: A NEW APPROACH

Relevance: aligning competencies for lifelong learning with the requirements of the European Union (EU) makes it necessary to implement new approaches to the development and application of vocational qualifications. They should meet the needs of the labor market and become the basis for the formation and development of the National Qualifications System. All this requires clarification of the conceptual apparatus and methods of improving the existing legal mechanisms for regulating the said process. Purpose: to substantiate new approach to the development of vocational qualifications in the context of harmonization with modern European approaches. Methods: theoretical analysis – to study the existing approaches to the development of the National Qualifications System, to identify the main tendencies of this process; comparison and synthesis – to summarize the main scientific approaches to the development of the National Qualifications System and legal mechanisms of its regulation in modern conditions, to analyze its institutional and organizational support; observations and analogies – to substantiate the need for development of a new approach... The empirical and informative basis of the article is the legal acts of Ukraine on the formation and development of the National Qualifications System, materials of monographs and scientific publications, analytical data, results of own research. Results: the essential characteristics of the National Qualifications System are revealed, its features and main aspects governing the development of such a system are characterized and the necessary conditions are created to develop a new approach to the application of qualifications in the context of European integration. Conclusions: the new approach to the application of qualifications is the purposeful formation and development of the National Qualifications System, which should become a tool for lifelong learning, ensuring the quality of learning outcomes, their recognition, and aligning professional qualifications framework in Ukraine  with the requirements in EU countries.