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Frequently Asked Questions

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What is EurOccupations?

In the project EurOccupations, 10 European universities and research institutes are developing an occupations database, including information on approximately 1500 – 2000 occupations in a variety of industries (from care & welfare to technology & manufacturing, from service occupations to agriculture & fishing). These occupations will be described within the context of 7 countries, namely: the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Poland, Belgium and the Netherlands. The occupations database will include information such as occupational title and required educational level. Please note that the required educational level for the same occupation may differ between countries. Therefore, the database offers an insight into the comparability of educational structures within Europe.

Additionally, 150 occupations will be described in more detail. For these ‘key occupations’, the database will include task descriptions and required core competences, whereby each country will specify which are appropriate. By doing so, the database offers an insight into the comparability of occupational structures and occupational content within Europe.

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What is an occupation?

The database is developed for occupations, not jobs. The concept of ‘occupation’ differs from the concept of a ‘job’. Occupations are groups of jobs with similar sets of tasks, independent of their corporate context. Jobs, on the other hand, are groups of similar tasks that are contingent on the division of labour within a specific organisation, where the features of these bundled tasks are mainly determined by the corporate context of the organisation involved. A job indicates a bundle of tasks, but also the location of these tasks within an organisation. For example: the occupation ‘machine operator’, in company X, may be sub-divided into the jobs ‘machine operator A’, ‘machine operator B’ and ‘machine operator C’.

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Am I an expert?

If you have substantial knowledge of one or more occupations, you are considered to be an expert. You can be an expert because you are familiar with the kinds of jobs associated with the occupation.  In this context you may be a representative of an employer organisation, union, educational institute, knowledge centre, occupational organisation, a job evaluator, researcher, vocational advisor, etc.

The essence of ‘being an expert’ is that you have knowledge of the content of one or more occupations in your country (or internationally.

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What will I get out of contributing to EurOccupations as an expert?

If you participate in the expert network of EurOccupations, it will give you:
  • membership of an international network of experts;
  • access to the European occupations database;
  •  insights into international occupational structures and the content     of occupations in varying national contexts within Europe (requisite education and    certification, core tasks and competencies).

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What are occupation experts being asked to do?

As an expert we ask you to complete a web survey on one or more occupations within your field of expertise. This web survey includes questions on tasks. occupational requirements and competences. Completing a questionnaire will not take much of your time. In addition, we may invite you to participate in expert sessions.

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For what occupations and countries will the occupations database be developed?

EurOccupations will research and describe occupations within the following 8 clusters of occupations:

  1. care & welfare;
  2. education & research (incl. childcare);
  3. technology & manufacturing (incl. mining);
  4. crafts & trade (including construction); agriculture, fishing and related activities;
  5. services;
  6. transport, communications, travel;
  7. professional occupations;
  8. administration/clerical occupations.

The occupations will be described for the following countries:    

  • the UK;
  • Germany;
  • France;
  • Spain;
  • Poland;
  • the Netherlands;
  • Belgium.

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Can I access the occupations database?

The occupations database will be freely available for experts and researchers. The database will be – in due time – published on our website (www.euroccupations.org), and will give you – in an instant – insight into the occupational structures of the 7 participating European countries.

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Created by paulien
Last modified 2007-10-01 11:57
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