There has been, and continues to be, a certain amount of confusion in English translations of materials on the Národní Soustava Kvalifikací (NSK). This confusion relates to the proper English translation of the term NSK. The usual practise of translating this term as “National Qualifications Framework” is not entirely correct.
The NSK is a register of vocational qualifications and contains not only the framework of levels and descriptors, but also the system of qualifications and their qualification and assessment standards, as in the following diagram (picture will come soon).
It is recommended that all English translation systematically distinguish whether the term NSK is used to refer to:
- the qualification levels in the NSK, in which case the correct translation is the“National Qualification Framework”, or
- the system of qualifications with descriptions of their qualification and assessment standards, in which case the correct translation, and the one which will be understood by European experts, is the „National Qualifications System“.
Maintaining this distinction will permit a corresponding use and understanding of the term “European Qualifications Framework” (EQF), i.e. the framework into which Czech qualifications levels will be referred to in the referencing process.