aufZAQ certifies courses that prepare participants for extracurricular work with children and young people.

On behalf of

The aufZAQ competency framework describes competencies for practical work with children and young people.

On behalf of

aufZAQ acts as a service point for the Austrian National Qualifications Framework

What's in it for me?

On behalf of

aufZAQ is partner in several national and European projects

Find Out More

On behalf of

aufZAQ – quality of trainings and competence in youth work

aufZAQ offers the certification of basic and further education and training courses for people active in youth work and accompanying fields since 2003. So far over 50 training courses have been certified.

aufZAQ is funded by the Austrian Federal Chancellery.

Certification Process

Benefits of Certification

aufZAQ provides orientation for interested participants of training courses to choose the adequate educational offer. The certificate ensures, that participants receive a practice orientated and external quality approved training course to improve their skills and competence.

Training providers get an external quality assurance, which ensures that specified criteria are fulfilled, recognised by the federal ministry and the federal youth departments.

Employers within the youth sector have the guarantee, that graduates of certified trainings have relevant theoretical and practical skills and competence. The certificate assures high standards and offers a guarantee for the specific qualification of the employee.

After a training course is certified, we have certain continual quality assurance measures which the training provider agrees to fulfill to ensure the certification stays valid.

Contact

The applicant contacts the aufZAQ Office to get all necessary information and support.

Application Submission

The application form as well as some additional documents of the training course are submitted to the aufZAQ Office.

Expert Review of Your Training Course

If the submission fulfils all formal criteria, an independent group of experts is assigned by the aufZAQ Advisory Board to examine the training course on the basis of the aufZAQ standards.

The applicant is given the chance to provide additional information and/or amendments if the group of experts considers it necessary.

Certification

Based on the experts’ report the Federal Chancellery decides on the certification of the submitted training course.

aufZAQ Structure

aufZAQ consists of the Federal Chancellery as the funding body, the aufZAQ Advisory Board and the aufZAQ Office.

Chancellery

The Chancellery is responsible for the final decision during the certification process and verifies the quality of submitted and certified training courses.

aufZAQ Advisory Board

The aufZAQ Advisory Board offers advice on improvements, current developments and challenges in the certification and validation process as well as in the areas of education and youth work.

aufZAQ Office

The aufZAQ Office provides continous support for providers of training courses who are interested in the certification program. We share the office with the Austrian National Youth Council.

Projects and International Collaborations

ALOUT – Advancing Learning Outcomes

The ALOUT project equips youth workers, trainers, and educators with tools, training, and know-how to write clear, measurable learning outcomes.

Blockchained Youth Work

The project “Blockchained Youth Work” used the blockchain technology to make diplomas and certificates earned in youth work forgery-proof, retraceable and available to other institutions.

LETTra – Fostering literacy in educational technologies in youth work

Capacities in educational technologies built in youth organizations during the pandemic were preserved and made available for other educators in the EU project LETTra.

The aufZAQ Competence Framework

Between 2015 and 2017 we developed the aufZAQ Competence Framework for Youth Work. It outlines how people active in youth work act wholistic and covers open youth work and the work of children’s and youth associations. In Austria, the aufZAQ Competence Framework is regarded as the binding standard for trainings of youth workers.

Download the Framework

Service Point for the Austrian National Qualification Framework

The aufZAQ Competence Framework also works as a translation tool for educational offers for youth workers to the Austrian National Qualification Framework (NQF). Since 2019 aufZAQ works as a NQF-Service Point and advises and supports through the process of mapping non formal qualifications to the NQF.

The NQF is an instrument for mapping qualifications from the Austrian education system. The aims are to provide a transparency tool to facilitate the orientation within the Austrian education system and to support the comparability and comprehensibility of Austrian qualifications in Europe.

More Information