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Facilitators of and barriers to recognition of prior learning in higher vocational and professional education
... Vocational Higher Education (VHE), also known as Vocational College, can be defined as an educational institution that focuses on producing graduates that has technical skills and professional competencies according to the field of work they are interested in (Salzmann et al., 2024). VHE provides educational and training programs to change students' behavior and change the learning environment towards the competencies desired by the industrial world (Weijers et al., 2024). ...
Human Resource Management (HRM) is the key to the failure or success of educational institutions. The three main factors that influence HRM at Poltekpel Sumbar are leadership, employee engagement and work environment. The purpose of this study is to see the relationship between these four factors including leadership, work environment, employee engagement and HRM at Poltekpel Sumbar. This study was conducted at Merchant Marine Polytechnic of West Sumatera. The research participants were all employees with a total of 154 people. The research instrument was a questionnaire. Data collection was carried out by giving questionnaires directly to the participants. The questionnaire data analysis technique was carried out using linear regression. The conclusion of this study indicated that there is a significant influence of leadership on HRM, employee engagement on HRM, employee engagement on the work environment, and leadership on the work environment. Meanwhile, there is no significant influence of the work environment on HRM and leadership on employee engagement. Further research can also examine in more depth other research variables related to HRM in all vocational higher education institution under the Ministry of Transportation, namely in the maritime, land and railway and aviation institution.
Zusammenfassung
Die Ausrichtung der Berufsbildung auf das lebenslange Lernen und die Entwicklung von Verfahren zur Anrechnung von bereits erworbenen Fähigkeiten und Kompetenzen an die formalen Berufsbildungsangebote sind wichtige Ziele von Bund und Kantonen in der Schweiz. Bisher ist wenig über die Anrechnung von Bildungsleistungen in der höheren Berufsbildung bekannt. Die Studie beleuchtet die Anrechnungspraxis von Bildungsleistungen an Höheren Fachschulen (HF), die sich mit ihren Bildungsgängen an Studierende mit Berufserfahrung richten. Das sind Personen, die über non-formale und/oder informelle Kompetenzen verfügen, die für eine Anerkennung bei der Zulassung oder eine Anrechnung an das Studium relevant sein können. Anhand ausgewählter Fälle wird untersucht, welchen Spielraum HF bei der Anrechnung haben und warum einige HF selbst kleine Spielräume nutzen, während andere trotz vorhandener Möglichkeiten die Anrechnung von Bildungsleistungen ablehnen. Bei der Analyse werden die Konzepte der Grenzarbeit und der Organisationslogik in die Interpretation der Ergebnisse einbezogen. Die Resultate zeigen, dass die Anrechnungspraxis von Bildungsleistungen mit dem Selbstverständnis der Bildungsorganisationen und der Situation auf den Zielarbeitsmärkten zusammenhängt. In einem konkurrenzierten Bildungsumfeld kann aus Sicht der HF eine begrenzte Anrechnungspraxis sinnvoll sein, um sich zu profilieren. Andererseits können HF selbst in stark reglementierten Berufsfeldern Bildungsgänge für spezifische Bildungsgruppen schaffen, die bei angespannter Arbeitsmarktlage helfen, den Fachkräftemangel zu entschärfen.
This article contributes to a better theoretical understanding of the social processes underlying the development and implementation of schemes to improve the recognition of prior learning (RPL) in vocational education and training (VET). It traces the global diffusion of RPL, and then analyses the formulation of RPL policies and design and implementation of RPL schemes in four case study countries (Bangladesh, North-Macedonia, Sweden and Switzerland). The article draws on historical institutionalism and Margaret Archer's work on educational change to argue that the design and implementation of RPL schemes are strongly dependent on the status of VET qualifications in education systems and labour markets.
This article analyses the development and implementation of policies that aim at improving the ‘recognition of prior learning’ (RPL) in the vocational education and training (VET) systems of Sweden and Switzerland. It argues that the evolution of RPL policies and schemes needs to be analysed in relation to educational expansion, which creates pressure on educational policy makers to provide alternative forms of access to qualifications. It furthermore underlines that actors who have profited from the scarcity value of their educational qualifications are likely to oppose alternative forms of access that would devalue their qualifications through educational inflation. The article’s argument thus contrasts with those that attribute the slow expansion of RPL to either a lack of political will or epistemological constraints. Linking the growing political economic literature on skill formation with an Archerian perspective on educational change, the article also shows that, despite the statist and collective skill formation systems having some trends in common, the design and implementation of RPL has evolved differently in each.
Many Americans dream of a college degree, but earning one requires time and money. As one solution, prior learning assessment (PLA) documents college-level learning gained outside the classroom for academic credit and can make the difference between earning or not earning a college degree. However, the literature lacks an integrative and systematic review of PLA to add to the knowledge base. The purpose of this review was to examine the academic literature related to PLA in the United States. For data collection, we used a structured process to capture data from all peer-reviewed journal articles, published in the last decade, meeting inclusion criteria. For data analysis, we used inductive coding and clustering to identify categories leading to themes. Major findings from the articles included journals, publication years, authorship, underlying empirical studies, and six themes—the big picture; higher education changing PLA and PLA changing higher education; equity and access; program overviews; approaches, methods, and processes; and quality assessment.
There has been a movement across South Africa’s education sector to widen access and participation in higher education. Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) (or Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)) programmes offer an opportunity to do so by providing access to higher education to those who do not necessarily have the prerequisite requirements. Many RPL programmes are still being piloted, and little research has been conducted on the transition of postgraduate RPL students. To better understand RPL student transition, the researcher followed a case-study approach in which the experiences of RPL students enrolled in an online postgraduate diploma programme in management in marketing (PgDipMM) at a South African university were investigated. The programme piloted a novel RPL assessment and selection process which aimed to address criticisms of previous models. Findings indicated that, to a large extent, the novel RPL assessment and selection process appeared to have facilitated RPL students’ successful transition into a postgraduate diploma.
Ein immer größerer Anteil der Studierenden an deutschen Hochschulen hat vor dem Studium bereits berufliche Qualifikationen bzw. Kompetenzen erworben. Von diesen Studierenden werden die Bildungsangebote der Hochschulen zunehmend als Teil des lebenslangen Lernens verstanden und wahrgenommen.
Um die bereits vorhandenen Kenntnisse, Fertigkeiten und Kompetenzen berufsqualifizierter Studierender bei der Studienaufnahme angemessen zu berücksichtigen, wurde in den vergangenen Jahren im Rahmen von Modellprojekten eine Vielzahl von Verfahren zur Anrechnung beruflicher Lernergebnisse auf Hochschulstudiengänge entwickelt.
Während sich individuelle Verfahren der Anrechnung stets auf einzelne Studierende beziehen, richten sich pauschale Verfahren an alle Absolvent/inn/en einer bestimmten beruflichen Qualifikation. Pauschale Anrechnungsmöglichkeiten basieren meist auf sogenannten „Äquivalenzvergleichen“, bei denen die Lernergebnisse und das Niveau beruflicher und hochschulischer Qualifikationen systematisch miteinander verglichen werden.
An der Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg wurden seit 2006 mit Instrumenten wie dem Module Level Indicator (MLI) eine Vielzahl von Äquivalenzvergleichen sowie Anrechnungspotenzialanalysen durchgeführt, aus deren Ergebnissen sich Implikationen zur Beantwortung der Frage der (Un-)Gleichwertigkeit beruflicher und hochschulischer Bildung ergeben.
An vielen Hochschulen sind die Verfahren zur Anrechnung beruflicher Kompetenzen inzwischen zu einem Gestaltungsinstrument durchlässiger Studienangebote geworden. Durch die wachsende Verbreitung solcher „hybriden“ oder „verzahnten“ Studiengänge gewinnt auch die Qualitätssicherung der Anrechnung zunehmend an Bedeutung.
This article provides some insight into the constraints on the potential of recognition of prior learning (RPL) to widen access to educational qualifications. Its focus is on a conceptual framework that emerged from a South African study of RPL practices across four different learning contexts. Working from a social realist perspective, it argues that RPL needs to be seen as a specialised form of pedagogy that enables navigation across different cultures of knowledge; this is inevitably a contested process because it questions dominant forms of knowledge and modes of knowledge production. The research found that a range of contextual factors impact on the feasibility of RPL, including the nature of the disciplinary domain and its associated knowledge structures, but the ‘inner workings’ of the practice also need to be taken into account. Drawing on Cultural Historical Activity Theory , the article presents a conceptual model of RPL as a specialised, boundary-crossing practice for engaging complex sociologies of knowledge, and it offers three generic configurations of practice, each requiring its own ‘artistry of practice’. It concludes that further theoretical work is required in order to adequately conceptualise what is identified as the ‘specialised discourses of experiential knowledge’.
Although learning often takes place within formal settings and designated environments, a great deal of valuable learning also occurs either deliberately or informally in everyday life. Policy makers in OECD countries have become increasingly aware that non-formal and informal learning represents a rich source of human capital.
Policies which recognise this can play a significant role in a coherent lifelong learning framework, and present practices can be improved to make the knowledge and competencies people acquire outside of formal schooling more visible. The challenge for policy makers is to develop processes for recognising such learning, processes that will generate net benefits both to individuals and to society at large.
This report, based on an OECD review in 22 countries, explores the advantages of recognising non-formal and informal learning outcomes, takes stock of existing policies and practices, and recommends how to organise recognition of these learning systems.
Recognition of prior learning (RPL) requires an assessment of the equivalence and transferability of learning acquired in one context to another. However, this study’s examination of the institutional policies and practices of three Australian universities reveals that RPL can also be understood as a Bourdieuian process of ‘capital conversion’, where an individual’s economic, social and cultural capital are assessed as being equivalent to ‘academic experience’. This approach reveals that, far from being an epistemological assessment of prior learning, universities also consider their organisational identity and status when considering what informal or non-formal learning will be accepted. Ultimately, what counts as prior learning depends as much upon which university is doing the assessment, its motive for doing so and the extent to which it views RPL as a normative threat.
This article addresses the ‘knowledge question’ in the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in relation to postgraduate programmes. In contrast to many traditional theorisations of RPL which draw largely on adult and experiential learning theory, the article starts from a position of knowledge differentiation and explores whether the nature of the discipline or knowledge domain offers affordances or barriers to RPL.In an interview survey, academics in a South African higher education institution were asked their views on the feasibility of RPL in relation to postgraduate study in their discipline. Data analysis draws primarily on concepts from Bernstein to identify different forms of knowledge and the ways in which that knowledge might be transformed and formulated as curricula. Findings suggest that the disciplinary context or knowledge domain into which an RPL candidate is seeking access does play a role in determining the feasibility of RPL. However, distinct organisational environments offer affordances and barriers to the implementation of RPL and there is also significant room for the exercise of pedagogic agency. It follows that RPL cannot be reducible to ‘one size fits all’, but needs to assume different forms in diverse institutional and disciplinary settings. RPL for access to postgraduate study in a university will vary according to the purpose and design of the programme to which the candidate is seeking access. This supports a position that RPL should be seen as a specialised pedagogical practice that provides tools for navigating access to new learning opportunities across diverse contexts.
The article takes as a case study a group of disability rights activists who were given access to a master’s program via Recognition of Prior Learning. The question explored is “Can adult learners’ prior experiential knowledge act as a resource for the successful acquisition of postgraduate academic literacy practices?” The analysis is framed theoretically by Bourdieu’s notions of habitus, capital, and field. It is argued that adult learners’ acquisition of postgraduate literacies is an outcome of the interplay between three factors: (a) student habitus and dispositions, (b) pedagogic agency, and (c) the nature of the disciplinary field. Although the program under investigation made complex demands on students, lecturers’ understanding of student habitus enabled students’ prior experiential knowledge to be tapped as a resource. However, students also exercised agency in negotiating the forms of academic habitus acquired, and the trajectory of their agency involved a mix of accommodation, resistance, and challenge.
This article on the state of research in the field of validation of informally and nonformally acquired competences reviews the educational science literature from the German and English-speaking countries. It thus focuses on a now global field of research that has established itself in various sub-disciplines, especially in educational science – starting from countries where validation procedures were developed at an early stage. The article discusses theoretical foundations of validation, findings on the dissemination and design of such procedures, findings on access to validation and its impact, as well as literature on the factors that favour or inhibit the development of validation. The central finding is that although validation procedures have become established worldwide, far fewer people have easier access to qualifications through them than education policy often expects.
The chapter starts with a description of the current state of research on the recognition of prior learning and credit transfer at German universities. The subsequent discussion of the existing practice of recognition and crediting draws on empirical findings obtained in scientific studies accompanying large-scale funding programmes. In this context, the “ANKOM” initiative funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the federal-state competition “Aufstieg durch Bildung: offene Hochschulen” (Advancement through education: open universities) are of central importance. From these considerations, strategies for an optimized recognition are derived and it is explained to what extent recognition practice can be regarded as both ‘indicator’ and necessary prerequisite for mobility or permeability.
Recognition of prior learning (RPL) is often said to facilitate lifelong learning and occurs when already-acquired learning outcomes are officially valued. The education system is a central arena of RPL, allowing facilitated access to or shortening of study programmes. This study explores RPL practices in Switzerland. We ask the following research question: How do professional education institutions regulate, practice, and justify RPL? We start from the premise that RPL practices in higher education institutions are shaped by national RPL policies, professional bodies, and the nature of the respective labour markets. However, within these framework conditions, higher education institutions also create their own organisational policies, thereby promoting or hindering RPL. In addition, the study programme’s knowledge domain and the responsible persons’ pedagogic agency, shaped by their pedagogic concepts and individual attitudes, are also guiding factors. To answer our research question, we conducted qualitative comparative case studies and compared the RPL practices of professional education institutions that offer study programmes for hospitality management and social education. Our results show that organisations offering the same professional study programmes regulate, practice, and justify RPL differently, indicating the importance of organisational gatekeepers’ pedagogic agency.
Validation of non-formal and informal learning has been gaining political momentum in Europe within the implementation of lifelong learning policies since the early 2000s. Policy documents claim a variety of education, socio-political and economic benefits from the implementation of validation, making validation a hero for lifelong learning. This article discusses the concept of validation of non-formal and informal learning and provides an overview of the different faces and interpretations of validation. Starting with the terminology, the article discusses related terms such as recognition, prior learning, assessment, accreditation or certification and their different connotations. Principles and aspects that characterise the current use of validation as a policy priority in Europe are presented. The article highlights the major themes on validation and their implications for policy and research.
In many parts of the world, recognition of prior learning (RPL) is considered to be an important means of improving access to VET qualifications. In Switzerland – the country with arguably the highest rates of company-based VET at upper secondary level – adults with work experience of at least 5 years have had the option of accessing VET qualifications at the upper secondary level through RPL for more than 10 years now. Still, today, only roughly 6 percent of adults (over 25 years) who achieve a VET qualification make use of that option. The rest either pursue a regular VET programme, or at least take the ordinary final VET exam. This article discusses the reasons underlying this slow rate of RPL expansion in Switzerland. Arguing from a historical-institutionalist perspective, the article shows how the institutional framework of mainly company-based Swiss VET and the underlying actor coalition pose substantial barriers to the expansion of RPL. Nevertheless, by comparing different rates of RPL uptake across a range of economic sectors and different parts of the country, this article brings to light some key factors that promote the expansion of RPL.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the barriers that higher education (HE) work-based learners face when constructing experiential learning claims through reflective narratives.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey of 38 part-time, HE undergraduate work-based learners was conducted. A questionnaire was designed comprising Likert scale and open ended questions to capture students’ experiences of constructing experiential learning claims.
Findings
The study found that students experience several learning barriers including the diversity and complexity of reflective learning models, the solitary nature of reflective learning, problems articulating tacit knowledge in writing, emotional barriers to reflective learning, accurately recalling “historic” learning experiences and difficulties in developing the meta-competence of learning to learn.
Practical implications
Consideration should be given to assisting learners to develop the skills necessary to select and use reflective learning models that best fit particular experiential learning contexts. Learners should be encouraged to undertake group reflection in the classroom and in the workplace to enable them to write critical reflective narratives that have integrity. There should be less reliance on written reflective narratives to evidence tacit knowledge with consideration given to other methods such as practical demonstrations, videos presentations and interviews.
Originality/value
The study contributes to knowledge of the barriers that students face when constructing experiential learning claims through reflective narratives. It proposes an outline pedagogical scaffolding framework to assist learners to develop recognition of prior learning (RPL) claims to enable them to maximise opportunities for claiming credits through universities RPL processes.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify and highlight the key constructs of an enabling policy environment and their probable impact on development and implementation of recognition of prior learning (RPL) process in higher education and training in South Africa with reference to library and information science (LIS) field.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted quantitative methods, and utilised questionnaires and document analysis to collect data. The study used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to collect data from all the ten LIS schools in the South African higher education and training landscape. The questionnaire was used as the main data collection tool to collect quantitative data through a survey research design. In addition, the researcher employed content analysis to analyse qualitative data collected from institutional RPL policy documents.
Findings
The study found that the LIS schools have aligned most of their institutional RPL policies and procedures with South African Qualifications Authority’s national RPL policy (2013). However, in terms of the institutional RPL policy environment, the study found that there was a low level of compliance regarding certain aspects of the policy environment among LIS schools despite their express explicit commitment to the principles of equity of access and redress.
Research limitations/implications
In-depth interviews were not conducted to ascertain the reasons for low level of compliance regarding certain aspects of the RPL policy.
Practical implications
This study is valuable for higher education institutions, policy and governance, government and other stakeholders to assess the level of compliance to legislative and regulatory framework in RPL implementation in higher education and training in South Africa. In addition, the study was important for LIS schools in particular as RPL can be used as a tool to open access and increase participation in learning programmes to counteract low level of student enrolments in this field.
Originality/value
There is very little published concerning compliance to legislative framework RPL implementation in higher education and training. Furthermore, most published work relate to RPL implementation in higher education and training in general. The paper describes compliance to legislative framework to RPL implementation in higher education and training in South Africa with special reference to LIS field.
What is the role of knowledge in the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in Higher Education? This paper presents the findings of empirical research at a Canadian university. A position of knowledge differentiation located in a social realist sociology of knowledge is adopted. This is not an obvious or usual position for scholars of RPL, because it holds that what distinguishes formal academic knowledge from experiential knowledge is a question of the structure and purpose of the knowledge. Research into a range of academic and professional education programmes points to degrees of – and different types of – possible connection between formal and experiential knowledge. Findings offer an indication of the type of programmes in relation to which the implementation of RPL is likely to be most feasible. Additionally, findings show how social factors other than knowledge types enable or constrain the implementation of RPL. Avenues for further research are suggested.
The core idea of RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) is to promote, to make visible and to make full use of the entire scope of learning results and (work) experience gained by an individual over the lifespan and irrespective of where, when and how the learning took place. This contribution aims at reviewing, comparing and contrasting policies and practices of prior learning, its assessment and recognition across ten countries including Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. It starts with the emergence of RPL in the light of lifelong learning and a clarification of concepts and terms. It then turns on national RPL conditions and traditions in all ten countries with a particular focus on RPL procedures and assessment methods. The contribution ends with critically discussing main findings and developing recommendations for future research. Prior learning is an umbrella term for any kind of learning outcomes gained in various learning settings. Recognition of prior learning (RPL) refers to the process of identifying, assessing and recognising any learning results that were acquired by individuals in different learning contexts outside formal education and training systems. Its core idea is to promote, to make visible and to make full use of the entire scope of learning results and (work) experience gained by an individual over the lifespan and irrespective of where, when and how the learning took place.
Easing access to higher education (HE) for those engaging in lifelong learning has been a common policy objective across the European Union since the late 1990s. To reach this goal, the transition between vocational and academic routes must be simplified, but European countries are at different developmental stages. This article maps the development in Denmark, Finland, Germany and England using a case study approach deploying data triangulation from a national and institutional perspective. It explores the extent/commonality of structural factors for easing access for students engaging in lifelong learning. The cases are at widely different stages, but the following factors were considered essential in all countries for opening universities: the establishment of transition paths from secondary education and working life into HE and links between HE, businesses and adult education from a national perspective and the recognition of all forms of learning, the flexibilization of study formats and the design of a curriculum that suits all from an institutional perspective.
Although the recognition of learners' experiential learning toward postsecondary credentials holds the promise of increased flexibility and opportunity for many, especially in the current climate of labour shortage, Canadian universities have been slow to adopt recognition of prior learning (RPL) systems. This case study of one Canadian institution showcases its RPL practice against the framework of the challenges that face RPL in traditional academic settings; and presents some of the lessons learned by Canada's foremost open and distance institution's RPL practice.
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