Accreditation of Prior Learning and Experience

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Accreditation of Prior Learning and Experience

• Professor John Konrad

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Origins

• Recognition of acquired skills develops
  informally after World War I in France and is
  then formally recognised in the 1930s la
  Validation des Acquis Professionnels - VAP
• Accreditation of Prior Learning APL and
  Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning
  APEL develops in the UK in the 1980s
• European Commission Memorandum (2000) and
  Recommendations (2001) introduce Valuing
  Learning

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Definition of APEL

• APEL is the accreditation of prior experiential
  learning, that is, the award of credit for
  learning based on prior experience -- from work,
  community or volunteer experience -- which has
  not previously been assessed and/or awarded
  credit.

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Qualifications APEL

• identification of learning, wherever and whenever
  this has taken place
• selection of that learning which is relevant to a
  desired outcome or progression route or pathway
• demonstration of the validity and appropriateness
  of this learning
• matching learning outcomes to those stated within
  a chosen accreditation or progression framework
• assessment of evidence against predetermined
  criteria to ensure the validity of the claimed
  competence.

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Quality Issues

• The evidence presented should be
• Authentic the competence demonstrated should be
  genuine
• Direct that the learning is specific, relevant
  and has been identified and categorised
• Broad that the learning took place in a wider
  theoretical and vocational context which was
  understood by the applicant
• Current the learning is sufficiently recent to
  be relevant to currently proposed award.

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What is Credit?

• Credit is a quantified means of expressing
  equivalence of learning. Credit is awarded to a
  learner in recognition of the verified
  achievement of designated learning outcomes at a
  specified level.

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Learning Outcomes

• Statements of what a learner is expected to know
  understand and/or be able to demonstrate after
  completion of a process of learning. When used
  in association with their related assessment
  criteria, learning outcomes reflect the level at
  which the learning has occurred.

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A credit framework

• A credit framework is a set of specifications for
  valuing, measuring, describing and comparing
  learning achievement. The framework is
  concerned with the demonstration of learning
  achieved, how much learning and at what academic
  level, and is designed to include learning from a
  wide range of environments, both on and off
  campus.

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Why do we need a credit framework?

• The learning environment is increasingly becoming
  broader than traditional institutional, didactic
  or formal course based settings.
• This trend comes from current UK and EU policy,
  which encourages a culture of Lifelong Learning,
  with closer links to the workplace in part
  because many educational establishments have
  recognised the role of off-campus learning and
  wish to accredit such learning.

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Categories of General Outcomes

• Knowledge and understanding
• Practice (Applied knowledge and understanding)
• Generic cognitive skills
• Communication, numeracy and ICT skills
• Autonomy, accountability and working with others.