35 structure and approach of formal education in terms of access, design and assessment. More broadly,
RPL requires the intensive investment of resources such that ’the greatest threat to ambitious, well- intentioned policies is the execution of such policies without a clear-sighted and commensurately
resources capacity development plan’ [Moore Lewis 2005: 47].
Articulation of qualifications:
Defining outcomes, levels, and competencies
Diploma selection:
Based on candidate’s work experience and skills
Record of evidence:
Candidate’s evidence of learning
Submission for assessment:
Candidate’s documentation or portfolio
Assessment:
By qualified personnel
Table-11: Stages of RPL in practice
3.3.5.1 Resource constraints
Developing a sustainable funding mechanism is the key to establishing an RPL system. The financial resources required to put an RPL infrastructure in place span a continuum of low to high depending on
the nature of the recognition formal, informal or non-formal and the purpose access, credit, or occupational. In some cases, funding incentives are required to support the financial capacity of
educational institutions to implement RPL [Breier Burness 2003]. To ensure a sustainable foundation for funding, a cost-sharing mechanism that engages multi-stakeholder partnerships may be developed.
For example, in France and the Netherlands the costs incurred through additional training and education are offset by incorporating social partners to play a key role in recognizing the prior learning and
competencies of employees [UNESCO 2013].
Additional sources of RPL funding may be derived from targeted public funds or through training levies from enterprises. In Ireland, the Higher Education Authority’s Strategic Innovation Fund SIF has
engaged short-term targeted funding on a competitive bidding basis to develop pilot programs which can be scaled up.
Human resources, particularly in administrative areas, are perhaps the most intensive requirement for successful implementation of RPL. If real benefits are to be generated from RPL, it is vital that a tick box
approach to implementation is avoided. In particular, the process of identifying and assessing the candidates skills and capabilities requires robust engagement. To this end, successful RPL challenges
education and training providers as well as individual candidates and employers to engage with a detailed reflection on learning gained from prior experiences which goes ‘…well beyond an account of a
job history’ [Remery Merle 2014: 275]. The international experience also points to the need for significant public and private investment in the form of comprehensive support for candidates seeking
to make a transition through RPL. This entails flexible and responsive teaching practices and on-going support for learners as they adjust to and develop academic skills. The provision of return to study
courses, mentioned above in reference to RPL for credit recognition in Ireland, is indicative of such flexible and supportive practices.
3.3.5.2 Institutional constraints
For educational institutions, RPL can challenge some of their traditional policies and organizational structures, as well as their long-standing philosophical approach to education. RPL impacts upon many
aspects of the educational institution from the admission policy to the learning environment. To accommodate prior learning and the individual learners pace and level of learning, RPL requires an
institutional structure that allows for flexible entry and exit points into programs. However, it is notable that the concept of RPL has made more progress in vocational and professional environments rather
36 than in traditional university settings [Slowey Schuetze 2012]. A review of practice in South Africa for
example indicates that the higher education curriculum adaptation is more often driven by the intellectual interests of academics rather than by policy [Moore Lewis 2005].
DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC SKILLS
CROSS DISCIPLINARY SKILLS
PROFESSION SPECIFIC SKILLS
PERSONAL TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
ACADEME
WORLD OF WORK
G E
N E
R A
L S
P E
C IF
IC
Figure-9: Poles Apart: Skills in Higher Education [Barnett 1994:62] Recognizing the value of prior learning questions the traditional understanding of what constitutes
academic knowledge. The perception that learning outcomes attained through the formal education system are superior to those attained through prior learning remains a key challenge in some countries.
Consequently, efforts to link the vocational and academic systems through the integration of formal and non-formal learning may be hindered when there is a strong social and institutional value attached to
formal academic qualifications. These cultural barriers impact upon the value attributed to non-formal and informal learning and, as a result, they impact upon the levels of confidence in RPL among
education institutions, employers, learners and society in general.
The traditional model of knowledge which has informed higher education also presents a challenge. While knowledge is generally understood as the product of learning, researchers acknowledge different
kinds of knowledge and ways of knowing which has given rise to a ‘great divide’[Breier 2001: 90] between knowledge associated with formal educational institutions and knowledge acquired informally.
As Ronald Barnett [1994] elucidates, the traditional conception of skills has been conceived along two axes which oppose the academic with the workplace and the specific with the general see Figure-9. He
further conceptualizes a shift in the knowledge functions of higher education from on an emphasis on knowing-that to knowing-how.
Reconciling this traditional divide is one of the challenges for implementing RPL. In reference to Australian universities, Pitman [2009] indicates that the profile of RPL has changed significantly such
that concerns about the learning and educational standards of RPL candidates are being overcome both conceptually and procedurally. In part, this has been driven by the ‘expansion and diversification of
education and training policies towards a broader, lifelong learning perspective [which] widens the focus from the delivery of qualifications by formal education and training institutions to include other,
moreflexibleroutestoqualification’[Cedefop2009:16].InEurope,ashiftinemphasisfromuniversity inputs - ‘what will be taught’ - to an emphasis on learning outcomes - ‘what the student will learn’ - has also
aided the accommodation of RPL and initiative to recognize work-based learning [Walsh 2014:110].
Work based learning WBL offers ‘a new way of organizing and learning in the academy and does not necessarily arise directly from disciplinary frameworks but exemplifies more local knowledge from
37 spatial and temporal circumstances of work contexts and situations’[Costley Abukari 2009:313]. In
many countries, disciplines, such as nursing, teaching and tourism, already require workplace learning as a necessary element for attaining a qualification such that the practical experience derived from work
placement compliments the theory taught in university. In the case of nursing, the learning required in a practical context is usually tightly defined by a professional body whereas work placements more
generally, for example on tourism courses, are often more loosely defined in terms of learning objectives and assessment [Walsh 2014:110]. An example of good practice in this area is the 2006
initiative by Irish third level colleges to accredit worked-based learning in business and IT with a third- level qualification [see IOTI 2006]. The process began with a promotion campaign targeted at employers,
employees and groups representing business and skills at a national level. By soliciting the participation and agreement of relevant stakeholders, the initiative was able to proceed with a portfolio-based
recognition of work-based learning.
3.3.5.3 Stakeholder constraints
