Invisible criteria in a portfolio-based assessment of prior learning: a cat and mouse chase

Abstract

Institutions of higher education in South Africa have been encouraged to find ways of recognising the informal learning of historically disadvantaged adult learners. In order to facilitate the process of recognition of prior learning (RPL), portfolio-based experiential learning courses are advocated. These courses are expected to give RPL candidates an opportunity to revisit what they know and articulate it into academic modes of knowing. The article critically evaluates the capacity of the assessment processes involved in such courses to transmit clear sets of criteria for what an RPL candidate is required to demonstrate. The article draws on Bernstein's (1996) distinction between two pedagogical types, ‘competence’ and ‘performance’, and analyses the instructional logic of the pedagogy used to recognise prior learning in a portfolio-based assessment. This analysis is used to reflect on our pedagogical experiences of running a portfolio development course, with a view to highlighting the ways in which some of the demands of prior learning assessment constrained our ability to specify the criteria for the learning we set to recognise.