Recognising Prior Learning: Investigating the Future of Informal Learning, a Northern Ireland Study

Abstract

Credit accumulation and transfer schemes (CATS) have developed as a means to facilitate access and the recognition and development of formal learning experiences across educational sectors and providers. Modularisation and credit developments have significantly affected the provision of formal learning opportunities over the last three decades. Recognition of experiential learning and the needs of adult students continues to develop. Institutions continue to expound the need for robust provision for accreditation of prior learning in terms of a valued and academically transferable entitlement for experienced learners, but travelling the pathway toward accreditation is still an obscure and uncertain process for learners. New and engaging procedures for the advancement of experienced students have been developed, including access initiatives, strategies for more effective learner support, inclusive curriculum practices and enhanced learning resource capabilities. Why then do we find institutions remaining with limited Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) capabilities? This paper begins by examining the underlying concepts of a credit-based learning culture from the perspective of policy, whilst exploring the educational models linked to APEL and the debate behind the value of informal learning and the process of attaining recognition. The main finding of the Northern Ireland study, as part of a European study, suggests that existing mediums for APEL have, to date, inspired a sense of renewed thinking but that institutional strategies for increased participation have not always addressed adult educational needs appropriately. This paper, based on research at the University of Ulster and project partners, will investigate the obstacles that remain some twenty years after the access movement of the 1980s.