Validation of non-formal and informal learning

EUCIS-LLL’s “LLL Mag” on Validation of non-formal and informal learning
The first item of the LLL Mag has been released. The Magazine should be published twice a year and tackle hot topics of the moment in the field of lifelong learning. The first edition encompasses many complex processes and the magazine gives an idea of the diversity of learning settings in Europe. After the public hearing EUCIS-LLL organised in December 2011 on validation, the magazine aims at providing key data, examples of countries’ profiles, interviews of experts and learners to give an insight of the recent European developments. Download the publication.
What’s the current situation in Europe?
The validation of non-formal and informal learning (VNFIL) is a fashionable topic attracting interests of stakeholders from different sectors of education and training. At the EU level, several initiatives have been taken in order to push forward the process of validation and build pathways between non-formal, informal and formal learning. Common European principles and guidelines have been established, peer learning and exchange of good practice have been promoted through a regularly updated inventory of policy and practice across Europe and through the provision of financial support for projects from EU lifelong learning and youth programmes. The Europe 2020 strategy explicitly calls for ‘the promotion of the recognition of non-formal and informal learning’ under its Youth on the Move flagship initiative. In this sense, by the beginning of 2012 the European Commission should launch a communication on this topic.
VNFIL is recognised as an important tool in the context of the current economic crisis as well as in the pursuit of economic and social goals at European level. However, in Europe VNFIL is organised differently across member states and consequently there are enormous differences within its development and implementation among European countries. In general, we can distinguish three groups of countries:
• The ones that have put in place national systems making validation an integral part of their education and training and employment policies (i.e. France, Portugal); when this is the case it is seen as another nationally endorsed route to recognition of learning outcomes and possibly to certification.
• The ones that have introduced validation partially, putting in place legal and institutional frameworks for future development in sub-sectors of education and training or in the employment sector;
• And a third group of countries where validation remains low on the political agenda and an overall strategy is lacking and there are few concrete initiatives.
This classification has been further extended in the 2010 CEDEFOP inventory to four categories (see table below).
However, it is important to keep in mind that this categorisation provides only an overall assessment, because the situation on validation is multi-faceted, with different degrees of process and development in different sectors. Moreover, each country applies its own strategy. Sometimes we can observe a centralised approach, which leads to the implementation at national level, whereas some counties do not have any national or regional strategies and evidence ‘bottom-up’ approaches where local educational institutions and workplace initiatives have been developed. There are also different ministries, institutions and bodies responsible for the implementation, control and award of validation. For individuals, outcomes of validation are crucial. In some countries, an applicant can obtain a full diploma whereas in a majority of countries, an applicant can only benefit from access to education or from credit exemptions. To understand better the process of VNFIL and differences within the European Union, we prepared a short description of validation in four European countries.

Is validation progressing in Europe? Michel Feutrie, EUCEN and Secretary General of EUCIS-LLL
Michel Feutrie was Professor in Sociology of Education at the Université des Sciences et Technologies of Lille. He is the former President of EUCEN, the European Association for University Lifelong Learning. He is currently Secretary General of EUCIS-LLL. From 1987 to 2007, he was Vice President of USTL in charge of continuing education and Director of the Continuing Service from 1986 to 2006. He has been appointed from 2002 to 2006 Rapporteur Général of the French Agency in charge of the French National Qualification Framework and of the national “Répertoire” (RNCP) registering all French qualifications.
Is validation of non-formal and informal learning considered to be important for lifelong learning strategies? Which role does it play?
Validation of non-formal and informal learning has been linked to lifelong learning (LLL) strategies in European Commission policy documents since the publication of the Memorandum on LLL and the Communication that followed in 2001. The Commission decided then to initiate an exchange of experience and good practice in the field of identification, assessment and recognition of non-formal and informal learning. It established an inventory of methodologies, systems and standards and encouraged Member States to provide legal frameworks and educational institutions to systematically implement measures. This orientation led to concrete initiatives: adoption of Common principles in 2004, publication of European guidelines in 2009, of 3 inventories (2005, 2007 and 2010), key element of the Adult Education plan adopted in 2007 and of the Education and Training 2020 Strategic Framework in 2009.
But more generally, as we are living now in a world offering more and more opportunities for valuable learning not only in educational institutions but in a variety of settings, it is evident that the question of recognition of informal and non-formal learning becomes essential in a lifelong and life-wide learning perspective. For individuals it contributes to the development of positive personal and professional pathways, and helps them to progress vertically and horizontally within education and training systems.
How can non-formal and informal outcomes be valued in the formal educational system and in the labour market?
What we learn informally and non-formally (as well as what we learn formally) has to be described in terms of “learning outcomes”. By this way we create a sort of common currency to make possible their description against official standards and then their recognition in the formal system or the labour market. Therefore, it is necessary to be able to present what we have learnt nonformally or informally in a readable and understandable way for assessors or recruiters. This obliges individuals to identify what they have learnt, to organise their learning outcomes in a way that suits the standards of the relevant qualifications and to present them in a way which meets the requirements of assessors. This in itself is a learning process, and must follow the rhythm of each individual. It is a new and so far unusual practise, and it must be guided by advisors able to adopt a new kind of attitude.
How can we assess someone’s learning outcomes? Which methods would you suggest?
make candidates aware of what they have learntThe experience of an individual is comprehensive and cannot be seen through the prism of disciplines or traditional programmes. Learning outcomes from professional and personal activities are not immediately available for assessment. In addition, experience is contextualised, and contexts do not provide equal opportunities, which is particularly difficult for assessors or academic juries. Two main approaches are currently orienting the assessors’ work: one is based on what we could call a “weighing principle”, whereby the individual’s experience is weighed up against standards and references of the qualification; whilst the other is based on a “developmental principle” that takes into account experience as a whole. The first focuses on formal results (“prior learning”) and is more or less related to programmes while the second tries to and the milestones they have passed, to situate them on a route, and to develop a holistic approach (“experiential learning”). The European guidelines for validation published in 2009 identify: dossier, portfolio, observation, simulation, interviews, exams, etc. All these assessment methods are not equivalent, are not giving the same chances to candidates, are not likely to make possible a relevant expression of what people have really learnt, are not producing the same results.
How to ensure quality assurance in strengthening the trust to validation?
Validation is a process implying the whole life of an individual. The assessors are not evaluating the result of an exam, but the results of an individual experience with positive and not so positive effects. This can be seen as a judgment. While encouraging Member States to install validation procedures, the European Commission invited governments to adopt Common Principles aiming at the protection of the individual in 2004.
What are the main remaining challenges ahead on validation?
The results of the consultation of Stakeholders published by the European Commission at the beginning of 2011 show:
• a clear consensus on the importance of making the
skills gained through life and work experience visible;
• more weight should be given to less formal forms of validation;
• a need for an overall approach to validation;
• for more quality in validation processes;
• to better integrate validation into enterprises human resources management practices.
More generally it is evident that it is still necessary to convince educational institutions, but also governments, even employers that access to knowledge and qualifications is not linked to specific time and space. It is a continuous process made of periods dedicated to formal, non-formal and informal learning. This implies new roles for teachers and trainers, needs for professionals for guidance and counselling, needs for new administrative and financial organisations taking into account the lifelong learning perspective.

EU frameworks
Formal learning, visualising and to validating learning outcomes gained in “Youth in Action” projects. Youthpass Certificates are available for European Voluntary Service, Youth Exchanges, Training Courses and for Youth Initiatives. https://www.youthpass.eu/
EU Skills Panorama
The European Union “Agenda for New Skills and Jobs” includes producing, as of 2012, an EU Skills Panorama to improve transparency for jobseekers, workers, companies and/or public institutions. The Panorama will be available online and will contain updated forecasting of skills supply and labour market needs up to 2020.
European Framework for Key Competences
The Key Competences for lifelong learning are a combination of knowledge, skills and competences that are essential for the personal fulfillment and development, social inclusion, active citizenship, and employment of European citizens. This framework defines eight key competences and describes the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes related to each of those. Many Member States have already used it to reform their programmes and school curricula. The key competences are: communication in the mother tongue; communication in foreign languages; mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology; digital competence; learning to learn; social and civic competences; sense of initiative and entrepreneurship; and cultural awareness. http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learningpolicy/key_en.htm
European Taxonomy of Skills, Competences and Occupations (ESCO)
ESCO aims to be a multilingual European standard terminology and classification of skills, competences, qualifications and occupations. ESCO will build on and link with relevant international classifications and standards, such as the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO) and will complement existing national and sectorial occupational and educational classifications and enable exchange of information between them. A partial classification is already in use in the European job mobility portal EURES. http://ec.europa.eu/eures/

EUCIS (European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning): Other Publications
Last research work on National Stakeholders’ Forums . Social Inclusion in Education and Training. EUCIS-LLL Conference Report on the “Role, place and value given to volunteering in education and training”, May 2011. EUCIS-LLL Feasibility study on a ”European Institute on Lifelong Learning”, March 2011. General Report from EUCIS-LLL Conference on the social dimension of education and training, 2010. Developing basic skills as key competences, a guide to good practice, EUCIS-LLL, 2004. Skills for Life as the Key to Lifelong Learning – Towards achieving the Lisbon. Accent sur l’apprentissage tout au long de la vie (focus on lifelong learning), 2001.