Bjarne Wahlgren

Assessment of prior learning in adult vocational education and training

The article deals about the results of a study of school-based Assessment of Prior Learning of adults who have enrolled as students in a VET college in order to qualify for occupations as skilled workers. Based on examples of VET teachers’ methods for assessing the students’ prior learning in the programs for gastronomes, respectively child care assistants the article discusses two issues in relation to Assessment of Prior Learing: the encounter of practical experience and school-based knowledge and the validity and reliability of the assessment procedures. Through focusing on the students’ knowing that and knowing why the assessment is based on a scholastic perception of the students’ needs for training, reflecting one of the most important challenges in Assessment of Prior Learning: how can practical experience be transformed into credits for the knowledge parts of the programs? The study shows that by combining several Assessment of Prior Learning methods and comparing the teachers’ assessments the teachers respond to the issues of validity and reliability. However, validity and reliability might be even further strengthened, if the competencies are well defined, if the education system is aware of securing a reasonable balance between knowing how, knowing that, and knowing why, and if the teachers are adequately trained for the assessment procedures.

Improving Completion Rates in Adult Education through Social Responsibility

Dropout is a serious problem within education. This article reports on an intervention project, titled “New Roles for the Teacher—Increased Completion Rates Through Social Responsibility,” which sought to reduce nonattendance and drop-out rates in the Danish adult educational system by improving teachers’ competences. This goal was pursued by engaging teachers in training programs aimed at improving their relational competences. The data showed that these focused training programs have an effect on the educational culture at the colleges and on the teachers’ attitudes toward the importance of reducing drop-out rates. As a consequence, the teachers acted more consistently and purposefully to prevent dropout, and a positive effect of the intervention on drop-out rates was documented.

Integration gennem voksen- og efteruddannelse

I de nordiske lande star en relativt stor andel af indvandrere og efterkommere uden for arbejdsmarkedet. Hojkonjunkturen der varede frem til omkring 2008 gav indvandrere bedre muligheder for at kom ...