Jonathan Garnett

The legitimisation of knowledge: a work‐based learning perspective of APEL

Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) is now an established but relatively underused process in higher education (HE). In our review article, we argue that this is because APEL not only challenges the traditional university monopoly of knowledge but also challenges other established processes and social constructions. Work‐Based Learning (WBL) has used APEL to great advantage in allowing people to gain access to HE. Also, it has done much to challenge traditional discipline based assumptions associated with APEL practice through seeking to recognise the knowledge and abilities that come about through the three spheres of work, the academic and the personal. This article examines the perspectives of five tutors who regularly support the development of, and assess the APEL claims of WBL students. The perspectives of the tutors are presented as vignettes. These, together with three short case examples, are used to illustrate themes that are related to the APEL process: power and control within the infrastructure of universities; the power of the disciplines to skew the depth and significance of prior and experiential learning; the pressure from government for universities to foster employee learning; competing value positions of academics and of students; and the social influence of students and assessors’ gender, race and class. We look at these five overlapping themes and how the field of WBL may have certain features that can help overcome these constructions in the APEL process. We also consider the struggles of WBL and its own emerging value positions.

Work based learning and the intellectual capital of universities and employers

This paper draws upon the extensive operating experience of work based learning programmes by the National Centre for Work Based Learning Partnerships (NCWBLP) at Middlesex University to identify the potential for work based learning to contribute to the intellectual capital not only of employer partners but also to the university. The paper argues that work based learning has the potential to provide the university with a unique opportunity to develop a new kind of knowledge based partnership. The characteristics of such partnerships are discussed with reference to the description of intellectual capital advanced by Stewart and the typology of work based learning put forward by Portwood.

Work-Based Learning. A new imperative: developing reflective practice in professional life

This article sets out the experience of an innovative Work-Based Learning programme based in a university context. The scheme itself is designed to enable different levels of flexible participation through the engagement of Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and large organizations in the design and delivery of several types of provision. The university provides the input of a full-time academic, with one-to-one support in the university and on site, leading to accredited awards at BA (Hons) Certificate, Diploma and Masters level. To date the scheme has been in operation for five years and has been evaluated by the authors as part of an internal review. The main sources of evidence in the review have been the students and the employers and this paper focuses on their perceptions of its advantages and disadvantages in relation to Work-Based Learning professional development. The article concludes with an outline of the next stage of the evaluation which is designed to focus on assessment techniques for onsite evaluation of the technical and higher level skills which the programme aims to develop.

Work-Based Learning as a Field of Study

A growing feature of global higher education policy is the explicit link with economic performance. Indeed there is much that mirrors the development in the major economic regions of the world. From Singapore to Melbourne and from Mumbai to San Francisco, directing public educational institutions to provide public capital for their student bodies and then charge them has become a driving imperative of policy. The example I offer here is how European educational strategy has assertively included the vast and varied field of vocational education and training within the lifelong learning perspective. Its commitment to entwine formal education, workplace learning and governmental policy has a leading part in the economic debate on the role of higher education in Europe’s economic development. A desire to develop transparency and comparability in all forms of learning and qualifications, together with the associated required quality of assessment and teaching, has been an underlying and recurring theme in the Bologna Process. The commitment of European educational policy to lifelong learning generates a progressive transnational framework supporting innovative practice by higher education institutions at the local and national levels.

Recognition of prior learning: opportunities and challenges for higher education

Purpose Recognition of prior learning (RPL) is a process by which both formal learning for recognised awards, informal learning from experience and non-formal learning for uncertificated but planned learning is given academic recognition. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach This paper refers to international developments in RPL and then focuses upon the extensive and innovative use of RPL by Middlesex University and the developing RPL work at the Australian Institute of Business. Findings The Middlesex experience of recognition of learning from experience as part of the development of customised work-based learning programmes demonstrates the potential of RPL for business and management programmes. Originality/value The use of RPL for admission and/or credit in standard programmes enables individuals to have their work-based knowledge acknowledged as relevant, worthwhile and equivalent to learning obtained in the higher education classroom.