Informal and non formal learning and frameworks in the development context UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning 2009

RVA The recognition, validation and accreditation (RVA) of skills, knowledge and competence against quality assured and standards of education and training Special emphasis on the issue of mechanism to recognize both prior learning from informal settings; and Equivalent learning from non-formal programmes for purposes of certification, qualifications and access to and progression within formal learning systems.

The move towards NQFs within a LLL context in developing countries Go beyond basic learning Go beyond the mere communal validation Develop more complex competencies The poor have acute knowledge needs to cope with globalization

The move toward NQFs within a LLL context in developing countries Avoid the dual education agenda of LLL for rich countries and basic education for poor countries Renewed interest in all sub sectors Universal coverage of primary education will not do; children, youth and adults need to have alternative access programmes linked to overarching frameworks Basic and non-formal education needs to be included within NQFs in order that ladders and bridges avert dead ends.

The move toward NQFs within a LLL context in developing countries NQFs seen as a way to reform education and training systems: –Limited pathways –Difficult transitions –Ever growing number of early school leavers –Certificates contain little information on competencies –Fragmentation of training of the variety of providers –Limited qualifications and career routes –No comparability with other certificates.

Typology of reference points for recognition 1.Systems with a unified NQF 2.Systems without an NQF but with a developed national curriculum and/or developed sub-sectoral frameworks or industry benchmarks that are used for recognition 3.Systems with an ad hoc approach to reference points for recognition

Africa South AfricaABET included in the South African NQF. Lessons learned in relation to adult education. Kenya Centralized accreditation system to facilitate standardization and equivalency of coordination of non-formal and adult learning. Curriculum based approach. RPL not addressed. Namibia In the process of establishing equivalencies between school- based and non-formal education; national Council on Adult Learning to work closely with NQF; 10 level framework; Seychelles SQA’s policy and legal framework to help create an integrated education and training system. It is evaluating courses developed in the last five year, using set standards and position the course on the new NQF. Comprehensive recognition of learning (formal, non-formal and informal) Botswana NQF is still being developed – a new adult basic education curriculum in tandem with the NQF Lesotho All technical colleges provide vocational qualifications that have parity with the South Africa‘s National Qualifications framework. All tertiary institutions are planning bridging Programme that facilitate entry to tertiary programmes through non-traditional routes.

Africa MauritiusInstitutional, individual and economic views. Making NQF operational. MQA set up Industry Training Advisory Committees (ITACS) to generate unit standards and qualifications. Adult literacy is one of the committees. MaliMali’s community schools represent almost half of all the schools in the country, but no official recognition even though these non-formal community schools are key to mainstream education. No NQF but a new curriculum framework based on standards drawn from informal learning and outcome-based approach. Uganda A business, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) will provide a framework for technical skills development to become an alternative to academic education in the last two years of secondary level. The BTVET legislation includes the recognition of non-formal and informal learning. The government is working with various stakeholders to develop a national adult literacy qualifications framework, which will be fitted into the proposed NQF. Little opportunity for adult continuing education vis-à-vis adult basic education. Ethiopia Design of the Ethiopian Technician Vocational education and Training Qualification Framework, which is to be integrated into the NQF. Various stakeholders will be involved including an inter-ministerial committee for adult education.

Africa Gambia GSQF is partial qualification framework; regulates national vocational qualifications in specific trades; GSQF promotes horizontal integration because it includes formal and informal learning of skills, post- school college or centre based and on-the job- learning, full-time and part-time learning. It includes provision for illiterate learners, apprentices with weak or even no formal education. It draws from international and emerging European Qualifications Framework Ghana Has seven levels that are nationally recognized for employment and further education; intends to formalise traditional apprenticeships by linking this mode of skills development to a NQF AngolaOne of the purposes of certification at the literacy level is to facilitate continuation of learning at the next higher level.

Asia and Pacific context 1.Low basic education countries – Mongolia, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Bangladesh has a big non-formal education sector, but it is still very project-oriented. 2.Asian Giants – China and India. Under a National Skills Development Policy, India now has a comprehensive scheme to acknowledge the existing skills of workers and provide training to improve the skills level and employability of entire Indian workforce. In the process a developing a comprehensive NQF with the focus being in the vocational training, organizing the curriculum around a 7 level competency based system. Informal and non-formal learning can be recognized through assessment and certification processes that are determined and quality assured through a centralized system to enhance consistency across the country. Open Basic Education (OBE) curriculum for adults 3.Advanced basic education countries – the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam– have policy frameworks for the implementation of NFE programmes. Equivalency programmes accredit learning from outside the formal school, and accredit skills and job experiences for employment. 4.Developed Asia – Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore – In New Zealand and Australia, procedures for the recognition of prior learning exist. NQF ensures that flexible system exists for the recognizing competencies already achieved; evidence can come from written tests and tasks, ongoing work or learning activities, attested prior performance, using evidence from previous jobs, or outside a formal learning or work environment. 5.Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan – are keen that profiles of occupations are compatible with the EQF. The next step is to translate the new occupational standards into clear, measurable requirements of performance for students.

The Arab region Sultanate of OmanIlliteracy eradication classes consist of learners from grades 1-3 (equivalent to grade 1-6 in primary school). Adult classes cover Morocco The Moroccan Education Charter of 1999 and the apprenticeship law of 12 June 2000 created climate for recognition of on-the-job training to improve workforce skills, and the development of socially vulnerable groups. Arab Region in general Reference to LLL is missing; the term ‚adult education‘ is used interchangeably with literacy; Little intersectoral and interministerial cooperation so that adult education sector is very narrowly defined as remedial education. No attempt to link adult learning to other sub sectors of the education and training system.

Latin America and the Caribbean Mexico The model of Education for Life and Work (MEVyT) of INEA provides the benchmark for assessment of non- formal adult education (15 +) for entry and re-entry to the formal system. Agreement 286 is designed to give access to the different levels by providing a different pathway to the same standard. Accreditation important for reducing black market practices in the informal economy and the development of small business. NicaraguaAdult basic education linked to work-related continuing education programmes. Cooperation between Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Vocational Education.

Good International practices Austria Collecting important approaches and developing a typology Canadian PLAR especially focuses on migrants to include them in the formal workforce. No national education system. Coordination varies across the 10 provinces and 3 territories. Cyprus No specific procedure or guidelines of the recognition of non-formal and informal learning within the educational system. RVA is a priority issue of the Youth Board of Education and higher education institution can allocate credits for existing skills gained informally. France Has a law that obliges all learning and training institutions to set up a procedure for the recognition for applying candidates. A range of evidence is used.

Good international practices Germany NQF is under development. Recognition of informal learning at work. Adult continuing education is supplementary. Numerous courses on offer for adults. ‘learning regions’ programme. ProfilPASS for documenting all kinds of learning NetherlandsLaw on Adult Education and Vocational education (WEB 1996); RVA in the schooling sector is focused around upper secondary vocational level rather than the general education level. RVA in the labour competence and voluntary sectors. Norway Norwegian reform or lifelong learning. Adults rights for primary, secondary and upper secondary education is stated in laws regulating education Slovenia Education and training reform opening up pathways for adults to re-engage in learning and continue to develop skills

Good international practices Sweden Sweden has made it an obligation for all higher education institutions to assess prior and experiential learning of applicants who demand it. ScotlandIntroduced RPL, which can be undertaken by learners for personal and career development to support the transition between informal and formal learning, or for gaining credit either for entry or credit within formal programmes of study. Formative and summative recognition are important for identifying a learning pathway or gaining credit respectively.

Good international practices UK Two fold purpose: (1) the recognition of vocational skills for the labour market; 2) development and recognition of skills more aligned to generic, personal and participation goals. Alignment between NVQ s and the adult alternative programs produced by the national open college (NOC) network is an example of how programmes and quality assurance serve to support confidence in the qualification reference points. USA No national RPL policy, but there are examples of RPL. APL or PLA are used for credit provided to individuals seeking recognition of skills and knowledge gained through the individuals life experience against college credentials. One key barrier to the implementations of RPL is the absence of outcome-based curricula and occupational skills standards.

Challenges of transferring Learning across the North-South Divide 1.Non-formal does not mean the same thing in all country contexts often the dividing live between formal and formal is only definitional rather than actual. 2.The position of the individual versus collective activity - the latter requiring systemic recognition and policy coordination, rather than just overcoming individual resistance. 3.Importance of levels of learning below upper secondary schooling to overcome issues of progression to and through education and labour market in South Countries. 4.Focus of informal learning in industrialised countries is on firm related learning; in developing countries it is more about documenting available competencies of persons with broken educational and employment careers, working in the informal sector.

Cross-regional observations 1.Understanding the strategic value of RVA: lifelong learning, an important context for the development of NQFs 2.The trend towards policy intent to improve mobility between education and training sub-sectors as well as other learning 3.The use of outcomes-based approaches in the qualifications or recognition reference points as a response to linking pathways 4.The need for professional skills and capability of staff in the area of RVA provision, and the need to move from assessment to accreditation 5. NQFs need to be coupled with lifelong learning to give the epistemological and mechanical architecture to enable the validation, accreditation of non-formal and informal learning; 6. To emphasise both qualifications and recognition.

Thank you Madhu Singh UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning Feldbrunnenstr Hamburg Germany