1. Recognition of Prior Experience and Learning (RPL)
Awareness Event Canterbury Christchurch University 16/05/19
David Morgan QPM B. A. (Ed.) Hons. M. A. (Ed.)
Workforce Transformation & Professional Development Adviser

2. Professional Background
Served in 2 Police Services.
Response, Neighbourhood, RPU, Schools, Community Safety, Princes Trust, L & D, Corporate Development, Intelligence Unit, HMICFRS, College of Policing & Predecessors.
Constable & Police Staff.
CPD & Lateral Development.
Professional Qualifications.

3. Aim of the Session
The Aim of this session is to provide delegates with:
A brief overview and explanation of the Recognition of Prior Experience & Learning (RPL) in the current context of policing professional development.

4. Outcomes of the Session
The Outcomes of this session will be for delegates to:
Explain Recognition of Prior Experience & Learning (RPL).
Outline what may be required for an individual RPL process.
Explain some identified benefits of RPL.

5. Outcomes of the Session (continued)
Outline why an individual would want to undertake RPL as part of a higher education programme.
Explain where individuals need to go to obtain information on RPL.
That delegates have knowledge to take away and to promote RPL widely.

6. What is RPL?
A process that helps existing officers and staff gain academic credits for the learning they have gained during their service
From courses & learning programme’s
Through experience
Academic credits can be used to help individuals gain an academic or professional qualification
The College has produced a framework for the application of credits by use of a gateway.
The Recognition of Prior Experience and Learning is a process that already exists in many Higher Education Institutes throughout the country.
RPL looks at the learning that an individual may have gained from the skills and experiences they have developed over their years in work and aims to equate these with academic credits and academic levels.
These Academic credits can then be used to help an individual gain an academic or a professional qualification.
The College of Policing has worked to produce a standardised national framework for the application of credits based, we have created to different Matrices using: the National Policing Curriculum courses and the learning gained from an individual’s working experiences. We have worked with Higher Education Institutes and Forces to evaluate a number of NPC courses – not all have been credited as not all were deemed suitable. We have also looked at the skills of individuals at specific levels. In the first instance we have focussed on Police Staff and Police Officers up to the rank of Inspector.
This standardised national framework aims to provide a consistent minimum credit value for skills and experience gained throughout a career in policing.

7. RPL is an individual process!
The amount of credits that can be claimed will depend on:
The individual course/programme history and experience of the applicant
The evidence of learning provided by the individual at Application stage – the gateway.
The relevance of the credits being claimed to the course/programme being applied for
The currency of individual qualifications/CPD.
The illustration shown on the previous page is an example only and it is important to remember that RPL is assessed on an individual basis.
Although the nationalised framework has been created and implemented the actual number of credits an individual is able to claim will depend on a number of things:
The individual course history and experience of the applicant
The evidence of learning provided by the individual at Application process – the individual will be asked to apply to have their prior learning assessed to determine a credit value – they will need to demonstrate that they have gained learning from their experiences or courses, depending on the HEI this may be through an application process, a portfolio or a viva amongst other methods
The relevance of the credits being claimed to the course being applied for – the credits being claimed for must be relevant to the course being applied for to account for some of the credits that can be achieved within the programme
The currency of the qualification – this means the continued relevance and will be determined by an HEI. For example a course that was completed 7 years ago may not be classed as current and therefore you may not be able to claim credits for it. However, where a course was completed some time ago but the individual has continued to use and develop the learning gained from it an HEI may still award credits.

8. Why RPL? So why has RPL been introduced.
The new Policing Education Qualifications Framework is currently being created and work is ongoing to implement it. This provides a framework detailing the educational levels required at certain ranks within the police service. It is important to note that there is no pre-requisite to gain a qualification prior to promotion until the rank of ACC when a Masters would be required prior to promotion.
RPL is not specifically part of the PEQF but is a project which has been developed to support the PEQF and to help existing officers and staff in their development.
The purpose of RPL is to provide a framework to support existing officer and staff to gain academic or professional qualifications.
It is important to stress that RPL is optional.
Benefits
There are a number of benefits to completing academic and professional qualifications – more are highlighted in the individual guidance document but some of the key benefits are:
That your skills and experience can be formally recognised. Officers and staff working within policing have vast amounts of knowledge that often isn’t recognised outside policing.
By completing professional or academic qualifications this allows you to gain externally recognised qualifications that have meaning, credibility and transferability within and beyond policing
It can provide opportunities for career development both internally and externally
For some people it gives them confidence in what they do and why they do it as well as providing new skills and different ways of thinking

9. With a new qualifications framework for the police service - RPL was introduced to support that.
There to support existing officers and staff wanting to complete an academic or professional qualification
RPL is optional, it is not mandated, there is no requirement to get a degree, a similar or higher qualification however people may want to develop professionally and in different ways.
So why has RPL been introduced.
The new Policing Education Qualifications Framework is currently being created and work is ongoing to implement it. This provides a framework detailing the educational levels required at certain ranks within the police service. It is important to note that there is no pre-requisite to gain a qualification prior to promotion until the rank of ACC when a Masters would be required prior to promotion.
RPL is not specifically part of the PEQF but is a project which has been developed to support the PEQF and to help existing officers and staff in their development.
The purpose of RPL is to provide a framework to support existing officer and staff to gain academic or professional qualifications.
It is important to stress that RPL is optional.
Benefits
There are a number of benefits to completing academic and professional qualifications – more are highlighted in the individual guidance document but some of the key benefits are:
That your skills and experience can be formally recognised. Officers and staff working within policing have vast amounts of knowledge that often isn’t recognised outside policing.
By completing professional or academic qualifications this allows you to gain externally recognised qualifications that have meaning, credibility and transferability within and beyond policing
It can provide opportunities for career development both internally and externally
For some people it gives them confidence in what they do and why they do it as well as providing new skills and different ways of thinking

10. Formal recognition for skills and experience.
Benefits:
Formal recognition for skills and experience.
New found knowledge & understanding.
Externally recognised qualifications that have meaning, credibility and transferability within and beyond policing.
It could offer opportunities for career development internally and externally.
For some it develops self confidence.
So why has RPL been introduced.
The new Policing Education Qualifications Framework is currently being created and work is ongoing to implement it. This provides a framework detailing the educational levels required at certain ranks within the police service. It is important to note that there is no pre-requisite to gain a qualification prior to promotion until the rank of ACC when a Masters would be required prior to promotion.
RPL is not specifically part of the PEQF but is a project which has been developed to support the PEQF and to help existing officers and staff in their development.
The purpose of RPL is to provide a framework to support existing officer and staff to gain academic or professional qualifications.
It is important to stress that RPL is optional.
Benefits
There are a number of benefits to completing academic and professional qualifications – more are highlighted in the individual guidance document but some of the key benefits are:
That your skills and experience can be formally recognised. Officers and staff working within policing have vast amounts of knowledge that often isn’t recognised outside policing.
By completing professional or academic qualifications this allows you to gain externally recognised qualifications that have meaning, credibility and transferability within and beyond policing
It can provide opportunities for career development both internally and externally
For some people it gives them confidence in what they do and why they do it as well as providing new skills and different ways of thinking

11. Self satisfaction of completing higher education programme.
Benefits:
Self satisfaction of completing higher education programme.
Improve wellbeing.
Personal/Professional journey.
Link learning to practice and vice versa.
So why has RPL been introduced.
The new Policing Education Qualifications Framework is currently being created and work is ongoing to implement it. This provides a framework detailing the educational levels required at certain ranks within the police service. It is important to note that there is no pre-requisite to gain a qualification prior to promotion until the rank of ACC when a Masters would be required prior to promotion.
RPL is not specifically part of the PEQF but is a project which has been developed to support the PEQF and to help existing officers and staff in their development.
The purpose of RPL is to provide a framework to support existing officer and staff to gain academic or professional qualifications.
It is important to stress that RPL is optional.
Benefits
There are a number of benefits to completing academic and professional qualifications – more are highlighted in the individual guidance document but some of the key benefits are:
That your skills and experience can be formally recognised. Officers and staff working within policing have vast amounts of knowledge that often isn’t recognised outside policing.
By completing professional or academic qualifications this allows you to gain externally recognised qualifications that have meaning, credibility and transferability within and beyond policing
It can provide opportunities for career development both internally and externally
For some people it gives them confidence in what they do and why they do it as well as providing new skills and different ways of thinking

12. What support might officers and staff receive?
Varies in police services.
Budgets tight but financial assistance may be possible.
Resources low – time for study may be limited.
Forces will have their own policies – check these.
Check out the funding directory on the Platform.
So what support might officers and staff be able to receive?
This will vary between different forces but one thing to bear in mind is that budgets are tight nationally and the ability to provide financial support or time off is severely limited.
However, forces will have their own policies and so it’s important to check what your force offers. While they may not be able to provide you with financial support or time off for your study they may be able to provide support while you are studying. Facilitating study groups of others in force who are undertaking study, providing specialist learning and development advise on how to go about your study or supporting you through the application process. It might be that there is some funding available in certain areas if there are capability gaps.
There are no guarantees about what support you can get - but it is worth checking your force policies.

13. RPL in a personal context:
Undertook a Masters in Education (Level 7) & graduated in 2016 pre College gateway.
University of Greenwich operated RPL.
30 credits towards overall Masters.
Small RPL fee.
Compliance with their RPL process.
Legitimate assessment process to meet learning outcomes.

14. RPL in a personal context
Initial professional discussion with Programme Director.
Produce a briefing paper/short reflective document to meet learning outcomes of the qualification i.e. Masters In Education (Leadership & Management).
This document was approx. 2-3 sides A4 and outlined what I had done in my previous role (Evaluator/Researcher).

15. RPL in a personal context
Undertaken a Community Impact evaluation of a major drugs operation that involved the Serious & Organised Crime Team.
Street evaluation of Class A Drugs Operation submitted to Crown Court for evidence of community impact.
Report done and this was used as evidence to support the work and my learning.

16. RPL in a personal context
Programme Director at Greenwich University submitted my RPL Application & work undertaken to the University’s RPL & Ethics Committee.
The RPL & Ethics Committee then made a decision on whether to award me RPL credits and how many.
Listed as a transcript with final certificate.

17. RPL in a personal context (documentation):
RPL Credits

18. Guidance for individuals. Guidance for police services.
Documents that can be sent to you for further dissemination to colleagues:
RPL on a page.
Guidance for individuals.
Guidance for police services.
Guidance for Higher Education Institutions (HEI/Professional Bodies).
Example of Credit Estimator PDF download.
Professional Development Platform hyperlink -
So how do you find out more information.
A good place to start would be your Learning and Development department – they should be able to direct you to local policies and will be able to point you in the direction of more information.
There is also some Individual Guidance available which has just been released by the College. This goes through what RPL is and aims to answer all your questions about how it works and what you need to consider when thinking about undertaking an academic or professional qualification.
The Professional Development platform is now available which will have all the information and tools you need to start entering into the RPL process.

19. PDP Platform & Credit Estimator
So why has RPL been introduced.
The new Policing Education Qualifications Framework is currently being created and work is ongoing to implement it. This provides a framework detailing the educational levels required at certain ranks within the police service. It is important to note that there is no pre-requisite to gain a qualification prior to promotion until the rank of ACC when a Masters would be required prior to promotion.
RPL is not specifically part of the PEQF but is a project which has been developed to support the PEQF and to help existing officers and staff in their development.
The purpose of RPL is to provide a framework to support existing officer and staff to gain academic or professional qualifications.
It is important to stress that RPL is optional.
Benefits
There are a number of benefits to completing academic and professional qualifications – more are highlighted in the individual guidance document but some of the key benefits are:
That your skills and experience can be formally recognised. Officers and staff working within policing have vast amounts of knowledge that often isn’t recognised outside policing.
By completing professional or academic qualifications this allows you to gain externally recognised qualifications that have meaning, credibility and transferability within and beyond policing
It can provide opportunities for career development both internally and externally
For some people it gives them confidence in what they do and why they do it as well as providing new skills and different ways of thinking

20. How do you find out more information?
Speak to your Learning and Development Team.
Speak to me - SKYPE for Business.
Speak to me - Mobile (07557)
E Mail me
E Mail RPL Mailbox
Check out the Professional Development Platform – ‘live’
Thank You/Diolch yn Fawr
So how do you find out more information.
A good place to start would be your Learning and Development department – they should be able to direct you to local policies and will be able to point you in the direction of more information.
There is also some Individual Guidance available which has just been released by the College. This goes through what RPL is and aims to answer all your questions about how it works and what you need to consider when thinking about undertaking an academic or professional qualification.
The Professional Development platform is now available which will have all the information and tools you need to start entering into the RPL process.