Prior learning
An important principle of the National Qualifications Framework is that skills, knowledge and understanding gained outside formal education or training will be recognised. To many, this is a reference to the recognition of prior learning (RPL) and yet the Qualifications Authority does not appear to make special provision for prior learning.
So how does prior learning fit into the Framework approach to assessment?
In a sense, the assessment of prior learning is no longer a special case. All assessment has benefited from the development of RPL practices. All Framework assessment can have the flexibility that was once unique to assessment of prior learning.
Sources of evidence
Assessment for credit on the Qualifications Framework involves the collection of evidence of what learners know, understand and can do. That evidence is then judged against criteria expressed in unit standards.
Framework assessment is about achieving standards rather than performance in a set task or over a whole course, so evidence can be collected from a variety of sources. This will depend on the requirements of the unit standard, the situation of the assessor and the circumstances of the learner. Some evidence will come from formal tests and tasks. Some evidence will come from ongoing work or learning activities. Some evidence will come from outside a formal learning or work environment.
The process that has been known as RPL actually uses all of these sources of evidence.
Some learners are assessed on the basis of attested prior performance, using evidence they bring with them from previous jobs for example.
Others are assessed on the spot without completing a course of learning.
Many are assessed by a combination of the two: evidence the learner brings with them is taken into account but further assessment tasks are needed to cover all the skills and knowledge required. Some learners have to undertake further learning and assessment in order to complete a qualification.
Qualifications Framework assessors judge all evidence against unit standards, regardless of where the evidence came from. So the Framework's overall approach to assessment embraces the philosophies and practices developed by advocates of RPL assessment.
What about cross credits from other qualifications?
For learners who are part of the way through a qualification which is being replaced by a unit standards based qualification, there are transition arrangements to recognise non-Framework achievement. Providers will explain those arrangements.
For learners who have completed a non-Framework qualification, there is no automatic or direct way to earn Framework qualifications or credits. There may be no need to seek Framework qualifications. Qualifications that are not part of the Qualifications Framework continue to have value and credibility.
Learners who are seeking a unit standards based Framework qualification may believe that all or part of their existing qualifications should count towards Framework qualifications. These learners often ask about "cross credits". In fact, the process that applies is assessment of prior learning, as it is described elsewhere in this paper. Providers can award some Framework credits on the basis of existing qualifications if they are certain that unit standard requirements have been met. It is more likely that existing qualifications will indicate areas where immediate Framework assessment is appropriate to avoid repetition of course-based learning.
Who assesses prior learning?
The Qualifications Authority does not require any special registration or accreditation. The same organisations and assessors that are accredited to assess within learning programmes or in the workplace can assess prior learning.
The Qualifications Authority oversees the development of standards and monitors standards of achievement. It does this through accreditation, unit standards and moderation. Accredited organisations organise the actual assessment to suit their own circumstances and their learners.
Most workplace assessment is actually assessment of prior learning; existing skills acknowledged and further training needs identified.
Many polytechnics are developing procedures to guide learners towards assessment of their existing skills and knowledge before enrolling them in programmes. This involves two steps: facilitation to help the learner to prepare for assessment, and assessment to make judgements about the learner’s skills and knowledge.
Unit standards that have been written for assessors (to recognise the skills of assessors) do not specifically mention assessment using RPL evidence. Instead, the unit standards for all assessors make reference to diverse evidence. There are unit standards that recognise the skills and knowledge involved in organising or facilitating the assessment of prior learning. Accredited organisations may require their assessors to have achieved these assessor standards, but the Authority does not set these requirements.
Summary
- Framework credits are awarded when achievements meet national standards, regardless of the source of evidence of those achievements.
- People who already have skills and knowledge can be assessed immediately
by
- presenting evidence of prior performance
- completing assessment tasks.
- Course completion is not required.
- Many workers can be assessed by completing regular on-job tasks.
- Accredited providers and registered workplace assessors assess prior learning against the same standards and within the same moderation systems that are used within education and training programmes.
- Assessment of prior learning provides qualifications credits where no previous credits exist. The term is not normally used to describe exemptions from qualifications, credit transfers or translating whole qualifications to Framework qualifications.
Further reading
The extract below is from Learning and Assessment: a guide
to assessment for the National Qualifications Framework (NZQA 1996), a booklet
written for assessors working within learning institutions. The general approach
to assessment is applicable also to workplace assessment. Learning and Assessment
can be viewed in PDF 
.
Sources of Evidence
All assessment involves the collection and evaluation of evidence about a learner’s performance. Traditionally most evidence has come from examinations, tests and other specially constructed assessment tasks. While these continue to provide valid evidence, the National Qualifications Framework enables you to consider a wide variety of evidence – any event or artefact that establishes the nature of learner’s skill, knowledge or understanding.
Products are the most obvious forms of evidence. Permanent products (like reports, accounts, a chair, drawings, essays and answers to test questions) can be collected. They can come from specially constructed tasks or accumulated over time as a portfolio. Less permanent products (food, a theatre performance, a negotiation) will be evaluated at the time but can be documented in various ways. You will be familiar and skilled with dealing with this kind of evidence in your own area.
Where can evidence come from?
Unit standards often suggest how to collect evidence. Some unit standards will call for a number of different kinds of evidence.
It is helpful to think in terms of sources of evidence – occasions or activities that will give learners a chance to demonstrate their abilities. This section offers a way of thinking about sources of evidence.
What sources of evidence can you use? Because the Framework is standards-based and assessment is close to learning, you can consider evidence from a diverse range of sources. Some of the evidence will come from beyond the learning programme so you will not be able to observe it first hand.
What about RPL?
Framework assessment is about standards of performance achieved, not how learning occurred. There is no requirement for prior course attendance, work experience or time served. Learning that took place before the learner came anywhere near a Framework assessor can be recognised by the award of unit standard credits.
You will be familiar with the term RPL (recognition of prior learning). RPL deals with evidence of learning that occurred before the assessor became involved. It emerged as an alternative approach to assessment when assessment was dominated by final written examinations linked to a formal, institutional programme of learning. However, it is more accurate to talk about assessing prior learning.
The assessment of prior learning can refer to two different situations.
1·Prior learning with evidence of prior performance
An adult has been competent at something for years but has no qualification to recognise that competence. They have been employed by an advertising agency or working with a volunteer rescue organisation so they can prove that they are competent.
They can produce samples of their work, letters of validation from peers and supervisors, etc. There may be no need for formal assessment tasks. The samples of work and testimonials become evidence that can be evaluated against unit standards. The learner can show you evidence of prior performance.
2·Prior learning without verifiable evidence of prior performance
Learners arrive at your institution ready to enrol for a programme. They look at the work to be covered and realise that they can already perform some or all of it.
A computing student has been producing spreadsheets for her own purposes; an automotive engineering student claims to be able to adjust a clutch to perfection; a word processing student has been doing audio transcriptions to record his grandparent’s life story. Other learners have read intensively about history or economics and have accumulated a depth of knowledge.
These learners have not been demonstrating their skills or knowledge within an established organisation so they will not be able to produce convincing evidence of their competence.
However there may be no need for the learner to work through a course of study and undergo the planned assessment activities. You can assess that learner immediately and award unit standard credits. In the past, providers called this ‘challenge’ assessment.
How will you deal with this ‘immediate’ assessment? As an assessor you will need to balance the demands of the unit standard and the learner’s needs with what is manageable in practical terms.
You could use some of the assessment tasks that you have planned for assessment within the course. Or you could elicit evidence of their abilities by a brief task or questioning and decide that the requirements of the unit standard have been met and that credit can be granted. You might decide that further evidence is needed for sufficiency – or that the learner should complete the full programme after all. The learner should take some responsibility for producing the evidence.
How some providers assess prior learning
Facilitators help learners to identify the parts of a programme in which they are already competent and arrange immediate assessment through the tutors running the programme. In some cases students then attend only relevant parts of the course. In other cases they complete the remaining unit standards on individual programmes. The extent to which all of this is manageable will be up to the provider.
This material was prepared prior to proposals for a broadened National Qualifications Framework. The approach is relevant to assessment against unit standards.
Page updated: 10 December 2003