Recognition of informal learning: challenges and issues

Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Technological Ecosystems for Enhancing Multiculturality - TEEM '15, 2015

Informal learning has been always an important source of knowledge, perhaps the most important at the workplace, but its own informal nature has caused difficulties to be recognized and introduced in the "official" ways of training and certification. TEEM conference has paid special attention to the problems associated with informal learning from the first edition of this event, and now this track continues with this significant tradition with the aim of rethinking the informal learning basis.

NCVER, Adelaide, 2009

2008

Recognition of Non-Formal and Informal Learning. The difference between formal, non-formal and informal learning has long been a contentious issue. These issues and developments have a direct impact on the HRM related areas of skill recognition and workplace learning in an era of low unemployment rates, looming skill shortages and declining rates of workforce participation. This paper reports on data from a learning grid in a Learning Survey of labour market program participants (n = 172). We find that life (informal learning) and work experience (non-formal learning) are relatively more important for gaining the self-reported skills than formal training/study. We also find an interaction between skill source and skill type.

Informal Learning at Work, 2018

Through reflection on a lengthy series of research studies of diverse workplace learning conducted in Australia over the past decade, this chapter seeks to position discussion of informal learning as part of everyday working life. It uses a practice theory perspective to show how learning can be understood as a key feature of working and how it is implicated in the normal ebb and flow of work practices. It elucidates some of the tensions that such a view generates and points to the paradox in how promoting informal learning can effectively inhibit it.

Young people and contradictions of inclusionTowards Integrated Transition Policies in Europe, 2003

2001

Computers in Human Behavior, 2016

2011

Alan Rogers explores the confused usage of the terms non-formal and informal education and suggests a way forward.

What are the political origins of VINFL in Europe? What is the current debate and which challenges can be identified in the field of VINFL? In this reflective paper the authors critically evaluate the issue and plead for a recognition of competences, which differentiates between validation as a concept and validation as a process. Validation as a process covers the appreciation of learning in everyday situations and people's life experience. Reliable validation tools would then support individual professional development and mobility by making these learning processes creditable for future education, training and employment paths. They conclude that today there is a strong need to look at the VINFL's potential to take into account, to identify, and to identify individual knowledge, skills and competences, and also to regard it as a comprehensive tool to integrate the different learning pathways; because VINFL is a way not only to motivate adults and attract them into continuous lifelong learning by helping them to become more aware of their level of skills and competencies, of their capabilities and their potential and to have a better grasp of the benefits of learning.

Higher Education, Skills and Work Based Learning, The Journal of the University Vocational Awards Council, 2011

Purpose – Higher education institutions (HEIs) can face barriers implementing the accreditation of informal learning, despite many institutions having developed policies and strategies to embed employability and skills. The purpose of this paper is to present the case of the institutional response of one HEI when dealing with the various drivers and challenges faced when accrediting informal learning at higher levels. Design/methodology/approach – The case study approach was adopted as this method allowed for in-depth qualitative enquiry into a contemporary phenomenon in a real-life context. Findings – The paper finds that by designing a shell framework incorporating module outlines and a toolkit of support materials for various stakeholder groups, HEIs may overcome many of the implementation problems often associated with HE accreditation of informal higher level learning. Practical implications – This framework and toolkit approach could help other HEIs better enable the wider accreditation and embedding of work-based learning within HE, which is deemed so important in facilitating the achievement of UK Government targets for 40 per cent of UK adults to gain a qualification at Level 4 or above in the next ten years. This is also a particular issue for Wales, dealing with its own skills agenda in response to specific skills gaps needed to ensure the sustainable future of the Welsh economy. Originality/value – While a limited number of HEIs have adopted a framework approach to the accreditation of work-based learning, this paper addresses the issues in a regional context, as the framework and toolkit presented is the first of its kind to be articulated for the Welsh skills agenda by a Welsh HEI.