Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)

Recognition of Prior Learning

In terms of the basic principles of education and the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA), people are entitled to be recognised for learning they have achieved through experience in the workplace.

If a person has workplace experience for which there is a qualification, they can go through a formal assessment by which they can be awarded that qualification without having to go through formal learning.

A candidate can only be assessed competent though evidence of that competence in experiences in the workplace.

The candidate is responsible for sourcing and presenting that evidence.

 

School assessment and RPL

In a school, all learners go through the same curriculum and learning experiences.  They are assessed (formative assessment) as they proceed through the learning experiences, and they are all assessed at the end of the course (summative assessment) on the basis of the same evidence.

This makes assessment for a qualification easy in a school. All the experiences are the same, all learners work towards the same competencies at the same time, and the assessment is done through one common Portfolio of Evidence.

Recognition of Prior Leaning is completely different. Here all candidates have to source evidence of competency from different experiences, at different times, in different places, and in different contexts.

The only commonality is that they have to meet the same Assessment Criteria. To assess competencies fir RPL, the assessor has to design a Portfolio of Evidence format that is unique to each candidate.

Each candidate for RPL has their own form and content in which evidence can be presented.  The job of the assessor is to make a judgement that evidence towards all the Assessment Criteria, is:

·         Valid – that it substantively demonstrates competency in the assessment criteria.

·         Authentic – that the evidence comes from the personal experiences of the candidate

·         Current – that the evidence demonstrates competencies that are currently recognised in the workplace, and are not obsolete.

·         Sufficient – that there is enough evidence to demonstrate competency.

 

RPL is not easy

No one can simply claim RPL into a qualification on the basis of their CV, or their own word describing their personal experiences.  There has to be external and substantive evidence.

In any certificate there could be as many as 1000 assessment criteria each of which must met with evidence that the candidate is competent in each criterion.

It never takes less than two weeks for an assessor to judge the evidence.

 

Gap Training

Where there is insufficient evidence for certain assessment criteria, gap training will have to be done to ensure that the candidate qualifies for RPL.

This Gap Training must provide evidence of competency only for those assessment criteria for which there is no historical evidence.

Gap training has to be designed, or packaged only to meet the needs of the candidate’s Skills Gap.

 

Costs

Until the assessor has identified the gap/s, it is impossible to calculate the cost of the RPL.

As a guideline, RPL costs about one-third of the normal tuition cost of a full time course. (This tuition cost excludes any boarding, stipend, travelling or any cost not direct incurred in the training towards the certificate).