Leren Waarderen: Een studie van de Erkenning van Verworven Competenties en gepersonaliseerd leren

Abstract

In the present 'learning society' continuous or lifelong learning is important for everyone, for the individual as well as for society and its organizations and institutions. While the sustainability of the diploma and the job "for life" decreases, the usefulness and necessity of lifelong learning to enable people to maintain or improve their position in society increases. This study is about Valuing Learning, or themeaning, form and content of lifelong learning. The main subject is the linkage between the systematics of Validation of Prior Learning (VPL) and the process of personalised learning. Valuing Learning is a dualistic concept, which concerns both valuing Learning and learning Valuing. It is based on valuing by people themselves and by organisations within the learning system, and the social system of all the learning that people have done independently of learning programmes. However, the converse is also true, namely learning to value these types of learning experiences from the belief that something can always be learned, irrespective of the time and place. The notion that everybody actually learns throughout their entire lifetimes, and that much of this learning can be made visible, is the link between the function of learning as seen from the perspective of the individual, organisation and 'school'. This is what the Valuing Learningconcept expresses. VPL is a system which, independent of the form of learning (formal, non-formal, informal), focuses on recognising, valuing, validating and developing the competences that someone has previously learned in any kind of learning environment. Personalised learning is the dynamic learning concept focused on the individual learner, which can initiate (or help initiate) and establish tailored individual learning programmes in a learning culture based on self-driven, flexible, prospective lifelong learning. While VPL identifies the potential value of a person's learning, personalised learning presupposes that VPL can support somebody’s contribution to the dialogue with other actors on the meaning, form and content of learning. VPL and personalized learning are processes that allow the learning individual to take on an active role in achieving personal and social perspective. The relationship between the two processes is examined at the level of theory, policy and empiricism. The outcome of the research is that VPL for personalized learning can be valuable for all actors in the learning triangle – individual/organisation/’school’ - as long as they can and want to switch between their objectives, approach and identity. The deployment of VPL for personalized learning can demonstrably enhance the dialogues on meaning, content and form of learning within this triangle. It is this understanding that the acceptance and practical application of VPL for personalized learning supports. But it is above all the individual who learns, not the organisation, ‘school’ or the system, with the concept of Valuing Learning as a driving force.