Abstract
This article discusses the relation between experience and learning in the context of recognition of prior learning (RPL) and from an experiential constructivist perspective. The study is based on a case of in-service training, based on RPL, in the care sector for elderly people. The data consist of interviews with actors in this process, which have been analysed with a qualitative interpretative approach. The results show how prior learning plays a central role in the training process, both on an individual and a collective level. The participants’ prior learning is taken as the starting point, particularly in learning conversations where prior learning is made visible and used, and where participants learn from each other. Further, new learning is taking place as a consequence of the recognition process, and the study particularly highlights how prior experiences could be the basis of new learning in a process of reflection and discussion.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
In Sweden, the municipalities fund educational providers and nursing homes no matter whether they are privately owned or run by the municipality. One could say that the municipality ‘buys’ a certain amount of ‘individual places’ for care or for education. Thus, as a citizen you only pay a minor fee for care, and for education you do not pay anything at all.
References
Andersson, P. (2007). Recognition of informal ICT competence. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy, 2(3), 173–188.
Andersson, P., & Fejes, A. (2005). Recognition of prior learning as a technique for fabricating the adult learner: a genealogical analysis on Swedish adult education policy. Journal of Education Policy, 20(5), 595–613. doi:10.1080/02680930500222436.
Andersson, P., Fejes, A., & Ahn, S.-e. (2004). Recognition of prior vocational learning in Sweden. Studies in the education of adults, 36(1), 57–71.
Andersson, P., & Harris, J. (Eds.). (2006). Re-theorising the Recognition of Prior Learning, Leicester: NIACE.
Andersson, P., Sjösten, N.-Å., & Ahn, S.-e. (2003). Att värdera kunskap, erfarenhet och kompetens: Perspektiv på validering. Stockholm: Myndigheten för skolutveckling.
Breier, M. (2005). A disciplinary-specific approach to the recognition of prior informal experience in adult pedagogy: ‘rpl’ as opposed to ‘RPL’. Studies in Continuing Education, 27(1), 51–65. doi:10.1080/01580370500056448.
Brookfield, S. D. (1987). Develo** critical thinkers: Challenging adults to explore alternative ways of thinking and acting. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Challis, M. (1996). Andragogy and the accreditation of prior learning: points on a continuum or uneasy bedfellows? International Journal of Lifelong Education, 15(1), 32–40. doi:10.1080/0260137960150104.
Cretchley, G., & Castle, J. (2001). OBE, RPL and adult education: good bedfellows in higher education in South Africa? International Journal of Lifelong Education, 20(6), 487–501. doi:10.1080/02601370110088463.
Davies, P. (1999). A new learning culture? Possibilities and contradictions in accreditation. Studies in the Education of Adults, 31(1), 10–20.
Dewey, J. (1929). Experience and nature (2nd ed.). Chicago: Open Court.
Ellström, E., & Ekholm, B. (2001). Lärande i omsorgsarbete: En studie av hemtjänsten som lärandemiljö. Linkö**: Linkö** University. CMTO research monographs, NO 1.
Fejes, A. (2008). Governing nursing through reflection: a discourse analysis of reflective practices. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 64(3), 243–250. doi:10.1111/j.1365–2648.2008.04800.x.
Fejes, A., & Andersson, P. (2007a). Historicising validation: the ‘new’ idea of validation in Sweden and its promise for economic growth. In R. Rinne, A. Heikkinen, & P. Salo (Eds.), Adult education—liberty, fraternity, equality? Nordic views on lifelong learning (pp. 161–181). Turku: Finnish educational research association.
Fejes, A., & Andersson, P. (2007b). Transition of care workers to assistant nurses—recognition of prior learning in in-service training. Paper presented at the 35th NERA congress in Turku, Finland, 15–17 March.
Fenwick, T. (2000). Expanding conceptions about experiential learning: a review of five contemporary perspectives on cognition. Adult Education Quarterly, 50(4), 243–272. doi:10.1177/07417130022087035.
Fenwick, T. (2003). Reclaiming and re-embodying experiential learning through complexity science. Studies in the Education of Adults, 35(2), 123–141.
Giroux, H. A. (1988). Teachers as intellectuals: Toward a critical pedagogy of learning. Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey.
Harris, J. (1999). Ways of seeing the recognition of prior learning (RPL): what contribution can such practices make to social inclusion? Studies in the Education of Adults, 31(2), 24–39.
Joosten-Ten Brinke, D., Sluijsmans, D. M. A., Brand-Gruwel, S., & Jochems, W. M. G. (2008). The quality of procedures to assess and credit prior learning: implications for design. Educational Research Review, 3(1), 51–65. doi:10.1016/j.edurev.2007.08.001.
Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
Kompetensstegen (2006). Faktablad 5: Kompetensstegens försöksverksamhet. Stockholm: Kompetensstegen.
Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage.
Knowles, M. (1989). The making of an adult educator. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mezirow, J. (1991). Transformative dimensions of adult learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Michelson, E. (1996). Beyond Galileo’s telescope: situated knowledge and the assessment of experiential learning. Adult Education Quarterly, 46(4), 185–195. doi:10.1177/074171369604600401.
Michelson, E. (1997). The politics of memory: The recognition of experiential learning. In S. Walters (Ed.), Globalization, adult education & training. Impacts & issues (pp. 141–153). London and New York: Zed Books.
Polanyi, M. (1958). Personal knowledge. London: Routledge & Kegan, Paul.
Pouget, M., & Osborne, M. (2004). Accreditation or validation of prior experiential learning: knowledge and savoirs in France—a different perspective? Studies in Continuing Education, 26(1), 45–65. doi:10.1080/158037042000199452.
Schön, D. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic books.
Scott, I. (2007). Accreditation of prior learning in pre-registration nursing programmes: throwing the baby out with the bath water? Nurse Education Today, 27(4), 348–356. doi:10.1016/j.nedt.2006.05.016.
Shor, I., & Freire, P. (1987). A pedagogy for liberation: Dialogues on transforming education. Massachusetts: Bergin & Garvey.
Somerville, M. (2006). Becoming-worker: vocational training for workers in aged care. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 54(4), 471–481. doi:10.1080/13636820601005818.
Wallace, M. (2000). Workplace training initiatives: implications for women in the Australian workforce. Journal of European Industrial Training, 24(5), 268–274. doi:10.1108/03090590010372038.
Warner Weil, S., & McGill, I. (1989). A framework for making sense of experiential learning. In S. Warner Weil, & I. McGill (Eds.),Making sense of experiential learning: Diversity in theory and practice (pp. 3–24). Buckingham: The Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fejes, A., Andersson, P. Recognising Prior Learning: Understanding the Relations Among Experience, Learning and Recognition from a Constructivist Perspective. Vocations and Learning 2, 37–55 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-008-9017-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-008-9017-y