Non Formal and Informal Learning – A Time For Recognition
The way we get recognised for our learning is changing. Courses don't need to necessarily be recognised, and your learning doesn't necessarily need to be in a course. If your organisation delivers educational programs, or if you are a student participating in any form of education, this news is good.
For the education providers, there is a solid validation of the learning taking place through the courses you offer. The validation exists in seeing courses recognised through recognition of prior learning (RPL) pathways, ultimately leading to student’s learning being formally recognised. The courses you deliver, worthy of such formal recognition, are classed as, or simply called, non-formal and informal learning (NFIFL) courses. The development of skills occurs in accessing NFIFL courses and tutors.
For the students, there is a sense that all short courses and training events completed or attended over years of an academic career, may be formally recognised through RPL and therefore their efforts will be acknowledged. They no longer need years of degree or postgraduate studies to be deemed educated, skilful or knowledgeable.
So NFIFL, an abbreviation coined by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training, need to be respected in everyone’s educational or academic career. Thankfully, we see micro-credentialing and ‘enrichment learning’ gaining the attention of trade, education, and political departments. Simultaneously, NFIFL recognition may have certain traditional awarding bodies feeling slightly unnerved. Those uneasy feeling awarding bodies may fail to look outside of the parameters of tightly regulated frameworks and systems … to a place where NFIFL exists and its recognition is now being emphasised more than ever.
We hear about the rationale for change, the patterns of change and the pace of change. Well, change is now here. Those who fail to find incredible innovation in learning and collaborate with the visionary leadership behind it, which alters the landscape of education, will only be left behind. Or perhaps their demise lies ahead.
So what else is there to say but thank you. Thank you on behalf the institutions who work hard in course and qualification development, thank you on behalf of the tutors who mentor and support students in all of their achievements, and thank you from the students themselves. That’s thanks for the recognition, the acknowledgment and the validation of all learning in a lifetime.
