AQW 36821/11-15

Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry

Tabled Date: 01/10/2014
Answered On Date: 20/10/2014
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning how his Department is working with the higher and further education institutions and other stakeholders to implement an effective process for the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning.

Answer:

My Department is committed to the principle that higher education, and Foundation Degrees in particular, are open to all those who have the ability to benefit from higher education. To help bring this about, we wish to encourage more people, who may have less in the way of formal qualifications, to consider applying for places in higher education on the basis of accredited prior experiential learning.

To this end, in 2010, my Department convened a working group with membership comprised of representatives from; the six further education colleges, Queen’s University, University of Ulster, Open University, Foundation Degree Forward, the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils, and the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

In 2011, the group produced the University and College Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning Guidelines that were endorsed by the whole sector and that draw upon good practice within the sector and across the UK. Implementation of the guidelines is being reviewed as part of Access to Success, my Department’s widening participation strategy for higher education.

In addition, upskilling the existing workforce is a key element of the Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland. It is in this context that my Department commissioned independent research which examined the feasibility and desire to accredit th` existing skills of experienced workers. At a macro level, the research found a range of issues likely to affect the demand for this programme and ultimately the desire from employers to accredit the existing skills of their workers. Following a value for money assessment, it was considered unfeasible to undertake a large scale national accreditation programme to recognise the prior learning of individuals.

At a sectoral level, my Department, in conjunction with the Construction Industry Training Board Northern Ireland, has undertaken a pilot project to examine the capacity to ‘qualify the existing workforce’ within the construction industry. The pilot exceeded its target, with 500 unqualified construction workers gaining an NVQ Level 2 qualification. My Department has committed to a second phase of the project which aims to qualify a further 1,000 workers to NVQ Level 2 over the next two years.