[Not] just a piece of paper: Ontological practice and ethical obligations in the recognition of prior learning (RPL). A constructivist grounded theory investigation of non-traditional learners' experiences of RPL in the vocational education sector.

Abstract

This thesis develops a new, mid-range theory of the recognition of prior learning (RPL) with non-traditional learners. It incorporates a practice framework accompanied by good practice principles, to support the implementation of socially just RPL. Formal skills recognition processes, such as RPL, have been used as tools for enhancing social inclusion and social justice within educational institutions across the world. RPL seeks to affirm and accredit skills and knowledges that have evolved from diverse, informal learning experiences and cultural locations and is thought by some to be ‘a powerful tool for bringing people into the learning system’ (Hargreaves 2006, 2). However, in Australia and elsewhere, RPL is largely accessed by those who are already familiar with systems and discourses of formal learning. This excludes the very people who could most benefit from RPL and misses an opportunity to integrate alternative knowledges into professional education curricula. This qualitative, empirical study, explores non-traditional learners’ experiences of RPL for the formal award of Community Services qualifications within the Australian vocational education and training (VET) sector. Data are gathered at three points during the RPL process through in-depth, semi-structured interviews with nine RPL candidates, their workplace supervisors and the assessors. A total of 22 participants provide data via 54 individual interviews and one assessor focus group. Data analysis was undertaken using constructivist grounded theory methods revealing three key aspects of RPL that operate as ‘vectors’ to guide and stabilise the RPL experience for individual candidates. A strong ‘meta’ theme emerges, indicating ontological purposes of RPL and intersubjective qualities and effects of the assessment. Philosophical and political theories of Recognition (Honneth 1995, Oliver 2001) are used to demonstrate how RPL is an interpersonal exchange that engages both the candidate's and assessor's sense of 'who' they are and how socially valued and agentive they feel. The thesis concludes that in order to provide a suitably tailored response to non-traditional learners in the context of striving for socially just and inclusive RPL, the assessor must embrace this avowedly ontological conceptual base and hone specific skills for the conduct of an ethically responsible assessment relationship.