Transcript Using ODL as a tool for development Commonwealth of

LOCATING ADULT
LEARNING WITHIN THE
PARADIGM OF
LIFELONG LEARNING
Veronica McKay
Norma Romm
Joyce Kebathi
Herman Kotze
ADEA
GABON
March 2006
Nonformal education, the NQF and LLL
The paper has 3 main aims
1. To examine the
implementation of the NQF in
four countries,
2. To consider the role of the
NQF as applied to formal and
nonformal adult education
3. To present case for locating
adult learning within the
paradigm of Lifelong
Learning.
A four country review of qualifications
frameworks
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Presently, South Africa (in
particular) and Namibia
have gone some way
towards establishing their
qualifications framework.
Botswana and Kenya are
currently engaged in the
development of their
qualifications framework.
The paper looks at the extent to which
these countries
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have found/believe the NQF to be
useful for integrating education and
training
Recognize Prior Learning
Facilitate access for adults to careerpathing and for opening access to
those previously been excluded from
the formal systems of education
have found or believe standard setting
and outcomes/competence-based
approaches in NFE to be responsive to
the social demand and/or economic
demand
Locate basic/NFE within the NQF
Locating basic/nonformal education
within the NQF
The paper argues that
learning acquired nonformally should be located
within the (existing or
emerging) NQFs for
ensuring equivalence,
validation, accreditation and
certification of non-formal
learning.
Why locate basic education/NFE within
the NQF?
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Global changes mean moving beyond
communal validation of knowledge to
a more public system of validation for
To give the poor opportunities for
meeting their basic learning needs, to
go beyond basic learning, and to have
their knowledge validated
The new knowledge economy & social
interactions transcend national
borders (as people are compelled to
pursue work opportunities) highlighting
the need for the validation of basic
learning.
The NQF opens opportunities for
learners to go beyond meeting basic
learning.
GLOBALISATION, LLL AND ILLITERACY
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Globalization and the new emerging
economic and social order demand
new, more complex competencies. The
poor have acute knowledge needs to
cope with globalization.
Challenges for people with low levels
of education are exacerbated by eg
drought, famine poverty,
unemployment and work instability,
violence, conflict, environmental
degradation, HIV/AIDS
Adult basic education has come to be
viewed as a key strategy within the
overarching goal of poverty alleviation
Lifelong and life wide learning
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From education to learning, from time &
space bound to lifelong and lifewide
education - across a variety of sites and
through a variety of modes
LLL goes beyond education for all. It
stresses the right of all to learn and to
continue learning – across time and
space. (Torres)
LLL implies ensuring that the poor have
opportunities to meet their basic
learning needs, to go beyond basic
learning & to have their knowledge
validated.
In knowledge-based economies, LLL
can create inequalities. Those who
have the lowest levels of skill or
capacity updating are more vulnerable.
LLL as a paradigm for all countries, as a principle for
(re)shaping education and learning systems (Torres 2005)
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LLL is a need and a principle for
education and learning systems
worldwide,
It actively embraced by the North but
sits uneasily for national governments
in the South, which prescribe narrow
primary education ceilings for poor
countries.
The “dual education agenda” which is
currently being shaped and in terms of
which lifelong learning in the North
while basic education and completion
of primary education are promoted in
the South.
This consolidates and deepens the
gap between North and South.
Linking LLL and the NQF
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The system of LLL as an
organizing principle is contingent
on national and regional
qualifications framework.
We argue for the coupling of
national (and regional) qualification
frameworks with the LLL
philosophy
NFE needs to have systems for
learning validation which are
equivalent to the systems of formal
education, in order that learners
might access the “ladders” and
“bridges”
Lifelong learning vs. education for all
LLL - North
• For those
who have
had the
benefits of
basic
education
• Offers leisure
and upskilling
EFA - South
• The
foundation is
the ceiling
• Targets
marginalised,
women,
indigenous &
remote
The scope of the research
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examines the use of frameworks as
they exist in two African countries
(South Africa and Namibia) and,
the developments in this regard in
two countries where the
development of qualification
frameworks is in process (Botswana
and Kenya).
All four countries fall outside of the
structural adjustment framework.
NQF in four countries
• Across the countries there are
various approaches to dealing with
assessment and accreditation so
that it can be dealt with along the
lines of being equivalent to the
mainstream formal system.
• This is to enable access and
portability between the non-formal
and formal systems and to enable
this across the education and
training divide.
Some findings: Nambia
The Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA)
was mandated to
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register qualifications and set up
occupational standards for any
occupation
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establish benchmarks; accreditation of
persons, institutions and organizations
providing education and training to
ensure they meet certain requirements;
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Evaluate competencies learned outside
formal education (RPL)
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Evaluate the qualifications of almost
40000 Namibians who have obtained
qualifications abroad.
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The system of accreditation for ABE is in
the process with equivalences between
the school-based system and non-formal
education being established.
Some findings: Botswana and Kenya
• the NQF is also still in nascent form. The
intention is, to put in place a system that is
predicated on developing and assessing
learning in terms of equivalences – a
system which is aimed at giving status and
recognition formal and nonformal learning
• Botswana is in a phase of recurriculization
of NFE
• The new curriculum is being developed in
tandem with, and is indeed proposed
National Qualifications Framework as the
entire system of education gears itself for a
qualification framework.
Botswana: cntd
• In Botswana, the Adult Basic Education
Programme (ABEP) proposal makes
provision for learning to be incorporated
into the larger NQF system insofar as it
has opened possibilities for careerpathing and access to additional
learning (both general education and
vocational training)
• It calls for enhanced collaboration and
coordination between the Ministry of
Education and other ministries offering
relevant educational and training
programs for youth and adults (e.g.
Labor, Health, Agriculture, Family, etc.),
as well as with BOTA (Botswana
Training Authority) to assist in the
provision and assessment of vocational
skills.
Lessons learned from the SA
experience: Challenges
In South Africa, the NQF has been
operational for a decade:
• Integration and moving between
academic and vocational qualifications
and between formal education and the
world of work remain difficult
• Not all adult learners want accreditation.
Many come to learn focused skills, Often
providers are often only resourced/funded if
they provide the so-called accredited
programs.
• The process of implementing the
recognition of prior learning (RPL) is
proving to be complicated and cumbersome
and more work must be done to render it
“operational”. Problems with regard to the
RPL relate to is inaccessibility and
cumbersomeness.
Lessons learned from SA cntd
• Demystifying unit standards. It takes an
inordinate amount of training to equip a
teacher to understand what the unit
standards require and how to apply them in
the learning environment
• Packing too much into ABE programs.
The problem of what is possible and what
minimum learning adults need to access
further learning options rather than making
the required exit level a formidable and
unachievable obstacle to further learning.
• The practical application of RPL. It is not
easy to apply RPL at any degree of scale. If
the system is to be fully implemented, ways
of accrediting and validifying learning will
need to be established.
Lessons learned: South Africa contd
• Capacity building should continue
to enhance national and regional
capacity for the development of new
qualifications frameworks and for
the recognition in prior learning.
• Regional cooperation and the
sharing of best practices is
essential. Countries in the region
will need to look to each other for
help and cooperation. Regional
equivalencies even for basic
education and also the possible
sharing of systems at a regional and
a continental level for the
harmonization and articulation of
regional qualification frameworks.
Thank you …