a bachelor’s degree for apel practitioners

A Bachelor’s degree for APEL practitioners

The use of different standard documents for training design:

a pilot project in the Department of Education of the University of Provence (Aix-Marseille)

By Marlis Krichewsky, IFE Consultants (France)

and Michel Vial (Research Director at UMR-ADEF, University of Provence, France)

Tartu (Estonia, October 2006) QuickTime™ et un

décompresseur TIFF (non compressé)sont requis pour visionner cette image.

QuickTime™ et undécompresseur TIFF (LZW)sont requis pour visionner cette image.With the financial support of the

European Commission

EuroguideVAL: IFE/UMR-ADEF Oct.2006

2

Contents

1. Introduction2. Recent evolutions of adult education and training(AET) in

France3. Adult training in the context of French universities4. Presentation of the APEL training course of the University of

Provence5. Standards: their functions and their limits6. Some key concepts 7. From activity standards via training standards to modules8. Training design in Europe: beween subsidiarity and

harmonization


3

1. Introduction: standards what’s it all about ?

Utility of standards : to inform action Common standards allow harmonization but contain little information: they have a framework caracter.

Specific standards contain much and detailed information but are context adjusted and not transferable.

The main goal of this conference is to show you an example of specific action based on common standards but which first had to be adapted to the country specific situation.


4

QuickTime™ et undécompresseur TIFF (non compressé)

sont requis pour visionner cette image.

QuickTime™ et undécompresseur TIFF (non compressé)


Activities of the French Partners (4 out of 10)

project conception

evaluation expertise

project management

writing of standards documents

BA course (pilot)

documentary research

trans-sectoral research on training needs

research on competencies needed for counselling people in social difficulties

project web site

conference organisation

conference participation

publication in a

scientific review

French version of handbook


5

2. Recent evolutions of AET in France

Before the French Revolution

Emergence of the :

Condorcet (1792): concept of adult learning

Law of July 1971: « human development », « second chance »

Financial support: 1975

1985: VAP: validation of learning outcomes on the basis of professional experiences

« TQM » « Learning enterprise » « Competency management »

AET POLICIES

January 17, 2002: French law on APEL (VAE): validation of learning outcomes on the basis of professional AND extra-professional experiences


6

Human beings are considered as:

- factors of economic performance

- a field of investment with the hope of increasing profit in return

New key words « performance » and « human capital »

Huge masses of jobless people: choice for employers

The levels of competencies rise constantly but even highly qualified people don’t find permanent jobs

« Génération précaire »(the « insecure generation »)!

Social Darwinism on the job market and in organizations

Effects: - social violence and unrest

- traditional values and institutions shaken

- social budgets explode but are chronically insufficient


7

The effects of globalization on AET :

workers’ mobility

inter-cultural difficulties

lack of transnational competency criteria and mutually recognized certifications

possible ways to respond to this:

strengthen cooperation and support

cultural exchange under favorable conditions (Erasmus)

financial support as an answer to structural problems: ESF (European Social Fund)

elaboration and implemention of common standards (Common Policy in Sustainable Development : Leader, Natura etc. programs)

harmonization of AET systems to a « reasonable » degree (see17)

non respect of product and service standards


8

3. AET in French Universities

Two main functions of universities are to do research and to train researchers.

But also -since the Middle Ages (liberal arts) : training of professionals

Criticism: diploma-centered (« academic » and not employment centered)

Answers: integration of internships, professionals appointed as trainers

But still a difference with most other AET institutions: training for research and by the means of teaching students to do research

Hoped for long term effects :

•critical approach

•becoming a reflective practitioner

•innovation


9

4. APEL training course of the University of Provence

Objective: professionalize APEL practitioners

4.1 How did we proceed ?

• Documentary research

• Research on sector-specific training needs

• Training needs in respect to certain target populations

• Co-production of activity standards, training standards

• Conception of a full time training course (10 modules... 360 hours, internship, individual work). Validation standards. Course started on October 9, 2006

4.2 What remains to be done:

a) Conceive APEL approach for this course: spring 2007

b) Course evaluation feed back adjustments

Hoped-for synergies: exchange of experience with Estonia, Sweden, Germany and United Kingdom on the basis of their pilot courses


10

Before doing the pilot courses:

At the end of the pilot phase:

Activity standards Expressed

Training needs

Exploration of existing practises

Exploration of needs of special target populations

Training standards

Pilot courses

Pilot courses

New developments in EU

*adjustment of training standards

*handbook

*valorization


11

5. Standards: their functions and their limits

Standards: define structures and procedures (common decision)

«Background philosophy » of a given training course: influences on andragogy, atmosphere, motivation etc. (due to cultural background, institutional and individual values, choice of trainers etc.)

Means and obligations

(legal, economic, political, institutional)

real individual training course

people: trainers, students, professionals, users


12

Training standards:

1. Legal framework and TQM: identify stakeholder interests

2. Induce process of making experiential knowledge explicit, formalise non-formal and informal learning outcomes

3. Find own place in APEL, in order to construct own professional project

4. Choose own professional stance in APEL processes in accordance with epistemological and ethical considerations and the situation

The first item is knowledge based

The second concerns the transformation of experience into conscious competencies (the basis of APEL)

The third deals with the student’s own professional project and individual professionalization process

The fourth needs special explanations :


13

6. Some key concepts:

« Choose one’s professional stance in APEL processes according

to one’s epistemological and ethical considerations and the situation »

Epistemology is concerned with scientific proceedings, questions the « nature » of knowledge, man’s relationship to reality, the status of reality, experience, consciousness...

Ethical considerations include social and psychological aspects and also respect for what is at stake for people related to the situation and society as a whole. In France ethics means that the individual (self) is responsible for his own choices. Professional ethics (fr.« déontologie ») means he has to justify himself to his colleagues.

Professional stance is the attitude the professional chooses at a precise moment within the APEL process :

Is he an expert with his ready-made standards, or does he accompany an individual in his or her transformation process?


14

7. Activity standards training standards course modules

Definitions:

Activity standards describe what a professional does in his work life.

Training standards describe what he needs (competencies) in order to take in charge his professional activities (for university people it tends to mean competencies needes for the obtention of a diploma)

Course modules define learning activities for the acquisition of competencies (Every module is worth a certain number of ECTS credits).

Validation standards describe how the acquisition of competencies may be controlled. Their function is the validation of training modules.

Certification standards define essential competencies for obtaining a certification via APEL. They slightly differ from validation standards, because they take into consideration that those competencies have been acquired in a different way.


15

Relations between modules and training standards:

Principle: each module is connected to several training standards.

Example: Module 8 (praxis analysis)

- Legal framework do practices respect laws and stakeholders’ decisions (1):?

- What about the know-how to be developed under the second item, transformation of experience into competencies (2)?

- What are the ethical implications in this precise professional sitiuation ? Is the student able to understand his own stance (4)?

- Do his internship experiences allow the student to decide what exactly he wants to do, and where he wants to go, after having completed his course (3)?

There are multiple relations between training standards and course modules. Much depends on what you put into each module. We’ll have to describe modules for each country in the handbook which remains to be written.


16

Comparison between full BA training course and continuous training modules

full BA course for APEL practitioners

EQF entry level 5, exit level 6

60 ECTS credits for entire course

6 per module

individual combinations of modules according to individual training needs

ECTS credits for each validated module

possibility to do the BA over several years

course specialized on orientation

course specialized on accompaniment

special course on certification

special course on « follow-up »

courses based on roles : contents drawn and adapted from country specific training standards


17

7. Training design in Europe: between subsidiarity and harmonization

Why not just copy the French way of doing it ? Advantages of a country specific approach:

country specific approach

well adapted to situation

in tune with cultural and scientific traditions

a means to develop own creativity

enriches common European AET culture will be more

easily accepted in own country

costs less because it uses existing means (books, competency statements etc.)


18

Subsidiarity on a COMMON basis:

In the long run we would like to offer students a European BA course so they can, for example, do part of the course in Estonia and part of it in France. This means we need common competencies even if the contents and philosophy of our courses are somewhat different.

Cultural exchange and working out a common philosophy needs much more than 2 years!

For now, we can work towards harmonization.

A true common European culture still lies far ahead of us.

To enhance its development we need

* shared praxis analysis

* exchange of teachers and students

* translation of important work material and books

* participation in shared projects of all sorts in the domain of APEL

* tools for permanent debate (web forum)

http://www.reseaueval.com/special_vae/forum_vae_projet_euroguideval


19

Diploma and job

Observation: diploma ≠ job

Possible consequence for the individual: combined approaches for example:

formal training APEL BA course

one year course (level 4) on Careers Guidance

APEL validation on level 6 for 5 years’ experience as a trainer

Professional recognition as a manager in career consulting and lifelong learning


20

QuickTime™ et undécompresseur TIFF (LZW)


Thank you very much for your attention !

a bachelor’s degree for apel practitioners

Documents

training standards

specific standards

standards whats

utility of standards

activity standards

training design

action common standards

apel training course