Post added by Anna Sofia Kah
In Sweden we have this saying (and I think many other countries have something similar), that too many cooks make bad soup. This blog address the stakeholder soup surrounding the Swedish system of validation of prior learning.
10 or so national agencies, under at least 4 different ministries, many industry sector organisations, a number of trade unions, around 40 universities or university colleges, 20 regions and 290 municipalities are all involved with and partly responsible for validation of prior learning (VPL) in Sweden, from supporting, financing, auditing and carrying out. It’s not hard to understand that individuals, employers and guidance counsellors sometimes find it utterly confusing and hard to navigate such a system. And adding to that complexity is the fact that validation, about 25 years after the fact, still is a relatively unknown possibility for most.
So, what is being done to try and make things easier for the ones that need their skills validated and recognised? In late 2015 the government appointed a national delegation to support and promote coordinated developments of the VPL system. The delegation consists of 15 representatives from some of the above-mentioned stakeholders, 6 national agencies and 9 from the industry sectors and trade unions. One of the first tasks of the delegation was to produce a national strategy for VPL, that was handed over to the government in March last year (you can read a summary of the strategy in English here).
The main aim of the strategy is for an increasing number of individuals to have their prior learning validated and a few different priorities to achieve that aim was set. One of these priorities, perhaps the most important one, is better and more accessible information on the possibility of VPL and who is responsible for what. Another priority was enhanced cooperation among stakeholders. To meet both those priorities, the 6 national agencies represented in the delegation, agreed last summer to appoint a steering group for their cooperation. That steering group have now been working during fall to agree on what to cooperate on and how. The first concrete action was to set up a working group of communication specialists from each of the agencies to produce a common communication strategy for the VPL system in Sweden. I for one am looking forward to seeing what they come up with
lson. Hopefully it will make information on VPL more accessible and I have high hopes that the future communication work will be linked with an e-guidance tool that is also under development.
It is not an easy task communicating something that is still mostly unknown to people. Most of those in need, don’t know to ask for validation and/or recognition of their skills or qualifications. Perhaps they ask about job opportunities or further training. The professionals tasked with answering those questions must understand validation might be the right answer for some of those individuals in some of those situations. That means when communicating VPL, you have several different target audiences. Again, not making things easier. As I’m writing this on an airplane heading to Turin, I look forward to hearing more over the next couple of days on how other countries have addressed this issue. To hopefully get some interesting ideas and learn from others. Because I don’t think Sweden is unique in our struggles to be more coordinated or to enhance cooperation between many different stakeholders.
Please log in or sign up to comment.