The Impact of RPL

The Impact on Learners

RPL can be a powerful process to assist student career planning. It can help learners understand where their strengths, weaknesses and interests lie, particularly if the process has included direct interaction with workplace supervisors and mentors. This can help them map not only appropriate careers but also appropriate pathways for attaining their goals.

RPL can have a significant impact on learner confidence and motivation. Through the RPL process, learners can come to realise how much they already know and can do, and thus may try a qualification or training program that they otherwise might not have attempted, or at least would have approached with trepidation.

RPL can significantly assist in the development of learner-centred training programmes. It can provide information and insights regarding what learners already know and how each learner learns best, which allows trainers to tailor the teaching–learning process to match learning styles.

The Impact on Training Organisations

Considerable concern is expressed about the significant and obvious difference in standards among training providers when the national training agenda mandates the acceptance of assessments by all other registered training providers. This is not seen to be a major concern when the learner is only seeking RPL for a small percentage of a training programme because providers generally believe they can ‘compensate for deficiencies before graduation’. It is, however, seen to be a major problem when the learner is seeking a significant amount of recognition towards a qualification that will carry the name of the new provider.

The ‘shelf-life’ of qualifications and experience used for the purpose of RPL, particularly in some industry areas, requires consideration. The interviewees expressed concern that the rate, pervasiveness and depth of change in some industry areas - for example, sound, video and information technology - are such that even quite recently acquired qualifications and experiences may no longer reflect accepted industry practice or standards.

The Impact on the Workplace

RPL can provide significant assistance to employers regarding the potential contribution of the learner to the business. It is seen as a very effective way of assisting senior staff of the business to understand the existing knowledge, skills and experience of the learner (their employee) so that, in turn, the business can make maximum productive use of the employee.

After two extensive RPL projects (one with the SERVICES SETA, which totalled approximately 15 000 learners being RPL'd for placement onto learnerships over an eighteen-month period and the others under the National Skills Fund/Domestic Worker Chamber which included over 1000 Domestic Workers), a number of valuable lessons were learnt regarding practical RPL implementation in the workplace. Key lessons included:

• RPL cannot only be offered to a select group of workers (in these two cases it was offered only to learnership candidates) – all staff must be given the same opportunities. If this does not happen, the non-RPL'd staff diminish the worth of RPL and spread gossip that RPL is a second-rate road to a qualification. This leads to dissatisfaction and fall-off in the RPL group.
• Learner preparation for RPL must be done, but if it is too long, corporate organisations will not sponsor it or allow learners to take time off to attend it. There needs to be a balance between RPL preparation to enable success and business needs.
• Learner preparation can be blended where learners are literate (a blended approach could include self-study, video or CD-Rom and face-to-face).
• Costs must be contained. Time away from work must be minimal.
• Supervisors must be sensitised to the RPL process before it takes place.
• Assessment cannot take place in the workplace as it is generally too disruptive and the learners report feeling feel self-conscious.
• Group assessments work better than one-on-one assessments for critical cross fields and for a range of unit standards and outcomes. Most employees work in groups and the group assessments allow for natural interaction and higher face validity.
• Assessors must be trained specifically to manage RPL assessments. Standard assessors (ASSMT 01) do not understand the unique needs of adult RPL learners who have been out of formal learning environments for a long time. Without this sensitivity the assessors expect textbook answers and academic conceptualisation. RPL assessors also need to learn how to see value in learner experiences that they would not usually attribute value to. For example, assessors may not see the value in traditional housework, but it could provide a learner with sufficient evidence for competence. If they have not been sensitised to RPL processes and needs, they may reject such evidence.
• The RPL Adviser role is critical to RPL success. Learners need the assistance and advice of someone who understands the RPL process and who knows how to explain terms and processes in such a way that the RPL learner can relate to them. Adult RPL learners with low levels of formal schooling find it difficult to relate to academic concepts and the RPL Adviser plays an important role in assisting them to grasp assessment concepts.