According to survey responses from 20 British companies (21%), 4 had not heard of accreditation of prior learning (APL), 13 did not use it, and 3 did, although not specifically for management development. Nonusers had some negative attitudes toward APL, dismaying considering its potential role in the competence approach to management development.…

A project at Denman College (Great Britain) to help volunteers document their community work to get credit for a diploma encountered problems in translating community work into formalized academic definitions and in the range of skill levels among volunteers. (SK)

A sign of a loss of vision in adult education is disuse of the term liberal education and increasing use of the term continuous education. Mandated accreditation of adult-education courses runs counter to the tradition of liberal adult education, which is a matter of intrinsic value, not external evaluation. (SK)

A survey of British providers of women's education following legislation requiring accreditation found that, despite advantages of credit programs, the change caused problems for the most disadvantaged women. Credits and outcomes-based assessment deter some participants, curriculum design and delivery are more prescribed, and flexibility is…

An accreditation program for community workers uses accreditation of prior learning (APL) as a means of awarding full professional qualifications in community work. However, APL may be waning in the context of professional higher education. (SK)

Priorities for the British national task force on credit accumulation and transfer are a taxonomy of credit schemes, reform of academic structures and regulations, a national credit framework, and development of a credit-based resource methodology. (SK)

This document explores the rationale and technical issues underlying the proposal for a common credit framework in Great Britain. This volume, aimed at senior institutional managers, curriculum managers, and practitioners, offers advice on levels, credit value, and award of credit within the framework proposal. A list of terminology is found at…

Based on a Making Experience Count (MEC) project, this book examines current trends in learning from experience. Chapter 1 discusses key theoretical elements that underpin work in the field of experiential learning and analyzes the contribution of the andragogic approach to adult learning. Chapter 2 offers an alternative model--gynagogy--and…

This bulletin is the sixth in a series that provides information on a collaborative project known as MainFrame to develop youth training programs in Great Britain. It describes the assessment procedures used in the youth training programs and examines project progress toward its main objective--the development of a unit credit transfer system--and…

A research project assessed the effect of Open College Network (OCN) accreditation on learner motivation and progression. It reviewed the effectiveness of OCNs in reaching the learners they seek to target--those who have benefited least from existing initial and continuing education. A postal survey was conducted of all learners registered with…

A survey of 83 nursing and midwifery education institutions in Britain collected information regarding assessment of prior learning (APL), i.e., certificated learning, and assessment of prior experiential learning (APEL), i.e., noncertificated learning. Follow-up interviews took place in 10 institutions. All nursing and midwifery education…

A project of Great Britain's Further Education Unit explored the role adult education colleges can play in facilitating access to the national vocational qualifications (NVQs) for learners with special needs and identifying barriers to NVQs for adults with special needs. The issues surrounding the current and planned changes to the NVQs are that:…

This document refines and develops a 1992 proposal by Great Britain's Further Education Unit (FEU) that all kinds of student achievement be documented within a common framework involving the following procedures: describing adult learners' achievements in terms of learning outcomes; grouping the learning outcomes into coherent units; defining the…

This book presents 14 papers which discuss contemporary issues of curriculum change and instructional effectiveness in higher education primarily from a British perspective. Papers address curriculum purpose, curriculum delivery, and curriculum impact on the wider society. In addition, the book covers experiential learning, skills and training,…

A project tested the feasibility of describing learning outcomes in adult/continuing education in ways that could be more clearly understood by three major groups of people--students, teachers, and employers of graduates--and how these could be assessed and accredited. Academic staff explored four different approaches to describing learning…