Recognition O Fprior Learning: Its Relevance to the Proposed Unified Model O F Education a Nd Training for South African Nurses

To an adult, his experience is him. He defines who he is, establishes his self-identity, in terms o f a unique series o f experiences.... he has a deep investment in the value o f his n/vrm ice. A /u/so , w /im / i e f i n d s / i / m s e / f /// a s / t / M t / c w /// w / z / f / / / / / s e y v r i i ' m r i s /unbeing used, o r its worth is minimized, i t is not ju s t his experience th a t is being rejected. Abstract Recognition of Prior Learning (R P L) is a fairly new concept in South Africa, and hence different people have different views about R P L. Through this paper, an attempt is made to shed some light on the historical background as well as the philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of R P L. It is hoped that this informa­ tion will help those nurse educators wishing to experiment with R P L to have a better understanding of how the concept came about. The relevance of R P L to the Unified model of nurse training proposed by the South African Nursing Council is also discussed. A h c t r n h /e rsitv n f Natal /xUjLltlls. University of Natal Alhoewel die erkenning van vorige Leerervaring redelik nuwe konsep in Suid-Afrika is, het verskillende mense verskillende sieninge van die konsep Erkennimng van Vorige Leerervaring. Hierdie artikel is 'n poging om meer lig op die histories agtergrond assok op die filasofiese en tearetiese begrondinge van Erkenning van Vorige Leerervaaring te werp. Hopenlike sal hierdie inligting verlpeegdanste wat met Erkenning van Vorige Leerervaaring wil eksperimenteer behulpsaam wees met die begrip van hoe die loonsep ontstaan het. Die belong van Erkenning van Vorige Leerervaaring in die algemene model van verpleegopleiding in Suid-Afrikaanse Raad op avaerpleeing, word ook bespreek.


Research Article
When one looks at the developments in Nursing Education in our country, it be comes evident that for the past century nursing education failed to offer nurses opportunities to progress from a nurs ing school to a college without duplica tion and extension in the period of train ing, or from a college to a university/ technikons since courses offered at all these institutions did not link up within institutions.A community health nurse who worked for more than ten years in a community health setting may have ac cumulated enough experience and may have learned from that experience, but the present system of training is such that whatever she/ he has learned can not be recognised since there are no n ationally approved m echanism s for this.This demotivated nurses who were eager to continue with their education since their prior learning experience is not recognised.Matric entrance require ment poses another problem.A number of people with a vast amount of previ 70 Curationis June 2000 ous experience have been denied ac cess on the basis that they did not pos sess Matric.Enrolled nurses wishing to do the Bridging programme for profes sional nurses have been turned down if they were not in possession of a Matric certificate.Nurses who have done the di ploma program m e before Matric was made an entry requirement, if they wish to register for a degree in nursing have to undergo a process of exemption on the basis of their age and not on the basis of ttieir experience in nursing.What this means is that the present system of training does not recognise previous experience.Nursing as a profession like many other professions finds itself at cross roads.Im proving access for education and training in health sciences for groups p re v io u s ly d is a d v a n ta g e d by p o o r schooling or by virtue of race, gender or financial circum stances, is an urgent challenge.For nursing education, this necessitates a review of student selec-tion and the admission criteria.It also necessitates upgrading programmes for the e nrolled nurse and the enrolled nurse assistant category.The H ealth S cience W orking G roup (1996), recommended that, in order to enhance mobility, provision should be made for multiple entry and exit points within the horizontally and vertically in tegrated system of education and train ing for health professionals through the development within the sector of a Na tional Qualification Framework p rinci ples.These recommendations are more relevant to nursing education because improving access will mean unifying the education and training system of nurses so that enrolled nurses can for the first time be allowed to enter into the basic programmes w itho ut dup lica tion and unnecessary extension of their training.It would appear therefore that the South African Nursing Councils' proposed Uni fied System of education and training for nurses was an outgrowth of the above proposals.A ccording to the Nursing Council, the proposed system is a four year programme, the aim of which is the preparation of a professional nurse, ca pable of independent com prehensive practice.Thus there will be no shorter p rogram m es s im ila r to the c u rre n t enrollment programmes ( South African Nursing Council S 1455, 1996 ).For the first time in the South African nurses his tory all trained nurses will be able to func tion independently, since they will all be comprehensively trained.The proposed unified system will allow for flexibility so that students can enter and exit at rel evant levels according to their qualifica tions.This system will place nursing edu cation in line with the National Qualifica tions Framework since principles like access, potability of credits and progres sion within the system will be possible.The first two years of the programme will allow ca n d id a te s to e xit as g e n e ric nurses with knowledge and skills in nurs ing, to plan and execute care plans.It is proposed that this nurse will be able to function independently at this level un like the enrolled nurse of the previous two year programme.During the third and fourth year, the focus will shift to managem ent skills of com prehensive patient care including the various disciplines( m idwifery, com m unity, mental health).On completion, the student will be re g is te re d as a c o m p re h e n s iv e generalist nurse( South African Nursing Council 1996).The m ost appropriate approach to the implementation of the National Q ualifications Fram ework is through the system of Recognition of Prior Learning ( R P L ).Therefore, for the transformation of Nursing Education and Training, R P L will be an appropri ate approach.For potential candidates without matric but with previous relevant experience from say, voluntary or com munity work, they will be able to access the training programmes and hence wid ening the entry portal, unlike in the past where these candidates would be redi recte d to th e e n ro lle d p ro g ra m m e .Those who already hold a qualification for example, enrolled nurse, they will be able to progress through in the unified system, and for the first time be allowed to proceed in the four year programme without extension or duplication.Recog nition of their prior learning experience will be possible since they will be allowed to challenge the examination or submit evidence in the form of a portfolio to make a claim for previous experiential learning towards a particular qualifica tion they do not hold.However, like SAQA and the NQF, the South African Nursing Council has only made resolutions about RPL.Therefore, nurse educators need to explore the co n ce p t further, engage in m ore re se arch in to issues like how cre d its should be awarded without compromis ing standards.Instead of being excited by the notion of Recognition of Prior Learning, nurse educators need to pon der on these issues , so that problems experienced in other countries that ex perimented with RPL will be avoided.

Purpose o f this Paper
The purpose of this paper is to explore the concept further, by tracing the his tory, its philosophical and theoretical un derpinnings so that a more contextual understanding can be gained before the concept is experimented with in our pro fession.

Prior Experiential Learning
Experiential learning refers to learning in which the learner is directly in touch with the realities being studied.It is in con trast with learning in which the learner only reads about, hears about, talks about or writes about these realities, but never come into contact with them as part of the learning process (Keeton and Tate 1990: 67).Recognition of Prior Experiential Learn ing therefore is a process that enables people to receive formal recognition for skills and knowledge they already pos sess.Since prior learning cannot be rec ognised before it has been assessed and because not all prior experience leads to learning, it is important for educators to carefully design mechanisms to iden tify, verify and assess prior learning be fore accreditation can be given.It is im portant also to highlight the fact that it is not how or where learning has occurred but the emphasis is on the outcomes of that learning.Therefore the National Qualifications Framework provides a ve hicle for Recognition of Prior Learning.Through the standardisation of units of learning it is possible to verify learning against set criteria that describe the learning outcome.According to Phillips (1997) 1983:131 ).The choice of the method used for R P L should be based on the above proposi tions.

B rief History o f Recognition o f Prior Learning
In America, official recognition of prior learning dates back as far as 1970's.It started in after the Second World War when the American soldiers who were returning from war requested that the skills they have learnt during their mili tary service and the courses they fo l lowed to be able to perform their vari ous tasks be taken into account in order to avoid duplication of learning.For the first time the Armed Force, the State col le g e s and u n iv e rs itie s , c o m m u n ity groups, as well as industry got together in order to find possible ways to recog nise the experiential learning of these people.Later on the adult population in g e n e ra l, fo llo w in g n um erou s so cia l changes wanted to return to school and obtain credits fo r w hat they already knew.Women in particular felt that they needed recognition for all the voluntary services they offered as contribution to society.According to Stanley (1980), more than 300 institutions and hundreds of individuals contributed through re search to im provem ent of practices which led to accreditation of prior learn ing.Due to the growing demand for the rec ognition of prior learning, the Council for the Advancement of Experiential Learn ing ( CAEL ) was formed.It started as a small association of universities , col leges, groups of professionals in higher education who worked together for the advancement of the use of experiential learning in college and university edu cation and for its valid and reliable as sessments (Morris and Keaton 1985).This centre is located in New Jersey.Since then, CAEL has been active in initiating, developing, implementing and monitoring progress of the R P L systems across the USA.Its memberships in cludes 600 colleges, universities, corpo rations, unions associations and indi viduals.The New York State College (1983); the Vermont State College (1978) and Thomas A. Edison College (1981), have all been active in implementing the system.In the United Kingdom, with the help from the C A E L the university colleges or polytechnics, concerned with helping adults in recognising their prior learning experiences started with R P L courses.In 1986, the Learning from Experience Trust was established.This was similar to the U S A 's C A E L since it was also an independent charity with social learn ing o rientation aim ing at developing ways in which people could make maxi mum benefit of their experiential learn ing.The Learning from Experience Trust (LET) undertakes research and develop ment w ork and acts as a catalyst for changes within the mainstream of post secondary education and training sys tems (Simosko, 1991:96).Other countries like Australia New Zea land and Canada have also been imple menting the R P L system.

South African Experiences with RPL
As in the USA, the need for R P L in South Africa was a labour market initia tive.According to Harris (1994), formal work on R P L began in June 1994 when the National Training Board (N T B) es tablished a sub-committee of an exist ing working group to address assess ment issues.Prior to this point there were various initiatives at national and local levels, although they did not officially call them R P L systems.In terms of the cur rent political .economic and social con text in South Africa, R P L is seen to have the capacity to contribute to redress and equity by opening up more inclusive ways for people to attain qualification status; it also enables more people to reach higher levels of qualification and expertise.
In South Africa while the Labour sector approach and understand the N Q F from the social and political perspective, the Education and Training sector is challenged by the need to redefine tra ditional boundaries between the aca demic, the professional and the voca tional as well as the boundaries between formal ,non-formal and informal educa tion (Harris 1997:45).This Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for educators in South Africa is regarded as an official policy imperative and an ad m inistrative dilem m a.At the level of policy, R P L is a key principle of the Na tional Q ualifications Framework to be pursued across sectors.At delivery level it presents complex challenges ( Musker 1998:8).The education system has been recognising prior learning in the past through the Joint M atriculation Board which has been issuing mature adults 72 C urationis June 2000 with certificates based on the notion that learning may take place outside an edu cation system and that people learn through experience.What seems differ ent now is that this Recognition of Prior Learning has been seen as a vehicle for redress.It has been perceived differently by different people in different contexts.For instance, from the Labour sector it is seen as a means for accreditation and hence increasing chances of em ploy ment.From the academ ic sector it is perceived as ensuring development and progression.It is these conflicting views about R P L that have led educators to be more concerned than excited with this innovation.There are concerns about lack of research on how effective these changes have been, in other words how com parable were graduates who o b tained qualifications through processes like Recognition of Prior Learning in the business world?There are questions about how standards will be maintained during the implementation of such sys tems.There are questions from academ ics about Recognition of Prior Learning and compromising the value of an aca demic institution, such as development of critical thinking ( Gawe 1999:5).There fore it is these questions that nurse edu cators need to explore further.

Philosophical Underpinnings o f the RPL System
According to Dewey, as cited in Tanner and Tanner (1980), one cannot penetrate very deeply into any significant educa tional problem s or issues without en countering philosophical considerations (Tanner and Tanner 1980).This is also true of Recognition of Prior Learning, as th is w ou ld shed m ore clarity on the meaning of the concept.The intrinsic tendency for people to draw upon their own experiences for both knowledge and skills, and the vast ac cumulation of experience that an adult has, compared to a child, makes learner experience an important concept in adult education theory and practice.Although the experiential learning movement is not restricted tc adult education , it has al ways found a very comfortable location there.Saddington cited in Harris (1997), analysed the place of experience within the various traditions of adult education and th ro u g h 'm a p p in g ' process a d dressed the place of adult experience w ithin those traditions which are d is cussed below.

Hum anist tradition
In this tradition, experience is the source of knowledge and the content of the cur riculum.As the learner reflects on his/ her own experience so he/she takes possession of it in a new way and gains knowledge which is authentic because it is true for his/her life world.The pos session of experience is a personal dis covery of knowledge which enables the learner to become a complete person and hence self actualisation takes place (Harris 1997:34).This tradition is indi vidual focussed and is not oriented to social change though the individual as a learner is expected to function within a given social context through increased levels of personal empowerment.

Progressive tradition
The progressive tradition in adult edu cation grew out of a reaction to liberal education in an attem pt to respond to the social and political changes in the twentieth century.The emphasis of edu cation was changed from the intellectual development of the mind to a focus on individuals having a responsibility to wards the society in which they lived.Education was seen as an instrument of social and political reform, which had a major role to play in the maintenance and extension of democracy.The pro gressive tradition sees education as life long and therefore learning how to learn is important for the learner then to con tinue to use both the knowledge that she gains from experience as well as knowl edge that she g a in s from o th e r re sources like books, in solving problems and bringing about social change.The centrality of human experience in the progressive trad ition means that the learner's experience is highly valued and is at last equal to the experience of oth ers stored away in written word ( Tan ner,. and Tanner, 1980:102).It becomes clear that the role of previous experience is highly valued by this tradition, and the fact that the most of the deliberations by the Department of Education and Train ing were influenced by this philosophy.This is also confirmed by the National Commission on Higher Education and Training' statement that:

Reconstructionist
This tradition has features in common with progressivism.The proponents of this philosophical thought believe that human experience is culturally and his torically determ ined.O ne's goals are grounded in experience and values are attached to goals.According to these philosophers, learning occurs directly through one's experience and indirectly th ro u g h th e e x p e rie n c e o f o th e rs (Brameld, 1986:67).For them education is the key to all societal reform.The cur riculum must be geared to the transfor mation of the rising generation so that they embrace the goals and develop the needed means for collective social trans fo rm a tio n (Tanner and Tanner, 1980:132).According to this philosophy, le a rn in g sh o u ld not be c o n fin e d to schools only, in other words other sites of learning like workplace should be rec ognised.This is enshrined in the National Qualifications Framework of the country.This tradition embraces democracy as the appropriate goal of education and therefore is in line with the ideologies of the D epartm ent of Labour which see learning as a tool for participation, trans formation, dem ocracy and taking con trol of own lives.The South African Quali fications Authority speaks about build ing a ' working dem ocracy' in the post apartheid South Africa, therefore learn ing must transform society ( COSATU 1996: 32).

Technological tradition
In this tradition, value is accorded to ex perience to the extent that it matches skills and knowledge which has been prescribed according to national eco nom ic needs.Individual experience is always quantified and used to determine an appropriate entry point into educa tional or training system.Supported by the human capital theory, education in this tradition becomes increasingly in strumental, utilitarian and pragmatic.In other words, education becomes valued in terms of its usefulness to the labour market as well as the economic returns on investments in human capital.There is an emphasis on ensuring that people are able to adopt and fit into both organi sational and societal goals.Thus the econ om ic needs are more im portant than the individual needs.It is this tradi tion that has underpinned most estab lished forms of vocational education and training internationally (Harris 1997: 43).

Theoretical Underpinnings O f RPL.
Experiential learning is a concept that is as old as mankind, because individuals have always learned through trial and error, that is from tentative experiments conducted for the purpose of reaching a specific goal.What is often called learn ing by doing has been integrated into course offered in universities all over the world.The belief was that, continuous exposure to practice would allow the stu dent to apply the learning acquired from theory.The experiential learning move ment originated in the U S A , in the radi cal and liberal critiques of traditional edu cation in the 1960s.According to Keeton and Tate (1990), experiential learning refers to learning in which the learner is in direct contact with the realities being studied.It is in contrast with learning in which the learner only reads about, talks about or writes about these realities, but never comes into contact with them as part of the learning process (Keeton and Tate, 1990 ).Therefore, recognition of prior learning has been based on the experiential learning theory because new challenges for social justice and equal opportunities in higher education are based on the notion that people do learn from experi ence and the result of that learning can be assessed and certified at college level.Experiential learning theory offers a foundation for social policy and action since it can be used as a basis for con structive efforts to promote access to those who have been previously denied such access.In his own words, Kolb believes that:  (Kolb 1984:216).The proponents of experiential learning theory were concerned about the 'how' of learning since their focus was on ad aptation as the central role of affective experience.However, the influence that this theory had on higher education as well as on labour organisations was such that these institutions realised that they had a responsibility for ensuring life long learning.The experiential learning theoretical model was used by the Co operative Assessm ent of Experiential Learning (CAEL) project to create and implement practical and valid assessment method ologies for assessing what people have learned from prior work and life experi ences.Researchers in this area were however more interested in what people have learned than in how they have learned.In other words, the emphasis was on the outcom e of learning.This emphasis on outcomes within experi ential learning led to the creation of for mal links between education and indus try since the linkage depended on ac curate identification and m atching of personal skills with program /jo b de mands.According to Willingham (1977), 73 C urationis June 2000 the great significance of systemic recog nition of prior learning is the linkage it provides between formal and adult life; that is a mechanism for integrating edu cation and work, for recognising the va lidity of all learning that is relevant to a college degree and for actively fostering re c u rre n t e d u c a tio n (W illin g h a m 1977:95).According to Schon (1988), reflecting on experience enables its meaning to be grasped and its potential for future prac tice to be explored.People may reflect on action, by thinking back on what they have done in order to discover how their knowing -in-action may have contrib uted to an unexpected outcome (Schon 1988: 67 ).Evans (1987), discussed the relevance of experiential learning to R P L by identifying the characteristics of ex periential learning and explaining how p eople becom e em powered through public recognition of their qualification after they have been through the Rec ognition of Prior Learning system and succeeded (Evans 1987: 36).Therefore, experiential learning theory can be used as basis for studies on R P L .
From the above discussions, it becomes evident that there are questions that need to be addressed by the Nursing Education system in order to meet the challenges of transformation of the edu cation system for nurses that the SANC is proposing.Since nurses form more than 65% of the health sector, it becomes clear that transformation of their educa tion system is an important part of trans form ing health professional education.There is a need for the following: unifi cation of the training programmes with an aim of eliminating unnecessary du p lic a tio n , and hence m aking p ro grammes cost effective.There is also a need for the development of a system th a t w ill ensure that the b a cklo g of nurses who were not comprehensively trained, are assimilated back into the education system to ensure their effec tive utilisation in primary and in district health settings where the need is great est.Programmes for nurse training need to be structured in such a way that they are in line with the objectives of the Na tional Qualifications Framework, espe cially those that deal with progression, portability of credits.Lastly, research into m ethodologies to implement the NQF principles is necessary.

Conclusion
D evelopm ents in N ursing Education have historically been influenced by de velopments in the Education system of the country.Therefore it is important to trace developments within the general system of education, their implications on nursing education, and how the nurs ing education stake holders are pre pared to meet these challenges.The present National Education and Training system is currently engaged in a proc ess of reconstruction and transformation so as to reflect an integrated approach which will address the learners and the country' needs.The principles of the National Qualifica tions Framework namely: progression; relevance; access and portability need to be implemented in the education and training of nurses.The South African Nursing C o u n c il's proposal for a unified system of education and training for nurses is a measure to ensure the im plementation of these principles.Through this paper, I have tried to high light the relevance of the R P L concept to the Unified model proposed by the South African Nursing Council.The his torical background, and the meaning of the concept Recognition of Prior Learn ing has been discussed as well as the different traditions and the theoretical underpinnings of R P L. One can con clude therefore that the perspective, the purpose and the approaches used for the Recognition of Prior Learning sys tems will be influenced by one or a com bination of these traditions.
"E x p e rie n tia l le a rn in g o ffe rs a th e o ry o f le a rn in g m o s t a p p ro p ria te fo r th e a s se ss m e n t o f p r io r le a rn in g a n d fo r th e d e s ig n o f c o m p e te n c e -c e n tre d c u rric u la .L ife lo n g le a rn in g p ro g ra m s ca n fin d in e x p e rie n tia l le a rn in g theory, a c o n c e p tu a l ra tio n a le a n d g u id in g p h ilo s o p h y a s w e ll as p r a c t ic a l e d u c a tio n a l tools"