A Scaled-up Model of AP(E)L for Sectoral Professionalisation - Lessons from the 2005 Valex Pilot Project (Dublin) - Abstract

Oct 15, 2026

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This paper presents the policy and pedagogical outcomes of an AP(E)L Pilot Project in the social care sector within the 2003-2005 Socrates Grundtvig VaLEx Research Project, led by the Dublin Institute of Technology and the Open Training College. It examines how two providers managed a scaled-up, sectoral approach rather than an individualistic one, incorporating evaluation feedback from participants, facilitators/accompaniers, and assessors. It recommends linking accreditation for prior experiential learning and RPL with work-based learning pedagogies in communities of practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

The VaLEx model field-testing

The policy context of the VaLEx Pilot (Dublin)

Key NQAI requirements and coherence

Accessibility and accompaniment for lifelong learning

A Scaled-up Model of AP(E)L for Sectoral Professionalisation: Lessons from the 2005 Valex Pilot Project (Dublin) anne murphy Abstract This paper outlines the policy and pedagogical outcomes of anAP(E)LPilot Project in the social care sector undertaken as an element of the 2003-2005 SocratesGrundtvig Research Project: VaLEx Valuing Learning from Experience, by the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and the Open Training College (OTC) . It deals with the experiences of the two providers in taking a scaled-up rather than an individualistic approach and considers the evaluation feedback from participants, facilitators/accompaniers and assessors. The paper recommends that accreditation for prior experiential learning AP(E)L / recognition of prior learning RPL could be managed more effectively and efficiently by linking it with pedagogies of workbased learning for professional development in communities of practice. Introduction The VaLEx Research Project, Valuing Learning from Experience, was an EU Socrates-Grundtvig 2003-2005 project that aimed to develop a theory-based model of AP(E)L for higher education which would be more holistic and inclusive than the competence-based, credit exchange model which has generally predominatedin higher education in Ireland, the UK and elsewhere. The model took an existential/hermeneutic, future-oriented, capability approach to adults’learning plans, with the adult’s life history of learning as central to the process. The model was heavily influenced by the French AP(E)L model -validation des acquis professionelles-and by emerging literature on indigenous knowledges and biographical methods which emphasise the value of contextualised and socially constructed ways of knowing (Bailie and O’Hagan, 2001; Bertaux, 1981; Dominicé, 2001; Feutrie, 2003; Murphy, 2004; Pouget and Osborne, 2004; Pouget, Sallic and LeScouiller, 2004) . The VaLEx model was field-tested through local pilots by Glasgow-Caledonian University (lead), the universities of Warwick, South Brittany, Brussels, Turku and Tartu, and the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) with a range of partner organisations/groups in the first half of 2005 and evaluated locally in Summer 2005 (Murphy, Megarry & Ní Mhaolrúnaigh, 2005) . The anticipated outputs of the overall VaLEx Research Project included the following: • a pedagogical model of AP(E)L underpinned with educational theory which would be transferable across diverse European realities; • anAP(E)L toolkit, evaluated through the pilots, which will include both electronic and paper-based resources; • professional guidelines for teaching, advising and support staff. The policy context of the VaLEXPilot (Dublin) The Dublin Pilot of the VaLEx model of AP(E)L was specifically planned to advance previous scaled-up models designed for the vocational/professional areas of childcare through an earlier DIT pilot project, the Omna pilot project (DIT, 1999), the training-of-trainers for the disability sector through NUI Maynooth (Murphy, 1996) and the training of literacy organisers through The National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) and Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) (Mernagh, 2005) which had each used three different theoretical and pedagogical approaches (Murphy, 2003). What was significant about the timing of the Dublin VaLExpilot was that it coincided with the development of AP(E)L/ RPL policies and procedures for further and higher education providers under the regulation of the National Qualification Authority of Ireland (NQAI, 2005) and also coincided with a growing interest in the epistemology and pedagogies ofAP(E)L fostered by the Irish Higher Education AP(E)L Network. The timing coincided, too, with the broader policy context of lifelong learning generally and the emerging, if contested, discourses of formal, informal and non-formal learning. Of particular policy interest to the VaLEx Pilot (Dublin) was the NQAI’s remit to bringing coherence and consistenc

FAQs

What is the focus of the AP(E)L pilot described in the paper?

The paper focuses on the policy and pedagogical outcomes of an AP(E)L Pilot Project in the social care sector as part of the VaLEx Research Project.

How does the paper characterize the approach of the providers involved?

It emphasizes a scaled-up, rather than individualistic, approach, drawing on evaluation feedback from participants, facilitators/accompaniers, and assessors.

What recommendation does the paper make for managing accreditation and RPL?

It recommends managing accreditation for prior experiential learning and recognition of prior learning more effectively by linking them with pedagogies of work-based learning for professional development in communities of practice.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Đào