Recognition of prior learning as a form of open learning in post-school education and training in South Africa

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) in its earliest forms, both globally and locally, was driven by agendas of social inclusion and redress, but has been compromised by rapid globalisation, increasingly market-driven neoliberal agendas, and the rise of the knowledge economy. One of the ambitions of the draft Open Learning Policy Framework (OLPF) for Post-School Education and Training (PSET) in South Africa is to open up learning to students via RPL, especially via credit for online learning. This qualitative case study sought to explore current RPL practices, and ways in which they have opened up access to PSET institutions, in order to explore the benefits and challenges of RPL as envisaged in the OLPF. Given the OLPF’s ambition to address social justice in South Africa, Nancy Fraser’s (2005) notion of parity of participation is used to explore the extent to which current forms of RPL including RPL for credit can address the underlying economic, cultural and political injustices faced by aspirant PSET students. In-depth interviews with two experts in the field of RPL in South Africa were undertaken to ascertain in what ways students without formal qualifications are given opportunities to access, progress through and succeed in post-school education through formal RPL processes. The experts’ views are instructive for the implementation of the OLPF’s concept of ‘open learning’. They indicate that the existing RPL policy at national level is quite robust, but weakly implemented at public institutions mainly due to inadequate national and institutional funding, but also because it is a complex knowledge-mediating process that cannot be reduced to simple tests or assessments of knowledge equivalence. The ambition of recognition for credit of prior learning experience, as envisaged by the OLPF, is likely to succumb to the same epistemic and financial stumbling blocks unless sound national mechanisms and support systems are established for RPL practices and processes each step of the way.