Recognition of previous learning in the Technical Vocational Education and Training. The Chilean experience

Abstract

Vocational and Technical Education (VET) needs to ensure efficient pathways between its different levels and modalities of provision: formal, non-formal and informal. For this, it is necessary to install reliable and legitimate procedures of recognizing of previous learning (RPL) in higher education. This article examines a sample of eleven cases of postsecondary institutions to describe the convergences and divergences that RPL has in terms of: 1) purposes and meanings; 2) forms and procedures; 3) expected results; 4) vision and projections. We found that, although there is a consensual agreement in the institutions regarding the relevance of RPL, the absence of institutional, organizational and cultural conditions limits the massive placement of this practice. However, it is possible to identify virtuous experiences, when the productive sector is a RAP intermediary between workers and postsecondary VET institutions.