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Accreditation of prior learning and experiential learning in materials technology

Awarded to: Richard Brown

Institution: Bradford College

Funded in: 2001

Project description: This project will develop attractive approaches to APEL (Accreditation of Prior and Experiential Learning) based upon existing practice. The project aims to promote APEL as a method of raising qualifications in the materials industry and of obtaining professional qualification.

Background: Recruitment of young people into the materials industry, either directly from school or via full time courses of education, is becoming increasingly difficult. The subject does not have a high profile in the school curriculum and the industry is largely ignored by the career service. Many teachers and careers advisers see the materials industry as declining and lacking in innovation, offering few job opportunities with little excitement.

Industry has responded to this situation by developing its technical staff through other routes. Two particularly successful routes have been the recruitment of more mature individuals moving into the industry as a result of career changes and the development of existing craft employees into technicians by planned and structured career development. The new materials technicians therefore have a wide variety of qualifications and prior experience, and individual training needs are more varied. Furthermore, competitive pressures are restricting the ability of companies to release staff for training by day- or block-release since there is no longer sufficient cover for absent manpower.

Objectives: Accreditation of prior and experiential learning has a significant role to play. However, the process can appear confusing and cumbersome, and there is a need to streamline the procedures and improve the documentation to make it more attractive to students and employers. There is also a significant opportunity to extend the process to the award of professional qualifications.

Deliverables: The project aims to deliver:

• Handbook containing procedural guidelines based upon best practise for the use of APEL towards the awarding of the academic and professional qualifications in materials technology.
• Electronic proforma for the cataloguing and assessment of APEL that are easy to understand and use, and that are attractive to the student and his/her employer.
• APEL website and promotional leaflets for marketing APEL to employers and prospective students.