State of play (excerpt from the last annual National Report on validtion of Non-formal and informal learning)
Recognition of non-formal and informal learning only plays a minor role in Austria, in comparison to other EU member states. Several reasons have been given on why that is the case; for example, because the Austrian educational and economic culture is traditionally strongly oriented towards the IVET sector; because the dual system already incorporates a high amount of informal learning, so that there is no need to have additional procedures to recognize this form of learning; and, because the Austrian system is oriented towards occupational profiles and activity descriptions and hence builds on formally acquired qualifications as proof of abilities and competences. This view is supported by relatively well developed provision of second chance education (viz. adults acquiring IVET qualifications). (Tritscher-Archan & Mayr [eds.] 2008, 30
Although there are also many good reasons for introducing a system of recognition of non-formal and informal learning, so far nothing has been developed on a national level. Austria’s present certification policy can be summarised as focussing on ‘external examination’: almost all degrees (from the school system and dual system, but not university degrees) might be obtained without participating in the relevant programmes or courses, but not without passing the same exam (external examination) as required in the regular system. Beside the lack of a national system for the recognition of informal learning, Austria’s educational policy and practice has limited differentiation in formal, non-formal and informal learning. (Markowitsch et al 2007, 5)
However, recording and validating competences has been increasingly debated in public among adult learning (ALE) actors. In addition, the higher education (HE) sector has more frequently participated in the discussion, because of the conversion to the Bologna system, which increases expectations that more applicants for Master’s programmes have previous professional experience. Currently, the corporate and school sectors seem to be less engaged with these issues. (Tritscher-Archan & Mayr [eds.] 2008, 30) In the private sector, there are competence-oriented concepts for human resource development in large companies and there are at least some pilot projects experimenting with recognition of individual competencies.
Developments within the EU and EU funds have had a strong influence on Austrian validation initiatives. There is still no overall validation system, projects are initiated by social partners, educational institutions and ministries. Supra-regional political initiatives can be identified in the collection and conception of possible examples (nationally and internationally). Thus, for example, Austria took part in the RNFIL initiative (Recognition of Non-Formal and Informal Learning) by the OECD. A working group to develop a national validation procedure has been set up at the Federal Ministry for Education, the Arts and Culture (BMUKK). In addition, the BMUKK has published a relevant systematic analysis (cf. Zürcher 2007) (Tritscher-Archan & Mayr [eds.] 2008, 30).
Validation is a central element in the Austrian LLL strategy (cf. DUK [ed.] 2007): In autumn 2005, the Ministry of Education commissioned the Danube University Krems to develop a proposal for a coherent lifelong learning strategy for Austria. In a threeday workshop, a small group of experts met and worked out a substantial proposal for a lifelong learning strategy. The expert team also welcomed any advances in recognition of non-formal and informal learning, either through individual competence portfolios or by a national system of recognition (Markowitsch et al 2007).
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References:
- Markowitsch, Jörg & Benda-Kahri, Silvia; Hefler, Günter (2007): National Report Austria. LLL 2010 Sub-Project 1. LLL2010 - WORKING PAPER No 1
- Tritscher-Archan, Sabine & Mayr, Thomas (eds.) (2008): VET Policy Report Austria
- DUK (ed.) (2007): Leitlinien einer kohärenten LLL-Strategie für Österreich bis 2010
- Zürcher, Reinhard (2007): Informelles Lernen und der Erwerb von Kompetenzen. Theoretische, didaktische und politische Aspekte. (Informal learning and competence acquisition. Theoretic, didactic and politic aspects). Materialien zur Erwachsenenbildung 2/2007
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