(State of play - excerpt from the last annual National Report).
Switzerland is a multilingual federal state made up of three main cultural regions (German-speaking, French-speaking and Italian-speaking). Two federal agencies are responsible for education:
the State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER) – which is part of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA) –- the Federal Office for Professional Education and Technology (OPET) – which is part of the Federal Department of Economic Affairs (FDEA).
However, education and culture are mainly the responsibility of the 26 Cantons. Cantons coordinate their work at the national level through a political body: the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education (EDK). The Confederation and the Cantons, constitutionally obliged to cooperate, share responsibility for post-compulsory education (upper-secondary and tertiary level). Generally speaking, post-compulsory education and training is subject to national regulations (inter-cantonal or federal). In vocational training also the social partners (professional associations and trade unions) play a very important role in the definition of qualifications and professional standards. The Cantons are responsible for implementing regulatory provisions and managing education and training institutions located within their territory. The complexity of the system influences of course the state of play as far as recognition and validation of prior learning are concerned.
In Switzerland a clear distinction should be made between recognition of prior learning and validation of prior learning. Recognition of prior learning refers in fact to all initiatives or practices designed to take stock of non-formal and informal learning without issuing a qualification. A further distinction is drawn between personal recognition (enabling the person to improve his/her self-image, to open up new career paths and to develop a plan) and institutional recognition (process whereby an official body - cantonal employment office, VET agency, educational and career guidance office …- certifies that a person has truly acquired certain skills in a specific occupational field). Validation of prior learning is undertaken for the specific purpose of obtaining a qualification (normally the upper-secondary level Federal VET Diploma or tertiary-level type B qualifications). Validation of prior learning is meant as “an official act that establishes a link between prior learning and qualification requirements. (…) Validation of prior learning is carried out under the direct supervision and responsibility of the bodies that issue the qualifications (Confederation, Cantons, professional organizations). It may result in the award of the full qualification or a part thereof.”
The legal basis for validating prior learning, in the proper sense, are embedded in the federal legislation since 2002 (Vocational and Professional Education and Training Act - VPETA, SR 412.10 - which entered into force in 2004), although several cantonal laws have provided for this possibility since the late 1990s. The federal law makes no explicit reference to the validation of prior learning, but it admits that experiences gained outside the vocational education and training system should be taken into account to deliver a qualification, establishing that “professional qualifications shall be demonstrated on the basis of a general examination, a series of partial examinations or other qualification procedures recognized by OPET.”
In order to implement these alternative qualification procedures, OPET launched in 2005 the national “Validation of Prior Learning project”. An exchange platform has been set up to enable all of the partners and specialists involved to interact one another, leading to the drafting of OPET’s National Guidelines on Validation of Prior Learning, which includes a trilingual glossary (German, French and Italian) and serves as a common basis for the implementation of qualification procedures. Validation procedures, as defined by the National Guidelines, are articulated in 4 steps, closely coherent with the European Guidelines for validating non formal and informal learning:
information and guidance (entry door to the procedure);- self assessment and personal recognition of prior learning (bilan de compétences), aiming at building up a Portfolio (dossier) according to standards and regulations existing in a specific qualification
- assessment and validation of prior learning, on behalf of a third party (professional experts, on the basis of regulations defined in any sector)
- certification (or partial certification) of prior learning, allowing the delivery of a qualification (or of attestations recognizing a part of a qualification).
The implementation of procedures for validating prior learning has to be realized on a sectoral basis. It implies the elaboration of qualification profiles (based on learning outcomes) and the definition of professional standards, to be taken in account in assessing prior learning. Social partners’ organizations are in charge of elaborating profiles and standards, and OPET is responsible for their legal acknowledgment. The www.validacquis.ch web site contains all information and documents needed to gain an understanding of validation of prior learning within the VET sector, including specific issues related to validation of general education, the definition of Quality Assurance systems and the qualification of the assessors.
At present the piloting of National Guidelines is interesting only the delivery of initial VET qualifications. At the national level 8 professional profiles are included in the piloting, but also the Cantons have the possibility of launching pilot projects in other sectors, with a view to implementing their own system of validation of prior learning, in accordance with the framework provided by the Confederation. These projects are subject to OPET approval.
