VPL Biennale 2024

The #VPLBiennale concluded last week in Kilkenny, Ireland, after two jam packed days of lightening talks, panels and concurrent sessions. The organizers came from different countries and organizations and this was a noticeable strength that resulted in an attendee list from 31 countries, a diverse set of topics that broadly covered inclusion, policy, recognition, validation, micro-credentials, badging, to name a few. It was a delight to run into people I’ve met at OER, CAEL, and EPIC and more than a handful of Canadian counterparts.

At the last Biennale I was newcomer to validation of prior learning (VPL) and left Iceland with a better understanding of importance of validation systems, how they operate in different jurisdictions (and how Canada and the US come at it from a completely different angle due to some missing pieces in a decentralized/non national higher education system), as well as the importance of VPL professionals as coaches in the process. There was an undercurrent of the urgency of VPL in the context of labour market demands, migrants and refugees and in this year’s Biennale this theme was very much present and had understandably gained some strength.

For starters, it was a delight to witness Tk’emlups Te Secwe’pemc re st’7e’7kwen Elder Colleen Seymour deliver a powerful message in a 900 year old cathedral that provided another layer to the conference theme of recognition – people, validation and power as democracy in action, and importantly whose knowledge is recognized.

In the sessions I attended I was glad to hear that we are all trying to answer the question as to how to scale VPL. This isn’t a uniquely Canadian problem and is present even in jurisdictions where VPL is well funded and where higher education is fully funded by the state. Scaling in some respects is challenged by the orientation of VPL to put the individual at the centre, supported by individually oriented approaches that include assessors and learning coaches. Two sessions looked at how AI can assist with scaling, but this is still very much nascent.

There was also some discussion as to whether we need highly organized systems or more local and flexible approaches. Many European nations have highly organized VPL systems that hang on common qualifications frameworks. While this would greatly facilitate our work in a Canadian context, it was also recognized that the context in which VPL takes place and the goals of VPL are not homogenous, and local and flexible approaches are sometimes required. For example, Indigenous ways of knowing in Canada require a more local approach, and this was echoed by a Mexican example (Conocer https://conocer.gob.mx) where community knowledge is centred in defining the competencies.

A series of engaging panels underlined a tension between top down policy and ground up systems, and the question of where policy should sit and how does the local context impact from where policy should be driven. And while policy makers and VPL practitioners share the same goal, the voices of individuals seeking and benefiting from VPL shouldn’t be lost and perhaps should be centred even more.

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