People are gaining knowledge every day, and this happens always and everywhere. Every experience gained leads to new skill, knowledge and / or competence. Although learning usually takes place through formal education, which is always organized, planned and with clearly defined goals, much of the knowledge is acquired through non-formal or informal education. Informal knowledge is often equated with the experience gained from everyday life.
For people, especially adults who are outside the formal education or non-formal education system, the knowledge and skills acquired at home, in the workplace or in everyday experience are more important, relevant and meaningful sometimes than even the knowledge acquired in formal education. In the European Union countries, the EU and globally, there is a growing awareness that informal knowledge is a rich source of human values, ie capital to be valued. Therefore, recognizing and validating the results of non-formal and informal learning makes human knowledge, skills and competences more visible and therefore more valuable.
Within the Knowledge and Skills Management Centre, a methodology for the process of recognition of prior knowledge and skills has been developed and implemented as a tool for evaluating informal and nonformally acquired knowledge in a wide multidisciplinary range of professions and occupations.
The specific goals of the process of recognition and validation of informal and nonformal learning are:
Evaluating non-formal learning acquired in the workplace or through appropriate training, programs and courses, by linking learning outcomes to the competences for a particular occupation defined in the National Qualifications Framework and Occupational Standard;
creating a link between the informal learning process in which individuals are already involved with formal education;
establishing a correlation between the student’s personal and professional development and establishing a clear link between the knowledge already achieved and future learning opportunities;
identifying knowledge and skills that are common to different types and degrees of learning and different work environments and ensuring their transferability.
