Associate Feature: The Importance of Recognising Skills in These Changing Times

Covid 19 has brought about a major change in both the economy and the way in which we work.

Developing successful and resilient teams particularly in difficult times and changing direction through re-skilling and upskilling can help us to adapt quickly to optimise opportunities. For instance, the move to online learning is now a major factor in skills development and is moving much more quickly than we could have predicted, meaning that all of us need to think about what adaptations are required in terms of learning styles and assessment.

Whilst this rapid progress is vitally important, it is also equally important that the quality of that learning is ensured too and having learning programmes recognised on the SCQF is a widely respected way of doing this, offering a robust quality assurance process which in turn promotes learner confidence. There are more than 11,500 programmes on the SCQF and the SCQF Partnership offers support around the recognition process in the form of free advice and workshops.  

The SCQF Partnership has for some time also been championing the process of recognising prior learning and the benefits of this to both individuals, employers and the Scottish economy.
Recognition of Prior Learning, or RPL, allows individuals to progress in their learning without having to repeat it unnecessarily which is time consuming and expensive for everyone concerned, whether that be the individual, an employer or the economy generally.

RPL is particularly important for certain priority groups such as veterans leaving the armed forces as well as refugees and asylum seekers and the SCQFP has been working in partnership with other organisations through specific projects to support these individuals. However, we believe strongly that RPL should be accessible to everyone in Scotland regardless of age or circumstance and with more support for RPL we can make this a reality.   

This article is sponsored by SCQF.