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Broadening access to learning in the workplace 45

3.4. Empowering and motivating workers
to take on learning

The validation of learning, personalised learning and training plans, together
with career guidance and counselling, are cornerstones of national and
sectoral initiatives that seek to up-skill workers, take stock of their life and
work experiences to bring them back into learning, and even impel them
‘one-step-up’ through the acquisition, for example, of a qualification.

3.4.1. Making competences acquired on-the-job more transparent
Through the competences that they have acquired in their work experience,
many workers are able to perform well at work though not possessing the
formal qualification that the job may require. For instance, low-skilled workers
may have acquired a wealth of knowledge and skills on-the-job, which have
not been validated and have therefore not led to certification. The challenge
is to provide workers with accredited competences and qualifications that are
portable from one job to another (Cedefop, 2009b). Migrant workers illustrate
the challenge of achieving qualification transparency: their competences may
exceed those of the local population, but their occupations do not match their
education profile due to lack of comparability of international qualifications and
insufficient language skills (Cedefop, 2009g, p. 54). Taking formal qualifications
as a proxy for learning does not do justice to the range, depth and variety of forms
of learning while working, and knowledge and skills people possess (European
Commission 2010f, p. 69). For this reason, it can be claimed that the pool of
qualifications held by the workforce does not equal the stock of available skills
(OECD, 2010). Therefore, the validation and recognition of non-formal and
informal learning makes the human capital of employees, in terms of knowledge
and skills, more visible and valuable to employers and society at large.
By allowing adults into fast-track pathways to formal education and granting
exemption from parts of a study programme, validation contributes to a
virtuous circle that makes further learning more attractive. Validation can
increase the value of learning outcomes acquired on the job, making it
more worthwhile and advantageous for workers and employers to invest in
on-the-job training, in particular informal and non-formal types of learning,
knowing that the outcome of that investment can be recorded, valued and built
upon. The validation of learning and the transfer of personal capital require
public agencies, training agencies, and social partners to work together, so
that the skills mapped and validated are recognised and accepted by other
employers (Cedefop, 2007a; 2009f). Validating learning can aid enterprise