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CHAPTER 12
Guiding and counselling adults in Portugal: new opportunities for a qualification 231

competence standards. This recognition may enable a longer stay or
reintegration into the labour market, as it retrieves useful knowledge for current
job requirements and identifies training needs. At the same time, ageing
workers see their knowledge (and themselves) valued and are encouraged
to greater participation in lifelong learning activities.
Adult participation in validation activities is not limited to seeing their skills
identified, but is itself a formative process. Acknowledging strengths and
weaknesses of their own learning results, adults recognise their skills and
knowledge, and also identify their education and training needs. Formative
assessment can also be a useful tool for guidance and counselling adults for
lifelong learning pathways. This formative approach to validation (Cedefop,
2008) is thus crucial. However, in structured and demanding knowledge
societies, validation must also be linked and aligned to formal systems, as it
is not enough just to recognise skills. Formal valuation, a diploma or a
concluding statement, officially certifying learning outcomes is needed – a
summative approach (Cedefop, 2008).
As low Portuguese qualification levels demanded effective, large-scale
solutions for large-scale problems (Gomes and Capucha, 2010), and more
flexible and integrated education and training approaches, validation of non-
formal and informal learning seemed the most appropriate strategy for the
massive qualification needs of the population. Consequently, in the Portuguese
context, it was essential to move from local validation practices through their
integration into national systems of adult education and training, considering
the effectiveness of these strategies in attracting specific target groups for
lifelong learning activities, as well as developing ʻlearning to learnʼ skills that
improve more active participation in learning activities throughout life.
Therefore, the recognition, validation and certification of competences
(RVCC) model recovered previously proven practices of andragogy
approaches (adapted to adults). It is based on diversity, through mobilisation
of individual work, individual evaluation, and education-training methods
integrated into social contexts (Gomes and Capucha, 2010). The philosophy
inherent in RVCC processes is that candidates are able to extract maximum
value from everything learned, in various contexts (formal, non-formal and
informal), throughout their lives. The RVCC process is conducted according
to a specific key-competences standard for adult education and training
(Alonso et al., 2001, 2002; Gomes et al., 2006a; 2006b). Thus, candidatesʼ
life experiences and skills are explored and highlighted by the national
standard. The process can lead to full certification (if candidates validate and
certify the skills necessary to obtain the complete qualification) or partial