Overcoming barriers to lifelong learning through credit transfer
Credit: turning aspiration into reality?
On 24 February 2022 the UK Department for Education (DfE) launched its long-promised consultation on the Lifelong Loan Entitlement (LLE) for England, which, ministers tell us, is ‘a key component of the [Prime Minister’s] Lifetime Skills Guarantee’. The intention is that from 2025 ‘people [in England] will be provided with a loan entitlement to the equivalent of four years of post-18 education to use over their lifetime’. Parallels have been drawn to the introduction of the NHS and like the NHS, it is hoped that the idea will be ‘transformative’ for the post-18 education and training sector in England.
The DfE recognises that this promise by Boris Johnson needs to have follow through support to be successful. The Department plans to restructure the system by which English Higher and Further Education is funded, which is where academic credit can play a part in transforming the sector.
The consultation, though, acknowledges that ‘credit transfer is still not widely used in England’. With ‘several credit frameworks in place across the UK’ the DfE acknowledges that ‘the system of credit transfer is opaque and confusing and learners have to largely navigate it alone’. Their conclusion is that ‘these are key barriers for flexible lifelong learning’ with opportunities for credit transfer confusing students rather than supporting them.
Overcoming the barriers
Despite the overall pessimism, the consultation’s authors point out that ‘there are examples of good practice across the country’. In our recent book Widening Access to Higher Education in the UK: Developments and Approaches Using Credit Accumulation and Transfer we included several case studies that highlight this best practice.
A selection of the examples describe initiatives that span the UK and operate regionally or as partnerships between institutions.
For example:
- Throughout the UK, the Open University (OU) has been - and still is - a pioneer in facilitating student mobility based on evaluating the credit ratings of an applicant’s previous formal and experiential learning. The OU demonstrates how effective institutional mechanisms can be developed where there is an institutional commitment to implementing the principles of credit transfer.
- The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), founded in 2001, illustrates how a thorough going, carefully conceived credit framework can operate across the breadth of a nation's education and training sector. It also demonstrates the importance of continuous self-reflection to ensure that the Framework remains relevant to changing needs. The SCQF provides a clarity denied to the rest of the UK.
- The six members of the Midlands Enterprise Universities (MEU) group all operate credit systems in their universities. In 2018 they agreed to develop a credit framework that would allow students to move easily between member institutions. Though in its early days, the scheme again indicates how institutional commitment to employing credit can overcome apparently insuperable barriers.
- Ulster University uses credit transfer to enhance participation in higher education (HE) in Northern Ireland among traditionally underrepresented groups. The University delivers a series of credit-based Foundation Degrees (FDs) in partner Further Education colleges. Success in the FD allows students to join the final year(s) of an Honours Degree. These FDs encourage students who might not be attracted to HE to take their initial steps at this level. This initiative plays a key role in scaffolding the fragile peace process and the rebuilding of Northern Ireland's society and economy.
What’s next for credit transfer? Another false dawn?
Advocates of credit transfer have had their hopes raised all too frequently in the past and so remain wary of the recent promises.
One of the few recommendations of the 1997 Dearing Report that was not implemented was a UK-wide credit and qualifications framework.
All the post-Dearing initiatives aimed at achieving consistency in credit practice in UKHE, for example, Bob Burgess’ 2004 Measuring & Recording Student Achievement, the Quality Assurance Agency’s recent Credit Framework for England, have been branded 'advisory' and encouraging the sector to not engage with their suggestions.
Hence the continuing barriers to lifelong learning recognised in the LLE consultation, which wants us to believe that the present Government is serious about transforming post-18 education and training. However, change must be driven and supported.
It is frustrating that the Consultation seeks the chimera of a transformative, new credit regime in England without 'the need for legislation or a top-down framework'.
Without some form of governmental intervention, we fear that history will repeat itself and credit transfer in England will continue to stumble along with a series of laudable, localised initiatives.
To read more on this topic, you can find our book here.