Principles of APL Aušra Fokienė, Anita Lanka, Eglė Stasiūnaitienė, Sandra Gudzuka, Alvars Baldinš, Jovita Gudaitytė, Vilma Šlentnerienė
Principles of APL How to model the APL process? What principles should be followed in APL process? Assessment of prior learning is a complex process, involving certain stages and the particular actors, which may vary from tradition to tradition and from culture to culture. Therefore modelling of the APL process must be based on a selection of attitudes, which impart the information of the main principles. The principles and goals of the assessment system are defined by the participants of the VET system: VET teachers, APL assessors, counsellors, VET educators and Principals of vocational schools. Principle 1: Learning outcomes based approach. The main issues of the theory are introduced with the emphasis of learning outcomes as a starting point to assess the achievements of nonformal and informal learning. The study programmes are constructed of integral parts such as learning outcomes, criteria of assessment of learners’ achievements, study content, study forms and methods and learning environment. Learning outcomes, in other words, intended learning results are derived from competencies, and this peculiarity makes them crucial to the creation of a system of easily comparable competencies and their recognition. Learning 46
outcomes is also an essential assumption for the development of a common European higher education area. Learning outcomes are a ‘check-list’, describing good teaching, and a meter to compare personal achievements against A learning outcome is a statement of what a learner is expected to know, understand and/or be able to demonstrate after a completion of a learning process. A learning outcome based curriculum is a prerequisite for constructing an APL procedure.
the required ones. The priority to study outcomes is frequently described as a new approach to learning and teaching where active learning (constructivist) ideas are supported (The shift to …, 2008). This approach implies the following particularities of the learning process: learners build up their own meanings, based on what they already know; different learners may give different interpretations to the same thing; there are many ways through which learners can study; studying is a social activity; studying is dynamic and context dependent.