ABSTRACT
The recognition of learning and training as a powerful intervention to improve the worker and the workforce has received substantial attention and investment in the past three decades as qualifications frameworks have come to the fore as a viable mechanism not only to represent, but also to generate, credentials in countries and regions across the world. Through the involvement of the authors of this chapter in credentialing, from diverse parts of the world including Africa, Europe, and North America, and with wide collaboration of international collaborators, new insights have been gained, and more importantly, a vision has emerged for credentials in the 21st century. This chapter discusses emerging trends associated with new forms of credentialing, more recently through digital intermediation, and since the end of the 20th century, through the development and implementation of qualifications frameworks. The nascent Credentials Framework for postsecondary education in the United States is used as a case study to consider these current and emerging trends in a concrete and reflective manner. Similar developments in Europe, Africa, Asia-Pacific, and Australasia are also touched upon. This description is followed by the mapping of a new vision for credentialing that extends beyond the dimensions of the concepts and technologies currently available to transcend this event horizon. In this vision, boundaries between countries and regions, between vocational and academic orientations, and between formal and nonformal become less important, trumped by the demand for the representation of all the learning an individual can acquire throughout his/her working lifespan, and the recognition of this learning through credentials that are internationally portable, validated, and valued in labor markets, and more broadly, in modern society.
