Recognition of prior learning as a technique of governing

The recognition of prior learning (RPL) is an idea, a figure of thought, which has been part of the policy and practice of adult education and lifelong learning for a long time, but in different ways in different times and places. It is an idea for ‘making learning visible’ (Bjørnåvold 2000) that is promoted with arguments of gain for the individual and society. Most initiatives in RPL have had one or more of the following aims: social justice (individual opportunities, widening access to education, etc.), economic development (making it possible to use existing competence more effectively in the labour market) or social change (making the real competence of the population visible creates better conditions for changing society) (Andersson et al. 2003, 2004). The idea of RPL is related to the somewhat similar concepts of accreditation, validation, assessment of prior learning that have been used in different countries.