Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
In an academic sense, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) captures non accredited and experiential learning to assist people to get certified recognition for their soft skills and experience providing they can clearly demonstrate that learning outcomes of selected courses have been met. In short, their experience is documented by an RPL Mentor / Facilitator and then assessed, validated, and certified by the Higher Education Institutes.
The difference applied to the Spéire Nua model is the reflective processes on the learning that comes from the circumstances that leads to offending behaviour, the learning that comes from being sentenced and the way in which this learning is going to set them up in the future to avoid them going back to prison. This level of feedback is invaluable to organisations concerned with stamping out criminal behaviour.
In the case of Spéire Nua, we use a similar process to RPL Benchmarking which is a recognised approach in Scotland to identifying skills, strengths, and weaknesses.
The Scottish Credit and Quality Framework (SCQF) has developed a benchmarking tool that assists young people to identify the level of education that they are at and it is used to help them recognise skills they were not entirely aware they had. This RPL Toolkit is called “My Skills, My Future”.
It uses work experiences, hobbies, and interests to draw out instances of teamwork, management, leadership and how these skills and competencies often go unnoticed by the individuals taking part in this process.
Damien Quinn, Spéire Nua Project Leader has received qualifications in 2020 from Equal Ireland, Athlone Institute of Technology (now known as the Technical University of Shannon TUS) and Skillnet Ireland as an RPL Mentor / Facilitator at Level 7. He believes that this model can be reshaped to assist someone to receive validation for their commitment to change.m He has also received training to use this RPL Toolkit and has applied it in practice with other people.
Thw benchmarking process will identify skills that were previously unrealised by the clients and work will begin to build on those strengths. All interests and hobbies will also be explored to identify transferable skills such as teamwork and leadership.
This information is gathered by Spéire Nua Mentor / Facilitators and it will be made ready for assessment by the stakeholder organisations in the criminal justice system. It will be these organisations that will then validate the commitment to change and certify it.
Spéire Nua will then follow up on this validation by the stakeholder organisations and will work with the Vetting Bureau to ensure that any of our clients that have earned their Spéire Nua certificate has this additional (or only) communication sent to prospective employers or anyone that can provide an opportunity.
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