Converting RPL into academic capital: lessons from Australian universities

Abstract

Recognition of prior learning (RPL) requires an assessment of the equivalence and transferability of learning acquired in one context to another. However, this study’s examination of the institutional policies and practices of three Australian universities reveals that RPL can also be understood as a Bourdieuian process of ‘capital conversion’, where an individual’s economic, social and cultural capital are assessed as being equivalent to ‘academic experience’. This approach reveals that, far from being an epistemological assessment of prior learning, universities also consider their organisational identity and status when considering what informal or non-formal learning will be accepted. Ultimately, what counts as prior learning depends as much upon which university is doing the assessment, its motive for doing so and the extent to which it views RPL as a normative threat.

Acknowledgement

The authors are most grateful for the feedback provided as part of the anonymous review process.

Notes

1. Although formally disbanded in 2007, the NGU still exists as an informal alliance.

2. A note on terminology: in Australia, tertiary education is comprised of two distinct sectors: the vocational education and training (VET) sector and the university sector. VET studies broadly equates to the notion of further education in many other countries, and university studies to that of higher education.