A Comparative Analysis of Validation of Prior Learning in Europe

In this chapter, we compare policy designs that have adopted different concepts of (under)achievement and lifelong learning. We focus on the differences between Austria, Finland and Germany, on the one hand, and Italy, Portugal and Spain, on the other. In addition, we explore how prior learning validation schemes define learning outcomes in the latter group. We consider policy design a significant process for analysing learning outcomes of young and adult learners involved in different kinds of education and training offers. Policy design contributes to the ‘improving the search for, and generation of, policy alternatives that will lead to more effective and successful policies’ (Sidney, 2007, p. 80). In present times, the prevailing policy design of adult learning in the European Union (EU) draws on benchmarks and indicators (Grek, 2010) and wide negotiation among several policy actors, not least in experts’ working groups (Milana, 2022). This chapter is based on qualitative research (Fejes & Nylander, 2015; Boeren, 2018; Lichtman, 2023) under an interpretative approach as it describes and compares key features of policy design in the selected countries (Egetenmeyer, 2016). Content analysis of official documents and reviews of the incipient literature in Italy, Portugal and Spain frame these formulations in wider contexts (Bowen, 2009). The first section introduces a typology of adult education policies that will inspire our comparative analysis. A second section compares the official definition of lifelong learning in official reports that the six countries have submitted to EURYDICE. Three further sections analyse recent changes in policies addressing the recognition of prior learning in Italy, Portugal and Spain.