Search results

The accreditation of prior learning (APL) is an exciting aspect of the development of management education in the UK. It has been heavily promoted by the UK employer‐led body, the Management Charter Initiative (MCI) within promises of benefits both to individuals and organizations. Examines the level of interest and involvement with an industrial region of the UK. The findings raise some doubts and concerns from training managers and suggest that the initiative may have some way to go.

Discusses the strategic and political issues associated with Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) in consideration of its potential contribution to the staff, curriculum and organizational development activities of business schools. In recognizing that APL is not an autonomous process but an integral part of competence‐based assessment, political pressures exist to shift vocational curricula to an outcome‐based assessment model, with these new forms of competence‐based qualifications leading, rather than following, education and training. This means that business schools will need to develop the specificity of their curricula offering to an extent previously considered unnecessary and to respond proactively to potential benefits emerging from acceptance of, and commitment to, the ongoing structural revision of the vocational, educational and training system.

A review of the approach adopted by the Management Charter Initiative (MCI) towards the use of management competences, drawing on contemporary research and journal articles, is made. In addition, use is made of insights and experience gained through involvement in the MCI Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) pilot project conducted at Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education. Three major assumptions associated with the MCI competence approach are evaluated and a specific facet of the Cheltenham and Gloucester College APL experience, that of high delegate wastage, is examined. An expectancy model of motivation is used along with an action feedback model to illustrate and explain some of the potential reasons for a high drop‐out rate. The model affords an opportunity to provide a rationale to underpin needed action on the part of the major actors within the APL management competence approach. In conclusion, a number of summary propositions predicated by the review are given.

Relates how partnering between public and private participants can transform the process of obtaining construction permits and ensuring building code compliance into a co‐operative pursuit of common objectives. States use of partnering techniques between the Department of Inspections, Licenses and Permits (DILP) of Howard County, Maryland, and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), a large research facility in Howard County. Argues that experience in designing and setting up a partnering process for building code compliance may be of interest to anyone with a large campus and a need to reconfigure and renovate space regularly; as well as to local officials responsible for monitoring building code compliance for such facilities: for example, large corporate and manufacturing facilities, hospitals, or college and university campuses.

Accreditation of prior learning (APL) is the formal assessment and certification of employees′ and job seekers′ existing skills and knowledge in accordance with nationally recognised standards of occupational competence. The potential role of APL in making maximum effective use of existing national resources and in encouraging adults to acquire new skills is assessed. The relevance of APL in closing the “skills gap” and in tapping the adult labour market is examined. The UK Government′s APL initiatives are reviewed including the implementation of two, two‐year programmes. Colleges, employers and organisations in the public and private sectors are all interested in taking APL further but the real costs are still to be examined, an institutional model is yet to be established and the required infrastructure needs to be put in place nationally.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how, and the extent to which, massive open online courses (MOOCs) might be used in the accreditation of students’ prior learning, in programme delivery at international branch campuses, and for lecturers’ professional development (PD) in transnational higher education.

The data were obtained from two international branch campuses in the United Arab Emirates. The research adopted a qualitative methodology that involved 20 lecturers participating in semi-structured interviews and ten lecturers participating in a focus group. A rigorous process of content analysis was used to analyse and interpret the data.

Lecturers in transnational higher education perceived that MOOCs were not suitable for accredited prior learning but that they might be useful as a supplementary resource for student learning and for personal PD. There was a strong belief that as international branch campuses offered a commodified product, MOOCs were unlikely to be adopted as a replacement for traditional programme delivery methods, as students strongly prefer face-to-face teaching and support.

The research has identified a number of recommendations for higher education institutions operating in transnational settings, which might improve both institutional and individual performance. Institutions that intend to use MOOCs in programme delivery should consider how their students and staff would react to such a move, and how this might impact upon institutional image and reputation.

Surprisingly, there has been little academic research published on the use of MOOCs in higher education, and to the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study conducted in a transnational education setting. The uniqueness of the environment in which international branch campuses operate, as well as their different objectives and student profiles, provide the rationale for this research.

Describes an investigation into the use of the accreditation of prior learning (APL) within management training and development. A review of training managers use and opinions of APL within companies in the East Midlands region revealed some surprises. Despite the promotion of APL and its benefits through the Management Charter Initiative (MCI) managers remain somewhat sceptical and confused about the APL process.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the similarities and differences of legal responses to older adults who may be at risk of harm or abuse in the UK, Ireland, Australia and the USA.

The authors draw upon a review of elder abuse and adult protection undertaken on behalf of the commissioner for older people in Northern Ireland. This paper focusses on the desk top mapping of the different legal approaches and draws upon wider literature to frame the discussion of the relative strengths and weaknesses of the different legal responses.

Arguments exist both for and against each legal approach. Differences in defining the scope and powers of adult protection legislation in the UK and internationally are highlighted.

This review was undertaken in late 2013; while the authors have updated the mapping to take account of subsequent changes, some statutory guidance is not yet available. While the expertise of a group of experienced professionals in the field of adult safeguarding was utilized, it was not feasible to employ a formal survey or consensus model.

Some countries have already introduced APL and others are considering doing so. The potential advantages and challenges of introducing APL are highlighted.

The introduction of legislation may give professionals increased powers to prevent and reduce abuse of adults, but this would also change the dynamic of relationships within families and between families and professionals.

This paper provides an accessible discussion of APL across the UK and internationally which to date has been lacking from the literature.

Describes the nature of accrediting prior learning (APL). Examines its potential from the perspectives of professional bodies, such as the IPM and the Government. As a prelude to examining a case study evaluation of a “Portfolio Exercise” used to detect non‐standard entrants to a suite of programmes in higher education discusses some problems of putting its principles into practice.

This paper aims to explore the possible connections between self‐directed support and adult support and protection, both of which are important policy developments in Scotland.

The authors draw on findings from the national evaluation of the test sites or pilots of self‐directed support in Scotland and interviews at two time points with adult protection leads in the test sites. These interview data are set in the context of Scottish developments in adult support and protection.

Self‐directed support and adult protection had not been joined up initially. In the three Scottish test sites those responsible for adult safeguarding had not been engaged with the changes. They were unclear about the new systems and were concerned about the implications of reduced monitoring of risks. Shared training between those implementing self‐directed support and those carrying out adult protection work was viewed as a way of bridging these different areas of practice through enhancing mutual understanding and communication.

Policy and legislation have used the word support to provide reassurance of social protection for adults in need of care services. This paper provides new opportunities to consider the ways in which early enthusiasm for self‐directed support in Scotland may have neglected the support inherent to support and protection and the ways in which some adult support and protection stakeholders seemed to be acting as “bystanders” rather than influencing new systems of self‐directed support.