Three items on microcredentials. The first with various international perspectives on microcredentials, the second, some critique on microcredentials and link to NZQA report on work to date on microcredentials.
A panel from the recent APAC TVET forum discusses micro-credentials. The panel includes Lagaaia Lealiifano Easter Manila-Silipa, director of the Australian Pacific Training Coalition, Frances Valentine, founder of the Mind Lab in NZ, Jenny Dodd, Chief Executive officer of TAFE Autralia, and Li Yunmei, vice president of Tianjin Light Industry Vocational Technical College. Stuart Martin, the micro-credentials specialist from Skills Consulting Group moderates.
Jenny Dodd begins with an overview of the Australian context. Microcredentials are not new in the VET landscape, although other terms used to described it but is new to the university sector.
Frances Valentine then provides the NZ context. NZ being an early adopter (see below for more details), used across all levels and allows for 'stacking' even at post-graduate qualifications.
Lealiifano Manila-Silipa then summaries the Pacific experiences. Relative new innovation but stressed the importance of the opportunities availed and details of how they are integrated into the larger qualification system.
Li Yunmei provides the Chinese perspective.
2) Leesa Wheelahan
Leesa Wheelahan has been a constant critic of various pedagogical and curriculum structures imposed on VET across the world. In this video, she summarises the purpose of tertiary education as it evolved from elitist to mass and universal education. Microcredentials are mainly used to support the 'skills' focus on education and contribute towards the current precarity of work for a range of occupations, the placing of the onus of 'upskilling' on individuals who may have to continually do so at ongoing personal costs, with an endless cycle of study required to attain and maintain some forms of work.
Two recent articles provide the argument and deeper discussion.
Wheelahan, L. & Moodie, G. (2021). Analysing micro-credentials in higher education: a Bernsteinian analysis, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 53(2), 212-228, DOI: 10.1080/00220272.2021.1887358
Wheelahan, L., & Moodie,
G. (2021). Gig qualifications for the gig economy: micro-credentials and the
‘hungry mile’. Higher Education.. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00742-3
3) NZQA updates
Two insight papers into the reasons for the provision of microcredentials and early results from the introduction of these into the Aotearoa NZ education system. The first summarises the rationale and background for the introduction and implementation of microcredentials within NZ; and the second provides a summary of the 'pilots' with examples from across the educational sectors.
The ways microcredentials are introduced and the underpinning rationale for the adoption, development and ongoing progress of these, are generally not 'learner-focused' but based on meeting the rapid changes in economic and social needs. It is important to ensure microcredentials are not 'isolated' but are well integrated into national qualification systems. 'Stacking' must be availed to allow microcredentials to 'count', otherwise, the microcredentials become 'pick and mix' and do not perhaps lead to better outcomes, in the long term, for the learner. All accreditated learning draws on a finite amount of resources be it time, financial, or opportunity costs. Therefore, if they are to be useful, beyond the short term of attaining specialised skills and knowledge, they have to be an integral part of the qualification ecosystem.
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