Recognition of Prior Learning

  1. ACAS recognizes applicants’ current abilities regardless of how, when or where they were acquired, and students will not be required to take instruction in a unit if they can demonstrate that they have current competency in it. Abilities may have been learned through:
    1. experience on the job or in ministry,
    2. in-service training and professional development,
    3. the students’ own reading,
    4. involvement in charity or other community organizations,
    5. any other informal way of learning,
    6. unaccredited schools, or,
    7. foreign schools.
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  2. All units may be assessed through RPL.
    3.  
  3. Applicants must show that their skills are current, and that they have the necessary knowledge and understanding.
    4.  
  4. Applicants are assessed according to the same criteria as students taking classes. The mode of assessment may vary  according to the applicant's background experience.
    5.  
  5. Applicants who pass the assessment are not differentiated in any way from those who took the same units through formal education and the credentials are exactly the same.
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  6. There is no limit to the number of units that may be taken by RPL and students may take the whole of a qualification by RPL. The RPL process should be monitored carefully when providing RPL for the majority of units in a qualification. The amount of credit depends on:
    1. what students have done
    2. whether it fits existing units
    3. the fields of study included in ACAS’s accredited scope and expertise.
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  7. The staff person handling the RPL process must provide each student with information that:
    1. outlines the outcomes
    2. is simple enough to to help students organize their evidence to meet the outcomes.
    3. gives guidance in developing a portfolio of evidence.