Blog / Time Management
Jo-Anne Hamilton, Why Study what you already know
Often the thought of embarking on a new course can seem overwhelming for those who are already time poor. However with some good advice and planning, you can reduce the time it will take you by ensuring that you avoid the duplication of studying skills and knowledge that you already hold. RPL should be considered before you embark on your course to ensure you don’t have to study what you already know.
RPL stands for ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’. Recognition of Prior Learning means a formal recognition of the competencies you already hold. RPL assesses a person’s existing experience, skills and learning regardless of how, when and where it was acquired. This includes any combination of formal and informal training, education, work experience or general life experience. Sometimes RPL can be confused with credit transfer. RPL is not the same thing as a credit transfer which applies when a person has completed formal training and wishes to have this recognised as being equivalent to other units or subjects in a course or qualification. Only if there is a demonstrated documented equivalence between the previous and the new units can the credit transfer process provide the recognition.
Unlike credit transfer, RPL is acknowledgement by a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) that a person has gained an appropriate level of skills and knowledge that would otherwise have been developed by undertaking a training program or course. The person may have acquired their skills in the workplace, or even outside work, without necessarily undergoing formal training.
What are the benefits of applying for RPL?
There are many benefits in having your skills and knowledge recognised through the RPL process. Most importantly it provides you with the opportunity to have your non-formal learning recognised and counted towards a qualification. In doing so, it saves you time in achieving this qualification. Quite simply, you do not have to be trained in the skills and knowledge that you already have.
RPL also assists you to identify gaps in your knowledge and skills and therefore identify any learning that might be required to fill the gaps and meet the requirements of a particular job role or qualification. This process will encourage you to continue upgrading your professional skills and knowledge through structured training to help you achieve a formal qualification which, in the long term, will improve your credibility with clients and customers, your employment opportunities and your potential to earn income.
In order to have skills formally recognised, assessors must make sure your skills meet the industry standards. If you wish to apply for RPL you will need to consider what evidence of your current competency you might be able to provide to the assessor.
The term ‘evidence’ applies to anything you produce to verify your skills, knowledge and experience and must be matched to the elements and performance criteria of a unit of competence. The type of evidence an assessor requires of a candidate may vary from that required of a student in class, but effectively RPL is the same as any other type of assessment, and is thus required to be neither less or more rigorous than if the student opted to complete studies for the unit rather than apply for RPL.
Real Estate industry specialist, trainer and assessor with Kaplan Professional, Daniel Irvine, conducts many of Kaplan’s RPL interviews. "Some of the applicants I interview are looking for a complete career change by entering the property sector. Of late, I have found that many are financial advisers, accountants, solicitors or valuers, who complete their licence course and whilst they may never intend to practice solely as a real estate agent, many use the license to expand the range of services their business presently offers, or promote greater credibility to the profile they already have in the property sector due to the extra qualification".
Daniel explains further, "RPL applications can involve the presentation of hard copy or documentary evidence, such as examples of marketing or listing materials the applicant has put together, testimonials from clients or customers and/or supervisor checklists signed off by the applicant’s supervisor or agency licensee". "If the documentary evidence is insufficient to match the units of competency applied for, the RPL process often includes a question and answer session with the assessor and applicant, which may be conducted face to face or over the telephone. At times, an applicant may also be required to undertake a Workplace Project to display that their knowledge and skills are current. For example, they may have previously worked in the property sector, but their qualifications are no longer current. They might undertake a Workplace Project that requires them to display that they have stayed up to date with legislation and current agency practice requirements. "For example, I might interview someone who has an accounting background, except for trust accounting specific to the property sector. In this case, I would ask them to complete a Workplace Project based on the requirements of the Property Stock and Business Agents Act 2002.
‘It is a much easier and simpler process to recognise prior learning if the applicant can display appropriate continuing professional development, any business related training or evidence of client interaction.’ Applying for RPL with Kaplan means you will be involved in a careful and comprehensive process that covers the content of all of the units or qualifications for which you are applying for recognition. Your skills and experience from the past two years are usually the most important in this assessment because these show you are current in the industry.
Tips to help you provide evidence of your current competency
Assessment can happen in a variety of ways. Ensuring you are well prepared for an RPL assessment can save you lots of time and hassle. Here are some tips and hints to prepare you.
- Browse through the units that relate to the qualification you wish to complete and look at the elements and performance criteria involved in these units. This will help you to start thinking about where your skills could fit with national training units. You can get full details of any unit from Kaplan Professional, www.kp.edu.au/rpl.
- Be prepared to talk about your job roles and your work history. Put together a resume that covers the work you have carried out to date, or jot down a few points about where you have worked, either paid or unpaid, and what you did there. Often updating and reviewing your resume will also help you to see the full scope of experience you have had that could lead to RPL.
- Gather information such as a position description you may have for a current job and any performance appraisals you may have from the property sector(s) in which you have worked.
- Consider the possibilities for workplace contact. Are you in a workplace that is supporting your goals to get qualified? Would you feel comfortable to have the assessor contact your workplace so your skills can be validated?
- Think about who can confirm your skill level, such as current or recent agency managers, licensees or supervisors who have seen you work in the past two years or so and will be able to confirm your skills. You may also have community contacts or even clients themselves who can vouch for your skill level.
- Gather any certificates from in-house training, CPD or formal training you have done in the past.
- Other ways that you can show your skills in the property industry may include letters from employers, records of your professional development sessions, employers or clients, acknowledgements, workplace forms (with client details removed) or other relevant documents.
With good preparation on your part, and a supportive, flexible Kaplan assessor, an RPL application can assist you to upgrade your qualifications and you may be able to complete a course of study in less time, with less stress and minimal disruption to your work.
Visit kp.edu.au/RPL for more information and to listen to the audio presentation by Lee Woodward and Garth Hehir.
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