Lifelong Qualifications : Developing Qualifications to Support Lifelong Learning

Lifelong Qualifications argues that, if we are to deliver on a genuine framework for lifelong learning in the twenty-first century, we must develop a qualifications system to support this framework. Peter Wilson suggests that the National Qualifications Framework currently being established by QCA and its partner regulatory bodies may not be fit for the purposes of supporting lifelong learning. There is an opportunity in the near future to develop within this emerging framework the kind of flexible, responsive and individualised qualifications that learners will need to support their roles as both citizens and employees in a modern democratic society, but it is an opportunity that may be missed. In particular, the author suggests that qualifications for lifelong learning need to draw upon leading-edge industrial and commercial models if they are to become 'future proof' against the scale and pace of change in the learning environment of the next century. This publication is not simply a critique of existing qualifications. In the final sections the author suggests a model for the development of credit-based qualifications that draws together this modernising agenda with a clear commitment to widening participation and inclusiveness that, he argues, should be an integral part of a future framework of ' Lifelong Qualifications'.