Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
You already have the skill. This is how you get the certificate for it.
What Recognition of Prior Learning Is
Recognition of Prior Learning is a way of having skills you already have formally assessed and certified — skills gained through work, through apprenticeship, or through life, regardless of how, when or where you learned them. It exists for the tradesperson who has done the job for twenty years and has nothing on paper to show for it.
Worth the same as any other credit
A credit awarded through RPL counts exactly as a credit earned in a classroom. It is not a lesser route or a second-class certificate.
Judged on evidence, not on claims
You must demonstrate the competency, or provide recognised evidence of it, against defined standards. A certified assessor verifies that evidence.
Learning must still be current
The assessment asks three things: what was learned, how much of it, and whether it is still current. A skill last practised twenty years ago is judged on that basis.
Quality assured like any assessment
The same quality systems apply as to any formal assessment — internal and external moderation, and a route of appeal.
Who Can Apply
If you gained your skill through any of these, RPL is open to you.
- Workplace-based training
- Apprenticeship training
- Life experience
- Self-directed study
- Non-recognised study
- Formal but uncertified learning
- Informal or undocumented study — the Ustad-Shagird system
- In-service training
- Distance education or open learning
- Community-based education
- Overseas education, training or experience
RPL entry covers qualification levels 2 to 4. It is a route to recognition of the skills you already hold — it is not a shortcut to a Diploma of Associate Engineering, and it is better to know that before you assemble a portfolio.
How It Works
Four stages, from a first conversation to a certificate in your hand.
- 1
Interview
A short, informal discussion of fifteen to twenty minutes about your work history, to establish whether RPL is right for you and what evidence you will need. Where a worker cannot attend, it may be held with their manager.
- 2
Evidence gathering
You assemble a portfolio showing what you can do. The assessment centre gives you an information pack and helps you build a competency profile.
- 3
Assessment
A certified assessor holds a pre-assessment meeting, tells you plainly where the gaps are, and agrees a self-assessment checklist with you before the final assessment is scheduled and conducted.
- 4
Certification
On a competent judgement the balance of the fee is paid and the certificate is issued, carrying a number anyone can verify.
Evidence You Provide
Your portfolio shows what you can do. Turn each card for what it should contain.
- 1
Letter from your employer
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Letter from your employer
Setting out your work history. It must state the tasks you actually performed — a letter confirming only your dates of employment does not show competency. - 2
Résumé and job descriptions
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Résumé and job descriptions
A résumé of your skills and trade experience, with the position descriptions for the roles you have held. - 3
References and referees
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References and referees
People who can speak to the range and quality of your work, including clients and former supervisors. - 4
Trade papers and certificates
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Trade papers and certificates
Industry certificates, short course certificates, and any professional development you have completed — even where they were never formally recognised. - 5
Work records
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Work records
Job sheets, work journals, diary entries, project reports and minutes of meetings — the ordinary paperwork of having done the job. - 6
Photographs and live demonstration
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Photographs and live demonstration
Photographs or video of your work, and a live demonstration of competency at the assessment centre. For many trades this is the strongest evidence of all.
You do not need every one of these. A portfolio is built from whichever of them you can genuinely provide — and for many trades a live demonstration at the centre carries more weight than any document.
What You Receive
There are two outcomes, and neither of them is nothing.
Full qualification
Awarded where you are judged competent against every competency standard for the qualification.
Record of Achievement
Awarded where you are competent in some competencies but not all. It lists exactly what you have proven, so nothing you demonstrated is lost, and you can return for the rest.
If You Are Not Yet Competent
“Not yet competent” is not a failure, and it is not the end of the process.
Gap training
Where a single unit cannot be granted, you are referred for training on that unit alone — not sent back to the beginning of the qualification.
Moderation
A moderator independently quality assures the assessor's judgement and can uphold or reject it. The result is not one person's opinion.
Appeal and re-assessment
A judgement of not yet competent carries a right of appeal and a right to be re-assessed. Neither has to be asked for as a favour.
People Who Have Taken This Route
Three situations, drawn from the framework's own examples.
The welder
Years of welding work behind him and no formal training. He approaches a nearby assessment centre, collects the RPL information pack, submits a résumé of his skills with references covering the range of work he has done. The coordinator helps him build a competency profile; no gap training is needed. He passes the preliminary and final assessment and is awarded the full qualification.
The salon owner
Twenty-five years in the beauty industry across several salons, never a formal training programme, and now running her own business. She submits a portfolio of photographs of her work, testimonials from clients and prizes from competitions. She is awarded the full qualification where she meets every standard, or a Record of Achievement listing the competencies she has proven.
The auto-mechanic
In his early forties, twenty-five years under the bonnet, no training and no certificate. After the preliminary and final assessment he receives either the qualification or a Record of Achievement. Either way he can now enter further training at the level he has actually reached, instead of starting at the bottom — and he has something to show an employer.
Where Assessment Happens
At a registered assessment centre, not at the Board's office.
RPL assessment is carried out at assessment centres registered with the Board, by a certified assessor appointed for the purpose. The centre registers you, prepares the schedule, and provides the equipment and materials for the practical demonstration. The Board sets the standard, appoints the assessor, moderates the result and issues the certificate.
The fee for RPL assessment is notified by the Board together with the assessment schedule, and is not yet published. Ask the assessment centre nearest you, or contact the Board directly.
Ready to have your skills recognised?
Start with an assessment centre near you. They will give you the information pack and talk you through what evidence you will need.