EC - VPL (NL)

The European Centre Valuation Prior Learning (EC-VPL) was founded in 2002 and is a non-profit organization. The Centre, with its structural staff of 6 and its auxiliary staff of 2-8 members, studies, accumulates and distributes information on all conceivable aspects of lifelong learning strategies in which the systematics of prior learning assessment/validation (PLAR) plays a structuring role. The mission of the center is to prioritize the systematics of VPL in its functionality for society and its stakeholders. VPL is a systematic method that, regardless of the type of learning program, focuses on the recognition, valuing, validation and development of the competencies that a person has already acquired in any type of learning environment. Personalized learning is the concept of dynamic learning centered on the individual learner, who can initiate (or help to initiate) and establish customized individual learning programs in a learning culture based on autonomous, flexible and forward-looking lifelong learning. VPL and personalized learning are about learning processes that enable citizens or individual learners to take an active role in the "learning society" when it comes to achieving personal, civil and/or social effects. Civil effect means achieving a learning outcome in the context of a particular qualification standard within the educational system. Social impact focuses on outcomes that are relevant to job profiles, goals, participation objectives, or missions. Personal impact can mean the achievement of empowerment, career and academic direction, or personal development. It is the "power of the VPL" that opens up the broader perspective of a society in which every citizen has access to learning opportunities and can design his or her own learning pathway for the benefit of "society" (i.e., society).