14.1 Strategies to support lifelong learning activities and achievements should recognise the mix of needs and motives which people bring to learning. They may not always seek an explicit or particular qualification or certificate of some kind, although often they value such rewards for their efforts and indications of their attainment. At the very least, most look for some acknowledgement of their involvement in learning and some means by which they can be given recognition for it by others. Learners also value an indication for themselves, if nobody else, of the learning gain their efforts have brought. Providers of learning (both current and future), funders, sponsors and inspectors of learning, employers and public authorities also have a legitimate interest in understanding what learners have achieved, and at what levels. In other words, in the somewhat desiccated formal language of education, clarity and transparency of the 'learning outcomes' achieved clearly matter to several different parties.
14.2 Unfortunately, current methods of indicating and measuring achievement do not embrace all forms, varieties and levels of learning. Still less do they indicate learners' achievements in what might be called 'elements' or 'units' of learning, especially where these are usually regarded as only a fragment of a qualification or only partially completed study. As we have already indicated, many sorts of learning go unrecognised, are unregistered and remain unrecorded. Moreover, we still lack simple, understandable and universally employed frameworks in which to indicate progress, achievement and qualification. This is quite unsatisfactory and incompatible with a policy of establishing a culture of lifelong learning for all.
14.3 All publicly supported education should offer access to a coherent credit framework stretching across the whole range of post-compulsory study, including adult literacy and undergraduate study, and backed by a robust credit accumulation and transfer scheme. Adults need the opportunity to have learning gained from experience and previous study assessed and accredited whatever their programme of learning. On the other hand, it is also important that public support is available for learning that does not lead to credit. This is important for many different learners, including many older people, who see little relevance in gaining new qualifications. But it is also important for groups delighting in their new found capacities and discovering their learning journey as they go along.
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