Learning validation processes

The thesis prepared by Martínez-Barrientos, entitled "Attitudes towards the inclusion of validation processes of previous learning to obtain a degree in the Bolivian university system" has been directed by dr. Joaquin Gairin. The thesis was read before the tribunal made up of Mercè Gisbert Cervera (Rovira i Virgili University), acting as President, Patricia Olmos Rueda (UAB), acting as secretary, and Enric Prats Gil (UB), acting as member.

Previous learning validation processes in Bolivia are still limited to the certification of job skills from non-formal and informal learning, but the linking of this recognition with its inclusion in training itineraries that establish a functional relationship and long range between the world of work and academia.

This research aims to identify the attitudes that the actors of the academic world have towards this possibility, specifically in relation to undergraduate training itineraries in the three universities that belong to the Bolivian University System, in the city of La Paz, and the inclusion of people with empirical training in the careers they offer.

Starting from the reality of today's higher education, its characteristics and challenges in the world, in Latin America and in Bolivia, concepts such as lifelong learning as a fundamental right, the recognition of this learning and the reality of several leading countries in the world on this subject, landing in the Bolivian context. The construct of attitudes is also analyzed from the Theory of Planned Action of Ajzen and Fishbein, which has made it possible to identify the factors that will have to be worked on in the future to put Bolivia in tune with many other countries that have already introduced the possibility of recognizing, evaluating and accrediting non-formal and informal learning, and linking it to academic degrees, ensuring that these processes are carried out with transparency and quality, so that partial or total certifications are truly equivalent to those obtained through processes of formal education.

Regarding the characteristics of the research and its participants, the field study identifies the following methodological proposal: university educational authorities as key informants, career directors and teachers of the selected careers whose academic programs have been structured according to a competency-based training. The instruments used are also considered: surveys, interviews, direct estimation questionnaires and triangulation matrices based on the categories of analysis and defined procedures. All this has given rise to the analysis of qualitative and quantitative data presented, closing the triangulation of the information obtained.

The results show a significant lack of knowledge of the Validation of Prior Learning processes by the majority of the research participants. However, careers with the necessary opening to introduce them as alternative forms of admission and the consideration of non-traditional populations are also observed. The most relevant differences are observed in technical careers and some of the social sciences and humanities, especially in disciplines linked to education and communication. It is concluded, then, that accepting these processes could make it easier for universities to open spaces to democratize higher education, recognizing the empirical experience of non-formal and informal learning.

Likewise, a proposal is presented to include the Validation of Prior Learning processes in undergraduate courses, based on the defined international guidelines, including the curricular and institutional analysis prior to the decision to open the possibility of this inclusion; with the aim of preparing all the regulations, procedures, actors and protocols necessary for this process to be carried out, guaranteeing transparency and quality that ensure its validity, facilitating the inclusion of non-traditional populations in tertiary education, favoring their personal development, democratization of higher education and the professionalization of human resources at ever higher levels.