RPL and the need to issue vocational certificates for workers in industrial parks in Vietnam

RPL is an assessment method widely used in countries of the Anglo-Saxon group. This method recognizes the learning outcomes and the learning process that the Candidate already had before the assessment.

According to the Definition of the International Labour OrganizationILOthen RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) is:“The process used to identify, assess, and certify a person’s knowledge, skills, and competencies, regardless of how, when, and where their learning took place, by reference to the standards prescribed for part or all of a given certificate or qualification.”

RPL is an assessment method widely applied in countries of the Anglo-Saxon bloc.

This method confirms the learning outcomes and the learning process the Candidate already had before the assessment, thereby recognizing certain standards in the set of vocational skill certificates/qualifications that the education and training institution is assessing.

During RPL, the officer carrying out the assessment needs to cross-check related work the Candidate has done previously against the standards set by the occupation. Using this method can shorten the time the Candidate must spend to complete the course; in some special cases the time saved is very considerable.

In essence, RPL means a worker / learner can demonstrate that they have already met certain requirements of a given course through knowledge or skills they possessed beforehand.

This means they do not need to rebuild this knowledge or skill in order to be awarded the certificate.

In Vietnam today, because of the overheated growth of the FDI sector, many workers in industrial zones are recruited without ever having taken a vocational training course, or are only semi-skilled and hold no formal vocational diploma or certificate. They are trained quickly by the recruiting enterprise itself and start work immediately.

They are usually dismissed by the enterprise, or they resign, after about 5-10 years of work, for many reasons. Chief among them are that their health is no longer adequate and/or they do not hold the qualifications or certificates needed to continue in the same position, and they have no opportunity to be transferred to a higher position.

This issue is particularly serious for female workers. A study byVietnam Institute for Workers and Trade Unions(Vietnam General Confederation of Labour) recently showed that as many as 80% of women over 35 in industrial zones are being pushed out or are leaving their jobs voluntarily.

After more than about 10 years of work, many people are dismissed on the grounds of production restructuring, or they resign because they cannot endure the harsh working conditions. One of the real reasons behind this is that they lack an official RPL vocational qualification/certificate.

For these workers to keep stable jobs, they need an organization that certifies the skills, knowledge, and experience they have gained through work and issues them a corresponding certificate or qualification.

Hung Viet is currently working to promote potential cooperation between enterprises in many industrial parks and technical training institutions in Vietnam and abroad in order to implementRPL process, thereby enabling workers to have their knowledge, experience, skills, and competence assessed and certified, and to be issued a certificate so they can continue working in the corresponding occupation.