Vocational education and training - VET

his paper presents an approach to facilitate validation studies using the example of the simuLINCA test. The approach to validation applied in this study was developed in the field of medicine; nevertheless, it provides a promising means of assessing the validity of (computer-based) instruments in VET. We present the approach in detail along a newly developed computer-based simulation (simuLINCA) that measures basic commercial knowledge and skills of apprentices in Switzerland.

Validation is the process that makes learning acquired in non-formal and informal settings visible and ‘usable’ for the individual. Whatever they may call it - accreditation of prior learning, prior learning assessment – the underlying principle in validation is that all learning is valuable, irrespective of how or where it has been acquired.

This synthesis report forms part of the 2016 update to the European inventory on validation of non-formal and informal learning. It is accompanied by 36 country reports and four thematic reports. The inventory provides a regularly updated overview of validation practices and arrangements in all Member States, EFTA countries and Turkey. The 2016 update is the sixth update (2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2014).