Project

Recognitionof prior learning acquired from volunteer work within the Fédération vaudoise des jeunesses campagnardes (FVJC)

Working under a mandate given by the Fédération vaudoise des jeunesses campagnardes (FVJC), researchers for SFIVET’s “Learning outcomes” research field will firstly attempt to identify what the FVJC does specifically to facilitate the learning of its volunteers between the ages of 16 and 25. How are these young people integrated and trained in the organising of large-scale community, sports and cultural events? Structurally, it seems that the FJVC deploys human resources (system of mentoring and peer-based learning) and prescriptive resources (procedures and planning of tasks).

Rido / Fotolia

Secondly the competences developed by the young people aged between 16 and 25 during their activities will be identified. To reach this aim as well as to foster awareness on their competences, our team intends to intervene in two phases:

  • Production of a specific competence profile developed within the framework of youth activities (worked out by FVJC managers under the guidance of our experts)
  • Organisation of collective workshops in which young volunteers between the ages of 16 and 25 are asked to reflect upon and describe their competences

Analysis of how learning is managed in the field and how specific support provided by the FJVC to its young members, the competence profile produced by the steering group, and its expression in the form of competence cards drafted by the young people during the workshops, will all be used to produce a collective competence portfolio to be posted on the Internet. This digital tool developed within the FJVC is intended to be collective, interactive and updatable.

Method

Overall analysis of the FJVC’s prescriptive documents (statutes, mission statement, procedures, organisation’s history)

Design of competence profile based on typical situations encountered in real life.

Workshops enabling young people to reflect upon and describe their competences :

The knowledge acquired through experience is often implicit and incorporated (Leplat, 1997). People do not always recall what they have done. They may remember that they have had such and such experience in general, that they have worked in a given capacity on a certain occasion. However, they are less able to describe the precise details of the experience gained. Moreover, people do not really know what knowledge, aptitudes and competences that they draw upon when carrying out various tasks. By asking people to think about their actions, the explicitation method (Vermersch, 1994) allows them to consciously identify their learning outcomes.