In September UNESCO released the Draft Preliminary Report, A conversation starter: Towards a common definition of micro-credentials, for consultation. UNESCO commissioned the paper which was drafted by Australian Emeritus Professor Beverley Oliver. A final version will be made available in due course.
The paper explains that micro-credentials are increasingly promoted as a new and more flexible way of recognising knowledge, skills and competences. They are flourishing with more new brand names constantly emerging. However, acceptance and recognition of micro-credentials by employers and policy makers is hampered because, among other challenges, there is no universally recognised definition that clearly communicates to lay users, particularly learners and employers, what micro-credentials are.
In recent years, policymakers, scholars and educators have produced their own definitions, advancing scholarship in the area, and sometimes causing more confusion by adding yet another definition. Other challenges include determining whether micro-credentials complement or replace qualifications, or both; the dizzying array of providers and partnerships in the provision of micro-credentials; the need for robust quality assurance and the conundrum of how to enact it when providers operate outside of the regulated education sector; the lack of research and convincing evidence of micro-credentials’ efficacy so far, and the risk of unintended consequences if funding is diverted away from formal systems.
This work set out to address the first of those challenges, coming to a consensus on a proposed definition, in the hope of assisting the field to move towards a common definition. The preliminary report proposes a definition arrived at through a consensus-building process by a global expert panel, including the Centre for Education and Training’s Executive Director, Megan Lilly.
