Recognition of Prior Learning as a Practice for Differential Inclusion and Exclusion of Immigrants in Sweden

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe and analyze how recognition of prior learning acts as a dividing practice and a technique for inclusion/exclusion of immigrants in their vocations in Swedish working life. It is a qualitative study of three pilot programs in Swedish urban centers, and the data consist of interviews, and documents pertaining to these programs. The theoretical starting point of the analysis is three Foucauldian concepts: order of discourse, dividing practice, and technology of power. The results show how recognition of prior learning acts as a dividing practice; in the process of recognition, the targeting of certain vocations for assessment, the de-grading of competence in the process, and the differing opportunities vis-à-vis further training and the labor market, are part of the process of inclusion/exclusion in/from the “orders” of the labor market. Technologies of power – surveillance, observation, and examination – are part of this process.The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in: Adult Education Quarterly, (59), 1, 42-60, 2008.Andersson, P. and Osman, A., Recognition of Prior Learning as a Practice for Differential Inclusion and Exclusion of Immigrants in Swedenhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0741713608325173. by SAGE Publications Ltd, All rights reserved. http://www.sagepub.com

Swedish career guidance counsellors’ recognition of newly arrived migrant students’ knowledge and educational strategies

“…For example, several studies show how procedures for assessment and evaluation of migrants' prior learning conduce misrecognition of their skills (Webb 2015), or, even worse, their overall social exclusion (Andersson & Osman, 2008;Diedrich & Styhre, 2013;Vesterberg, 2015). Attention to the misrecognition of migrant knowledge acquired outside the country of reception is a recurring theme here.…”

Migrants’ competence recognition systems

“…It recalls what the logic of 'competencies' tends to do, compelling individuals to meet certain predefined standards (Lodigiani, 2011), far from considering competence in a holistic way 4 . Moreover despite the best intentions, any process of selection and assessment¾as well as any learning practice and context -is inevitably influenced by wider power dynamics and special interests (Andersson & Osman, 2008;Fejes & Fragoso, 2014;Shan & Fejes, 2015). Considering all these critical aspects, our research work clearly shows the importance of acting in at least two directions.…”

“…Whilst competence recognition has been conceptualized with the aim of potentially furthering social justice in relation to individual opportunities, and increasing individual self-confidence, self-esteem and power, under some conditions the recognition process can have the opposite effect for TCNs, as some studies suggest (Diedrich & Styhre, 2013;Guo, 2010a). As an extreme consequence, recognition systems instead of being a 'capacitating institution' could become a 'divisionary tool', enabling to the selection of the immigrants considered to meet certain standards (professional or otherwise) while excluding others, or favouring some and penalizing others (Andersson & Osman, 2008).…”

La red de los Centros de Innovación y Formación Ocupacional y la promoción de la equidad, la cohesión social y la ciudadanía activa en Cataluña (España)

“…One of this positions championed by authors such as Andersson (Anderson & Fejes, 2005;Andersson & Osman, 2008;Andersson, 2008) sees RPL as a technique for governing and fabricating the adult subject that nowadays is focused on evaluating the subject' s experience through the concept of competence (Anderson & Fejes, 2005). Therefore, the adult is constructed by the means of the experiences that have to be evaluated (Andersson & Osman, 2008). At a systemic level, adult education is governed and organised following the "salvation narrative" of the RPL (Andersson, 2008).…”