How will officers and staff gain credits for their previous learning and experience?

A large number of Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) already recognise that individuals without formal academic qualifications may have gained significant learning through their experience, and the skills and knowledge they have developed.

The way in which this is recognised can vary between institutions. In conjunction with a number of HEIs, the College of Policing (CoP) has developed a standard framework for the accreditation of certain National Policing Curriculum (NPC) courses, and the learning officers and staff may have developed through their experience.

The development of this framework aims to provide a nationally agreed minimum number of credits to be applied to learning and experience within policing. Making the assessment of RPL more straightforward for HEIs and the completion of application forms simpler and more consistent for applicants. This has been developed with reference to the QAA quality code.

An online tool will allow officers and staff to enter their learning and experience into a Credit Estimator to see how many academic credits they might be able to claim. The online tool will also provide them with a list of courses they might want to study.

It is accepted that the number of credits an individual is awarded could vary based on their specific evidence. And how their experience or learning compares to the modules of the course they are applying for.

CoP RPL Matrices V0.1