Micro-certification to provide alternative to formal schooling

Micro-certification of��soft skills and digital skills��will boost the employability of Filipinos who may not have gone through the formal education system, according to learning experts.����

“In the assessment of 21^st��century skills — of which��digital competency��is a part of — the micro-certification created for ALS [Alternative Learning System] will eventually expand to include some of these digital skills,” said Pam Robertson, Australian deputy director at the Assessment, Curriculum & Technology Research Centre (ACTRC), an Australian Aid initiative that seeks to advise and inform the Philippine education system through curriculum, teaching, and assessment research.��

ACTRC, which celebrated its��, is conducting a����on incorporating the ALS’ life skills modules to determine how micro-certification can “provide an alternate pathway to existing formal education” and meet the needs of both learners and employers.

Micro-certification is the credentialing of the attainment of small units of learning that gives learners the potential to receive credit for components of a program.��

These provide prospective employers with more information on a learner’s competency as compared to a certificate indicating a passing score.����defines micro-certification as “a flexible means of verifying attainment of specific elements of ALS K-to-12 minimum competencies.”����

Both hard skills (such as front-end web development) and soft skills (such as critical thinking) can be��.����

Ms. Robertson noted that any credentialing process should be grounded on assessment, and that micro-certifications are only useful if the assessment process is trusted.����

“You have to set a rigorous framework to see that real competence is being captured,” she said at the June 29 event.������

ACTRC Philippine deputy director Nona Marlene B. Ferido recommended the reporting of student proficiency not through scores but through “a learner’s demonstration of a given skill described in a profile of increasing competence called learning progressions.”����

This enables teachers to give effective feedback to learners and adjust instruction according to their development level, she said.������

A sample ALS micro-certification of learner capabilities could be: “Learner A is a responsible collaborator (performs teamwork without needing guidance and contributes harmony to a group), but Learner B is a value-adding collaborator (performs to a higher than the required standard, and takes initiative to improve the work of the group),” Ms. Ferido told������ý��in an email.����

Employers are now also pushing for assessment information to tailor to their needs, she said: “Employers are more interested in what someone can do, and less interested in what someone knows.”����

Ms. Robertson pointed out that the K-to-12 curriculum is “much stronger” than its previous version, adding it takes at least a decade to see the impacts of change within a country.��

“These changes take a long time to work through … we need to make sure we keep the direction.” —��Patricia B. Mirasol