A new year can bring new beginnings. If you’re thinking that it’s time for some changes, you’re not the only one.
According to Workopolis, the Canadian website offering online career solutions, in a survey of over 1,000 people, nearly three quarters (73 per cent) of those polled said that they do not expect to remain in the same profession for life.
The same survey revealed that the most common reasons people gave for changing career paths were discovering a new field they were passionate about (35 per cent), becoming bored/disillusioned with their original work (24 per cent), and setbacks such as lack of advancement and/or cutbacks, layoffs in a career path (19 per cent).
Whatever the reason, a common concern among people in their late 20s, 30s, and 40s who are looking for a change is whether they should go back to school. For people in the 35 to 40 age bracket, family, mortgage and a variety of responsibilities stand in the way of that.
Enter the relatively new range of micro-credential opportunities offered by universities like Camosun College, the University of Victoria and Royal Roads along with many other universities and colleges across Canada.
Micro-credentials recognize short-duration, competency-based learning opportunities, that align with labour market or community needs and can be assessed and recognized for employment or further learning opportunities.
Micro-credentials range from single-day learning experiences to multi-week courses, but all are designed to teach a specific skill within a short timeframe. Students are provided with proof of completion which can come in different formats such as digital badges or certificates.
According to Dr. Gerry Kelly, retired president emeritus of Royal Roads University, “To keep pace with change in the workplace, a worker’s employability requires perpetual learning throughout their lifetime. How do we create greater access to learning that meets the needs of the lifelong learner over those of the provider?”
When I asked Dr. Kelly about the role of micro-credentials as part of continuing education programs he replied, “The future of continuing education is shifting from traditional just-in-case to just-in-time learning” adding that “learner-centred micro-credentials with online or on-campus study options respond to the need to reinvent conventional learning.”
In a Nov. 15, 2022, Maclean’s report, Liza Agrba writes that across Canada many post secondary institutions now offer micro-credentials which are “spanning a range of skills and industries, [and which] cover everything from data literacy and computer-aided design to reading blueprints and advanced wilderness first aid.”
Length is one major feature that distinguishes micro-credential courses — which run eight to about 200 hours — from other types of courses,
As the first step in a process to develop and implement a coordinated and consistent approach to micro-credentials across British Columbia’s public post-secondary education system a Micro-Credential Framework and set of Guiding Principles has been developed by the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training
Since 2020, the ministry has funded the development of more than 130 micro-credentials across the public post-secondary system.
A report by the Deloitte Centre for Higher Education Excellence forecasts scenarios for higher education over the next 3-5 years, which include a greater need for institutions to work with industry to define the skills their employees will need.
The report suggests the demand for short term, nondegree, micro-credentials that are linked to jobs and employers will be an important part of higher education’s recovery.
The same report predicts an “uptick in enrollment at 2-year institutions as demand increases for stacked credentials and certificates as the traditional 4-year degree becomes less sought after.”
Key to micro-credential development is partnership and collaboration with employers and industry, to ensure the competencies learners gain are relevant and recognized for employment. In that way micro-credentials provide opportunities for individuals to quickly obtain new skills and access high-demand employment.
In a June 2020 report by the Royal Bank of Canada entitled “Post-Secondary Education: What the Future Holds,” writer John Stackhouse pointed to the need for “an inclusive and flexible approach to alternative learning, such as micro-credentials, along with efforts to modernize the credit transfer system to recognize micro-credentials towards a diploma or a degree.”
To further facilitate the expansion micro-credential opportunities, the BC Council on Admissions & Transfer, established in 1989, oversees the BC Transfer System, enabling important links between the BC post-secondary institutions, the education ministries, and the public and private education sectors.
BCCAT facilitates admission, articulation, application and transfer arrangements among B.C. post-secondary institutions for the benefit of students.
To further smooth the path for universities which are adding some micro-credentialed courses “The Micro-credential Tool Kit for BC” has been designed by BCcampus which operates with core funding from the Ministry of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills.
As Dr. Kelly so succinctly stated: “An increasingly rapid change in society and the workplace calls for a shift in education traditions”.
And about time.
Geoff Johnson is a former superintendent of schools.
