Validation of prior experience allows you to obtain a diploma by recognizing the skills acquired in the professional field, without necessarily returning to school. This system is still little used, although it has many advantages.

In a world marked by globalization and a tight job market, a diploma remains essential for accessing employment, securing one’s career path, and improving one’s employability. However, career paths are no longer straightforward. A diploma obtained through initial training—when it exists—cannot, on its own, address economic and social challenges.

Indeed, the acceleration of technological developments makes constant learning necessary to innovate and remain competitive. However, continuing vocational training still has gaps: it mainly benefits people who already have qualifications and responds to the needs of the job market with a delay.

To think about lifelong learning , it is now a question of recognizing the formative dimension of experience, at work or in daily life. Created in 2002, the validation of acquired experience (VAE) meets these certification needs. More than 250,000 diplomas have been issued through this route . What is it?

The VAE process

VAE is open to anyone with field experience, whether professional, voluntary, union or even personal. It allows you to obtain a diploma, title or national certificate, identical to that issued by initial or continuing training. It is thus possible to obtain any diploma referenced in the national directory of professional certifications (RNCP) , whether it is a CAP, a professional baccalaureate, a license, a master’s degree or even a doctorate.

The process takes place on average over a year, independent of the school or university calendar. It is mainly carried out outside working hours.

The VAE process involves “putting experience to work” to demonstrate mastery of the knowledge and skills listed in the reference framework for the targeted diploma. To do this, the candidate goes through four main stages. He or she:

• identifies the diploma linked to his experience and his project;
• constitutes an admissibility-feasibility file (also called “booklet 1”) to authorize entry into the system and secure its journey;
• constitutes a VAE file (also called “booklet 2”) which is a specific document, both professional and academic, requiring mastery of transversal skills (writing, synthesis, etc.), all the more demanding as the level of the diploma sought is high;
• presents the VAE file to a jury which decides on total or partial validation or refusal.

More than a diploma, a learning process

VAE is not strictly speaking a training system. Its purpose is primarily certifying. However, it appears to be profoundly educational , in the sense that it develops candidates’ dispositions to learn. It thus responds to the challenges of learning , by encouraging learning anywhere and in any situation. According to Philippe Carré, author of the concept, “We always learn alone, but never without others.” Also, most candidates benefit from support , which promotes the learning dynamic .

Our research (conducted in higher education) highlighted this dynamic generated by putting experience to work.

This begins with an update on knowledge and skills. Putting your experience into words means becoming aware of what you know, what you can do, and what you like and don’t like doing. It means knowing yourself better, identifying your strengths and areas for improvement.

This update thus makes it possible, by comparison, to measure the gaps between one’s achievements and what is required for the diploma, or for professional development.

Updating knowledge and skills involves updating them to fill gaps. Candidates can benefit from training time within and outside of support, but they can also learn from their reading and from discussions with their professional and personal circle, and with other candidates.

These new knowledge and skills facilitate the development of their application and contribute more broadly to the professional and personal development of candidates. Thus, their relationship to knowledge and their relationship to work evolve.

Recognize the VAE system

Despite its advantages, VAE qualification remains marginal when compared to other routes to diplomas. It struggles to fully reach the audiences who need it most. While it is mainly used by low-skilled people , the majority of candidates are employed people .

The system has therefore undergone several legislative and regulatory adjustments, of varying degrees of significance, in line with education and employment reforms. The law of December 21, 2022, on emergency measures relating to the functioning of the labor market with a view to full employment marks a turning point for VAE. This law aims to simplify procedures and focuses primarily on administrative barriers to broaden the audiences concerned.

It’s one thing for VAE to be better known, but is it being recognized for its true value? For both its beneficiaries and employers, VAE certainly offers “productive” advantages in logistical and financial terms, and it officially certifies “professional” skills.

But VAE can also be “constructive”: it mobilizes and develops abilities to organize work, to demonstrate autonomy and perseverance; and above all, it mobilizes and develops dispositions to learn. This appears essential today in a world in full acceleration.

Author Bio: Céline Hoffert is Lecturer in educational and training sciences at Paris Nanterre University – Paris Lumières University