Recognition of knowledge acquired outside school education has become a primary issue in education development. In its recommendation on the recognition of the outcomes of non-formal and informal learning, the Council of the European Union requests that Member States establish national systems for the recognition of the outcomes of formal and non-formal learning by not later than 2018. This will enable EU citizens to gain complete or partial qualifications based on their knowledge, skills and competences they acquired outside the formal school system.

Regarding the fact that Hungary has also undertaken to elaborate a national validation system by 2018, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive national recognition system based on which a structured knowledge recognition system may be established, which will function within the framework of the domestic educational, training, institutional and legal system, and which will be in harmony with European standards. It is necessary to elaborate a model and system, which will be able to foster the re-integration of the most relevant potential target groups (such as groups of young people and adults with low levels of education) into the labour market and society.

Several studies and documents were developed in this topic during the last decade, and the European Union permanently monitors the steps the Member States take in order to develop a system and procedures for the validation of learning outcomes. The CEDEFOP and the OECD issue various publications, recommendations and guidelines to help this endeavour (see: Cedefop 2009, Werquin 2010). The validation systems and procedures developed in various EU Member States show differences, and the related practices also indicate significant levels of development.

At the same time however if the international trends are taken into account an area is outlined in which basic principles and conditions are contained, which are clearly necessary for the development of a validation system, and which could serve as a guideline also for Hungary.   

Regarding the practice applied in European Member States it can be seen that there is no general system for the validation of learning outcomes acquired in non-formal learning environment. Very different approaches, procedures and practices have been developed in various Member States. A common feature of these is two parallel development methodologies. One is system level development, the other one is project-and institution-driven development. The common features in the practices conducted in countries where validation procedures function at national level are as follows: 

• Specific government objective for which the validation procedure is used
• Relevant educational and training standards accepted by social partners
• Curricula based on learning outcomes
• The validation procedure is linked to the national qualifications framework
• Permanent communication, identification of the advantages of the validation system, involvement of the concerned parties

In adult education terminology in Hungary prior learning assessment was used as a concept, and the issue of prior learning assessment was first raised when adult education was regulated by law (Act CI of 2001 on adult education). There have been several developments and efforts for the introduction and application of prior learning assessment at systems level however this has not been applied in practice. Prior learning assessment has been incorporated in the practice of adult education in Hungary as an administrative step only. It has not been institutionalised and has not had an impact on the quality of the development of the adult education system or on the development of measurement methodology and education methodology culture of adult educators.

CEDEFOP (2009): European Guidelines for validation non-formal and informal learning. Cedefop http://www.cedefop.europa.eu/EN/publications/5059.aspx COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION of 20 December 2012 on the validation of non-formal and informal learning http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2012:398:0001:0005:EN:PDF WERQUIN, PATRICK (2010). Recognising Non-formal and Informal Learning: Outcomes, Policies and Practices, OECD-Publishing, Paris. Act LXXVII of 2013 on adult education