In her latest blog, our director Dr Liz Barron-Majerik takes a close look at micro-credentials.

"Every so often in education, a new term is coined that seems to rise and fall in popularity, but which seems to mean different things to different people at the same time. “Meta-skills” is one (a title that seems to have been much more popular pre-Facebook) and “Micro-credentials” is another. I don’t mind meta-skills so much, though it does make it hard to find the next best thing (postmeta-skills anyone?). However, I have never liked micro-credentials as a term and as it seems to be on the rise again, I wanted to share why This Is A Bad Thing.

Firstly, I would say that UNESCO having to gather a panel of experts together to agree the definition of a term (Towards a Common Definition of Micro-credentials in 2022) is a clear sign of a fuzzword[1] in the making.

Their report proposed a definition of a micro-credential as:

• a record of focused learning verifying what the learner knows, understands or can do
• including an assessment based on clearly defined standards
• awarded by a trusted provider and meeting the standards required by relevant quality assurance
• which may contribute to or complement other micro-credentials or macro-credentials through recognition of prior learning

So far, so much like an accredited short course. And micro-credentials are short courses, but not all short courses are micro-credentials. Unlike many short courses, micro-credentials are stackable, which means that they can lead to a formal qualification like a degree. It’s a nice idea – universities giving access to short chunks of learning that over time could lead to that BA/BSc title, robes and a ceremony. Why not? The HE providers are running the classes anyway for their full-time students, and this is a great way to fill up the classes and earn some extra income. 

However.

Anyone who has worked in HE has experienced that sense of dread when someone arrives asking to finish that ‘one last unit’ from an HND or degree that they started on twenty years ago. You want to help. They deserve to get that final bunch of credits that mean they have a degree, but you also know that there are hours of mapping ahead, to show that what they have learned or done, matches the completely new framework. And that’s only if someone, somewhere, still has the old unit descriptors or course framework.

But even if we put the administrative aspect to one side, along with the concept that ANYONE could have the attention span to finish a degree in bite size credential chunks, let us consider the term ‘micro’.

If you’ve tried to undertake training whilst working, caring for kids or elderly parents, etc, you’ll know that there is nothing ‘micro’ about the additional workload. It’s often life changing, can lead to promotion and a range of other benefits, but it isn’t a small ask. Feathers might be light, but even they have been known to break the proverbial back.

So, let’s recognise those taking on training whilst in full-time work by dumping the term micro-credential, the pretence and even the expectation that they will ‘collect the set’. Its either part-time degree study, or it’s a short course.

Theta-skills on the other hand…"

[1] It’s a thing “ A term that is deliberately vague or euphemistic in meaning.” And yes, I was surprised too.