A Value Added Toolkit to Support the Quality Assurance of Non-accredited Learning
This section seeks to explain the provenance, nature and purpose of the Toolkit.

Value Added
The measurement of value added involves comparison between the attainments and characteristics of learners at entry and their achievements at exit. Learners engaged in any learning activity may have a different range of starting points and eventual outcomes. The distance travelled between entry and outcome is another way of defining value added.
The increasing impact of Estyn’s Area Adult and Community Learning inspections and the need for more effective self assessment of non-accredited provision highlights the need for methodologies that identify and measure learners’ progress and achievements in both course-based and in personal and community development related learning activity.

Developed by:
This Toolkit has been developed by NIACE Dysgu Cymru, supported by a Project Advisory Group and with a Welsh Practitioners Development Group, for the Department of Education Lifelong Learning and Skills (DELLS) to support practitioners in enabling learners to Recognise and Record their Progress and Achievement (RARPA), particularly where there is no formal certification or accreditation by a recognised external awarding body.

The Toolkit draws from the significant work in England, largely funded by the Learning and Skills Council, conducted by NIACE and the Learning and Skills Network (LSN).  

Why a Toolkit?

• To enable people on adult learning courses/programmes and those involved in personal and community development learning to be aware of and recognise their learning gain 
• To promote understanding of the Recognising and Recording of Progress and Achievement (RARPA) principles/stages and how they link together to form a systematic approach to learning, teaching and leading
• To encourage tutors/facilitators/leaders and groups of tutors/facilitatots/leaders to develop their own approaches to applying the RARPA principles/stages
• To encourage managers of adult and community learning and managers of personal and community development related learning activity, particularly those with responsibility for quality, to use the RARPA process as a basis for monitoring the quality of non accredited courses/programmes and of personal and community development related activities
• To clarify the connections between the RARPA process and Estyn’s Common Inspection Framework.
• To help tutors/facilitators/leaders and managers to prepare for Self Assessment

A Toolkit for Whom?

• The Toolkit is aimed at managers, tutors and facilitators, involved in the planning, delivery and management of informal and formal courses and programmes within the traditional scope of Adult and Community Learning
• Now that Estyn is including Community Development within ACL inspections, the ‘Toolkit’ is also aimed at managers/leaders and facilitators within Community Development to recognise and measure the informal learning that occurs during personal and community development related learning activities
  

What does the Toolkit Comprise?
This toolkit provides a variety of tools for practitioners to use appropriate to the context in which they are working. It is a flexible resource offering

• An overview of the RARPA principles/stages.
• Guidelines to assist with implementation. 
• Examples of good practice from across Wales and England.
• Subject specific examples of RARPA's application.
• Generic tools to support practitioners