Any paid work that you have undertaken can be a useful learning experience.

Example of the way that paid work can count towards an APEL claim:

Claire leaves school and goes to work in her family’s modest but successful hotel in Llandudno. On her father’s advice, she gains experience in as many areas of hotel work as possible, starting at the most lowly position and working her way quickly through the ranks. Before long she is working on reception, and after a few years is promoted to assistant manager. She is very good at her job, not least because her experience of several areas of hotel work means that she can empathise with the staff working under her. Unfortunately, her father’s ailing health and her mother’s loss of interest in the business mean it is no longer viable for them to continue running the hotel. Much as Claire has enjoyed working in the hotel, she feels limited by the small size of the establishment and the seasonal nature of the resort. Moreover, her fiancé lives in Manchester, so she decides to try to get a job as a manager in a Manchester hotel. When she applies, however, she finds that her experience is not enough to secure her a job, for most large hotels require applicants for managerial positions to have formal qualifications in Tourism and Management. Both Claire and her fiancé are keen to start a family, so Claire has neither the time nor the money to go to college. More to the point, even if time and funds were available, Claire would not want to go to college to relearn what she already knows. APEL assessment would recognise all that Claire has learnt from her years of experience in her parents’ hotel and enable her to acquire the requisite qualifications much more quickly.

Any voluntary work that you have undertaken, either in the UK or abroad, can be a useful learning experience, and is likely to be appreciated by future employers and other interviewers. If you worked in the UK, you have the added advantage that you are familiar with the UK working environment, so it is a good idea to write an account of this experience and explain what you learnt from it. It is up to you to decide what is relevant to your claim, but the following is a useful generic guide to how you can make your learning count:

• If you are looking for a job, emphasise your knowledge, skills and abilities in your chosen field, in addition to your general working skills
• If you are aiming to complete studies you started at home or in another country, give a detailed description of your previous studies and demonstrate your commitment and skills as a student
• If you are applying for postgraduate study, emphasise your knowledge of the specific area you wish to study, as well as your potential as a postgraduate student and a researcher

Example of the way that voluntary work can count towards an APEL claim:

Rob has always been interested in charitable work, and has gained experience working as a classroom assistant in an inner-city school. He hears about a programme called Youth for Development, which is run specifically for young people by the charity Voluntary Service Overseas. In recognition of his willingness to undertake voluntary work and his experience in a school, he is given a summer placement working as an English teacher in a school in the disadvantaged Shaanxi Province in China. Although it is hard work, Rob is used to working in a disadvantaged school, and manages to win the support of the pupils he is teaching. He thoroughly enjoys his time in China, and is sorry when he has to return to the UK. When he reflects on his experiences in China, he feels increasingly strongly that teaching is his vocation. Unfortunately, despite leaving school with good A-levels, including one in English, he was unable to go to university for personal and financial reasons. With APEL, however, he could compile a portfolio documenting his experiences both in the inner-city school and in China, and include an APL element which made reference to his A-Level qualifications. This portfolio would prove to an assessor that Rob has both ability in English and knowledge of how to teach, thereby enabling him to gain a PGCE in a shortened time-span.