Implementation record Workforce learning

From fragmented training records to a portable learner record

How a European language and workforce training organisation introduced a common structure for learning achievements across different programmes, countries and regulatory requirements.

Institutional case study Multi-country delivery Credential & skills implementation

01 Context

Growth had created a learner-record problem.

The organisation delivers language and workforce training across multiple countries. Its programmes serve different learner populations, use different delivery models and operate within distinct regulatory and funding environments.

A learner might complete language training, a vocational programme, an assessment or another form of structured development. The resulting evidence could differ by programme, country or funding framework. The organisation could track completions, but bringing those records together into a consistent picture of achievement and capability was becoming more difficult.

Learners needed evidence they could present to employers, other providers and future programmes. Administrators needed to handle different requirements without creating a separate credentialing process for every programme. The requirement was a common achievement layer—not another learning management system.

The central implementation question: How could the organisation create a common learner record without forcing every programme and country into the same operational model?

02 Architecture

A common credential and skills layer

CertifyMe was introduced alongside the systems already supporting learning delivery, learner information and programme operations. The six-layer model structured the work around achievement, verification and skills, with connected learner records and workforce context providing a direction for further development.

  1. Presentation & access

    Credential access

    Completed learning was represented as a digital credential that learners could access and retain beyond the original programme. The achievement had a persistent record rather than existing only as a programme-specific document.

  2. Standards & interoperability

    Shared achievement structure

    Recognised digital credential standards provided a consistent structure for achievements across programmes. This supported their use beyond the issuing organisation, including when learners presented evidence to another training provider or employer.

  3. Verification & trust

    Verification workflow

    Verification gave a receiving party a way to check the issuer, the recipient associated with the credential and the recorded achievement, rather than relying solely on a document supplied by the learner.

  4. Skill taxonomy alignment

    Skills modelling

    Programme outcomes were reviewed and relevant skills identified. Where appropriate, mappings to recognised frameworks such as ESCO provided a common vocabulary across programmes and markets. The record could describe the skills represented by learning, alongside its completion status.

  5. Comprehensive learner record

    Connected record model

    Consistently structured credentials and skills could accumulate across programmes, assessments and stages of training. This provided a model for connecting achievements over a learner’s development, rather than treating each completion as an isolated event.

  6. Workforce intelligence & opportunity

    Further capability

    Mapped skills could be considered alongside occupations, employers, locations and workforce requirements. This would allow the organisation to examine where programme-related capabilities may be relevant, as well as what training it had delivered.

The learner journey

LearningCompletionCredentialVerificationSkillsLearner record

A common achievement structure supports the journey while individual programmes retain their own operating requirements.

03 Delivery

Four stages, followed by operational support

Implementation began with the existing environment: how learner information moved, how programmes were structured, how completion was recorded and how regulatory or funding requirements affected the resulting records. Standardising achievement data did not mean standardising every learning programme.

  1. 01

    Stage 1 Discovery

    Map the learning and record workflows

    The teams reviewed programme structures, learner data and regulatory requirements. They identified where credentials should be generated, which information was needed and how the credential layer would interact with existing systems.

  2. 02

    Stage 2 Integration

    Connect selected learning workflows

    Selected workflows were connected to CertifyMe so that achievement information from existing learning processes could flow into the credential environment. The objective was to avoid a parallel manual process for administrators.

  3. 03

    Stage 3 Skills & credential modelling

    Give programme outcomes a shared vocabulary

    Programme outcomes and relevant skills were reviewed alongside the credential structures. Appropriate framework mappings helped describe achievements consistently across different programmes without removing their individual context.

  4. 04

    Stage 4 Validation & rollout

    Test representative programmes end-to-end

    Representative programmes were used to validate the journey from learning and completion through credential issuance, verification, skills and the learner-record model before extending the approach more broadly.

04 Observed change

One achievement structure, different programme contexts

The principal change was a common structure for representing learning achievements across a diverse operation. Individual programmes and markets could retain their own requirements while sharing an underlying credential and skills model.

Starting model

Programme → Completion → Programme-specific record

Common achievement layer

Learning → Achievement → Verifiable credential → Skills mapping

For learners, this created a way to access and present achievements beyond the programme in which they were earned. For the organisation, it established a foundation for managing learning evidence without treating every programme as a separate credentialing problem.

05 Outcomes

Scale with the context of achievement intact

The organisation has supported more than 40,000 learners and issued more than 80,000 digital credentials. Adoption of the credential and skills model was approximately 82% across the relevant learner population.

The solution has supported requirements across five regulatory and funding frameworks and 66 languages. Those figures reflect the breadth of the operating environment; the structural outcome was a consistent way to represent achievements while retaining the information needed to understand them.

Operations teams gained a shared credential infrastructure across different programmes and markets. Learning teams could connect programme outcomes with relevant skills. Receiving organisations had a verifiable source for the recorded achievement, and learners had evidence they could present beyond the issuing provider.

06 Looking ahead

From individual credentials to a connected record

The common credential and skills structure provides a basis for records that grow across programmes and stages of development. As achievements accumulate, a connected learner record could bring that evidence together rather than leaving it distributed across separate completion documents.

Workforce context could then help the organisation consider those skills in relation to changing occupations and employer requirements. This is a further use of the achievement data: connecting the learning portfolio with where its associated capabilities may be relevant.

The implementation introduced a common achievement layer across a complex learning operation, while preserving programme differences and establishing a foundation for more connected learner records.