Help · Recognition

Recognition & credential templates

How RPF records a body's recognition of a role, makes that backing visible as a badge, and produces a credential template an issuer can sign.

A recognition adds one fact to a role, profile or flow: that a named professional or sector body backs it as meeting its standard. RPF records that fact, shows it to everyone who views the role, and produces a credential template — a description of the credential in a standard format — for a downstream issuer to use.

This section is for the RPF administrators who record recognitions, the recognising bodies whose recognition is recorded, the issuers who turn templates into real credentials, and the practitioners reading the role pages.

What a recognition is

A plain fact attached to a role, profile or flow.

RPF describes how professional work is changing: roles (a job, defined by what it must be able to do), the competence profiles within a role, the competence items those profiles are built from, the information uses they touch, and the flows that connect roles across a transformation. A recognition adds one more fact to a role, profile or flow: that a named professional or sector body recognises it.

Recognition answers a question every audience asks of a role — "where does this lead?". A role is more than RPF's own description of a job when a professional association, an industry body or a registration board stands behind it. RPF makes that backing visible (a badge on the role) and portable (a credential template a downstream issuer can issue from).

Where RPF sits in the ecosystem

Accreditation and certification is a chain of distinct roles done by distinct parties. RPF is the framework layer at the start of the chain.

The full diagram of how RPF relates to accreditation bodies, certification bodies, assessors, registrars, regulators, professional associations, employers and credential platforms lives in the Framework help section. The short version: RPF defines and publishes the roles, profiles and flows the others reference; it is none of those other actors.

Open the ecosystem diagram in Framework

What RPF does and does not do

Recognition is a focused feature with a clear boundary. Reading what RPF does and does not do is the fastest way to understand what it means.

RPF does

Record a body's recognition of one or more roles, profiles or flows.
Show that recognition on the role page as a "Recognised by [body]" badge.
Produce a credential template — a structured description of the recognised role, in a standard format — that an issuer can use.

RPF does not

Accredit a learning provider, certification body or anyone else. RPF is not an accreditation body.
Assess a person, score them against a role, or track anyone's score or expiry date.
Sign, issue or store a credential. Templates leave RPF unsigned; the issuer adds the recipient and applies its own signature.
Audit, verify or guarantee a body's recognition claim. RPF displays the claim alongside a note of its source.

The boundary, in one sentence

RPF records recognition and produces templates based on its framework — and stops there. That boundary is what keeps RPF an open, neutral framework rather than a competitor to the bodies and platforms it serves.

From draft role to public recognition

Recognition joins two lifecycles — the role's own, and the recognition's. The public effects (badge, metro signal, downloadable template) appear only when both have completed.

1Draft role — A role is created in RPF and worked on. Nothing about recognition is public yet.
2Reviewed with stakeholders — The role is reviewed — which may include a structured verification round. Recognition can be prepared in parallel but remains invisible.
3Formal role — An RPF administrator marks the role formal once it is stable and approved for use. This unlocks the gate that lets recognition's public effects show.
4Draft recognition — An administrator prepares a recognition record — fields and links — while the body confirms details. No badge yet.
5Active recognition — Once the body confirms, the administrator marks the recognition active. The record is now live, but still only visible on a formal role.
6"Recognised by [body]" appears — With the role formal and the recognition active, the badge shows on the role, the metro-map signal counts it, and the credential template is downloadable.

The formal-role gate

Nothing is shown publicly until the role is formal. A draft recognition may be prepared earlier, in parallel with a role still under review — it simply stays invisible until both conditions hold.

The four journeys

Each journey names an actor, their goal and what they see. Pick the one that matches your job.

Journey A

For recognising bodies

How an RPF administrator records, in RPF, that a body recognises a set of roles, profiles or flows.

Journey B

On a role page

What a practitioner sees on a role page when a body recognises it, and how recognition differs from verification.

Journey C

For issuers

How a credential issuer downloads a credential template and turns it into a real, signed credential.

Journey D

Across jurisdictions

How recognition is scoped to a market or worldwide, and how the metro map signals recognition coverage.

Glossary

Short, plain definitions for the terms used across the recognition surfaces.

Recognition: A record that a named body backs a role, profile or flow as meeting its standard.
Recognising body: The organisation that recognises a role: a professional association, an industry or trade body, a registration board, or similar. It is not an accreditation body.
Issuer: The body or credential platform that turns a credential template into real, signed credentials.
Credential type: The kind of credential the recognition leads to — for example, a full membership credential or a smaller continuing-development unit.
CPD points: Continuing-professional-development credit, counted in the body's own scheme.
Validity period: How long a credential stays valid before it must be renewed. Some credentials never expire.
Renewal frequency: How often a holder must renew the credential, where renewal applies.
Evidence requirements: What the body expects a candidate to provide to earn the credential.
Market (jurisdiction): Whether a recognition applies to one specific market or worldwide.
Status: Whether a recognition is a draft, active, or withdrawn.
Formal: A role that has been reviewed and approved as stable. Recognition only shows publicly on a formal role.
Credential template: A ready-made description of a credential, in a standard format, that an issuer uses as the starting point to issue real credentials.
Open Badges 3.0: An open standard format for digital credentials, maintained by 1EdTech.
W3C Verifiable Credentials: A W3C standard format for cryptographically verifiable credentials.

RPF

Recognition is a body's claim about a role; verification is a check of the role itself; assessment is a check of a person. RPF carries the first, supports the second, and never does the third.