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This article reflects on some of the findings of a research project which investigated the practice of recognition of prior learning (RPL) within a major national teacher upgrading project in South Africa: the National Professional Diploma in Education (NPDE). The article analyses the ways in which a range of contextual factors have positioned RPL within the NPDE curriculum. Rather than support evaluations of RPL in the NPDE which have argued that RPL should be prior to rather than within the curriculum, the article uses and critically examines a theorised typology which characterises RPL as 'credit-exchange', 'developmental', 'radical' and/or 'Trojan horse' to show how RPL in the NPDE has combined elements of these approaches in a distinctive way. The article suggests that the 'Trojan horse' model may provide the best framework for the use of RPL in linking qualifications-led professional development of practising teachers with other forms of continuing professional development. In conclusion the article reflects on how Trojan horse RPL could be included in critical engagement with the new national framework for teacher education and professional development.