Prior Learning Assessment

Prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) is commonly defined as the identification, measurement, and recognition of knowledge and skills acquired outside educational institutions through work and other life experience. In this article, the author proposes a conceptual model for PLAR in education.

This document outlines a project exploring the use of a specific Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) strategy, the development of a portfolio, to help individuals with acquired disabilities address workforce reintegration issues.

The General Education Development (GED) test has been widely used in Canada over the past 25 years as a means of conferring a qualification deemed to be equivalent to a high school diploma. The author of this paper makes the case for a system called PRIME as an attractive alternative to the GED.

The premise of Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) is that what a person knows and can do is more important than where or how he learned those things.

This report offers suggestions for facilitating learner success in adult literacy and basic education (ALBE) programs. It is based on a review of relevant literature, with a focus on Aboriginal learners; findings from previous research in the Northwest Territories (NWT) about non-academic outcomes for adult learners; information gained from an adult learner focus group; and interviews with three adult education instructors.

This document is one of the resources developed through the SCALES (Supporting the Canadian Advancement of Literacy and Essential Skills) project, a three-year initiative designed to develop tools and best practices to help practitioners working with unemployed and low-skilled workers to incorporate a Literacy and Essential Skills (LES) approach into their work.

This video offers a brief look at how Engineers Canada, the national licensing body for the profession, works with Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) to assess the credentials of internationally trained engineers.

This handbook was developed for use by Community Adult Learning Centres (CALCs) in Alberta, though the authors note that it can be used in other literacy settings.

The authors of this guide, which is designed for anyone involved in the hiring process at small- and medium-sized businesses, begin by pointing out that internationally trained workers can help ease some of Canada’s shortages of skilled labour.

This annotated bibliography is part of a collaborative research project on quality assurance in prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) in post-secondary education.