Credit for prior learning lacks promotion

Cash-strapped colleges can’t afford to do assessments

Despite their success in helping working adults access learning opportunities, prior learning assessment programs have been under-promoted, according to a survey of learners and would-be learners.

In Feedback from learners, a cross-Canada study of prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR), 74 per cent of 1,000 respondents said the programs were an important factor in their decisions to consider college. But support for such programs has been weak.

Prior learning assessment and recognition programs grant academic credit to people for what they’ve learned outside school. Learners apply for credits by proving their knowledge using one of several methods: submitting a portfolio, writing an exam or sitting down for an interview.

Regardless of where or how they’ve gained their knowledge or skills, learners can obtain credit for a course if they’ve met all the learning objectives of that course.

Since the early 1990s, when PLAR programs were introduced in community colleges across Canada, the idea of giving people credit for knowledge they already possess has been seen as a tool to promote lifelong learning. (For more on PLAR and workplace training, click on the related articles link below.)

But the growth of PLAR has been sluggish. In the eight years between 1993-94 and 2000-01, the seven colleges covered by the survey completed 14,200 PLAR assessments, on 7,200 PLAR learners, at an average of 1,780 assessments a year — a minute number compared to the 64,000 full-time students enrolled at these seven colleges in 2000-01 alone.

Joy Van Kleef, who authored the report along with researchers from seven colleges, said one major reason for PLAR’s lacklustre growth is a lack of promotion.

Given provincial funding formulas, “colleges are losing money with each assessment,” said Van Kleef, who was involved in setting up one of the first PLAR programs.

With colleges already cramped for space, institutions aren’t interested in promoting programs such as PLAR, which are meant to attract people who wouldn’t normally be in school.

Ottawa has been supportive of the concept, but education is a provincial responsibility, noted Van Kleef.

“Human Resources Development Canada has embraced the concept of PLAR as a labour force development tool. They’ve been very supportive of initiatives around the country, and in national and international contexts. But we’ve not seen that kind of support from provinces, which are responsible for education.”

Very few people learn about PLAR through community organizations or the media, the survey found. They learn about PLAR through instructors or other college employees (31 per cent), college publications (22 per cent) or an employer or co-worker (20 per cent).

A large majority of PLAR learners were employed at the time they were gaining their credits. Slightly more than half (55 per cent) were employed full time.

Work experience and on-the-job training were the two most important sources (81 per cent) of prior learning. Other sources of learning included seminars and workshops (39 per cent), independent learning (33 per cent) and post-secondary institutions (29 per cent).

The top three reasons people took PLAR were that they thought college credentials:

•would give them a greater choice of jobs (40 per cent);

•were needed for career advancement (38 per cent); and

•would give them greater job security (27 per cent).

When asked about the impact of PLAR programs, 74 per cent said PLAR was an important factor in their decisions to return to school. Almost an equal number of respondents (72 per cent) said PLAR was an important factor in completing their programs. Seventy-eight per cent said PLAR helped them graduate.

Van Kleef urged provinces to recognize that labour force development and education are intertwined.

“They still don’t have a full understanding of the catalytic effect PLAR can have in bringing education and labour force development together.”

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