National Adult Literacy Database

This document offers an analysis of the status of prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR) across Canada. As well, it includes suggestions about what is needed in order for employers, post-secondary institutions, and government to recognize and value experiential and informal learning.

The authors point out that while expanding the understanding of learning and education is certainly an issue of social justice, it is also a matter of pressing economic urgency in the face of labour shortages, skills deficits, and underrepresentation of specific populations within the labour markets.

The document includes several appendices that provide information on the recognition of PLAR activities in 12 Canadian jurisdictions; the development of policies and practices related to PLAR in Quebec; eight international case studies; standards and principles for PLAR; the Halifax Declaration for the Recognition of Prior Learning; and impediments to adult learner participation.