New Insights
Prior learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR)
PLAR, also referred to as Prior Learning Assessment (PLA), Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) (Castell and Attwood, p.60), began during WWII when veterans were granted college credits for the training they did in the military (Fains, 2012). For the purpose of this blog my use of the term PLAR refers to the granting of credits or admission into formal learning in educational institutions based on informal or non-formal experience (Spencer, 2005). Getting recognition for prior learning can open doors for people, and it can provide both access into and exemptions within programs. PLAR helps both the institutions and the individuals because not only can people get recognition for the learning they have done in the past, but educational institutions can enroll more students. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL, 2016) website states,
- Competition for adult students is increasingly fierce. If you are not improving your services to adults, you are likely falling behind. CAEL helps colleges and universities evolve in our rapidly changing higher education system. Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is one way to enroll college students and empower them to complete their degree.
Although PLAR began during WWII and is not a new trend in education, it is still current. Paul Fain’s article in Inside Higher Ed (2012) says, “Prior learning assessment could be higher education’s next big disruptive force”. He also goes on to say, “Its potential could even rival that of online learning”, and “more than half of colleges accept some form of prior learning credit”.
PLAR can offer opportunities to those who may not otherwise have the chance to get a formal education. Castle and Attwood (2001) wrote about the blacks in South Africa who relied on prior learning to get accepted into higher educational institutions because they were previously “excluded from quality education and a range of occupations in the Apartheid years (p.61).
Another example showing how PLAR has provided the opportunity for acceptance into a formal educational program is the case of Sultana from Afghanistan.
This is a brief version of Sultana’s story :
- Sultana was forced to end her formal education at the age of 11 after men threatened to burn her face with acid
- At the age of 13 she began teaching herself English from a newspaper
- She does not have high school transcripts and there is no GED testing center within 20 hours of her hometown
- There are no ACT or SAT testing centers in Afghanistan nor arrangement-based testing options
- Sultana's only option for testing was to make the dangerous, 20 hour trip to Karachi, Pakistan
- Sultana had to find an approved male relative (mahram) to take her on this trip
- Sultana had to leave for the trip 2 months prior to the test to accommodate her uncle's availability to make the trip
- She needed a passport to take the test, but it had not yet been approved by the time she left for the trip
- Once her passport was approved, it had to be smuggled across the border to Pakistan so it could be sent to her by relatives living just across the Afghanistan/Pakistan border; her area of Afghanistan has no mail system
- By the time she was able to successfully cross the border, the SAT test spots were full (thanks to the kindness of management at College Board, she was able get off the waitlist and into the test)
- Sultana scored above the U.S. national average on her SAT, despite the fact that she'd never taken a test before and was not taking it in her native language
- To enroll in a US college Sultana had to raise enough funding to prove that she had financial stability: $17,900 minimum. About 1/3 of this money was raised by public donors through her GoFundMe page, 1/3 came from individual sponsors, and 1/3 came from Sultana's relatives
- Sultana also had to prove that her self-schooling was legitimate, which came with the help of her Khan Academy stats
(Roberts, E. (2016). Re: Sultana's Story [Web log comment])
Without the prior learning recognition from her Khan Academy stats Sultana would not have the opportunity to keep fighting for the chance to get a higher education in the US. I’m sure there are many more stories where PLAR has given people opportunities in formal educational settings all over the world.
Sultana’s story has not ended yet and this is where is stands:
On May 9th, 2016, Sultana's visa application was rejected. Sultana had everything she needed: a passport, an I-20 form, an acceptance letter from a U.S. college, letters of sponsorship with pay stubs, a SEVIS form, a DS-160 form, and a letter of recommendation from one the world's most notable physicists, Dr. Lawrence Krauss, among others. The U.S. embassy officer conducting her interview didn't even look at them. Within two minutes, she was disqualified on the grounds that she has cousins in Canada, to which she could try to illegally immigrate, according to the Embassy.
(Roberts, E. (2016). Re: Sultana's Story [Web log comment])
Learning Partner Meeting
My learning partner and I met face to face because we both work at the same college. We were both anti-PLAR and talked about things like honorary degrees being granted to people who didn’t do the academic work and put in the time that others have done. We also talked about people missing important skills or knowledge because their prior learning may not have been as rigorous as the course work. That was the path I was on when we ended our meeting and decided to start my research.
After researching, we met again and we both softened our opinions when we started to consider the social inequities that shut many people out of the privilege of a formal education opportunity. We opened our minds and found this assignment to be interesting and enlightening.
References
Castle, J. & Attwood, G. (2001), Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) for access or credit?
Problematic issues in a univeristy adult education department in South Africa. Studies in the Education of Adults, 33:1, 60-72.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02660830.2001.11661441
Fains, P. (2012, May 7). College Credit Without College. Retrieved June 03, 2016, from
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/05/07/prior-learning-assessment-
catches- quietly
Prior Learning Assessment [Web log post]. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.cael.org/higher-
education/prior-learning-assessment-services
Roberts, E. (2016, March 6). Re: Sultana's Story [Web log comment]. Retrieved June 02, 2016, from http://www.letsultanalearn.com/
Spencer, Bruce. "Defining prior learning assessment and recognition”. Encyclopedia of adult education. Basingstoke, England: Palgrave Macmillan (2005).
The Council for Adult &Experiential Learning. 2016. Retrieved on June 4, 2016 from
http://www.cael.org/higher-education/prior-learning-assessment-services