Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition in Aboriginal Self (Re) Construction

Abstract

Although Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) has been used as a method of awarding academic or employment credit for prior experience, the exercise of reflecting on one’s past experience may generate new understandings with resultant changes to self identity. This dynamic has been used to facilitate the creation of distinctly Aboriginal selves in a process known as “holistic portfolio PLAR,” but the technology is not well understood and has generated controversy. This paper uses a memetic self-map of an Aboriginal man to illustrate a process of self-change. Recommendations are made on the use of portfolio PLAR in addressing the needs of Aboriginal people