Rediscovering the North American Legacy of Self-Initiated Learning in Prior Learning Assessments

Abstract

Throughout history, particularly in the United States, adults have engaged in deliberate acts of learning so as to meet their particular needs or interests. Education has been viewed simply as an integral part of being alive and, until the professionalisation of adult education, adults were considered competent self-reliant learners. In this chapter, we will argue, firstly, that this legacy is continued when prior learning assessments of student-initiated learning do not match extant, already-established knowledge. Secondly, this chapter posits that the recognition of uniquely acquired knowledge is not only appropriate within the university setting, but that the process itself may begin to free the university from an unhealthy preoccupation with what is already known and open it up further to new and multiple ways of knowing.