Register for

RPL and the Future of Work Webinars

Our webinars are designed to give participants concrete tools and strategies that you can use to incorporate PLAR/RPL into your own practice. This fall’s series, “RPL and the Future of Work,” explores the role PLAR/RPL can play in your own career development, as well as in your clients’ or students’. These sessions will be of use to everyone, but especially if you work in the career services world.

The webinars consist of 1 hour of presentations and then 25-minute break-out rooms to dive deeper into the subject matter with presenters.

Webinar 1: November 5: Putting RPL into Career Development Practice
Webinar 2: November 12: RPL for Workforce Development
Webinar 3: November 19: Recognizing your Inner Advisor

As in other years, you can register for one session or all three. And since all our sessions are on Zoom, video recordings and resources will be sent to you if one of the dates becomes problematic and for future reference. Become a CAPLA Member to receive discount prices on these webinars.

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Webinar 1

Putting RPL into Career Development Practice

Wednesday, November 5, 2025  |  12:00 noon – 1:30 pm (Eastern)

This session explores the use of RPL in career advising.

1: Hidden Credits: How Recognition of Prior Learning Fuels CCDP Career Journeys

Presenter: Lindsay Guitard, Registrar and Manager, Career Certification, NSCDA

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) makes the invisible visible, turning the lived and professional experiences of Career Development Practitioners into recognized competencies that support certification and continued growth. Within the CCDP program, RPL plays a vital role in helping practitioners map their knowledge, skills, and experience to national standards, transforming what they’ve already accomplished into formal recognition and career advancement.

As Canada’s career landscape evolves amid rapid economic change, RPL offers more than a pathway to certification. It is a framework for lifelong learning. This session explores how CCDPs can leverage RPL not only to achieve certification but also to maintain and expand it through meaningful, self-directed professional development. Together, we will explore how recognizing experience fuels confidence, competence, and career mobility in an ever-shifting world of work.

2: From Experience to Evidence: How RPL Elevates Career Development

Presenter: Elizabeth Nicholas, Virtual Employment & Education Specialist, Trenton Military Family Resource Centre

The field of Career Development is evolving, and so are the expectations of the clients we serve. Harnessing tools to fortify your practice has never been more important. More than just an academic tool, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) transforms everyday career conversations, revealing hidden potential while strengthening client confidence.

3: Hidden Sector, Hidden Talent: Career Development and Prior Learning Communities in Canada

Presenter: Barbara Wilson, CCDP, Consulting Director, Challenge Factory

In 2023, Challenge Factory published groundbreaking research that identified who Canadians turn to for career, education, and employment advice and guidance. The findings revealed the breadth and depth of a robust, but hidden sector. This session will reveal where Prior Learning fits within this eco-system, who we can forge stronger relationships with, and how to ensure our impact is brought into the light.

About the speakers

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Webinar 2

RPL for Workforce Development

Wednesday, November 12, 2025  |  12:00 noon – 1:30 pm (Eastern)

This session explores the use of RPL to develop the workforce and enhance businesses’ effectiveness.

1: Empowering Worker Development Through RPL: Industry Examples

Presenter: Dan McFaull, Managing Partner and Taruna Goel, Senior Consultant and RPL Strategist, North Pacific Metrics Inc. and Taruna Goel, Senior Consultant and RPL Strategist, North Pacific Metrics Inc.

By assessing and validating existing competencies, Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) offers practical, competency-based pathways for individual career growth and workforce development. This session will highlight two recent sector-driven initiatives applying RPL tools to address urgent skills shortages for the Nova Scotia Automotive Sector Council (2020–2024). The session will focus on the creation of RPL certification pathways for Tire and Maintenance Technicians and Collision Preppers, supporting uncredentialed workers to gain recognition and achieve industry certification.

The presentation will outline how these tools and pathways were designed and applied in industry, and will include lessons learned about embedding RPL within workforce development strategies. Breakout room discussions will give participants the opportunity to ask questions, share insights, and explore how similar approaches could be applied in their own sectors.

2: The Coming Storm. Leading a Paradigm Shift in Learning

Presenters: Dr. David J. Finch, Professor, Bissett School of Business. Mount Royal University

Canada has developed an exceptional human capital system, one that reflects the past rather than the present or the future. As a result, the human capital system that has sustained our province’s social and economic prosperity over the past 120 years doesn’t possess the capacity to lead Canada into the future. The solution is not as simple as spending more money; the future demands a paradigm shift in how Canada develops its human capital.

The first step is to detach from the current model and ask a fundamental question: What is the most effective way to unlock the full productivity of all Canadians?

Over the past year, our multidisciplinary team of researchers and industry experts at The Productivity Project has explored this question through a six-part report series titled “Productivity and People.” We conclude that Canada must adopt a new learning paradigm—one that unbundles learning from credentials and embraces “open learning.” Like open innovation in technology, open learning recognizes that education happens everywhere: in workplaces, communities, and self-directed environments. It transforms education from a one-way ladder into a dynamic climbing wall of limitless pathways. By embracing open, lifelong learning ecosystems and dismantling legacy silos between policymakers, employers, and educators, Canada can unlock the full productivity potential of its people and secure long-term prosperity.

For additional reading, refer to the six-part report series, Productivity & People, available here.

About the speakers

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Webinar 3

Recognizing your Inner Advisor

Wednesday, November 19, 2025  |  12:00 noon – 1:30 pm (Eastern)

This session explores the RPL knowledge, skills and abilities of advisors.

1: The Recognition Practices Occupational Framework: Developing the “recognition function” within organisations

Presenter: Serge Ravet, President of Reconnaître—Open Recognition Alliance

At the ePIC 2025 conference, three landmark documents were presented that together provide a holistic vision of recognition: the Open Recognition Manifesto (principles), the French ISO/AFNOR standard on Dispositifs Ouverts de Reconnaissance (organisational approach), and the Recognition Practices Occupational Framework (practices).

This presentation will focus on the Occupational Framework, which explores how organisations can embed the “recognition function” into their daily operations. It identifies functions, roles and practices that make recognition a living, distributed process—connecting principles to structures, and structures to practice.

2: Recognizing RPL Practitioners: Findings from the CAPLA/ONCAT Research Project

Presenter: Dan McFaull, Managing Partner and Taruna Goel, Senior Consultant and RPL Strategist, North Pacific Metrics Inc. and Taruna Goel, Senior Consultant and RPL Strategist, North Pacific Metrics Inc.

This session will present findings from our recently completed CAPLA/ONCAT research. This nationwide study engaged a multi-sectoral environmental scan to assess the professional development needs of PLAR/RPL workers. The primary goal of the study was to understand the demand, perceived value, and desired benefits of professional development for RPL workers, leading to recognition of their knowledge, skills, and abilities. The research also explored the extent to which employers would value and support RPL professional development opportunities.

Results from surveys and focus groups will be presented, and the audience will be invited to share their thoughts and reactions. The session will also explore the need for further research into existing professional development opportunities and the prospect of formal recognition of RPL workers’ competencies.

About the speakers

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