RECOGNITION OF THE RESULTS OF NON-FORMAL ADULT EDUCATION: AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

The article deals with the issue of recognition of the results of non-formal adult education in the US. The following forms of recognition are distinguished: certification, validation, identification. Validation means the confirmation by the competent authority of the results of study acquired by a person in formal, non-formal and informal education. Validation of the results of non-formal adult education involves identification, evaluation and recognition of knowledge and skills an adult person acquires during his/her life. Referring to the validation of the results of non-formal adult education in the United States, the following terms are used: RPL (Recognition of prior learning), APL (Accreditation of prior previous learning), PLA (Prior learning assessment) and PLAR (Prior learning assessment recognition). The mechanisms of non-formal adult education validation used in the United States are the credit system ACE and the program CLEP. The basic methods of validation are testing, examination, discussion, interviewing, expert explanations, surveillance, simulations, demonstration of knowledge, training, communicative and social skills, declarative methods, critical reflection, portfolio method. Strategic directions of validation of non-formal adult education prove its important role in the economy and society in general, social integration of people and their professional mobility, implementing the concept of lifelong education, compliance with the basic characteristics of the United States as a country of equal opportunities, democracy, justice and freedom whose experience should be adopted by Ukraine.