ACCREDITATION OF PRIOR LEARNING (APL) / RECOGNITION AND VALIDATION OF NON FORMAL AND INFORMAL LEARNING

CECOA is, since November 2001, a member of the Skills and Competences Acknowledgment, Assessment and Certification Centres national network (CNO – New Opportunities Centre) accredited by the National System of Entities Accreditation run by the National Agency for Qualifications. This national network spread all over the country is responsible for the so called APL (accreditation of prior learning) or recognition and validation of  non-formal and informal learning in Portugal.
 
This system allows individuals to recognize, to validate and to certificate knowledge, skills and competences acquired within different contexts of his/her Life Long Learning experiences (formal, non formal and informal). The certification obtained through this system allows not only one’s personal, social and professional valorisation, but also one’s education/training progression.

The intervention of this centre aims at all persons with 18 years old or more.

The CNO is organized according to three intervention axis:

• Acknowledgment
• Validation
• Certification

And is based on the Key-Competences Referential for the Adults Education and Training:


The Basic level embraces 4 areas:

• Language and Communication;
• Citizenship and Employability;
• Mathematics for Life;
• Information and Communication Technologies.

• Society, Technology and Science;
• Citizenship and Professionalism;
• Culture, Language and Communication.

Besides scholar recognition, validation and certification of competences and skills, our CNO also provides Professional Certification for the following professions:

• Administrative Assistant;
• Administrative Technician;
• Shop Assistant;
• Shop Technician.

More Info:
cno@cecoa.pt