Learning and Employment Records
Learning and Employment Records (LERs) are digital records that help people capture, verify, and share educational achievements, work experience, skills, and qualifications across learning and employment settings.
What LERs are designed to do
Show the whole person
Present a broader picture of learning and work, including degrees, certificates, projects, job experience, and skills acquired in different settings.
Make achievements portable
Allow people to carry and selectively share verified achievements across employers, schools, training providers, and digital platforms.
Support trusted verification
Use digital signatures, identity controls, and other verification methods to confirm who issued a record and whether it has been altered.
What an LER may contain
Educational achievements
Degrees, diplomas, certificates, completed courses, and other formal learning records.
Work experience
Job roles, responsibilities, projects, accomplishments, and other evidence of workplace learning.
Skills and competencies
Specific capabilities developed through education, training, community activity, and employment.
Certifications and licenses
Professional credentials and licenses associated with an occupation, industry, or career pathway.
Microcredentials and badges
Focused recognitions of a smaller set of skills, knowledge, or demonstrated achievements.
Technology and interoperability
LER ecosystems depend on shared technical practices so records can be understood, exchanged, and verified across systems. Commonly referenced standards and frameworks include:
- W3C Verifiable Credentials: A data model for expressing credentials in a way that supports secure, tamper-evident verification.
- Credential Transparency Description Language (CTDL): A language developed by Credential Engine for describing credentials, skills, programs, and related information consistently.
- Open Badges: A standard for packaging and exchanging verifiable information about achievements represented as digital badges.
- IEEE learning-technology guidance: Recommended practices that can support technical consistency and interoperability within learning and employment ecosystems.
- Digital identity and signatures: Methods used to associate a record with the correct person, identify its issuer, and detect unauthorized changes.
A note about blockchain: Some LER implementations may use blockchain or distributed-ledger technology, but it is not a requirement for every LER. The essential goals are trust, verification, portability, privacy, and interoperability.
Who can benefit
Individuals
Show a fuller range of verified skills and experiences to support job applications, career mobility, and lifelong learning.
Employers
Review trusted evidence of candidates’ skills and qualifications while supporting more skills-based hiring practices.
Education and training providers
Issue portable records, understand learner pathways, and connect programs more clearly to employment outcomes.
Workforce systems
Develop a clearer picture of available skills and connect people with education, training, and employment opportunities.
How an LER can move through an ecosystem
Issue
A trusted organization issues a digital record describing an achievement, skill, or qualification.
Hold and manage
The individual receives the record and manages it in a wallet, portfolio, or other authorized system.
Share and verify
The individual shares selected information, and the recipient verifies its source and integrity.
Implementation considerations
Privacy and security
People need meaningful control over sensitive information, including what is collected, who can access it, and how long it is retained.
Standards and interoperability
Systems must implement common standards consistently if records are to move reliably across platforms and organizations.
Equity, awareness, and adoption
LER initiatives should address digital access, accessibility, informed consent, usability, and trust while building participation among all stakeholders.