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BEYOND a PLACE.
IT is a LEARNING SYSTEM.
Work-Based Learning is not confined to workplaces or classrooms. If you have ever led a shift, cared for someone, solved a problem, built something together, or held a team together when it mattered, you have been part of Work-Based Learning.
Naming the 3rd Space
We know school. We know work.
The system we use most is the one we never named until now: Work-Based Learning.
What we do
CAWBL advances Work-Based Learning through three interconnected systems: indexing, recognition, and knowledge.
WBLNS™
Work-Based Learning Numbering System™ (WBLNS) indexes what people actually do — it connects competencies, training, and assessment in a permanent global structure.
PATHLEDGER™
Is our visibility platform, the public digital infrastructure, that gives individuals control. It tracks, verifies, and anchors learning to the WBLNS — without needing permission.
RESEARCH and ADVANCEMENT
A research agenda to rediscover WBL — publishing field insights, practitioner knowledge, and system-building inquiry in Praxis: The Work-Based Learning Journal.
This system recognizes learning through...frontline work,community service,caregiving,civic engagement,family enterprises,trade mastery,LIVED EXPERIENCE!
There are many ways people may already be contributing to their community, family, and workplace.
CAWBL offers the digital infrastructure to make that learning visible, portable, and trusted.
Why Work-Based Learning Matters
Work-Based Learning is not new — it is the system we all share. CAWBL ensures it is recognized, trusted, and portable.
How the CAWBL system works
From standards to stewardship, each step ensures contribution is recognized with trust and portability.
Proof the System is Already Working
From standards to members, CAWBL is already building the global commons of Work-Based Learning.
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Recognized Members
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Standards
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KSB Elements
Principal, Nectary Solutions
If we say we value learning, then we need to VALUE learning and what people can do regardless of the source. CAWBL is exciting in that it promotes and facilitates learning recognition and learner agency in ways that promote human opportunity … I can’t wait to on-ramp it in the United States.
RPL Assessor Superhero
We all participate in lifelong learning through informal and non-formal methods. One of the major contributors to informal learning is Work Based Learning. It’s time we acknowledged how much those who learnt informally have contributed to our lives, to make them better and start to recognise skills from outside the formal education systems.
Voices from the System
Contributors, partners, and leaders are already shaping the commons of Work-Based Learning. Here is what they have to say.
Be Part of the Stewardship
Work-Based Learning is a global commons. Here are ways you can engage with CAWBL to advance its recognition and growth.
Join CAWBL
Become a CAWBL member and contribute to global stewardship of Work-Based Learning.
Recognize Contribution
Deposit Training Standards, Units, or Assessments into WBLNS™ as a WBL:RA (repository author) and enable recognition at scale.
Deliver Programs
Apply for WBL:DA certification to deliver WBLNS™-aligned programs and steward recognition in practice.
Start a Praxis Hub in Your Region
Praxis Hubs localize CAWBL’s global standards—stewarding training levies, supporting delivery, and bringing lived contributions into the system.
- If you convene communities of practice or employers/institutions…
- If you want to anchor recognition locally while connecting globally…
- If you can coordinate partners and uphold CAWBL standards…
The Global Steward of Work-Based Learning Infrastructure and Standards
Work-Based Learning is how people have always learned: through contribution, effort, and responsibility. It is a living and continuous system that takes place in families, frontline jobs, mutual aid networks, and small businesses, not just in classrooms or workplaces.
CAWBL exists to steward the public infrastructure that makes this system visible, trusted, and legible. That includes WBLNS©, the global standard for indexing competencies. PathLedger©, a user-owned platform that records and proves learning through contribution. And WBL:CP designations, the professional roles that safeguard the integrity of recognition.
If you have ever learned by doing, cared instinctively, or contributed without recognition, this system was built with you in mind.
And this Council exists to make that visibility matter, for contributors and communities everywhere.
- Global Standards Stewardship
- Recognition Infrastructure
- Indexing & Royalty Management
- Regional Praxis Hubs
- Digital Public Infrastructure
- Lived Experience Visibility
I founded CAWBL to ensure that Work-Based Learning is recognized as the global system it has always been. My work has centered on building the infrastructure that makes contribution visible and trusted. Every day I am reminded that recognition is not only about standards or platforms, it is about people whose contributions deserve to matter. This is the commitment I carry as Secretary-General.
Jeremy McQuigge
Secretary-General
