What is Lifelong Learning?

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 450.

Read the text and discuss its main idea.

Elicit your background knowledge on the following questions.

READING

Present the results of your study in class.

Create a chart (scheme), illustrating the nature of the theories of learning.

Study the topic on the theories of learning.

PROJECT

1. What do you know about lifelong learning?
2. What skills and competences are necessary to fare well in the modern globalized world?

Lifelong learning may be broadly defined as learning that is pursued throughout life: learning that is flexible, diverse and available at different times and in different places. Lifelong learning crosses sectors, promoting learning beyond traditional schooling and throughout adult life (i.e. post-compulsory education). This definition is based on Delors' (1996) four ‘pillars' of education for the future.

Learning to know - mastering learning tools rather than acquisition of structured knowledge.

Learning to do – equipping people for the types of work needed now and in the future including innovation and adaptation of learning to future work environments.

Learning to live together, and with others – peacefully resolving conflict, discovering other people and their cultures, fostering community capability, individual competence and capacity, economic resilience, and social inclusion.

Learning to be – education contributing to a person's complete development: mind and body, intelligence, sensitivity, aesthetic appreciation and spirituality.

This is underpinned by "Learning to Learn".
Lifelong learning can instill creativity, initiative and responsiveness in people thereby enabling them to show adaptability in post-industrial society through enhancing skills to:

manage uncertainty,

communicate across and within cultures, sub-cultures, families and communities,

negotiate conflicts.

The emphasis is on learning to learn and the ability to keep learning for a lifetime.
The European Commission (2001: 9) found that lifelong learning has “Four broad and mutually supporting objectives: personal fulfilment, active citizenship, social inclusion and employability/adaptability”. In this regard, lifelong learning has lifewide dimensions that transcend narrow economic and vocational aspects.
The European Lifelong Learning Initiative defines lifelong learning as
“…a continuously supportive process which stimulates and empowers individuals to acquire all the knowledge, values, skills and understanding they will require throughout their lifetimes and to apply them with confidence, creativity and enjoyment, in all roles circumstances, and environments.” (Watson 2003: 3)
In Sweden, the National Agency for Education has put forward a conceptual framework for both lifelong learning and life-wide learning (Skolverket, 2000). Lifelong learning is seen as a holistic view of education and recognises learning from different environments. As shown in Figure 1, it consists of two dimensions (Skolverket, 2000: 19):
1. lifelong learning recognising that individuals learn throughout a lifetime,
2. life-wide learning recognising the formal, non-formal and informal settings.

http://www.llcq.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=12