the reduction in staff and employees in a company through normal means, such as retirement and resignation. This is natural in any business and industry.
1. Adult Learning Policy
Achievements (2007-2010) and
future perspectives
17 November 2011
Martina Ní Cheallaigh
DG EAC: Adult Education and Grundtvig
1
2. Action Plan on Adult Learning
Main aim: increase participation
• Benchmark 12.5% of 25-64 year by 2010
• E&T 2020 raised benchmark to 15%
• Focus: those who are disadvantaged because
of their low literacy levels, inadequate work
skills and /or skills for successful integration
into society
2
3. Effects of national E&T reforms
on adult learning
• LLL strategies: Integrated approach, involving
multiple stakeholders
• European tools and their emphasis on learning
outcomes
– EQF/NQFs
– Key competences
• Modernisation of schools - AL compensatory -
literacy, second chance also for ELS
• VET and HE
3
4. Improve the quality of adult education
provision
• QA underpins transparency and mobility
• 10 years developing in HE and VET
• EQAVET applicable to CVT, hence adult ed.
• Small providers wary of over-zealous control
• Improved information & better understanding
of staff competences and training needs
• Grundtvig in-service training and exchanges
4
5. Increasing the possibility for adults to
go “one step up”
• Most work & progress done on this priority
• Concentration on disadvantaged groups
• Inventory of good practice in 33 countries
• Guidelines promoting what works: multiple
actors, learner centred, embedding, zigzag
route - cycle of guidance, quality staff,
assessment
• Literacy & numeracy foundation skills for
other key competences and job skills
5
6. Speeding up the process of assessing &
recognising non-formal and informal learning
• EU Guidelines to encourage implementation 2009
• Updating European Inventory 2010
– Impact of NQF development, developments in voluntary
sector, applied to the AL profession, low uptake
• Not a stand alone solution but does work for
disadvantaged groups
• Acceptance requires a new culture of learning – may
come with job/career transitions
• Supported by Adult Education Survey evidence
6
7. Improved monitoring of the adult
learning sector
• Adult Education Survey a step forward at EU level
• Countries conscious of the need but cost of action a problem
• Monitoring at national level necessary for virtuous chain: data
collection, evaluation and impact assessment, feedback to
reforms
• Data on financing sources and spending urgent
• Core terminology in 28 languages
• Core data proposal: adult skills, participation in adult learning,
professional development of teachers and financing of adult
learning
• Great expectations from PIAAC
7
8. Staff Working Document: Overall
assessment and impact on the sector
• Structured EU level cooperation on adult
learning established
• Requirements for an efficient adult learning
sector defined, but work is in its infancy
• Action Plan as a useful reference for staying
on track vis-à-vis other Member States,
defining national strategies, reforms, etc.
• PLAs, workshops, regional meetings and good
practices generated highly appreciated
8
9. Reasons to continue
• Countries find it helpful to have a common reference with
milestones for cooperation and exchange
• Give a vision for adult learning by 2020
• Europe 2020 – contribution to economic recovery, sustainable
and inclusive growth
– Agenda for new skills and jobs
– Platform against poverty
– Innovation Union
– Headline targets – early school leavers, tertiary education
• Place in the context E&T 2020 and propose working methods
for EU cooperation on adult learning, 2012-2014
9
10. Council Resolution on a European
Agenda for Adult Learning
ET 2020 strategic objectives:
• Lifelong learning and learning mobility
• Improve the quality and efficiency of provision and
outcomes
• Promote equity, social cohesion
and active citizenship
• Enhance innovation and creativity including
entrepreneurship
Improving the knowledge base and monitoring
10
11. What will be the new elements?
• Raising awareness among adults about skills
• Learning later in life to promote active, autonomous
and healthy ageing
• Developing new skills necessary for active
participation in modern society;
• Fostering solidarity between different age groups,
between cultures and people of all backgrounds
• Greater openness in higher education to adults and
the community at large
• Designation of national coordinators
11
12. Broader policy context
• EU2020 – Moment of transformation
– dilemma of c. 80 million low skilled versus demand for digital and
higher job-specific skills; poverty; innovation
• 15% LLL Benchmark – downward trend since 2005
• Outcomes of Action Plan point towards prioritising
disadvantaged and low qualified
• Future agenda for Adult Learning will take up this message
in Council Resolution, November 2011
• High Level Group on Literacy, report in summer 2012
• Recommendation on Early School Leaving, June 2011
• Work in progress on validation, skills passport
• PIAAC results 2013 will give many countries a clearer
understanding of the extent of the problem nationally
12
Notas do Editor
Highly skilled people participate 6 times more Adult Education Survey (1 year): similar findings Achieving 12.5% = 4 million more adult learners! Matthew effect 1’ - volume & distribution - a ‘double-edged sword’? • Adults with high level of education are > 6 times > likely to participate than low skilled – 3 times > likely to participate if have at least upper secondary level • Age - persons aged 55-64 participate 4 times less (4.6%) than persons aged 25- 34 years (15.5%) Focus therefore on those who are disadvantaged because of their: Low literacy skills Inadequate work skills Insufficient skills for successful integration into society
Communications highlight the importance of adult learning as a key component of lifelong learning and call on Member States to remove barriers to participation, to increase overall quality and efficiency in adult learning, to speed up the process of validation and recognition and to ensure sufficient investment in and monitoring of the field. increasingly VET related upskilling, mature students
If half your small is voluntary, you can‘t impose training or qualifications on them Also heavy burden of acquiring accreditation may weigh on such institutions
But still have little impact on statistics – overall 9.5% 80 million low skilled, 7 million early school leavers, prosoners, army and museums, local community – less emphasis on migrants, older adults(workers), Qualifications, part qualifications should be offered. NQFs offering entry levels One step up for all in much wider context of social and economic change
Draw back: only every five years, also limited to 64, older optional, question on validation optional. In a number of fields in adult learning, sufficient baseline data have not yet been gathered and in these fields the lack of clarity in definitions and terminology is particularly apparent. As part of the study, representatives from 17 countries responding to the online survey to assess the quality of national learning data illustrate the problem. Their evidence supports the choice of a limited number of four core data fields : adult skills, participation in adult learning, professional development of teachers and financing of adult learning. A set of indictors that might be developed to accompany these data are suggested. It identifies fields in which Member States could prioritise the collection of comparable data to enable indicators to be developed in the mid- to long term. The study considers that the European Union is not yet at the stage when it is possible to propose a coherent set of indicators, based on comparable data, which can cover the whole of the adult learning system.
