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The outcomes of a special Eurobarometer survey, carried out in spring 2005, provided for the first time an insight into attitudes and opinions of citizens in the new Member States towards lifelong learning. The present report provides a detailed analysis of this survey. Taking into account the results of an analogous survey in the EU-15 in 2003, the authors try to capture major differences or possibly coherences in the perceptions, needs, motivations and preferences of citizens in the new and old Member States. The results of the 2005 Eurobarometer survey on lifelong learning show that new Member States' citizens are highly conscious about the importance of learning a lifetime, for both economic and social reasons. Results provide evidence that EU policies on lifelong learning gained a foothold in the new Member States. However, details of the analysis reveal the potential for further targeted policy intervention and measures.

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This Cedefop-Lifelong Learning Platform joint briefing paper aims to inform European institutions as well as national policy and decision makers on the issue of [an] integrated and holistic approach to lifelong learning. It also provides the context at a high level and share a few recommendations on ways to establish lifelong learning systems at local, regional and national level.

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The European Union (EU) hopes to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economic area in the world by 2010 and making lifelong learning a reality for all citizens is the guiding principle for meeting this goal. This booklet contains the initial highlights of the Eurobarometer survey, which directly asks citizens their opinion of lifelong learning, and includes a brief country profile of Greece, the EU Presidency country at the time of publication. Findings of the survey include: nine in 10 European citizens think lifelong learning is important, at least to some extent; the majority of citizens think they learn best in informal settings; and social and personal reasons for learning outweigh work-related motives. Policy implications of these findings are also discussed. The contents are: Creating one world of lifelong learning - an integrated approach for an inclusive society; Skills for a Europe of knowledge; Lifewide learning and the diversity of learning; Incentives, motivations and intentions; Citizens’ views on lifelong learning in Greece. Show less

The European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) was established in 1975 and provides information on vocational education and training (VET), promotes and interprets research and identifies innovation, supports the specific needs of Cedefop's partners and provides forums for debate and links between policy makers, social partners, researchers and practitioners. The work program for 2001 provides a coherent approach to VET within its medium-term priorities for 2000-2003. In 2001 Cedefop will undertake an external assessment of its performance and impact and take into account the outcomes. Cedefop's activities in 2001 will continue within the four themes of: (i) promoting competences and lifelong learning; (ii) facilitating new ways of learning for a changing society; (iii) supporting employment and competitiveness; and (iv) improving European understanding and transparency. Show less

This study examines the added value of microcredentials for end users. Current knowledge gaps in the perceived exchange value of microcredentials within the labour market raise the question of whether they can be sufficiently trusted by those acquiring them to become building blocks for lifelong learning, employment, improving professional status, and inclusiveness in education and training. Study results show that trust, which shapes potential engagement, is underpinned by socioeconomic factors and an individual's learning-work trajectory. Due to the different configurations of [vocational education and training] VET systems and how they are governed, extensive debate continues about the measures needed to support different groups of microcredential end users in varying labour market contexts.

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The European institutions, Member States and the social partners are working more closely together than ever before on achieving the Lisbon objectives and the learning agenda is top priority for European stakeholders to face the challenges of the European labour markets in the 21st century. Indeed, the European social partners are the foremost actors to enhance European cooperation in education and training. The research work aimed at exploring how the social partners on different levels are dealing with the priorities related to the Copenhagen process in education and training. The work was carried out evaluating 12 of the 27 Member States and six sectors by interviewing in depth almost 90 social partner's informants across European, national and sectoral levels. In addition, the outcomes confirm that social dialogue on education and training is playing a relevant role on development of [vocational education and training] VET policies at different levels. Nonetheless, social dialogue on VET and [lifelong learning] LLL issues is still a mechanism to be further explored and developed as a device to facilitate learning opportunities for European citizens.

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Based on a questionnaire designed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), this report draws on the responses of experts from a large number of European countries who participated in the survey on policies for career guidance. The importance of career guidance is becoming more widely acknowledged, and is recognised as a means to achieve four public policy goals - lifelong learning, social inclusion, labour market efficiency, and economic development. The aim of the report is to provide an account of significant trends, challenges and issues, as well as strengths and weaknesses of information and guidance systems and policies in Europe. Successful or innovative practices are identified, with examples given from participating countries. It is hoped that this will assist policy-makers and practitioners to compare and review their own procedures, as well as providing a clear and useful overview of the research. The report is comprised of a number of chapters: Introduction - putting guidance on the agenda; Defining and interpreting guidance in Europe; Guidance and the challenges for public policy; Meeting the guidance needs of young people; Meeting the guidance needs of adults; Widening access through more innovative and diverse delivery; Providing career information more effectively; Staffing career guidance; Funding career guidance; Improving strategic leadership; Conclusions. A similar synthesis of the research, previously produced in one short paper (Watts and Sultana, 2003), has been included as an annex to this document. Show less

European goals related to 'lifelong learning' and the development of a 'knowledge-based society' can only be attained if the organisations in which people work are also organisations in which they learn. This means that work organisations must also become learning organisations. Thus, people are learning from their work - they are learning as they work. The aim is to build organisations that are continuously learning how to be more productive, while at the same time, individual members of these organisations are developing themselves through their work. This book, the second of a two-volume publication [volume I is available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 74.115], is a reader comprising 15 papers, written by different experts, that present the work of a number of individual European projects. As well as exploring the meaning of the learning organisation, these papers present case studies and examine the role of human resource development and education and training actors in supporting learning organisations. Part one, 'The meaning of the learning organisation', contains: Developmental learning - a condition for organisational learning / Per-Erik Ellstrom; Challenges and open questions raised by the concept of the learning organisation / Martin Fisher; How organisations learn - a theory of learning and organisational development / Hans-Werner Franz; Competing perspectives on workplace learning and the learning organisation / Alan Brown, Ewart Keep; The conundrum of the learning organisation - instrumental and emancipatory theories of learning / Peter Cressey, Michael Kelleher. Part two, 'Organisational learning realities in different contexts', contains: Social dialogue and organisational learning / Michael Kelleher, Peter Cressey; Implementing organisational change in British Telecom / Peter Cressey; Banking on learning - the Deutsche Bank Corporate University / Daniela Reimann; Stimulating a thirst for learning - the case of the Guinness Dublin brewery / John Findlater; Learning to network - the transformation of a social research institute / Hans-Werner Franz; The relationship between critical reflection and learning - experiences within Dutch companies / Marianne van Woerkom, Wim J. Nijhof, Loek Nieuwenhuis. Part three, 'Human resource development in support of organisational learning', contains: The learning organisation and HRD in the knowledge economy / Massimo Tomassini; The changing role of HRD practitioners in learning-oriented organisations / Sally Sambrook, Jim Stewart, Saskia Tjepkema; Experiences of HRD consultants in supporting organisational learning / Rob Poell, Geoff Chivers; Human resource development in Europe - at the crossroads / Barry Nyhan.

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This report draws both on literature review and an original collection of stories from biographical interviews of individuals in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Poland and the UK. The narrative accounts describe the wide variety of experiences with initial and further education. The analysis focuses on motivations for learning (or not) and the findings confirm that early negative experiences with schooling have a scarring effect inhibiting workers' willingness to re-engage in education later in life. Nevertheless, many low-educated adults command a variety of skills, which they have developed in the work context, while the interest of the low-educated in education and training may be rekindled by making learning instrumental to improvement in their work situation.

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This report begins with an analysis of guidance as an educational process, particularly in the areas of transmission, processing and acquisition of knowledge and skills. It is seen as an integral part of educational activities and not merely the provision of information. To help the research, some essential reference terms are re-defined: 'low skilled', 'young people', 'guidance' and 'needs'. The report is in four chapters: (1) guidance as a training process: a theoretical framework; (2) research on the situation and life circumstances of young people; (3) the need to redefine the terms of the problem; and (4) hypotheses and proposals. The report concludes with four recommendations for the support and encouragement of low-skilled young people at the start of their training and work, and an acknowledgement of the difficulties they face in the current social environment. Show less