Climate assemblies – the fastest road towards climate action?

In the first of a series of posts to mark the Sixth International Conference on Learning Cities, which focuses on the role of learning cities in promoting climate action, Bjørn Bedsted, International Director at Democracy X, reflects on the potential of climate assemblies in facilitating a green transition

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The gap between what needs to be done to live up to the Paris Agreement, a legally binding international treaty on climate change adopted by 196 Parties at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP21) on 12 December 2015, and what is being done is growing. This gap leads to increased polarization between those calling for faster implementation of mitigation measures and those affected by and resisting such measures.

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Lifelong learning in the age of AI

Developments in artificial intelligence are driving change in education and pose new questions of educators and learners. Annapurna Ayyappan cuts through the noise to identify the core issues for lifelong learning

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From television and radio broadcasts and podcasts to social media platforms, massive open online courses and open educational resources, technology has greatly expanded the horizons of informal and non-formal learning (UIL, 2022). It has also presented learners and educators with new challenges, as well as opportunities for empowerment and exploration. Now, with the advent of generative artificial intelligence and other AI applications, this trend is set to accelerate even further, as highlighted by Oleksandra Poquet and Maarten de Laat (2021), who describe AI as a ‘transformative force reshaping how individuals encounter information, navigate their surroundings, and make decisions’.

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Adult education: A condition for hope

The Inclusive Lifelong Learning Conference gave critical impetus to the implementation of the Marrakech Framework for Action and reinforced CONFINTEA VII’s view of adult learning and education as a condition for a hopeful future, writes Daniel Baril, Chair of the Governing Board of the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning

© PMO Kartu Prakerja. Daniel Baril addressing the Inclusive Lifelong Learning Conference

In my closing remarks to last week’s Inclusive Lifelong Learning Conference in Bali, I tried to capture the spirit of the work undertaken by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) and its partners in shaping the conference and its outcome document, the Bali Manifesto. Reflecting on the moral and policy challenges of inclusive learning and education throughout life I recalled that adult learning and education has always been about hope: hope for each individual to be able to complete basic education successfully and, most importantly, to learn to read and write; hope for each adult to be able to learn what each person must know in order to fulfill their responsibilities, grow as a human being and engage in society and the world of work. In a sense, adult learning and education is a condition for hope.

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What can higher education institutions do for lifelong learning?

Higher education institutions have a significant potential role in promoting lifelong learning. New research from the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and Shanghai Open University shows both the advances being made and the limitations and challenges that continue to prevent this potential being fully realized, writes Edith Hammer

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Part-time study, online learning, micro-credentials, flexible pathways, community outreach – these are just a few ways to support lifelong learning in the higher education sector. While traditionally associated with formal education, universities and other higher education institutions (HEIs) have become paramount in promoting lifelong learning for diverse groups of learners. As traditional hubs of knowledge, they can embrace lifelong learning as a catalyst for transformation, supporting reskilling and upskilling, social equity and sustainable development. Within this context, two questions arise: What is the role of HEIs in promoting lifelong learning in society? And what does it take for HEIs to become lifelong learning institutions?

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Creating upskilling opportunities for 144 million Indonesians

Ahead of the Inclusive Lifelong Learning Conference, hosted by the Government of Indonesia and the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning from 3 to 6 July 2023 in Bali, Indonesia, Denni P Purbasari, Executive Director at Kartu Prakerja, Indonesia’s lifelong learning programme, explains how training and upskilling initiatives are changing lives in Indonesia.

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Sianny, a 56-year-old administration worker, found herself struggling financially after the COVID-19 pandemic caused her office to shut down, leaving her jobless. Despite the challenges she faced, Sianny was able to support herself by utilizing her cooking skills, gained by attending free local government training programmes. Ultimately, she was able to reinvent herself as a micro-entrepreneur, selling food to local farming groups.

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‘Read Your Way Out’: How reading can reduce a prison sentence

As we mark World Book Day, Lisa Krolak shares her experiences of initiatives that help inmates to reduce their prison sentence by reading books and using library services.

© BJMP. ‘People deprived of liberty’ (PDLs) using their library in Manila City Jail, Philippines

Creating reading policies for prisoners to earn time allowances through reading

All over the world, the prison population includes a high proportion of people from disadvantaged backgrounds and communities, often with a lower educational level than the rest of their community and struggling with reading and writing. Prisoners have a right to access education, including the use of prison library services, but this is frequently overlooked or disregarded. Moreover, it can be assumed that many prisoners were not active readers before entering prison. So how can we offer an attractive incentive to prisoners to start reading, despite their literacy struggles and the attitudes towards reading and education that they might have?

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Behind the scenes: How UIL’s female staff promote its mandate

To mark this year’s International Women’s Day, UIL’s gender focal point, Samah Shalaby, highlights how her colleagues progress gender equality in their work

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The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL), located in Hamburg, Germany, is one of UNESCO’s eight education institutes. As its name suggests, UIL’s area of specialization is lifelong learning. Through its capacity-building activities, knowledge sharing and dissemination of data, the Institute provides support to UNESCO Member States in the field of lifelong learning with a focus on learning ecosystems, skills for life and work, and inclusive learning. UIL operates at regional, national and local levels to facilitate learning across sectors. Through its partnerships, it works towards helping the global community achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on inclusive, equitable and quality education for all.

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The Faure report – 50 years on

The Faure report is 50 years old. While it has its faults, it remains a powerful statement of UNESCO’s humanistic vision of education and remains remarkably relevant, writes Maren Elfert, who, with Alexandra Draxler, has guest-edited a special issue of the International Review of Education on the report’s legacy

Our recently published special issue of the International Review of Education marks the fiftieth  anniversary of the 1972 UNESCO report Learning to be: The world of education today and tomorrow, better known as the Faure report.

Although it has its shortcomings, the Faure report contains ideas that are remarkably relevant today, and there are good reasons to revisit it at this time. Just as we find ourselves in an environment characterized by a sense of crisis, the Faure report was written shortly after student uprisings in 1968 in France and as a number of other countries began to acknowledge the deep divide between traditional society and the demands of the younger generation. It grappled with themes similar to those we struggle with today and reflected the existential fears of the economic and environmental limits to growth. It was inspired by non-conformist thinkers such as Paulo Freire and Ivan Illich, who pointed to the need to breathe new life into outdated elitist and conformist conceptions of education systems.

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Learning to be and to become

In 2022, UIL marked the 70th anniversary of its foundation. Looking ahead to 2023, the Institute’s Governing Board chair, Daniel Baril, reflects on its founding mandate and its continuing relevance to the challenges the world faces today

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UIL’s 70th anniversary was an opportunity to celebrate not only the foundation of UIL as an organization, but also of an educational project valuing the right to education for all and the lifelong learning perspective.

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Learning behind bars: Realizing the benefits of prison education

Achieving lifelong learning for all means paying particular attention to vulnerable groups: while the benefits of prison education are clear, too few prisoners have access to quality education programmes, argues Marie Macauley

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Education is widely recognized as a human right, yet it is a right from which prisoners are routinely excluded. The benefits of education for prisoners are well established. It gives them the opportunity to broaden their knowledge and acquire new skills that will facilitate their sustainable (re)integration into the labour market and society, while, at the same time, reducing recidivism and the attendant economic and social costs. Yet prisoners’ education remains overlooked and under-valued. Within the framework of its programme on inclusion, the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) has been studying and supporting prison education policies and programmes in different parts of the world. As the person responsible for UIL’s programme in this area, I visited the Fleury-Mérogis correctional facility (France), the largest prison in Europe, with 3,300 prisoners, to document their experience, understand the challenges they face, and identify good practices and lessons for other institutions and countries.

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