In the second of our series of posts on lifelong learning and climate action, published to coincide with the Sixth International Conference on Learning Cities, Jürgen Forkel-Schubert explains how the learning city of Hamburg is rising to the climate-change challenge
As a major port city in the north of Germany, Hamburg is confronted with the harsh realities of climate change. Rising sea levels and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events have prompted Hamburg to take administrative and technical measures to mitigate the effects of climate change and support greater climate adaptation.
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
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’.
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
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.
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
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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
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.
With the UN’s Transforming Education Summit just days away, Daniel Baril, chair of the committee responsible for the final declaration of CONFINTEA VII, reflects on its important commitment to better financing of adult education and why Member States need to start delivering on it
At the
closing session of the seventh UNESCO International Conference on Adult Education
(CONFINTEA VII) in June, representatives of UNESCO Member States adopted by
acclamation the Marrakech Framework for Action (MFA). Commitments expressed through
the MFA will guide the international debate on adult education for the next 12
years and will be among the measures by which national policies will be evaluated.
Implementing the MFA is now the task awaiting national governments.
Before its
final adoption, the MFA had been submitted to an extensive consultative
process. First, the CONFINTEA VII consultative committee made recommendations on
a preliminary draft. Second, an online public consultation gave all
stakeholders the opportunity to comment on a modified draft. Finally, before
being tabled at the conference, Member States had the chance to comment on a
final draft. This consultative process validates the MFA as the legitimate
expression of an international consensus on priorities in adult learning and education
(ALE). Continue reading →
