Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-01-15-Speech-2-318"
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"en.20080115.27.2-318"2
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"Mr President, Commissioner, the title of the Commission’s communication and action plan on adult learning, ‘It is never too late to learn’, and its German title
(‘You live and learn’), are both universally familiar sayings, but when you read between the lines in the present context, they actually imply an acknowledgement of past omissions in the field of European education policy. None the less, we are pleased that the Commission, with this communication and this action plan, is entering an age marked by growing awareness of the need for lifelong learning, an age in which new demographic challenges must be faced.
I believe there many ways of performing good work in this field, and we should waste no time in doing so.
Let me stress one final point: performance in adult education must be made measurable, otherwise no one will know who is doing what. There are very many players in this field, and they must all be taken into account, be they private, university-based or public educational establishments. There is, in short, a great deal to be done, and I suggest we get down to work.
Economic and social changes in the EU require significant adjustments to vocational skills and qualifications. The challenges of the labour market must be met, by which I mean that the employability of individuals must be one of the foremost aims of adult education.
Education, however, and especially adult education, is also a factor in people’s personal development, in their self-esteem, their civic involvement, their social inclusion and their engagement in intercultural dialogue. Several sets of research findings have shown that learning has important non-economic benefits such as promoting good health, fostering participation in the life of society among all age groups and, of course, reducing crime rates.
It is therefore my political priority to increase people’s motivation to engage in lifelong learning. Media campaigns, information and advice centres and adapted forms of communication for disadvantaged groups are very important. Special phone numbers and websites have also proved highly successful in some countries.
In this context, great importance also attaches to efforts to reconcile work, family life and lifelong learning. Let me list in shorthand just a few means to this end: adaptation of working hours, flexitime, distance-learning programmes and informal learning paths. The use of new technology must be constantly perfected, especially through the creation of wider Internet access to encourage recourse to such new learning methods. There must be continued growth in the number of public and private day nurseries and company crèches.
Another important factor, in my view, is solidarity between generations and between cultures. Adults and senior citizens who pass on knowledge and technical know-how to younger people, particularly expertise in a trade or in business practice, can play an effective supporting role. They can provide practical guidance, and there must also be scope to form networks for this purpose. In this way, I believe, each can learn from the other.
There is also, however, a family-based approach to learning. Parents are motivated to start learning again in order to help their children at school. In addition, adult education also depends on voluntary helpers, who enrich it by lending their experience and providing skilled instruction.
The special needs of migrants must also be taken into account, which brings me to the subject of language courses. We need these language courses to enable migrants to learn the language of their host country, but we also need language courses to enable adults to learn the language of a neighbouring country or another foreign language, which is something we have always advocated.
Access to institutions of higher education must also be made easier for adults with practical vocational experience. One very important message is that the quality of existing adult-education centres and the education they offer should be improved. There is a need for well-qualified trainers in adult education as well as specific programmes of courses in adult education. I can only speak for Germany, where there is a university course that leads to a degree in adult education. I believe we must all remind course providers that they can obtain funding for their proposed courses from the European Social Fund, for example, or from any of the structural funds. I naturally expect the Commission to offer the present Lifelong Learning programme in both the Grundvig and Leonardo programmes in order to ensure that we too can do our bit to launch the action plan."@en1
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