One of our latest members of the Enviu network, Bee Leng Lee, comes from Singapore and introduces to us her idea on Lifelong learning and how to create a positive and safe environment for senior students. Here is a piece of the document she sent us, to read the whole doc follow this link.
Why LLL?
People are the core infrastructure and resource of a country. The workforce in this case is extremely vital to sustain competitiveness. And people make up the workforce. So they need to be properly trained.
To change something, we need to educate or make awareness of the changing world to the people.
While from the Lisbon treaty, the EU commission under Education and Training has implemented various Lifelong Learning Programmes (LLP) to enhance globalisation, much of the initiatives are based on student and staff exchange under the Erasmus, Comenius programmes. One purpose of this is to create opportunities for students and staff to expand their horizon to work/study in another country.
What about the people currently in the workforce? Here, I am not talking about LLL for leisure learning like sewing, knitting, philosophy, psychology, etc. Though they are equally interesting. I am talking about a second degree or a first degree for those who missed the chance when they were younger.
There is a trend in the main-stream Dutch universities (I do not have imperial evidence here. It is merely based on personal observation), that it is a place for the young. While the LLL grant in the UK, for example, encourages even the greyed-hair to go back to universities for education, you seldom see older (40 and above) students returning to school for education.
Older people may feel intimidated and uncomfortable by the fact that he/she may be the only matured student among the group of youth in their early 20s.
There are a lot of advantages and also things to learn from the matured people. So it is actually a plus point for the youth. However there is no sure climate (matured student climate) created here.
Coming from Asia, one of the differences is that people in some Asian countries are constantly going back to universities for further education. On-line and distanced University programmes are very common. Most people have various diplomas and continually upgrade themselves. When the people grow, that makes the countries grow too.
In the UK, LLL has encouraged the people in the workforce to continue their education even at very senior age. It is so common to see them among the young students.
Advantages that LLL could bring are:
1. Younger people can learn from the experience of older people
2. Older people get new information of the current development and experience academic life again.
3. Educating the current workforce opens up their the horizon. They will also have the opportunity to mix around with international students.
4. Current workforce could updated their skills and become more aware of current development in the world.
This in hope can improve professionalism in the workforce and create better awareness of globalisation starting from the nuclei of the country, i.e. the people.
Suggestions
Initiative to launch a learning atmosphere for also the older population and make it safe and comfortable for them to return to education. Also to encourage them to upgrade themselves.
External links on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifelong_learning
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/com/2006/com2006_0614en01.pdf
http://www.ou.nl/eCache/DEF/18/832.html
And also
Igor Kluin who was present at the first vision session of the Innovation Platform posted his idea about LLL.
the problem with sustainable is that it van easily be abussed for the wrong commercial reasons...