May 2013

We have been trying to introduce the idea of Lifelong Learning (LLL) on the ground.  We have started the process of discussion inside the universities with aim of it being rolled out to community based learning, NGOs and small businesses and employers.  We have not sought to influence policy at a higher level.  We assume this will happen however, as the learning culture of Palestine shifts.

According to the OECD (2000), LLL has four main features:

1.      A systematic view: the LLL framework views the demand for a supply of learning opportunities, as part of a connected system covering the whole lifecycle and comprising all forms of formal and informal learning.

2.      Centrality of the learner: this requires a shift in attention from a supply side focus (e.g. on formal institutional arrangements for learning) to the demand side of meeting learner needs.

3.      Motivation to learn: requires attention to developing a capacity for ‘learning to learn’ through self-paced and self directed learning.

4.      Multiple objectives of education policy: the lifecycle view recognizes the multiple goals of education (personal development; knowledge development; economic, social and cultural objectives) and that the priorities among these objectives may change over the course of an individuals’ lifetime.

What is a problem for the Lifelong Learning in Palestine consortium at the close of the third work package has to be bringing the different threads of the seminar themes together in a coherent picture of LLL in Palestine.  So far we have discussed leadership, business and employment links, pedagogical implications and collective memory.  Whilst each of these themes are important, they need bringing together in the concept that we wish to promote.

How is Lifelong Learning defined?

Lifelong Learning is defined as all learning activities undertaken throughout life with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competencies, with a personal, civic, social and employment related intent.  Lifelong Learning then includes all education, training and learning activities promoting the development of knowledge and competencies.  It is intended to empower all citizens in adapting to the global knowledge economy so that more people can participate in all the different spheres of modern life.  The aim here is more and more about people like the Palestinians taking control of their lives.

LLL includes formal (or planned and usually institution based) education, informal (or unplanned and not institutionally based) education.  Lifelong Learning programs lead to the acquisition of technical training and skills, and vocational training.  It also includes learning in the work-place.

Lifelong Learning thus can be based in schools, universities, local learning centers or the home.  In short then, LLL can take place anywhere in society.  Lifelong Learning policies should be seen as unrestricted learning that applies to men and women of all ages right across society.  LLL is then a continuous process of planned activities that support the broader objectives of acquiring more useful knowledge, more understanding and skill that furthers the development of individuals, communities and in this case the whole of Palestinian society.

Countries like Turkey recognize that LLL is a driver.  LLL is at the center of flexible and effective education and training systems that are most suited to the contemporary global knowledge economy.  LLL as a competence based system recommends:

·       Validation of prior learning

·       European qualification frameworks for Lifelong Learning programs

·       Development of teaching and assessment methods in line with the competence approach across all sectors and levels

·       Capacity-building and ownership of policies by the different stakeholders – especially institutions of higher education

International competition in the labor market drives the concept.  The need for people to cope with change gives it shape.  Change is the one constant of modern life, which is experienced in different geographical areas to different degrees and at different rates.  These differences give the concrete form of Lifelong Learning.  But change is the driver.   Lifelong Learning thus gives the overall nature of specific engagements of learning throughout life.  It focuses on learning systems, systems that provide opportunities for learning that can be picked up as learners determine.

The EU 2000 Memorandum gave some of the more obvious policy applications of the concept.  Again then, as is made clear in the Memorandum, Government and the decision making procedures of public administration’s become a target.  Democratic processes often improve in parallel with decentralization and the strengthening of civic society.

The Memorandum has six key messages:

1.     New basic skills for all

Guarantee universal and continuing access to learning for gaining and renewing the skills needed for sustained participation in the knowledge society.  This means that LLL is about combating Bantustan formations and the promotion of active citizenship. 

2.     More investment in human resources

Visibly raising the levels of investment in human resources in order to give priority to Palestine’s most important asset – its people.  This means more investment in learning.

3.     Innovation in teaching and learning

Develop effective teaching and learning methods and contexts for the continuum of lifelong and lifewide learning.  Lifelong Learning is about innovations in all these areas along with the development of new relational structures.

4.     Value learning

Significantly improve the ways in which learning, participation and outcomes are understood and appreciated, particularly in non-formal and informal learning.  LLL is about valuing all kinds and forms of learning, and new roles for different actors right across the different threads of Lifelong Learning.

5.     Rethinking guidance and counseling

Ensure that everyone can easily access good quality information and advice about learning opportunities in Palestine.  Lifelong Learning is about supporting the learner.

6.     Bringing learning closer to home

Provide Lifelong Learning opportunities as close to the learners as possible, in their own communities, supported by efficient ICT facilities wherever appropriate.  Lifelong Learning is about providing opportunities for everybody to learn.

More and more over the last six years Lifelong Learning has been discussed in terms of a unified integrated approach, which puts the individual Palestinian learner right at the center of the frame.  It is this integrated approach to LLL that has presented this project with so many difficulties.  Palestine is occupied and the impact of that occupation fragments learning as all other areas of Palestinian life.

The importance of the concept

The concept is essentially about cradle-to-grave learning.   It associated now with UNESCO and the 1972 Faure Report.  Palestine is a full member of UNESCO.    Over the past ten years, Lifelong Learning has been pushed with renewed vigor around enthusiasms for the (ITC) information revolution that connects the knowledge society. 

Again, the concept is associated with everything that is opposed to the conditions of Israel’s occupation in Palestine.  It pushes against social exclusion, deepening social capital and considerations of equity, which then further imply the need for more and more flexible systems.  The concept supports democratic culture.  A standard critique of the concept is that it is without substance.  It is said to be  meaningless simply because it presents no blue-print for development.  Lifelong Learning has no practical reality in old educational systems like that of Palestine.  The concept of Lifelong Learning then has no coinage until it is in place connecting up all the different areas of education and work.   Lifelong Learning works on any number of levels but always it extends the possibilities of learning in networks of trust.  Without this, Lifelong Learning becomes nothing more that words.

KH 29/5/13 Glasgow