From 10 until 13 October Mare Oja and Eva Zandonella participated on behalf of EuroClio in the 6th edition of the Life Long Learning Week in Brussels, organized by the Life Long Learning Platform in cooperation with the European Youth Forum. This milestone on the educational convenes more than 200 policy-makers and educational stakeholders to discuss key challenges in formal as well as non-formal and informal education. Over the course of this week, key educational challenges were identified as promoting mobility, recognizing study abroad and volunteering, validating skills acquired through non-formal and informal education, building inclusive societies, tackling youth unemployment and mounting radicalization, integrating migrants and refugees through education and equipping people with digital skills.
The week provided an opportunity for civil society organizations to learn about developments in educational policy at European level and to exchange information and best practice. First on the agenda was a consultation meeting with the European Parliament on the mid-term evaluation and the 2016 annual Erasmus+ survey carried out by the Life Long Learning Platform to discuss ways to reform and improve the Erasmus+ system. The meeting was followed by a plenary discussion and workshop on rethinking educational structures, its aims and purposes in the light of current challenges, with EuroClio founder and special advisor Joke van der Leeuw-Roord in the plenary. The current migration crisis, putting national and European structures to the test, was also addressed by exploring ways to integrate migrants and refugees in European societies through educational policies while stressing the need for a holistic strategy to build inclusive and diverse societies. One year and a half since the adoption of the Declaration on Promoting citizenship and the common values of freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education by the Ministers of Education in the European Union and EuroClio’s response with the Helsingor Declaration, the LLL Week also gave the chance to evaluate and assess the implementation of the targets and policy goals set out in the field of citizenship and intercultural education.
Lastly, EuroClio would like to congratulate Third Age Failte Isteach, Balkans, let’s get up! and TOY: Together Old and Young for winning one of the LLL Awards.
Read Joke Van Der Leeuw-Roord’s thoughts on the Rethinking Education: Towards a global common good?-2015 Unesco report below.
https://euroclio.eu/voice/rethinking-education/
