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PRINCIPLES OF LIFELONG EDUCATION
FOR THE BENEFIT OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
AS A COMPONENT OF A PERSON’S WAY OF LIFE
М. V. Pikalova
It became obvious already in the mid 1990s that lifelong education may become a serious factor of social integrity, which focuses on a personality and its needs. It was also acknowledged for the first time at the international level at a meeting of the Group of Eight [1]. The dynamics and scale of changes in all spheres of modern society set a comprehensive task and represent a challenge for lifelong education for the purpose of sustainable development. Lifelong education is a continuous process, which is a system of principles that provide for a person’s sustainable development only provided that they represent a social regulator of professional life activities of a person. The practice of education, in its turn, pronounces education of a person as a natural and integral component of his/her way of life.
Nowadays, lifelong education has become the main principle of the education system in general. Principles of lifelong education represent the system of basic ideas which need to be implemented in the process of construction of the system of the educational institutions that accompany a person in different periods of his/her life [2]. Below we will consider the content of these principles.
Principle number one: “New basic knowledge and skills”. This principle’s purpose is to provide for continuous universal access to education for the purpose of receiving and updating skills necessary for a person’s professional life. Social and economic changes dictate a new set of necessary knowledge and skills, which will ensure active participation in professional and public activities. Final documents of the summit in Lisbon (paragraph 26), among such skills, mention computer literacy, knowledge of foreign languages, technological culture, entrepreneurship and social skills. From the point of view of their functions and contents, they partially intermingle and overlap. It is very important to master these skills, although their continuous renewal is also very important.
Principle number two: “Increase investments into human resources”. This principle’s purpose is to considerably increase the amount of investments made into human resources in order to raise the priority of the most significant assets of Europe - its people. In all the latest documents of the European Union there is a question of what may be considered to be an investment in general. Each country has its own tax codes and principles of accounting, which makes it quite difficult to elaborate a common solution. For example, it is not possible to force all countries to make investments into human resources equal to capital investments. Here, it is more desirable to act on the basis of social partnership by means of expansion of the experience of progressive companies or by means of giving European awards to them. However, many things may be done on an individual level. Social partners may also be attracted to mutual financing of educational programs and development of flexible schemes that would allow each employee to participate in lifelong education.
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Principle number three: “The innovative methodologies of teaching and training”. This principle’s purpose is to develop new methodologies of training for the system of lifelong education. As far as we are moving towards a society based on knowledge, our understanding of education and training also changes. Educational techniques become more and more focused on the user. A student stops being a passive receiver of information. Thus, educational systems must be able to flexibly adapt to modern conditions. The profession of a teacher changes its initial concept in general. Teachers are more and more becoming consultants, tutors, intermediaries, whose task is not only to know how to use the information technologies, but also to be able to get oriented in the latest versions of software in order to help a student to mould his/her education himself/herself, to make the process of training the way of life of a person. Consequently, methods of training themselves should change towards the priority of personal motivation, critical thinking and the ability to study in the information world.
Principle number four: “New system of appraisal of the received
knowledge”. This principle’s purpose is to cardinally change the approaches to understanding and evaluation of the educational activities and their results. In the society and economy based on knowledge, the full-fledged use of the human factor becomes a guarantee of competitiveness and success. Consequently, both for an employer and for an employee, diplomas, certificates and high school diplomas that prove a person’s qualification become vitally important. In the European countries there is already a system of acknowledgment of high school diplomas, nevertheless, in the area of non-formal and informal education, considerable improvements need to be implemented. Acknowledgement of the above types of education would help to reflect a person’s individual educational experience and increase the motivation for lifelong education. For this purpose it is necessary to develop a high-quality system of Accreditation of Prior and Experiential Learning -APEL, which would reflect all knowledge, skills and the whole experience of a person, and would be recognized in the European context. Such a system could fully disclose a person’s whole potential, which a person himself/herself even may not be aware of.
Principle number five: “Development of coaching and consulting services”. This principle’s purpose is to provide a free access for everybody to the information about the educational opportunities and to the necessary consultations and recommendations. Nowadays a person needs to receive an advice of what needs to be done further (and not only in professional activities) during his/her life-time. Consequently, there should be a permanent consulting service, which could give recommendations in the area of educational, professional and personal development, and would be focused on interests and needs of an active user. The information technologies and Internet open new horizons for such consulting services, although they do not replace a direct advice of a consultant and high quality aid rendered to a person, which could help him/her to find his/her place in the flow of information.
Principle number six: “Making education more accessible at home”. This principle’s purpose is to create the opportunity to get knowledge at home with the help of the network of educational and consulting sites and with the help of the use of information technologies.
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For the majority of people, both formal and informal education can be received in the proximity of their homes. By means of the use of distant training, people may have continuous 24 hour access to education, no matter where or when they decide to continue their education. In their turn, large cities, as centers of all possible educational services and innovative methodologies for people of any age and in any fields, must become the source of the resources and ideas that create the system of actual universal lifelong education. With the help of international projects and programs of cooperation, this system already has a trans-national character. Making education available at home also provides for the creation of cultural and enlightenment centers in the nearest proximity to our homes - not only at schools and higher educational institutions, but in commercial centers, clubs, museums, libraries, religious centers, parks, recreation centers and at job places.
Educational systems must be adapted to the new realities of the twenty first century, and lifelong education must become the main political program of civil society, social integrity and employment” [3].
References
1. Кельнская хартия - цели и стремления непрерывного образования. Саммит "большой восьмерки", Кельн, июнь 1999 г. Образование в меняющемся обществе. Заключительный документ встречи министров образования "большой восьмерки", Токио, 1-2 апреля 2000 г.
2. Основы андрагогики. Терминологический словарь-справочник для студентов социально-гуманитарных специальностей / сост. Маслова В.В. - Мариуполь, 2004.- 19 с.
3. European Council Presidency Conclusions, Лиссабон, 23-24 марта 2000, параграфы 5, 24 и 25, стр. 2 и 8; European Council Presidency Conclusions, Санта Мария да Фейра, 19-20 июня 2000, параграф 33 и 68 стр. 6 и 8.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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