There is teaching without learning and there is learning without teaching.
Lifelong Education involves some form of teaching, tutoring or coaching. People who associate education with school education understand lifelong education as all levels of the education system (formal and non-formal), from initial to higher education. When preparing for work and on-the-job development is a concern, lifelong education includes also training.
Lifelong learning (LLL) is an embracing category. It sees learning as a continuum that is life-long (from birth to death) and life-wide (taking place everywhere, not just in classrooms and educational/training institutions). We learn at home, in the community, in libraries, in playgrounds, in contact with nature, at the workplace, with friends and peers, through the media, through art, with pets, playing, reading and writing, teaching, doing sports, drawing, painting, navigating the Internet, chatting, helping others, traveling, etc.). Lately life-deep learning has been added. The idea of an learning ecosystem has emerged.
Lifelong learning (LLL) is an embracing category. It sees learning as a continuum that is life-long (from birth to death) and life-wide (taking place everywhere, not just in classrooms and educational/training institutions). We learn at home, in the community, in libraries, in playgrounds, in contact with nature, at the workplace, with friends and peers, through the media, through art, with pets, playing, reading and writing, teaching, doing sports, drawing, painting, navigating the Internet, chatting, helping others, traveling, etc.). Lately life-deep learning has been added. The idea of an learning ecosystem has emerged.
Building a national LLL policy needs systemic thinking and a coordination structure involving several ministries, not just the ministry of education. Some countries have started to incorporate the LLL terminology and to create a LLL Department or a LLL Section within the organigram of the ministry of education, thus indicating that the LLL concept has not been fully understood.
"Education is understood here to mean learning that is deliberate, intentional, purposeful and organized. Formal and non-formal educational opportunities suppose a certain degree of institutionalization. A great deal of learning, however, is much less institutionalized, if at all, even when it is intentional and deliberate. Such informal education, less organized and structured than either formal or non-formal education, may include learning activities that occur in the work place (for instance, internships), in the local community and in daily life, on a self-directed, family-directed, or socially-directed basis" (p. 17).
And yet most of what we learn in life is the result of informal learning, and increasingly so, given the loss of protagonism of the school and the school system, as well as the appearance and rapid widepread of the Internet.
There is also what I call «invisible teaching».
Sustainable Developmen Goal 4 (SDG4) - "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all" - part of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda approved in 2015, was divided in two parts: "inclusive and equitable education", and "lifelong learning opportunities for all." However, adults and the elderly remain marginal in the 10 targets of SDD4, the school system remains at the center, and informal learning opportunities are not mentioned anywhere.
SDG4 (2015-2030) - 10 targets
4.1 all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and Goal-4 effective learning outcomes.4.2 all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and preprimary education so that they are ready for primary education.4.3 equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university.4.4 substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship.4.5 eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable, including persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and children in vulnerable situations.4.6 all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy.4.7 all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.4.A build and upgrade education facilities that are child, disability and gender sensitive and provide safe, nonviolent, inclusive and effective learning environments for all.4.B by 2020, substantially expand globally the number of scholarships available to developing countries, in particular least developed countries, small island developing States and African countries, for enrolment in higher education, including vocational training and information and communications technology, technical, engineering and scientific programmes, in developed countries and other developing countries.4.C substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation for teacher training in developing countries, especially least developed countries and small island developing states.
Translation problems
There are many translation problems that complicate the differences between education and schooling, education and learning, and lifelong education and lifelong learning.
A few examples:
» Paul Lengrand's book An Introduction to Lifelong Education was published by UNESCO in 1970, International Education Year. Lifelong Education was selected by the General
Conference of UNESCO as one of twelve major themes proposed to Member States in connection with the international year. The book was later translated into Spanish as Una Introducción al Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida o Una introducción al Aprendizaje Permanente.
» The Faure Report (Report to UNESCO by the International Commission on the Development of Education, Learning to be: Education in the Future, 1972) proposed two basic concepts: lifelong education and learning society. In the report in Spanish they were translated respectively as permanent education and educative society (!).
» The Delors Report (Report to UNESCO by the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century, 1996) was published in French as L'Education: Un trésor est caché dedans, in English as Learning, the treasure within, and in Spanish as La educación encierra un tesoro.
» 1996 was proclaimed European Year of Lifelong Learning (translated into Spanish as Año Europeo de la Educación a lo Largo de la Vida o Año Europeo de la Educación Permanente).
» Sustainable Development Objective 4 (SDG4) within the Agenda 2030 aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” Many translate «lifelong learning opportunities» as «oportunidades educativas», which is not accurate. Not all learning opportunities have to do with education.
■ The Faure Report (1972) and the Delors Report (1996) referred indistinctively to lifelong education and to lifelong learning, without defining these concepts. The Faure Report proposed “lifelong education as the master concept for educational policies in the years to come for both developed and developing countries.” The main concepts proposed by the Faure Commission were learning, learning to learn, and learning society. The title of the report - Learning to Be - indicates its main concern and orientation.
The Faure Reportt is based on four basic assumptions: 1) the existence of an international community moving towards the same destiny, 2) the belief in democracy, each person's right to realize his/her own potential and to share in the building of his/her own future, 3) the aim of development as the complete fulfilment of man, in all the richness of his personality, 4) the need for an overall, lifelong education, able to produce «the complete man». We should no longer assiduously acquire knowledge once and for all, but learn how to build up a continually evolving body of knowledge all through life.
The report began with a critical assessment of the educational situation in 1972 and some of its dead ends. It aimed at leading to action in the twenty-three countries that were visited by the Commission members.
“The Commission laid stress above all on two fundamental ideas: lifelong education and the learning society (…) If all that has to be learned must be continually re-invented and renewed, then teaching becomes education and, more and more, learning. If learning involves all of one's life, in the sense of both time-span and diversity, and all of society, including its social and economic as well as its educational resources, then we must go even further than the necessary overhaul of 'educational systems' until we reach the stage of a learning society. For these are the true proportions of the challenge education will be facing in the future" (Preamble, Learning to Be, 1972, page xxxv).
“The aim of education in relation to employment and economic progress should be not so much to prepare young people and adults for specific, life-time vocation, but to ‘optimize' mobility among the professions and afford a permanent stimulus to the desire to learn and to train onself” (Preamble, Learning to Be, 1972, pages xxxiii-xxxiv). (1)
■ The Delors Report, Learning: The Treasure Within (1996), proposed four pillars for education: «learning to be», «learning to do», «learning to know» and «learning to be together». Learning throughout life was wrongly translated as lifelong education. Learning society was translated into Spanish as educative society and as cognitive society (sociedad cognitiva).
■ The Report of the International Commission on the Futures of Education, created by UNESCO in 2019 (Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education, UNESCO, 2021) refers to lifelong education. It does not mention lifelong learning. It defends "the right to quality education throughout life".
» Education implies a teaching-learning relationship, whether it is formal education (organized education taking place in the formal education system at the various levels) or non-formal education (organized but more flexible education taking place on the margins of the formal system).
» Learning occurs with or without teaching. Informal learning takes place in daily life, without the intervention of a teacher or an educator. Children learn while playing; they learn to speak without anyone teaching them to speak. Most of what we learn in life is informal learning through observing, listening, talking, working, reading, watching TV, interacting with nature, navigating in the Internet, etc.
After the publication of the Faure Report (1972), lifelong education became the focus of the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE), in Hamburg.
» Torres, Rosa María, Lifelong Learning in the South: Critical Issues and Opportunities for Adult Education, SIDA Studies 11, Stockholm, 2004.
» Torres, Rosa María, Lifelong Learning, Sida Studies, New Education Division Documents No. 14, Stockholm, 2003.
A few examples:
» Paul Lengrand's book An Introduction to Lifelong Education was published by UNESCO in 1970, International Education Year. Lifelong Education was selected by the General
Conference of UNESCO as one of twelve major themes proposed to Member States in connection with the international year. The book was later translated into Spanish as Una Introducción al Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida o Una introducción al Aprendizaje Permanente.
» The Faure Report (Report to UNESCO by the International Commission on the Development of Education, Learning to be: Education in the Future, 1972) proposed two basic concepts: lifelong education and learning society. In the report in Spanish they were translated respectively as permanent education and educative society (!).
» The Delors Report (Report to UNESCO by the International Commission on Education for the 21st Century, 1996) was published in French as L'Education: Un trésor est caché dedans, in English as Learning, the treasure within, and in Spanish as La educación encierra un tesoro.
» 1996 was proclaimed European Year of Lifelong Learning (translated into Spanish as Año Europeo de la Educación a lo Largo de la Vida o Año Europeo de la Educación Permanente).
» Sustainable Development Objective 4 (SDG4) within the Agenda 2030 aims to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” Many translate «lifelong learning opportunities» as «oportunidades educativas», which is not accurate. Not all learning opportunities have to do with education.
■ The Faure Report (1972) and the Delors Report (1996) referred indistinctively to lifelong education and to lifelong learning, without defining these concepts. The Faure Report proposed “lifelong education as the master concept for educational policies in the years to come for both developed and developing countries.” The main concepts proposed by the Faure Commission were learning, learning to learn, and learning society. The title of the report - Learning to Be - indicates its main concern and orientation.
The Faure Reportt is based on four basic assumptions: 1) the existence of an international community moving towards the same destiny, 2) the belief in democracy, each person's right to realize his/her own potential and to share in the building of his/her own future, 3) the aim of development as the complete fulfilment of man, in all the richness of his personality, 4) the need for an overall, lifelong education, able to produce «the complete man». We should no longer assiduously acquire knowledge once and for all, but learn how to build up a continually evolving body of knowledge all through life.
The report began with a critical assessment of the educational situation in 1972 and some of its dead ends. It aimed at leading to action in the twenty-three countries that were visited by the Commission members.
“The Commission laid stress above all on two fundamental ideas: lifelong education and the learning society (…) If all that has to be learned must be continually re-invented and renewed, then teaching becomes education and, more and more, learning. If learning involves all of one's life, in the sense of both time-span and diversity, and all of society, including its social and economic as well as its educational resources, then we must go even further than the necessary overhaul of 'educational systems' until we reach the stage of a learning society. For these are the true proportions of the challenge education will be facing in the future" (Preamble, Learning to Be, 1972, page xxxv).
“The aim of education in relation to employment and economic progress should be not so much to prepare young people and adults for specific, life-time vocation, but to ‘optimize' mobility among the professions and afford a permanent stimulus to the desire to learn and to train onself” (Preamble, Learning to Be, 1972, pages xxxiii-xxxiv). (1)
■ The Delors Report, Learning: The Treasure Within (1996), proposed four pillars for education: «learning to be», «learning to do», «learning to know» and «learning to be together». Learning throughout life was wrongly translated as lifelong education. Learning society was translated into Spanish as educative society and as cognitive society (sociedad cognitiva).
■ The Report of the International Commission on the Futures of Education, created by UNESCO in 2019 (Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education, UNESCO, 2021) refers to lifelong education. It does not mention lifelong learning. It defends "the right to quality education throughout life".
From the right to education to the right to learning
Many countries acknowledge in their constitutions and education laws the right to education throughout life, including all ages: childhood, adolescence, youth, and adulthood. However, few acknowledge the right to lifelong learning, which implies ensuring a) effective learning in the education system and b) learning opportunities beyond the education system.» Education implies a teaching-learning relationship, whether it is formal education (organized education taking place in the formal education system at the various levels) or non-formal education (organized but more flexible education taking place on the margins of the formal system).
» Learning occurs with or without teaching. Informal learning takes place in daily life, without the intervention of a teacher or an educator. Children learn while playing; they learn to speak without anyone teaching them to speak. Most of what we learn in life is informal learning through observing, listening, talking, working, reading, watching TV, interacting with nature, navigating in the Internet, etc.
Lifelong Education and Lifelong Learning
After the publication of the Faure Report (1972), lifelong education became the focus of the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE), in Hamburg.
Lifelong Learning (LLL) was introduced in the 1970s. It has been proposed by UNESCO as the paradigm for education and learning in the 21st century. "A new vision of education" necessary to achieve the Agenda 2030 and Sustainable Development Goal 4. (Incheon Declaration, 2021).
The need for lifelong education and lifelong learning is generally conceived in terms of "catching up" with the new knowledge produced, and the new competencies required by evolving technologies and realities.
In 2006, the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE), focused on adult and continuing education, literacy and non-formal basic education, changed its name to UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL).
|
Lifelong Education
|
Lifelong Learning
|
|
- The concept emerged in the 1960s. - Paul Lengrand, An Introduction to Lifelong Education, UNESCO, 1970. - Faure Report, Learning to be: Education in the Future, UNESCO, 1972. - Delors Report, Learning, The Treasure Within, UNESCO, 1996. - Report of the International Commission on the Futures of Education, Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education, UNESCO, 2021. The report speaks of "the right to quality education throughout life".
|
- The concept developed in the 1970s. - The European Union adopted the concept in the 1990s. - The UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE), in Hamburg, focused on adult and non-formal education, changed its name to UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) in 2006. - UNESCO proposes Lifelong Learning as the paradigm for education and learning in the 21st century. |
|
Focus on education. |
Focus on learning. |
Aims at building an education society. |
Aims at building a learning society. |
|
|
Lifelong learning and lifewide learning. Learnng as a continuum, from birth to death, in and out of classrooms. |
|
Formal and non-formal education, out-of-school education. |
Learning in formal, non-formal and informal settings. |
|
Mentioned by the Faure Report (1972) and the Delors Report (1996). The Faure Report proposed two main concepts: lifelong education and learning society for developed and developing countries. |
Mentioned by the Faure Report (1972) and the Delors Report (1996). Also mentioned in the Jomtien Declaration (1990, Education for All) and in the Incheon Declaration (2015, Sustainable Development Goals). |
| “A new concept of education that takes into consideration constant and universal needs of human beings to educate themselves and to progress": Lengrand. |
Proposed by UNESCO as the paradigm for education and learning in the 21st century.
|
| Elaboration: Rosa María Torres |
|
Notes
(1) Given the usual translation problems, I decided to translate the English texts myself. In the Faure report there are numerous inconsistencies between the text in English and its Spanish translation https://www.berrigasteiz.com/monografikoak/inklusibitatea/pubs/unesco_aprender%20a%20ser.pdf
References
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https://uil.unesco.org/es/documento/comunidades-europeas-memorandum-sobre-aprendizaje-lo-largo-toda-vida-publicado-2000
» Delors, Jacques, Learning: the treasure
within. Report
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» Delors, Jacques, La Educación encierra un tesoro. Informe a la
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