From Lifelong Education to Lifelong Learning

Rosa María Torres

Lifelong Education and Lifelong Learning are related but different concepts. Many people use them as equivalent.To a great extent, this is due to the fact that most people do not distinguish between education and learning. There are also many translation problems.

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 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».

■ The Faure Report (1972) and the Delors Report (1996) referred to lifelong education and to lifelong learning. The Faure Report proposed “lifelong education as the master concept for educational policies in the years to come for both developed and developing countries.” At the same time, 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 report is based on four basic assumptions: 1) the existence of an international community, moving towards the same destiny, 2) the belief in democracy, each man's right to realize his own potential and to share in the building of his 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 having a practical nature, that is, 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 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 effective learning in education systems and learning opportunities beyond classrooms.

» Education implies a teaching-learning relationship, whether it is formal education (organized education taking place in education systems 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 everyday, in daily life, without the intervention of a teacher or an educator. Children learn while playing; play is their main learning resource; 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.

Speaking of lifelong education implies speaking of educational institutions and opportunities, that is, instances mediated by teaching acts or processes.

Speaking of lifelong learning implies incorporating the vast world of informal learning, learning thtat is mostly invisible for the conventional world of education. (The majority of people do not acknowledge, for example, that students learned during the COVID-19 confinement, while schools were closed. For most people, learning is associated with classrooms and teachers).

It is worth noting that the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) refers to formal education, non-formal education and informal learning. There is no informal education: informal learning is mostly autonomous learning, self-learning, without teaching involved.

Lifelong Education and Lifelong Learning

Lifelong Education (LE) is a concept developed in the late 1960s. Its origin is attributed to Paul Lengrand, Chief of the Continuing Education Section at UNESCO's Department for the Advancement of Education, and author of An Introduction to Lifelong Education (UNESCO, Paris, 1970). Lengrand referred to «lifelong education» as an education covering all ages, and conceived it as a world movement to reorganize and overhaul education, not only to expand it. However, LE - translated into Spanish as educación permanente - has been associated to adult education. ”We by no means identify lifelong education with adult education, as, to our regret, is so often done” (Lengrand, 1975: 20).

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) is a concept introduced in the 1970s. LLL refers to learning throughout life, from birth to death, in formal, non-formal and informal environments. LLL is often translated into Spanish as aprendizaje permanente. 

LLL 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. 

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) in 2006.

Lifelong Education	Lifelong Learning
- The concept emerged in the 1960s. - Paul Lengrand, An Introduction to Lifelong Education, UNESCO, 1970. - After the publication of the Faure Report (1972), Lifelong Education became the focus of the UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE), in Hamburg.	- 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.
Focus on education.	Focus on learning.
Speaks of educating society.	Speaks of learning society.
	Lifelong and lifewide learning. Learnng as a continuum, from birth to death, everywhere, in and out of classrooms.
Formal and non-formal education, out-of-school education.	Learning in formal, non-formal and informal environments, with or without teaching.
Mentioned by the Faure Report (1972) and the Delors Report (1996). The Faure Report proposed two main concepts: lifelong education and learning society for both 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.  "A new vision of education" necessary to achieve the Agenda 2030 and Sustaiable Development Goal 4.
Elaboration: Rosa María Torres

Notes

(1) Given the usual translation problems, I decided to translate the English texts myself. In the case of 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

» Comunidades Europeas: Un memorándum sobre el aprendizaje a lo largo de toda la vida, publicado en 2000
https://uil.unesco.org/es/documento/comunidades-europeas-memorandum-sobre-aprendizaje-lo-largo-toda-vida-publicado-2000

» Delors, Jacques, Learning: the treasure within. Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century, UNESCO, Paris, 1996.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109590 

» Delors, Jacques, La Educación encierra un tesoro. Informe a la UNESCO de la Comisión Internacional sobre la Educación para el Siglo XXI (compendio), UNESCO, París, 1996.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109590_spa

» Faure, Edgar, Learning to Be. The World of Education Today and Tomorrow. Report of the International Commission on the Development of Education, UNESCO, Paris, 1972.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000001801

» Faure, Edgar, Aprender a ser. La educación del futuro. Comisión Internacional para el Desarrollo de la Educación, Alianza Editorial/UNESCO, Milán y Madrid, 1973. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000132984

» International Commission on the Futures of Education, Reimagining our futures together: A new social contract for education, UNESCO, Paris, 2021.
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379707.locale=en

» Lengrand, Paul, An Introduction to Lifelong Education, UNESCO, Paris, 1970.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220612.1972.10671918

» Lengrand, Paul, An Introduction to Lifelong Education, UNESCO, Paris, 1975. (Enlarged edition).
https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED118876

» Parkyn, George W, Towards a conceptual model of life-long education, UNESCO, Paris, 1973
https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000005902

» Soler Roca, Miguel, “El concepto de educación permanente”, en: Educación, resistencia y esperanza. Antología Esencial, CLACSO, Buenos Aires, 2014.
http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/clacso/se/20140718012935/SolerRoca.pdf

» Torres, Rosa María, Lifelong Learning in the South: Critical Issues and Opportunities for Adult Education, SIDA Studies 11, Stockholm, 2004.
https://cdn.sida.se/publications/files/sida4303en-lifelong-learning-in-the-south-critical-issues-and-opportunities-for-adult-education.pdf 

» Torres, Rosa María, Lifelong Learning, Sida Studies, Stckholm, 2003
https://cdn.sida.se/publications/files/sida2726en-lifelong-learning.pdf

 

It all starts at school? It all starts at home

Rosa María Torres

Todo empieza en el hogar

This graph of the 17 Global Sustainable Goals (SDGs) was circulated by the World Bank on Twitter with the following text:

"It all starts at school. Education is key to achieving SDG Goals. Who else agrees?".

I replied saying I disagree. When referring to education, it is not true that it all starts at school.

It all starts at home.

Despite its fundamental role, especially in early childhood, 'home education' or 'family education' is often ignored or sidelined.

The Lifelong Learning paradigm acknowledges that learning is a continuum that starts at birth. Early Childhood Care and Education officially cover from birth to entry into primary school (UNESCO-GEM Report Glossary 2020). Parents, grandparents and other caregivers play the most important role in this early stage of life. 

Studies and evaluations throughout the world consistently ratify that family conditions and backgrounds are a major factor in children's present and future life prospects. Parental education is a factor with tremendous impact on children's education and learning in school; it is responsible for over 50% of student achievement in various kinds of national and international standardized tests, including PISA.

Millions of children do not attend school or stay in school only for a short period of time. For them, the family and the community are their main education and learning environments.

School is not a starting point in terms of knowledge. When children arrive in school, they are not blank slates; they know a lot. Some of the fundamental and long-lasting learning experiences take place in early childhood. Without tutors, children become fluent speakers of their language. They know many things about the natural and the social world around them, and have learned to interact with them in many ways. Research shows that important values and attitudes are developed in these early years, prior to any school experience.

School age and school entry may be too late for many interventions. Child malnutrition is high in many counties among children between 2 and 5 years of age. Chronic malnutrition, if not dealt with on time, condemns children to physical, emotional and cognitive problems that may affect them for the rest of their lives.

Contrary to popular belief, reading and writing do not begin at school. Abundant research shows that home and the local community play a key role in stimulating the curiosity and the initial contacts with the written world. Differences between children who have rich cultural contexts at home and those who do not often result in important differences in terms of learning achievement in reading and writing in school.

So: when it comes to education and learning, and seen with a Lifelong Learning perspective, it is not true that all starts at school. It all starts at home and we must make sure to provide families with the best conditions possible to raise and educate their children, including dignified living conditions and parental education. 

Related texts in this blog

- Pre-niños: Los cimientos invisibles
- Los niños pequeños deberían ser los mimados de la sociedad. Entrevista con Rosa María Torres

- El trauma del primer grado 

- Tarjetas navideñas

- Educaciones 

- El enfoque del Aprendizaje a lo Largo de Toda la Vida: Implicaciones para la política educativa en América Latina y el Caribe / The Lifelong Learning approach: Implications for education policy in Latin America and the Caribbean

Comments on "The New Skills Agenda for Europe"

Rosa María Torres

 Participation at "ICAE Virtual Seminar on Skills and Competencies", 
organized by the International Council for Adult Education (ICAE) together with DVV International in April 2017.
Based on DVV International’s journal “Adult Education and Development“ Issue 83 (Dec. 2016)
The  journal is published once a year in English, French and Spanish.

En español: Comentarios a "La Nueva Agenda de Capacidades para Europa"

Rosa María Torres. Ecuadorian, researcher, international adviser, specialist in literacy and Lifelong Learning, Ex-minister of Education and Cultures.

My comments refer to, and are triggered by, "The new Skills Agenda for Europe" by Dana Bachmann and Paul Holdsworth, of the European Commission.

I speak here from the perspective of "developing countries" and of Latin America in particular. From this perspective it is always useful to see what Europeans are thinking and doing, not necessarily to do the same but rather to understand better our specific realities and needs. In the end, given the strong cultural dependence, our governments end up trying to follow and imitate Europe and/or North America (the classic "developing"/"developed" notion). Concepts, indicators, ideals, international co-operation, focus generally on the global North.

The paper presents The New Skills Agenda for Europe, which sees skills as a pathway to employability and prosperity. The Agenda revolves around some problems and data identified as critical:

- A quarter of the European adult population (70 million) struggles with reading and writing, and has poor numeracy and digital skills, putting them at risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion.

- More than 65 million people have not achieved a qualification corresponding to upper secondary level. This rate varies significantly across countries, reaching 50% or more in some.

- The adults mostly in need of engaging in learning participate very little in lifelong learning. On average, only 10.7% of adult Europeans participated in any education and training in 2014, with significant variation between countries and against an EU target of 15% set to be reached by 2020. An analysis of the participation of low-qualified adults in education and training shows even lower participation rates, varying from below 1% in some countries to over 20% in others. On average in the EU only 4.3% of low-qualified adults – that is, the group most in need of learning – participate in education and training.

To improve the employment opportunities and overall life chances of low-skilled adults, the Commission has made a proposal to help low-skilled adults – both in-work and out of work – to improve their literacy, numeracy and digital skills and, where possible, to develop a wider set of skills leading to an upper secondary education qualification or equivalent.

The proposal is that Member States should introduce a Skills Guarantee, which would involve offering to low qualified adults: (a) a skills assessment, enabling them to identify their existing skills and their upskilling needs; (b) a package of education or training tailored to the specific learning needs of each individual, and (c) opportunities to have their skills validated and recognised.

The Agenda is structured around three priority areas: more and better skills; put the skills developed to good use; and better understand what skills will be demanded to help people choose what skills to develop.

These main challenges are identified:

- Improving the quality and relevance of skills formation.
- Strengthening the foundation: basic skills (literacy, numeracy, digital skills) for everybody ("the proposal for a Skills Guarantee aims to provide low qualified adults access to flexible tailored upskilling pathways to improve these skills or progress towards an upper secondary qualification").
- Making vocational education and training (VET) a first choice. Increasing its attractiveness, through quality provision and flexible organisation, allowing progression to higher vocational or academic learning, and closer links with the world of work.
- Building resilience: key competences and higher, more complex skills. These include literacy, numeracy, science and foreign languages, as well as transversal skills and key competences such as digital competences, entrepreneurship, critical thinking, problem solving or learning to learn, and financial literacy. 

- Getting connected: focus on digital skills.
- Making skills and qualifications more visible and comparable.

- Improving transparency and comparability of qualifications.

- Early profiling of migrants’ skills and qualifications.
- Improving skills intelligence and information for better career choices.
- Better information for better choices.
- Boosting skills intelligence and cooperation in economic sectors.
- Better understanding the performance of graduates from Universities and VET.

My comments and suggestions

The diagnosis and the proposal are centred around formal education and training. This remains, in fact, the main international approach to adult education and to education in general. The "being knowledgeable" dimension of UNDP's Human Development Index (HDI) continues to refer to education and to formal education only, all ages: expected years of schooling, adult literacy rate, government expenditure on education, gross enrolment ratio all levels, mean years of schooling, population with at least some secondary education, primary school dropout rate, primary school teachers trained to teach, and pupil-teacher ratio in primary school. (As we see, two indicators are related to adult education: adult literacy rate, and population with at least some secondary education). It is with these indicators that countries' educational profile is defined. 

Without ignoring the importance of these data and of the formal education system, I would like to stress the need to: revisit some concepts; insist on the critical importance of non-formal education and of informal learning not only in adult life but throughout life; consider other ways of thinking/organising the question of learning for what; radically rethink the eternal struggle with literacy and numeracy; and reconsider adulthood and the adult age. Also, the understanding of 'low-skilled adults' must be made explicit and analysed in general and in each particular context.

» Schooling versus education  Education exceeds schooling. Many adults are eager to advance their education, not necessarily to get more schooling (i.e. completing primary and secondary education). For many young people and adults, completing secondary education implies a tremendous effort, meeting a bureaucratic requisite rather than having a pleasant and fruitful learning experience, and the economic and social reward may not be the one expected.

» Education/training versus learning  Skills are not developed only through deliberate education and training efforts. Most skills are developed through a combination of formal and non-formal education and informal learning (reading, writing, parenting, arts, sports, work, travel, social participation, volunteering, social service, etc.).

» Literacy and numeracy  They continue to be considered basic skills and they continue to be major problems throughout the world, in both 'developed' and 'developing' countries. In 'developing' countries, it is very common that people counted as 'new literates' often do not read and write autonomously and thus do not get to use reading and writing in their daily life. Also, often there is no evaluation involved, and no follow-up. We must radically rethink and improve the ways we conceptualize and do adult literacy, and stop cheating ourselves with fake statistics.

» Digital skills  In most 'developing countries' access to the Internet is still limited (50% or less of the population). Cell phones are widely used, also by adults and by the poor. But it is the younger generations that makes the most use of computers and of the internet. Internet policies focus on children and youth. Little is being done, and much more should be done, to offer adults and older adults meaningful access to the digital world.

» Learning for what?  There are many ways to think of, and deal with, this question. Well-being and prosperity mean different things to different people and cultures throughout the world. Sumak Kawsay (Buen Vivir, Good Living), the indigenous paradigm proposed as an alternative to the development paradigm, understands Buen Vivir as reaching a harmonious relationship between self, others, and the environment. Thus, 'learning for what' becomes learning to take care of oneself, learning to take care of others (family, community, peers), and learning to take care of the environment. These tree domains lead to a holistic, alternative understanding of the whys, hows, and what fors of education and learning.

» Adults and the adult age  Life expectancy has grown all over the world. As a result, the adult age has expanded. However, and despite the lifelong learning rhetoric, adults continue to be denied the right to education and the right to learn. Today, in too many countries, education policies and programmes do not go beyond the age of 30 or 35. It is time to organize adulthood in different age groups for education, training and learning purposes. While we oversegment childhood, adolescence and youth, we continue to refer to adulthood and to adult education as something that covers from 15 year-olds to 95 year-olds. A very effective strategy to ignore older adults and to amputate the lifelong learning concept.

Related recent texts of mine in this blog (English/Spanish)

- "Rethinking education" and adult education, Regional consultation with civil society on the document "Rethinking education: Towards a global common view?", ICAE-UNESCO, Brasilia, 25 April 2016.
- "Replantear la educación" y la educación de adultos, Consulta regional de la sociedad civil "El derecho a la educación de personas jóvenes y adultas desde una perspectiva de aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida", ICAE-UNESCO, Brasilia, 25 abril 2016.

- What is youth and adult education today? (2017)
- ¿Qué es educación de jóvenes y adultos, hoy? (2017)

- Formal, non-formal and informal learning (2016)
- Aprendizaje formal, no-formal e informal (2016)

- Giving up to a literate world?, in: Adult Education and Development, Issue 80, December 2013.
- ¿Renuncia a un mundo alfabetizado?, en: Educación de Adultos y Desarollo, número 80, Diciembre 2013

- From Literacy to Lifelong Learning: Trends, Issues and Challenges of Youth and Adult Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, Regional Report prepared for the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education - CONFINTEA VI, organized by UNESCO. Belém, Brazil, 1-4 December 2009.
Report commissioned by UIL-UNESCO.
- De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida: Tendencias, temas y desafíos de la educación de personas jóvenes y adultas en América Latina y el Caribe, Informe Regional preparado para la VI Conferencia Internacional sobre Educación de Adultos - CONFINTEA VI, organizada por la UNESCO. Belém, Brasil, 1-4 diciembre 2009. Informe encargado por el UIL-UNESCO. Una contribución del Centro de Cooperación Regional para la Educación de Adultos en América Latina y el Caribe (CREFAL) a CONFINTEA VI.

- Social Education and Popular Education: A View from the South, Closing conference AIEJI XVII World Congress “The Social Educator in a Globalised World”, Copenhagen, Denmark, 4–7 May, 2009.

- Lteracy and Lifelong Learning: The Linkages, Conference at the 2006 Biennale of ADEA, Libreville, Gabon, March 27-31, 2006. 

- On youth and adult learning (compilation)
- Sobre aprendizaje de jóvenes y adultos (compilación)

- On Lifelong Learning (compilation)
- Sobre Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida (compilación)

 

Girls' education: Lessons from BRAC (Bangladesh)

Rosa María Torres

En español: Educación de las niñas: Lecciones del BRAC (Bangladesh)

I learned about BRAC and got in contact with its education programme while working as a senior education adviser at UNICEF's Education Cluster in New York, in the early 1990s. From the start, I became fascinated with BRAC's 'non-formal primary school' concept. This programme, initiated in 1985 with 22 schools, attempted to address the needs of the poorest sectors in Bangladesh, especially in rural areas. The specific aim was to attract girls, who were mostly absent from schools.

I visited Bangladesh twice, in 1993 and in 1995, and had the opportunity to see BRAC's non-formal primary schools in action. Together with Manzoor Ahmed, UNICEF Programme Director at the time, we wrote a dossier called Reaching the Unreached: Non-formal approaches and universal primary education, (UNICEF, 1993). BRAC's non-formal education programme was one of the experiences included in the dossier. BRAC's programme was also included in Education for All: Making It Work - Innovation Series organized jointly by UNICEF and UNESCO right after the Jomtien Conference on Education for All (1990). Dieter Berstecher (UNESCO Paris) and I (UNICEF New York) coordinated the project. (In 2000, 10 years after the Jomtien conference, the series was transferred from UNESCO Headquarters to PROAP, in Bangkok. See issue No.14 dedicated to Lok Jumbish, in India).

One thing that astonished me was the basic and pragmatic wisdom with which BRAC was developing the programme. The first step was conducting a survey to find out why parents were not sending their daughters to school. Three major reasons came out: 1) the school journey was too long (they needed girls to help at home with domestic chores); 2) teachers were mostly men (parents expressed they would feel more comfortable if there were female teachers in the schools); and 3) the school - when available - was too distant from home.

Acknowledging parents' expressed needs, BRAC acted accordingly. The design of the programme adopted three key measures:

1) shortening the school journey (3 hours a day), rethinking the entire school calendar (more months in school, no long holidays), and adjusting the curriculum to fit those time arrangements (the idea is to complete the nation's five-year primary school cycle in four years);

2) identifying women in the local communities and providing them with some basic initial training so that they could act as teachers; and

3) building schools that were closer to home. 

BRAC's non-formal primary schools were the simplest and nicest schools I had seen in poor rural areas. One-room schools built with local materials, with the help of the community. Bright, clean, colorful. Small mats on the floor for the children, a medium-sized chalkboard, posters and visual aids all around.

Children walked shorter distances to school and remained there only for 3 hours a day, so they could continue to help at home.

There were few women in the communities with a teacher certificate, so BRAC selected in each community women with the highest school level (often primary education) and interested in teaching, and trained them. Initially with a 12-day course, later complemented with monthly refresher courses and yearly orientation courses.

This is how BRAC managed to include girls who would otherwise have never attended school. By the time I visited BRAC the NFE programme was already a 'success story' attracting attention not only in Bangladesh but worldwide. Since then BRAC has continued to grow - it is today "the worlds' largest development organization" - and its education programme became a full education system. It remains free of charge. It reached also urban slums, it incorporated e-learning and it includes now a university and a network of mobile libraries. In terms of learning results, BRAC's NFE schools do not lag behind government formal schools; on the contrary, their results are ahead of the country average.

Some data for BRAC's  non-formal primary schools (January 2017):
14,153 schools
389,910 students, of whom 62.17% are girls
5.3 million students completed courses, of which 60.43% are girls
5.55 million students transferred to formal schools to date, of which 60.12% are girls
14,153 teachers

BRAC's education programme has received numerous international awards, one of them the prestigious WISE Prize from the Qatar Foundation in 2011. I was happy to be in Doha, attending the WISE event, when Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, BRAC's founder and director, received the prize.

Girls' education remains a major issue worldwide, starting with early childhood and primary education. The problem continues to pose old and new challenges. Diagnoses and studies multiply, debates and fora repeat often what is already known, there is hunger for more data. In the middle of all that, I often remember BRAC's long and fruitful experience, its pragmatic wisdom, its short, medium and long-term vision, its consultation with families and communities, its permanent interest to connect with local needs and realities.

In times when everything seems to start from scratch and anything can be considered an innovation, it is essential to look back and learn from experience.

Related texts in this blog
» Aprender a lavarse las manos
» WISE Prize for Education Laureates: Bottom-up Innovators
» Kazi, the graceless | Kazi, el sin gracia
 
 

Latin America oversatisfied with public education

Rosa María Torres

(en español: Satisfacción excesiva con la educación en América Latina)

"Traditionally, the concept of quality of life has been viewed through objective indicators. Beyond Facts: Understanding Quality of Life looks at quality of life through a new lens, namely, the perceptions of millions of Latin Americans. Using an enhanced version of the recently created Gallup World Poll that incorporates Latin America-specific questions, the Inter-American Development Bank surveyed people from throughout the region and found that perceptions of quality of life are often very different from the reality. These surprising findings have enormous significance for the political economy of the region and provide a wealth of information for policymakers and development practitioners to feast upon."

A pioneer study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which used the 2007 Gallup World Survey (40 thousand people in 24 Latin American countries answered it) revealed that Latin Americans were in general satisfied with their lives and, in particular, with public education.

The distance between realities and perceptions was especially big in the case of education. While Latin America is well known for the low quality of its education and its poor learning outcomes - as revealed by national tests (prepared in each country), regional tests (such as (LLECE) and international tests (such as PISA) - satisfaction with public education is much higher than that of citizens in countries with an overall better schooling and learning situation. 

Over-satisfaction applies also to health, but it is much more prominent in the case of education. People with lower levels of education (generally associated with lower economic status) tend to have a better opinion of educational services than those with more years of schooling (theoretically associated with more critical attitudes). “Do you think the majority of children are getting a good education?" was responded positively by people with primary and incomplete secondary education. Venezuela, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Honduras and Dominican Republic reported levels of satisfaction similar to those in developed countries. Haiti, Peru and Argentina were the least satisfied.

Is is also known as "aspirations paradox": those who have the least, those who get the education of the lowest quality, are the ones that are most satisfied, those who thank anything they get and, thus, those in the most unfavorable position to identify and demand quality education. The paradox applies to many other fields.

“The majority of Latin Americans are satisfied with their education systems because they value discipline, security and the physical infrastructure of schools more than the academic scores their children get” (Preface, Beyond Facts: Understanding Quality of Life).

Discipline

 
Many parents expect the school to do what they cannot: discipline their children. Norms, instructions, schedules, uniforms, homework, rewards and punishment, are part of the disciplinary package.

For the conventional education ideology, 'good teacher' is the disciplinarian. Teachers who are flexible, friendly, innovative, are often misunderstood and questioned by school authorities and by parents. Teachers who acknowledge play and fun as part of the learning experience, who explore with their students other forms of learning, are not welcome by the traditional school culture.

The obsession with discipline brings rigidity to relationships, legitimizes authoritarian behaviors, limits dialogue and reasoning, blocks spontaneity, curiosity, creativity and liberty -- all of them  essential to learning.

Security

Violence and insecurity are high and rising in the region (See: UNDP, Human Development Report for Latin America 2013-2014: Citizen Security with a Human Face: Evidence and proposals for Latin America). Families view the school as a key ally where their children can be safe and taken care of. In contexts of great violence such as the ones characterizing most Latin American cities, preserving life becomes the obvious priority. Learning - often confused with rote learning - has always received little attention by families, and not only among the poor.

Violence is not only outside but increasingly inside the school system. Out of school violence - in the family, in the community, in society - enters school with parents, students and teachers. Bullying has become a major concern and war in most countries. Robbery, assault, drugs, harassment, death, are today part of the school scenario in the world.

Insecurity and fear do not contribute to the development of good education. They lead to shutting mouths, to locking classroom doors, to building high school walls.

Infrastructure

Social imagery associates education with school. Teaching and learning come afterwards.

Social and political imagery coincide in the appreciation for infrastructure. Building and inaugurating classrooms and school buildings - the easiest in education - are salient features of the political and electoral culture. Voters are very sensitive to school infrastructure. Politicians know it, give it high visibility, and nurture the idea of education (quality) as infrastructure.

For most people, it is difficult to perceive and even to imagine education without buildings: outdoor education, distance education, self-education, homeschooling, etc. Not everyone is able to accept what abundant research shows all over the world: good education depends much more on good teaching than on a good building; quality learning depends much more on the quality of relationships than on the quality of things.

***

Over-satisfaction and the "aspiration paradox" in education are found in surveys and studies all over the world, but they are very high in Latin America and the Caribbean. PISA 2012 showed that Latin American 15 year olds are the happiest with their school, even if they get the worst results among PISA participating countries. 

There are those who see the gap between realities and perceptions as a positive cultural sign - optimism, happiness, etc. - and as a blessing vis à vis the ranking culture. However, the gap is a problem. Complacency is an enemy of improvement and change.

Advancing towards a 'better education' or a 'good education' implies addressing and questioning overly "optimistic" perceptions. It implies expanding and elevating the education level of society as a whole and, on the other hand, a systematic information, awareness and citizen education effort: educating people's perceptions, informing their decisions, enhancing their participation, and qualifying their demand for the right to education.

Related texts in OTRA∃DUCACION

» The World Economic Forum and educational quality
» Ecuador: Good bye to community and alternative education
» Lógicas de la política, lógicas de la educación
» Escuelas sin aulas, aulas sin escuelas
» El barrio como espacio pedagógico: Una escuelita itinerante (Brasil)
» La escuela de la maestra Raquel (México)
» La biblioteca como núcleo de desarrollo comunitario (Una experiencia en Córdoba, Argentina)
» Proyecto arquitectónico sin proyecto pedagógico
» "Antes, aquí era Escuela Vieja"
» Pobre la educación de los pobres

On LifeLong Learning ▸ Sobre Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida

 
Rosa María Torres

Pawła Kuczyńskiego

A compilation of texts of mine included in this blog (posts, articles, conferences, interviews, books) related to the LifeLong Learning paradigm, on which I have been working since the 1990s.

Compilo aquí algunos textos míos publicados en este blog (artículos, conferencias, entrevistas, libros) relacionados con el paradigma del Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida, en el cual vengo trabajando desde los 1990s.

▸ En 1996-1998, siendo Directora de Programas para América Latina en la Fundación Kellogg, organicé la Iniciativa de Educación Básica "Comunidad de Aprendizaje", que continué desde el IIPE-UNESCO Buenos Aires (1998-2000). La comunidad local como comunidad de aprendizaje.

▸ En el año 2000, siendo miembro del grupo experto internacional organizado por UNESCO para la preparación de la Década de Naciones Unidas para la Alfabetización (2003-2012), se me encargó la redacción del Documento Base de la Década, el cual fue discutido y aprobado en una sesión especial en el Foro Mundial de Dakar (abril 2000).

▸ Base Document - Literacy for All: A United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012). Drafted for UNESCO in 2000.
▸ Documento Base - Alfabetización para Todos: Década de Naciones Unidas para la Alfabetización 2003-2012. Redactado a pedido de la UNESCO en 2000.

▸ Literacy for All: A Renewed Vision (2000)
▸ Alfabetización para Todos: Una Visión Renovada (2000)

▸ Knowldedge-based international aid: Do we want it? Do we need it?. Paper prepared for the International Seminar on "Development knowledge, national research and international cooperation", Bonn, 3-5 April, 2001. Norrag News, Edinburgh, CAS, UK, 2001.

▸ Lifelong Learning in the North, Primary Education in the South?, International Conference on Lifelong Learning “Global Perspectives in Education”, Beijing, China, 1-3 July, 2001 (abridged version).
▸ ¿Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida para el Norte y Educación Primaria para el Sur?. Conferencia sobre Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida “Global Perspectives in Education”, Pekín, China, 1-3 julio, 2001 (versión resumida).

▸ "Aprendizaje a lo largo de toda la vida: Un nuevo momento y una nueva oportunidad para el Aprendizaje y la Educación Básica de Adultos en el Sur". Estudio encargado por la ASDI (Agencia Sueca para la Cooperación Internacional), Estocolmo, 2002.

▸ Lifelong Learning in the South: Critical issues and opportunities for adult education. A study commissioned by Swedish Sida. Sida Studies No 11, Stockholm, 2004 (book, PDF)

▸ Justicia educativa y justicia económica: 12 tesis para el cambio educativo. Estudio continental encargado por el Movimiento Internacional 'Fe y Alegría'/ Entreculturas, Madrid, 2005. (libro para descargar)

▸ Literacy and Lifelong Learning: The Linkages. Conference at the 2006 Biennale of ADEA, Libreville, Gabon, March 27-31, 2006. El UIL-UNESCO afirma que ésta fue la primera vez que se vinculó alfabetización y ALTV.

▸ Ciudades educadoras y derecho al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida. Entrevista con el periódico Ciutat.Edu, Simposio "Ciutat.edu: nuevos retos, nuevos compromisos", Barcelona, España, 9-11 octubre, 2006. Diputación de Barcelona, Área de Educación.

▸ Presentación del libro de Emilia Ferreiro “Alfabetización de niños y adultos: Textos escogidos”. CREFAL, México D.F., 28 febrero 2008.

▸ Niños que trabajan y estudian (Centro del Muchacho Trabajador, Ecuador)
Exposición en la Jornada Internacional "Una propuesta de desarrollo humano que nace desde la infancia trabajadora" organizada por el CMT, Quito, 17 octubre 2008.

▸ Social Education and Popular Education: A View from the South. Closing conference AIEJI XVII World Congress “The Social Educator in a Globalised World”, Copenhagen, Denmark, 4–7 May, 2009.

▸ De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida: Tendencias, temas y desafíos de la educación de personas jóvenes y adultas en América Latina y el Caribe. En 2009 preparé, a pedido del UIL-UNESCO, el informe regional para la VI Conferencia Internacional sobre Educación de Adultos - CONFINTEA VI, organizada por la UNESCO (Belém, Brasil, 1-4 diciembre 2009).

▸ From Literacy to Lifelong Learning: Trends, Issues and Challenges of Youth and Adult Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Regional Report prepared for the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education - CONFINTEA VI, organized by UNESCO. Belém, Brazil, 1-4 December 2009. Report commissioned by UIL-UNESCO.
▸ De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida: Tendencias, temas y desafíos de la educación de personas jóvenes y adultas en América Latina y el Caribe. Informe Regional preparado para la VI Conferencia Internacional sobre Educación de Adultos - CONFINTEA VI, organizada por la UNESCO (Belém, Brasil, 1-4 diciembre 2009).

▸ Lifelong Learning: Moving Beyond 'Education for All'. Prepared as keynote speech, Shanghai “International Forum on Lifelong Learning”,  Shanghai World Expo 2010, 19-21 May 2010. UNESCO, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy (CSEDS) and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.

▸ Lifelong Learning: Moving Beyond 'Education for All'. Keynote speech, Shanghai “International Forum on Lifelong Learning”,  Shanghai World Expo 2010, 19-21 May 2010. UNESCO, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy (CSEDS) and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.

▸ On Learning Anytime, Anywhere. Presentation at the "Learning Anytime, Anywhere" session at the World Summit on Innovation in Education (WISE 2011), Doha, Qatar, 1-3 November, 2011.

▸ Youth & Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. Published in LLinE - Lifelong Learning in Europe, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, 2011.

▸ El paradigma del Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida (ALV). Entrada preparada para el Glosario elaborado por el UIL-UNESCO y la OEI: "Aportes conceptuales de la educación de personas jóvenes y adultas: hacia la construcción de sentidos comunes en la diversidad" (PDF, 2013).

▸ Transforming formal education from a Lifelong Learning perspective. Conference prepared for the International Conference on Learning Cities, Beijing, China, 21-23 October, 2013.

▸ "Rethinking education" and adult education (UNESCO)
▸ "Replantear la educación" y la educación de adultos (UNESCO)

▸ El enfoque de Aprendizaje a lo Largo de Toda la Vida: Implicaciones para la política educativa en América Latina y el Caribe. UNESCO, Documentos de Trabajo sobre Política Educativa, No. 8, París, 2020.
▸ The Lifelong Learning approach: Implications for education policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. UNESCO, Working Papers on Education Policy, No. 8, Paris, 2020.

Otros textos míos sobre ALV en este blog

▸ El derecho de niños y niñas a una educación básica

▸ Children's right to basic education

▸ El Ecuador y el Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida

▸ Aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida no se refiere solo a adultos

▸ Tres maneras de entender "aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida"

▸ El Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida no se limita al sistema escolar
▸ Lifelong Learning is not confined to the school system

▸ Formal, non-formal and informal learning
▸ Aprendizaje formal, no-formal e informal

▸ Saberes socialmente útiles

▸ Goal 4: Education - Sustainable Development Goals
▸ Objetivo 4: Educación - Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible

▸ On Innovation and Change in Education

▸ About "good practice" in international co-operation in education

▸ Child learning and adult learning revisited

▸ Educar a los niños o a los adultos: falso dilema

▸ Comunidad de Aprendizaje: Educación, territorio y aprendizaje comunitario
Sucesivas versiones presentadas en eventos nacionales e internacionales.

▸ Basic Learning Needs: Different Frameworks

▸ La biblioteca como núcleo de desarrollo comunitario (Una experiencia en Córdoba, Argentina)

▸ El barrio como espacio pedagógico: Una escuelita itinerante (Brasil)

▸ Children's rights: A community learning experience in Senegal

▸ PISA o PIAAC

▸ La educación de un niño empieza 20 años antes de su nacimiento

▸ The oldest and the youngest | Los más viejos y los más jóvenes