Dear Colleagues ,

Adult education in the next ten years has to take into account more mature adults. Old age has an increasing significance in Western societies. Continuing and intensifying educational offerings for this age group is one of the ways of adult education. In Portugal, the Adult Education policy and its structures / institutions have, since 2000 and despite advances and setbacks, been solidifying the sector. For this reason, it is expected that the work carried out will continue and give greater visibility to some areas, such as adult education in prisons. I think that one of the biggest challenges of adult education is the processes directed to the elderly. It is a challenge and an opportunity to which the adult education sector will be able to respond.

Hello and greetings from Finland,

Sorry, I cannot figure out how to join the online discussion. Is there a link or where do I get in?

I can’t agree more with some of the opinions expressed on the matter of formal and informal education, their interrelation, interdependence and equal significance in the future. I work for a provider of language courses in Bulgaria (British-Bulgarian Information and Language Centre) and what has been noticeable in the sector recently is the growing demand for language courses with a sub-focus on developing the soft skills, such as – effective communication, negotiations, presentation skills, critical thinking, leadership and so on. The interdisciplinary character of these courses requires additional knowledge and skills from the educators. To meet these expectations in our language centre we initiated an Erasmus Plus project - “Strategies for building and implementation of 21st century skills and optimization of the academic management in FLT to adults” (№ 2019-1-BG01-KA104-062215), KA 1, with the main purpose being qualifying our staff and incorporating 21st century skills and soft skills in the courses curricula. In addition, education in the future will have to be relevant to the new realities and be able to create active citizens, who bear more responsibility to the world and the global society, who are more agile and adaptable and who can think on their feet to find prompt solutions in a dynamic technologized environment.  

Hello, 

Dear all,

Hello everyone. This topic is atractting great participation and that indicates consideration and interest. I´m https://www.facebook.com/etelberto.costa from Portugal/Lisboa.

Hello all, 

My name is David LOPEZ. In France I've been working for many years in what we call EDUCATION POPULAIRE. I'm still elected in a federation of a strong Ligue de l'enseignement (In Brittay and North of France. I'm an ambassador EPALE fostering activities in the field of Popular education. I'm also vice president of an European association : VOLONTEUROPE, member of European civic forum. I've been during 7 years the president and one of the founders of Lifelong Learning Platform and member of the board of EAEA (Association for adults education, The strongest association in Europe on that field)

For the future of adult learning, I think that the good way will be in between a large scale of digital methods AND presential moments with teachers, social workers, trainers and learners. The future will be also in inventing new methodologies of learning due to digital inputs.

Γεια σας! Ονομάζομαι Μαρία και είμαι μέλος της Εθνικής Υπηρεσίας Υποστήριξης της EPALE Κύπρου. Ένα θέμα που αφορά το μέλλον της εκπαίδευσης ενηλίκων είναι η δυνατότητα, ανάπτυξης και προώθησης του πεδίου μέσα από την εξ αποστάσεως διδασκαλία και μάθηση. Η παγκόσμια συγκυρία της πανδημίας έχει πραγματικά αναδείξει αυτή τη νέα πραγματικότητα σε συνδυασμό με την αναγκαιότητα καλλιέργειας των ψηφιακών δεξιοτήτων των ενηλίκων. Άλλωστε ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα εμπόδια για την πραγματοποίηση περαιτέρω σπουδών/ εκπαιδεύσεων από τους ενήλικες, είναι το γεγονός ότι έχουν περισσότερες υποχρεώσεις και λιγότερο ελεύθερο χρόνο από ότι εκπαιδευόμενοι που μόλις αποφοίτησαν από το σχολείο. Η δυνατότητα της εξ αποστάσεως εκπαίδευσης αποδεσμεύει τον ενήλικα από την αναγκαιότητα της φυσικής παρουσίας και επιπλέον προσφέρει τη δυνατότητα παρακολούθησης ηχογραφημένων διαλέξεων/σεμιναρίων και εκπαιδευτικών πόρων, που είναι διαθέσιμοι ανά πάσα στιγμή, έτσι ώστε οι ενήλικες εκπαιδευόμενοι να έχουν την ευκαιρία να μάθουν κατά το χρόνο που τους βολεύει καλύτερα.

Hello, everyone! I work for a private language-teaching centre in Bulgaria. What is interesting to point out about the situation here, is that even though some part of the learners took to online courses on Zoom, Google teams, Discord etc., a greater percentage of them still prefer to have normal classes offering personal contact with their teacher. I think this suggests that the role of the teacher as a motivator and a pillar of confidence for students is essential and even though distant learning has indisputable advantages in extreme circumstances, it won't entirely replace the classroom in the near future, esp. for adult learners, who have not entirely grown in the era of technologies. 

I work in an adult school in Sweden and teach adults in Swedish and English. Today its even more important that each country in EU takes responsibility and invests in vocational education and supplementary basic education for higher studies. I am interested to hear how your countries prioritize adult education today after the Corona era. I can tell you what Sweden is doing today regarding it.

Hello everybody, my name is Carmen Stadelhofer and I am the president of Institute ILEU from Germany, we are an adult/senior education institution. I welcome you to join our online conference "Sharing beyond borders – New ways of care, communication and cooperation of older people along the Danube and in Europe in times of COVID-19”. More information you will find on our website: http://conference2020.codanec.eu/. We will be happy to see you there and discuss among other topics also about the future of adult learning, digitalisation, rights of older people, age-friendly cities etc. together! Kind regards

Hi everyone, I am really happy to take part in the discussion through EPALE. We as FORMA.Azione www.azione.com - are currently coordinating an ERASMUS + KA2 strategic partnership aimed at increasing adults participation in lifelong learning, mainly by improving their Personal, Social and Learning to learn competence. What we have already found so far, through an open discussion with key stakeholders and learners it's the need to reaching out to the most disadvantaged, by activating appropriate initiatives and tools. Not always online social networks are the most effective channels, rather in person meetings are considered more useful and productive. One important open question is also about motivation; how to better motivate adults to upskill and/or reskill? How to involve them in lifelong learning opportunities? I look very much forward to hear from you.

 There is a need for a radical change in the level of pedagogical training of teachers and managers in education. 

Our organization, Právě teď! o.p.s.  (Czech Rep.) which specializes in the field of education of seniors, tried immediately after the outbreak of the crisis in connection with COVID-19 to find a way to stay in touch with seniors. We knew from phone calls with them that they suffer the most from social exclusion and loss of contact with their loved ones.

Hello to all, where the online discussion will take place? is it need registration in advance?

Neomari Creative Sector Services , Hertfordshire, UK - we have had to move our art and craft courses onto a Zoom platform. The main issues have been access and ability to use technology especially as we are working predominantly with low income communities. We also noticed that we have had to provide more holistic services. Our business start up course has become more popular as people are looking for alternative ways to gain employment. During one of our sessions, the conversation turned to employability. We also have a contract providing activities for elderly tenants in a housing association. As we cannot havve face to face contact, we have moved Virtual Coffee Mornings online. This is where the barriers to digital technology and language can be seen to exclude participants. The way forward is enabling digital access, supporting alternative routes to employment and promoting functional creative skills for mental health and wellbeing.

good afternooon...it's a very good idea to meet and exchange our ideas about the future of adult education. It' s a very difficult situation and we need to stay closer and exchane our experiences about how we can defeat this big challenge. In italy the situation is quite calm but we don't know wht we'll expect in autumn. all the experts says that we, surely, have a second round of pandemia... Blended acitivities can be a solution.. but it's so important the human contact

The Covid pandemic not only exposed the digital divide in our community, but also the underestimated value of social contacts and support that learners receive from participating in adult learning. Zoom sessions, if you are lucky enough to have an electronic device and good internet connection, can only replace social contacts to a certain extent. The impact of the pandemic on people's mental health, feelings of isolation and despair seems significant. Here in Belfast I only have anecdotal evidence of this, but it seems to me that we need to work to find a balance between conducting adult education as safely as possible and providing learners with the much needed social interactions and support. I am keen to find out how other community-based adult education providers tackle this issue.

Dear all

During the summer semester the Academy of Third Age at Gdansk University of Technology (Poland) replaced Face to Face meetings with ZOOM.  Our elderly learners took part in online meetings with a big enthusiasm. The most important was involving our learners in ERASMUS+ project activities (http://utwpg.gda.pl/2018SPIDW/about-SPIDW-ATW.pdf). They took part in  a virtual workshop dedicated to  producing short films. The training was e available online and off line using Moodle, ZOOM and Facebook. In my opinion the pandemic time caused a deep interest in learning more about advanced ICT technologies by people 70, 80+.  Do you have the same experience?

I think we have to pay more attention to learning of senior citizens. They have great experience , that can be deepened with contemporary knowledge and skills. We have to think more about intergenerational learning.Senior citizens are also stakeholders in the society and intergenerational  learning and communication is of great importance.

Dear all,