Written by Astrid Søe

Epale was a slow learning child.

Epale was impossible in every way from the beginning. Slow and clumsy. For those of us who were there from the beginning, Epale became a headache that we fought for and fought through. The system was slow, it often didn't work and login could take hours and days.

But the ideas and the will to give Europe a common meeting place persevered and survived the teething problems. The learning curve for Epale was bumpy, but suddenly it picked up and today, we have a 10-year-old who has gone from toddler to tween.

That's worth celebrating. Because it's not just any 10-year-old, but a very special and important will to take each other seriously, share responsibility and knowledge and be part of something that is not about one's own ability or gain, but about building and treading a common foundation, molded by diversity and opportunities for innovation.

All learning is politics

Our daily interactions, exchanges, methods, essence and experiments in the sector are also a story of trust. Political trust.

In a Europe currently facing many chaotic crises, wars and struggles, continuing to find common ground in learning is a strong signal and a strength that means more than we may even realize. By its very nature, the learning sector carries the core values on which we build societies, national and international.

When we share our experiences, thoughts and trust with each other, we become strong in thinking, believing, wanting and being the ideas we come up with ourselves or encounter in others.

Learning is a questioning entity, more than an answering one.

In the meeting between teacher and learner, new thoughts, new approaches and the creation of new paths emerge.

No one has ever entered a learning environment, a teaching situation, classroom, lecture hall without leaving with new questions, new approaches, new confidence.

Even on our shared platform Epale, it's the prevailing factor that provides value - and resonance.

The more we cultivate knowledge and education, the belief in the enlightened human being, the better equipped we are for crises, wars and chaos. It is in our responsibility, our belief that we want to do better, act better and have the continued courage to work in common and not dig new ditches, that we solve disagreements, hatred, mistrust and resignation.

Tread carefully, for this is where people are made.

The words are Christian Kold's, and despite his age, they carry an eternal story in their back pocket.

Christian Kold is a practitioner where Grundtvig is a developer of ideas.

We lean on hundreds of years of condensation of becoming people, becoming someone and not just something. In adult learning, that one experience is repeated. That each individual is part of a whole. We learn, relearn and unlearn not just for our own benefit, but to contribute to a stronger and more human-centered world.

Throughout our lives, we assume an authority that we constantly adapt and adjust in knowledge and learning to the times, our work and our reality.

Learning takes a lifetime.

Ten years of sharing a platform for learning and knowledge sharing to create a common authoritative language of learning in Europe.

We're on our way, and we'll never get there.

In adult learning, there are no goals, no way to measure, finish, complete.

The next 10 years with Epale will be amazing. A lively teenager starting to respond, forming new languages, new directions and taking a stand for and against.

Epale has found its feet and is going its own way. It's what we hoped for and now it's real.

Thank you for ten years of common will for knowledge sharing and democratic education - congratulations on the trust across Europe.