Online Discussion on Learning Communities in Rural Areas
On Wednesday, 8 June, from 10 am to 4 pm CEST, EPALE will be hosting an online discussion on Learning Communities in Rural Areas.
The written discussion will be introduced by a live stream (10-10.40 am CEST), with invited experts. Ewa Smuk-Stratenwerth (SEED), Cath Gristy (Education Studies, University of Plymouth), and Zoltan Hajdu (General Coordinator, Focus Eco Center), moderated by Gina Ebner (EAEA), will share their perspectives and experiences.
Watch the streaming here:
You can read the full transcript of the streamed session here.
Our guest speakers will be talking about rural policy and praxis and the changes over the last 20 years. We will also speak about what effect prior approaches have had on our society and shared values. During the discussion, we will explore whether and how the EU is already or possibly be able to counteract this development.
A critical view of practice examples will provide us with concrete insight into the reality of rural learning communities and how we better acknowledge their strengths and needs moving forward.
Guiding questions will be:
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What are learning communities in rural areas?
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What are urban-oriented educational policies?
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Does a systematically exclusive approach negatively affect our society and shared values?
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What kind of challenges do rural learning communities face, and what can we learn from how these communities have overcome challenges in the past?
Some objectives of the discussion
This discussion aims to kick off an ongoing debate on learning communities in rural areas, the challenges they face in regards to learning and teaching, what urban-oriented educational policies are, and how those might negatively affect our European shared values. Our experts will provide you with a theoretical introduction to some challenges, and concrete, practical examples of initiatives supporting rural learning communities.
The discussion is part of a special Focus Week (from 6 to 10 June) dedicated to Learning Communities in Rural Areas, promoted by EPALE teams from Austria, Belgium (NL), Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, and Poland.
We warmly invite you to share your experience and initiatives.
Comments are already open, so you can start sharing your thoughts, resources, and suggestions.
Comments
That's a very good point,…
That's a very good point, Zoltan! It does seem that adult education has an important role to play in diversifying knowledge. I think many adult learning providers are already doing it, for example by focusing on protecting natural ecosystems or supporting a green transition. There are some great examples from the Finnish Association for Rural Culture and Education https://msl.fi/ and several Polish folk high schools, for example the Ecological Folk High School in Grzybow http://www.eul.grzybow.pl/
This discussion is part of a special Focus Week
Hello everyone!
This discussion is part of a special Focus Week (from 6 to 10 June) dedicated to Learning Communities in Rural Areas, promoted by EPALE teams from Austria, Belgium (NL), Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, and Poland.
Thanks to each and every one of them for this idea!
To discover more, please visit:
https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/epale-focus-week-learning-communities-rural-areas
Claudia (EPALE Moderator)
EPALE Focus Week: Learning communities in rural areas
If you like to discover more on the topic you can read interesting articles in the actual thematic week on EPALE: https://epale.ec.europa.eu/en/blog/epale-focus-week-learning-communities-rural-areas
Useful topic and Fantastic opportunity/ Albania
I'm so glad to have this fantastic opportunity today to share our thoughts and perspectives of our countries. I would like to thank you the organizer.
I saw very interesting ideas in the comments. It seems that we are all ready to be involved in a big project to study the issues in our countries and to create a large picture. I'm really open for this.
Prof. Assoc. PhD. Ledia KASHAHU
Researcher
Faculty of Education
University "Aleksandër Moisiu", Durrës, Albania
Contact: kashahuledia@yahoo.com
WhatsApp: +355692319467
Please have a look at REGALE
Dear Ledia,
there is indeed a high potential in further exploring this topic as well as building on what has already been implemented.
For this, please have a look at the REGALE E+ project (RegALE: Regional capacity for Adult Learning and Education) and feel free to get in touch with the project organisers to receive more information.
Welcome to the discussion!
My colleague Christin and I will moderate the discussion today. First, you can join our livestream at 10.00 CET, and then we'll discuss here more about the topic. See you at 10.00!
Interesting and useful topic
Learning communities, education in rural areas, socially excluded localities, advantages and disadvantages of rural schools, shared values, political strategies, .. The topic is related to a large number of questions and sub-topics. I look forward to tomorrow's discussion. In the Czech Republic, we also deal with the issue of inequalities in education, poverty,availability of quality education.
multifaceted approach
This is why we need this exchange! A discussion that includes as many ALE stakeholders as possible and provides a multifaceted approach.
Who do you consider most crucial for developing quality education?
"Urban-oriented educational policies" and decentralisation
In my opinion, as financial resources are limited, it is understandable that countries have "urban-oriented educational policies".
These policies tend to present solutions designed mainly for the needs of the places that aggregate the majority of the population.
But, even so, it is possible to think of answers that do not leave behind those who live in rural areas and who, for this reason, have more difficulty in accessing adult learning providers in order to complete or obtain a qualification.
In Portugal, many Qualifica Centres (centres specialised in guiding adults to qualification pathways and in ensuring recognition, validation and certification of competences) also develop their activity on an itinerant basis (the technicians of these centres travel to areas where there are no Qualifica Centres to cover the needs of the adults who live there).
Despite difficulties, often it is easier to develop non-formal and informal learning activities in rural areas rather than in large cities. After all, contacts between people are more common and less formal and it is easier to reach everyone quickly, involving them in the initiatives. This is not the case in cities. But, of course, this depends on having a local base of people committed and interested in starting these non-formal and informal learning activities.
At the moment, in Portugal, the decentralisation of policies (including education policies) is being discussed again in order to promote the development of the territory as a whole (in Portugal, the coastal area is more developed than the interior area).
What experiences are there of decentralisation policies in education in other countries? Did they have practical effects and did they enable an effective increase in the qualification of the population and their participation in lifelong learning activities?
Thank you for sharing the…
Thank you for sharing the experiences from Portugal, Dora! At the European Association for the Education of Adults we are also quite familiar (and impressed!) with the work of Qualifica centres. Very good point about rural communities being more tight-knit and therefore easier to reach. Another great example are community education centres in Ireland which do a fantastic job bringing citizens together in a non-formal learning environment.
This might be useful
Hi Dora,
Thank you so much for your comment and your questions!
Regarding your questions on experiences in other EU countries, please find a collection of best practice examples here.
Wobec nierówności
Dyskusje na temat uczenia się na obszarach wiejskich należy rozpatrywać także w szerszej perspektywie związanej z kwestiami rosnących nierówności. Mam na myśli nierówności w wymiarze lokalnym a nie globalnym, które są skutkiem bezkrytycznej wiary w ideologię wzrostu. Prowadzi ona do powiększającej się przepaści pomiędzy miastami i wsiami zarówno jeśli chodzi o ilość jak i jakości inicjatywy z obszaru edukacji. Podejmując więc ten niezwykle istotny temat jakim są społeczności uczących się na terenach wiejskich należy chyba szczególnie zaakcentować jednoczesną konieczność przemyślenia ich "nadprodukcji" w miastach, zwłaszcza tych największych o charakterze metropolii.
Czy masz doświadczenia, którymi możesz się podzielić?
Bardzo dziękuję za tę istotnie ważną kwestię. Coraz większe nierówności będą wymagały ciągłego rozwiązywania. Czy w tej dziedzinie macie doświadczenia, którymi moglibyście się podzielić?
Jeśli chodzi o krytyczną refleksję nad inicjatywami edukacyjnymi, chciałbym odesłać Państwa do projektu EAEA REGALE (RegALE: Regionalny potencjał uczenia się i edukacji dorosłych). Proszę również o kontakt z organizatorami projektu, aby uzyskać więcej informacji, np. na temat badania, które przeprowadzili w ramach tego projektu.
Par mācību kopienām lauku reģionos
Diskusija, kas šodien ir svarīga. Daudzi cilvēki gribētu dzīvot ārpus galvaspilsētas, bet ir pārdomas par to, ko "es, bērni darīs...". Tādējādi ir nepieciešams roku rokā ar pedagogiem veidot jauniešos un pieaugušajos izpratni par valsts un kopienas procesiem.
plašāka aina
Mēs pilnībā piekrītam, taču nedrīkstam aizmirst plašāku kopainu, kurā ietilpst pilsētplānotāji, demogrāfi, protams, pedagogi, kā arī ministrijas. Tur bieži vien slēpjas problēma: sasēsties visiem dalībniekiem pie viena galda un diskutēt aci pret aci.
How to achieve sustainability without depending on governments
The main attractions of rural communities in Cyprus are mainly connected with leisure such as agrotourism, cultural/folklore events, crafts workshops, walking tours and wine tasting. However, these activities attracts people only in sundays or a weekend in the best scenario.
There is no serious policy planning for rural development in order to take advantage the local characteristics and build coherent learning communities. The average road network, unstable internet connection, the expensive logistics, poor infrastuctures, lack of local schools and social services are among the main obstacles for individuals and families to move or work in rural areas.
My Question: Is there a way to upgade efficiently the rural areas and create sustainable learning communities without depending on the governmental planning? What are these practices that can be put forward by communities, NGOs, Small Enterprises, civil society organisations to acheive sustainability of rural areas? Do we have any concrete examples from EU countries?
Polina Stavrou
Społeczności uczące się na obszarach wiejskich.
W latach 90. pojęcie kształcenie zeszło na drugi plan i zostało zastąpione uczeniem się. Praktycy edukacji dorosłych wiedzą, że mamy dziś zatem uczące się społeczeństwo, uczące się społeczności, uczące się organizacje. Odsłoniło to szeroką pozaformalną i nieformalną przestrzeń uczenia się. Pojawia się jednak ważne pytanie, czy uczący się dorośli są w stanie autonomicznie pokonywać rosnące wymagania związane z samodzielnym uczeniem się? Wydaje się, że mimo iż jednostki teoretycznie szybciej i bardziej elastyczne reagują na zmiany, to złożoność i tempo tych przeobrażeń może powodować wyraźne przeciążenie dla uczących się.
Całkowicie się z tym zgadzamy.
Już od jakiegoś czasu obserwujemy ten rozwój. Dodatkowo efekt ten wydaje się być pogłębiany przez tendencję do spychania odpowiedzialności za ciągłe uczenie się na jednostkę.
To jednak jeszcze bardziej zrazi osoby niezdecydowane do nauki, a tym bardziej do ciągłego uczenia się.
My, jako społeczeństwo, musimy odzyskać odpowiedzialność za umożliwienie (a nie wpędzanie w poczucie winy) wszystkim ludziom, niezależnie od wieku, płci czy sytuacji finansowej, równego podejścia do możliwości uczenia się.
The composition of the…
The composition of the population from rural area is very much changed, now only a little part of this population is working in agriculture because the agriculture became industralised farming and the population lost the skills needed for producing their own food, by small scale farming, and the skills to maintain the European cultural landscape. The development in the rural areas now has to focus not to the increasing of the production by ha but to the diversification of the production and to the reconstruction of the ecosystems. The adult education has to focus in my opinion to the knowledges necessary for living in a natural (rural) area.