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Discussion

EPALE discussion: social inclusion of the ageing population and intergenerational learning

On Wednesday 28 October, starting from 10 a.m. CEST, EPALE will be hosting an online discussion on the social inclusion of the ageing population and intergenerational learning. Comments will be open on 19 October so participants can introduce themselves and post their comments in advance. Join our online discussion!

EPALE discussion: social inclusion of the ageing population and intergenerational learning .

The lifelong learning needs of older learners should be a priority for education providers who need to develop high quality and specific training programmes.
At the same time, intergenerational learning can contribute to social cohesion by promoting cooperation between different generations.

On Wednesday 28 October, starting from 10 a.m. CEST, EPALE will be hosting an online discussion on the social inclusion of the ageing population and intergenerational learning.

The discussion will include the following topics:

  • What adult education policies and initiatives can support social inclusion of older learners?
  • Has there been more attention to their situation in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic?
  • What target groups have you been working with, and what would be your recommendations to ensure that adults continue to play an active role in society as they age?   

We invite you to share your experiences and reflections during our online discussion, facilitated by EPALE Thematic coordinator Gina Ebner, Secretary-General of EAEA.

Comments will be open on 19 October so participants can introduce themselves and post their comments in advance.

Join our online discussion!

Likeme (26)
Taggar
Digital inclusion
European policies projects and funding
Skills
Older people
Social inclusion

Kommentar

Dear Asimina,
the discussion takes place here in the comments.
You can read your colleagues' comments, insights and presentations and reply to them adding your perspective. Or you can post your own point of view and other will join.
Plase feel free to interact with Gina who is modearting the discussion and with the others and share your experience!
All the best,
Claudia (EPALE Moderator)
Likeme (1)

At adult’s educational center, which is called the People’s University of Velenje, we have a similar program. It's called social activation.

Through various activities, lectures, in-depth talks, counselling, connecting with different institutions, employers, we are trying to reinter individuals who are long-term unemployed, stigmatized and marginalized because of their life situations in the past.

Likeme (0)

Hi Gina, Nice to see you again (virtually).
As I explained yesterday our activity "Lire et Faire lire" have different levels :
1) First, developping volunteering for people up to 50 years and retired.
2) Training for them to be prepared to intervine in classrooms with children.
3) To go each week for 2 hours in a classroom and read to children, but being in contact before with teachers.


Sorry the page is in French.
One interesting point is that volunteers are not coming from educational background, but from very different professions.

Likeme (1)

Cilvēki ir dažādi. Dažiem 50+ veselība atļauj strādāt, citiem nē. Latvijā cilvēki pensijā aiziet 65 gadu vecumā. Ir pensionāri, kuri strādā, jo jūtas ļoti labi. Seniori Latvijā ir ļoti aktīvi - dibina NVO (etniskā piederība, reliģija, dejošana, dziedāšana, folklora u.c.) 
Likeme (1)

Hi, I am Heike, I am EPALE Ambassador from Germany and I have worked in Hamburger Volkshochschule for 25 years. We had many offers for older persons, including intergenerational offers, and my conclusion was: the planning and executing of offers/courses has to be done in a way that older persons have a say in what they learn and how they want to learn. They are the owners of their own learning processes and biographies. Organisations should listen to what older people say how the learning should be set up. 
Likeme (5)

Hi, we had at one place (where there are many people from Turkey) a so called Focus group, german and turkish, only women (by default), and they were invited regularly to give their ideas, opinions, develop new offers. E.g they wished for a bike course because many were already a bit unsecure and wanted to get better skills. But they asked for guided tours too, a station of firefighters, a mosk etc. They wanted to see things but in the company of others. The improvement was evident: they had more motivation, they invited others because they thought learning to be meaningful. 
Likeme (2)

Yes, this sounds great. Without the cooperation, you might have offered something that was as relevant to the participants. I once did an activity with a women's migrant group in Brussels, we went to the European Parliament together.
Likeme (0)

Conversation courses are ideal settings for discussing issues that affects all of us. The more diverse the group is (gender, age, occupation, etc) the better.

I run a number of English conversation courses at the Volkshochschule (adult education centre) In Bremen. My job is to ensure that participants are engaged in conversation. In the last 10 years I've learned that people are more than willing to talk about deeply personal experiences when the subject is broached creatively – e.g.in 2013 I created a lesson on smartpnohes. I introduced the topic by asking students to bring some favourite photographs to class. Older members brought in photo books and individual images while the younger people had their phones. The purpose was to talk about the photos but in the process younger people were happy to show and explain how smartphones work.

Having a mixed, rather than homogenous, group is really important. Over the years we've discussed a variety of subjects– marriage, work, retirement, children, school,social media, travel and even a full 90 minutes dedicated to the subject of death. Sharing our achievements and perceived failures, our knowledge on the important issues in life, what makes us happy and sad, what we know and don't know with other people-young or old– is what gives meaning to our lives
Likeme (3)

Hi, Frank, what was the age range of your participants? In my experience, the mix is unfortunately not very mixed, because the different age groups have different schedules, preferences, places. E.G. in Hamburg, the older people lived in the outskirts, the younger ones in the inner city, they did not often attend the same classes. 
Likeme (1)

Hi Heike,

Yes, it's not always ideal. Monday morning:  the groups are a mixture of retired professionals, a couple of foreign students and occasionally a young mother/father. Tuesday evenings the age ranges tends to be 35-55

I've found the film club Monday Wednesday and Friday evening  attracts a better mix of people –young and old 
Likeme (0)

Perhaps we need one in Hamburg and elsewhere? 

Before COVID I was putting together a workshop on how to set up and run a film club. It's gone on hold for the moment     
Likeme (1)

Hi. My name is Edita Tamše. 
I work on program The Social Activation. The aim of the programme is to strengthen the social inclusion of participants, increase their employment opportunities, raise motivation and strengthen existing or acquire new social and functional competences to effectively tackle the barriers that hinder these persons from entering the labour market and consequently lead them to social exclusion and life below the poverty line. It is precisely because of the specific characteristics of the target group that it is on the mentors' side to form a prudent curriculum of activities, such as getting used to the routine, encouraging the reintegration of participants into the social environment, raising motivation and the acquisition of functional and social competences.
I am looking forward today's discussion and getting new insights. 
Likeme (3)

Participants of the program are included through so called “the entry points” - the Centre for Social Work, the Employment Service and on the recommendation of local communities, who know individuals and their complexity.

For potential candidates we provide motivational workshops where we outline the course and present them the contribution to their daily’s. The best motivation to participate in these programs are participants who have already been involved in program activities.

For each group the program lasts for six months.

We are now halfway through the implementation for the second group.

Participants are very diverse. Their age ranges are from 23 to 54 years. 

Likeme (1)

As soon as the program was finished for the first implementation group, three participants were recruited and three decided to continue their education.

We also keep in touch with the participants at the end of the program. If there is a need to help them to further challenges, we are directing them, and first and foremost we are a foothold they have never had before. And most of them tell us that big changes have happened to them in their lives (better understanding at home, better financial situation, new friendships, more optimism,better social environment, new life opportunities,… ).

In second group, eight participants were already employed during the program and two decided for education – obtaining a National professional qualification.  

Likeme (0)

The discussion will "officially" start at 10.00, but there are already very interesting posts here! Welcome - do let us know who you are and why you are interested in the topic! My name is Gina, I work at the European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA) - we're also a thematic coordinator - and I believe that learning is one of the best things that one can do when  getting older. 
I look forward to hearing from everyone!
Likeme (7)

I'm ambassador EPALE in France. In charge of "Popular Education"

I'm also volunteer in a French association "La Ligue de l'enseignement" in department of Ille et Vilaine (Brittany). Ligue de l'enseignement is one of strong partners of a specific project intergenerational, linking books, reading, telling, between seniors and retired people and pupils and teachers

"Lire et faire Lire" is a project run but different associations and writers. Retired or pre-retired people from 50 years old go to schools (primary) or other places with children, to read books. The book are decided annually in accordance with writers and readers. Retired persons  have a contact with teachers and organise a planning of their presence in schools. Around 20 000 retired people and seniors are involved. Contacts and same project in Canada, Monaco. 
Likeme (3)

I am Asimina Brouzou from CHALLEDU, a pioneering R&D NGO in Greece with expertise in game-solutions for inclusion and education.(challedu.com). Some of the projects we have developed for OLD people and intergenerational learning are BRIDGE (www.projectbridge.eu), GOLD, E4All, Pragress. We are very happy to participate in the discussion and meet you all! 
Likeme (2)

Hi Regina. 
I can describe to you some of the serious games we are developing for the project BRIDGE. The games aims to enhance the inclusion as well as the cognitive and behavioral skills of people with dementia. 

Blooming flowers: this is a board game which is plays by 1-6 persons. The main scope of the game is to collaborate with your team and create a bouquet of flowers show in specific cards. There are easier and harder modes for the game in order to adapt to the needs of patient with dementia as well as the people who play with him/her

Emotions: this is a phygital game which means that it join physical objects (in our case cards) and a digital application (you can download it from google play - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.Challedu.Emotions&hl=… ) The game can be played by 2-10 players and its scope is to let people recognize emotions through sounds and also remember and tell stories connected with this emotions. 

We Have developed 6 more games. 




Likeme (0)

ZDUS – Slovene Federation of Pensioners Associations, as a representative NGO of older people, older people are our sole target group. All our activities in various fields are directed towards engaging older people to live an active, healthy, independent life as long as possible. We believe this process should start even before a person gets retired. A few years before retirement starts, older workers should be equipped with knowledge about what old age brings, how to continue life after they officially retire, what are their options and how to stay included in those activities which suit them to most and which bring them a happy and fulfilling third life period. In Slovenia we have such examples of pre-retirement seminars, but for now they only exist for specific profession (like the military, police or teachers). By engaging in organised activities in their local environment (for example in amateur culture, recreational activities, active citizenship, volunteering, life-long learning etc.), they stay actively involved and can contribute to society. 

Likeme (2)

At ZDUS – Slovene Federation of Pensioners Associations we believe that in the times of social isolation due to COVID-19 the importance of learning in older age and for old age has on the one had become more visible and on the other it revealed where the gaps in learning are. For example as most services, events and other daily life responsibilities moved to only being available online, the vast majority of older people who are not e-literate, were excluded from participating and exercising their rights. In this situation we believe intergenerational learning could be beneficial, but since older people are a vulnerable group and younger people were advised to take care of their seniors and not expose them to the risk of Covid-19, physical intergenerational learning could not happen. Certainly COVID-19 exposed that older people will have to be engaged in e-learning in the foreseeable future. 

Likeme (3)

At ZDUS – Slovene Federation of Pensioners Associations we believe social inclusion of older learners is very important. Based on our experience in the MATURE project - Making Adult Teaching Useful, Relevant and Engaging (LLP 2012-2014), we found out that adult educators need to recognize and work closely with the so called “intermediaries”. These are agencies and community organisations that have the trust and confidence of older people and they need to be recognized in playing a vital role in engaging older learners to participate in adult education and life-long learning. It’s their responsibility to reach out to those older people who experience barriers to participation in learning, especially if the reason is social exclusion. Reaching out in such cases means going to environments common to older people and reaching out to them in places where “traditional” learning normally does not occur, outside education facilities. We believe adult educations policies and initiatives should be directed towards minimising or removing barriers that may exclude older people from any part of the learning process.
Likeme (4)

Older people have a right to get supported when it comes to using new media in a competent and self-determined way. This is not just a question of media literacy, but also about the right to take an active part in social life!

I recently interviewed Ms. Dagmar Hirche on that matter, a very active member of an association in Germany (Wege aus der Einsamkeit / Ways out of loneliness) dedicated to the digital inclusion of older people. The interview can be found here on EPALE (in German language, soon to be translated into other languages) 
Likeme (8)

I am Marina Makri, a psychotherapist working in Panhellenic Association of Alzheimer Disease and Related Disordershttp://www.alzheimer-federation.gr/index.php/about-us. This organisation is the coordinator of an Erasmus+ project called "Bridge" which aims to create serious games targeting cognitive and behavioral symptoms of dementia through various workshops engaging younger and older people. You can find more information in our website https://projectbridge.eu/

Likeme (2)

Zviedrija ir lielisks piemērs, lai redzētu, cik lieliski strādā starppaaudžu saliedēšana caur dažādiem kursiem. Ir lieliski, ja tiek organizētas apācības vecāka gadagājuma cilvēkiem, piemērojotiesviņu spējai uztvert un atcerēties jaunu informāciju.
Likeme (1)

I am also looking forward to this discussion. I am associated professor at the National Centre for Lifelong Learning, Jönköping University in Sweden. I see  Intergenerational learning as part of lifelong learning. The learning can take place in formal settings, in the workplace or in the informal settings as for example in the family and the community. In my participation in European projects I have found that it is important to consider the fact that the interpretation of lifelong learning and intergenerational learning differ in different cultures and contexts. Still this is important everywhere during these times of the pandemi. 
Likeme (0)

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