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Geneva, 10-14 April 2000
Lifelong learning: Policy, organization,
financing and employment
1. Learning, the application of knowledge, competences and skills acquired, and their transmission through the teaching and learning process, are basic human needs, integral components of the human right to education. The structural changes our societies and economies are undergoing require the permanent renewal and use of knowledge, skills and learning abilities. Shaping and managing change mandates lifelong learning; it is essential to everyone, and must be available to all. It is a vital issue for social cohesion and sustainable development of human societies.
2. There is a consensus that lifelong learning should become the conceptual basis guiding all future education and training, and that it is at the heart of labour and social issues. Lifelong learning is taken to mean the comprehensive provision of purposeful learning opportunities throughout every individual's lifespan. Learning throughout life fulfils many social justice and sustainable economic development objectives, including preparation for democratic citizenship, living together in peace, employment, and personal and social fulfilment.
3. Lifelong learning is characterized by a learning chain whose components are interrelated and mutually supporting. Components of the learning chain, and prerequisites for a comprehensive and universally accessible system of quality education include:
(a) early childhood development education accessible to all children;
(b) universal, free, and compulsory basic education in primary and secondary schools at least to an age that respects the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138);
(c) increasing access for all to secondary education, training and learning opportunities in schools and/or enterprises as appropriate up to certifying completion of secondary education - general or vocational;
(d) widespread opportunities to obtain further and higher education and training for all;
(e) accessible continuing education and training as adults ("expanded chances"), according to individual and social needs, at formal educational institutions, informal learning centres, or workplaces;
(f) gender balance in access to education and training opportunities;
(g) access to educational opportunity for minorities and other disadvantaged populations.
4. Schools are the foundation on which further learning is constructed. Successful realization of their mission requires that teaching and learning within them:
(a) foster a learning culture;
(b) be of high quality;
(c) take into consideration the social and individual needs of each learner as the centre of educational provision;
(d) benefit from widespread, mutually supportive partnerships within the workplace and other institutions of society;
(e) make widespread use of information and communications technologies (ICT) in classrooms and workplaces, and of distance- and open-learning opportunities. Disadvantaged and rural areas should be priorities.
5. Adequate financing of lifelong learning systems is crucial to universal access. Recognizing that education is a basic right within any society, governments have the primary responsibility to ensure adequate investment in education, with a benchmark minimum of 6 per cent of GNP. (1) Within the context of lifelong learning, additional contributions may be made by individuals and public or private enterprises, consistent with the policies and legislation of member States.
6. International development cooperation and assistance devoted to education has an important role to play in supplementing developing countries' efforts to finance lifelong learning.
7. To achieve universal lifelong learning, a range of financing mechanisms will be necessary. At the level of basic education, learning should be provided in compulsory, free, publicly funded schools. (2) The range of learning opportunities at other levels, and for adults generally, will require more innovative approaches to facilitate investment decisions according to individuals' needs.
8. Formulation of learning policy, and any subsequent legislation regarding its organization and financing, should be based on social dialogue rooted in respect for the rights and responsibilities of all parties.
9. Within a decentralized system, partnership approaches to governance are most successful when based on democratic structures and values, the objectives are mutually negotiated and they are inclusive of all stakeholders' viewpoints -teachers, parents, students and the wider community. In decentralized systems, partnerships at governance level should take due account of the necessary linkages between different levels of education and their objectives. When the educational system is decentralized, the State should ensure that funding remains equitable for learners in all regions.
Roles and responsibilities of educational personnel, workplace learning facilitators and other educators
10. Universally attainable and quality lifelong learning will depend in large part on highly qualified and dedicated teaching, administrative and support staff. Their roles and responsibilities are expected to evolve to meet needs of learners at all stages and in different venues of education and training.
11. Partnerships break down artificial barriers between schools and the outside world so as to create more dynamic relationships in favour of increased learning opportunities. Partnerships with students, parents and workplace actors should increase to enhance learning access and outcomes, while respecting the professional responsibility of teachers as the primary facilitators of learning.
12. Education and training systems must pay greater attention to the development of all education personnels' skills to plan for, administer and manage change, and to assure the quality of future learning opportunities. In that respect, more gender balance in positions of responsibility not only enhances equality of opportunity for women educators, but also has positive implications for increasing girls' participation in education.
13. Enhanced teacher professionalism will be crucial to quality learning opportunity in the future. Elements of enhanced professionalism include, among others:
(a) extensive knowledge in one or more fields of learning;
(b) facilitating learners' acquisition of a range of generic skills which provide the essential foundation for managing one's life and further learning;
(c) collaborative and team teaching;
(d) research, reflection on and change as necessary in teaching practice - the teacher as learner;
(e) communication and empathy with students, parents and members of the wider community;
(f) a high degree of information and communications technology, as well as a general understanding of the economic and social realities of society.
14. Workplace and informal learning opportunities for all should grow in the future in response to individual and workplace needs. The State should play an important role by:
(a) setting an example by providing lifelong learning opportunities for their own employees;
(b) encouraging enterprises to understand and shoulder their fair share of support for learning opportunities;
(c) validating, or overseeing the validation of, knowledge, skills and competencies within agreed recognition or qualifications systems, thereby encouraging the mobility and portability of skills.
15. Meeting the expectations for high levels of professionalism among educational personnel requires the establishment of lifelong learning for educators. Elements of a seamless system spanning the careers of teachers, administrators and teaching support staff are:
(a) initial training or preparation for the jobs at the highest possible standards, with as a minimum a first-level university degree or its equivalent as the professional entry norm;
(b) continual training and professional development throughout a career in education and training which is systematic, well funded and accessible to all;
(c) professional development opportunities in exchange with enterprises, other non-school workplaces, and with other educational institutions.
16. To facilitate the greater application of information and communications technologies in an appropriate manner to learning, and reduce the learning disparities of the digital divide within and between nations, the initial preparation, continual training and professional development components of educators' lifelong learning must develop and maintain a high level of competency in ICT skills.
17. Appraisal of teachers and other staff is crucial for professional and career development. Such appraisal should be largely diagnostic and formative, identifying weaknesses in skills and competencies so as to improve performance to the benefit of learners. Appraisal criteria should be holistic, based on all variables in the school setting which affect teaching and learning.
Remuneration and work in education
18. Remuneration at levels which will attract high-quality individuals to teaching, managerial and support work in lifelong learning systems are more than ever necessary. Compensation should be related to demonstrated competencies and responsibilities, as well as educational qualifications and seniority.
19. Bearing in mind growing qualitative and quantitative shortages of teachers by geographic region and education subjects, stakeholders must combine their efforts to ensure recruitment of sufficient numbers of teachers with the necessary qualifications, experience and competencies to provide education for all at the highest possible level. Special attention is needed to ensure the recruitment of young teaching staff, and to improve recruitment of personnel in rural and socially deprived areas so as to increase participation for disadvantaged communities, people with disabilities and indigenous populations. Policies should bear in mind sensitivities relating to gender, race, age, religion and other factors inhibiting access.
20. The teaching and learning environment can be improved to meet new learning needs with the following options:
(a) flexible timetabling of school hours;
(b) reducing overly large class sizes in many countries;
(c) improved safety and health in schools and other learning sites, so as to reduce stress and eliminate violence.
Participation in educational decision-making
and workplace learning
21. Full involvement of individuals and workers' representatives (3) in all educational decision-making processes and the complete range of issues facing stakeholders is a key to effective design and implementation of reform. To this end, social dialogue is needed based on effective respect for the rights and responsibilities established in relevant international labour standards, (4) effective implementation of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up, the ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers, and the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel. Continuing denial of these rights in legislation and practice in many countries undermines effective involvement of workers' representatives in positive change. Real involvement in reform decisions finds its highest expression in negotiated solutions, such as those derived from collective bargaining.
22. On the basis of national standards, school-based management, such as school boards or councils with staff, student, parent and wider community participation, provides increased opportunities for greater stakeholder involvement in governance issues and permit the development of strategic visions, plans and budgets for school improvement in response to a changing external environment. Such arrangements are forums for greater democratization of education and learning sites, but they should be consistent with provisions in negotiated conditions of service for educational staff.
ILO
23. With due regard to the resource limitations of the ILO, and in accordance with its strategic objectives, the Director-General is requested in preparing the future programme and budget of the ILO to take into account the activities set out below, designed to assist governments and the social partners of member States to construct lifelong learning systems, and to actively associate the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin with these activities.
A. Research
Undertake studies on the following subjects in order of priority:
(1) improving access to lifelong learning including the use of distance and open education based on ICT;
(2) evaluation and validation of knowledge, skills and competencies, within portable qualification or recognition frameworks, and means by which informal and prior learning may be evaluated and recognized;
(3) health and safety in schools and its impact on students and teaching personnel and the learning environment;
(4) the features and financial aspects of individual learning accounts as one policy option for funding lifelong learning systems.
B. Seminars or workshops
Organize regional seminars in cooperation with interested international, regional and national organizations on:
(1) the roles of teachers in fostering the growth of lifelong learning;
(2) the role of distance and open education based on ICT in improving access to lifelong learning.
C. Sectoral meeting
Convene the next international sectoral meeting for education on the theme, "The framework conditions for promoting lifelong learning, with special reference to new technologies".
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1 As recommended in the report of the International Commission on Education in the Twenty-first Century.
2 Subject to the internationally recognized right of parents or legal guardians to choose for their children schools other than those established by the State which conform to minimal educational standards established or approved by the State.
3 Throughout this text when the term "workers' representatives" is used, it refers to Article 3 of the Workers' Representatives Convention, 1971 (No. 135), which reads as follows:
For the purpose of this Convention the term "workers' representatives" means persons who are recognised as such under national law or practice, whether they are: (a) trade union representatives, namely, representatives designated or elected by trade unions or by the members of such unions; or (b) elected representatives, namely, representatives who are freely elected by the workers of the undertaking in accordance with provisions of national laws or regulations or of collective agreements and whose functions do not include activities which are recognised as the exclusive prerogative of trade unions in the country concerned.
4 The Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87); the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining Convention, 1949 (No. 98); the Labour Relations (Public Service) Convention, 1978 (No. 151); and the Collective Bargaining Convention, 1981 (No. 154).