EU states urged to implement action plan on adult learning

The European Commission has called upon member states to implement the EU Action Plan on Adult Education which aims to remove the barriers that prevent adults from engaging in learning activities, and to improve the quality and efficiency of the adult learning sector.

The Action Plan focuses on all adults, with special attention on those who are disadvantaged because of their low literacy levels, inadequate work skills or insufficient skills for successful integration into society. The Commission has identified 80 million low-skilled workers, and seven million early school-leavers in the EU, who are among the target groups.

The Commission said that the latest results earlier this year showed that participation in lifelong learning has ceased to grow, and last year it even slightly decreased to 9.6 per cent of the adult population, which was far below the 12.5 per cent by 2010 benchmark.

"The pressures of demographic change, globalisation and the emergence of newly industrialised and highly competitive countries have highlighted the need for a coordinated policy response on adult learning in the EU. For this reason, the Commission launched the first Communication on adult learning, entitled It is never too late to learn, in 2006," the Commission said in a communication.

"We live in an increasingly knowledge-based society with an aging population and a more intensely competitive global economy. It is therefore vitally important that adults continue to learn, to keep up and to adapt to change. Whether adults find themselves needing to up-skill or re-skill, the member states must work to make adult learning as easy and accessible as possible," Ján Figel, European Commissioner for Education, Training, Youth and Culture, said.

The Action Plan on Adult Education, which aims to help strengthen the adult learning sector in order to be able to use its full capacity, emphasises the implementation of the five actions: the removal of barriers to participation; an increase in quality and efficiency; the speeding up of the process of recognition of non-formal and informal learning; sufficient investment; and monitoring of the adult learning sector.

States are urged to analyse effects of reforms in other educational sectors on adult learning, especially through National Qualification Frameworks that are linked to the forthcoming European Qualifications Framework, since these focus on how to facilitate access to, progress in, and transfer between learning activities.

States are urged to put quality assurance high on the agenda of educational reforms. Although quality assurance can be affected by policy, resources, infrastructure and other factors, the Commission places special emphasis on the quality of the teaching staff, that is, their training, status and payment.

Adult learners should be given the possibility to achieve at least one higher-level qualification. Although attracting adult learning to higher education is encouraged, this is not enough given the aging population. The main aim should be the possibility of raising their qualification levels.

States should also speed up the process of assessing and recognising non-formal and informal learning, regardless of where or how they were gained, of people who do not have basic qualifications and are thus considered disadvantaged. The recognition of such skills could lead to savings in both time and money.

Lastly, states should improve the monitoring of the adult learning sector, based on the use of agreed definitions, to overcome the misunderstandings and the lack of comparable data in the sector.

The Action Plan was the result of a wide-ranging consultation process involving consultation meetings attended by representatives from the adult learning sector in the member states, including Malta, as well as informal consultations with policy-makers, social partners and NGOs.