LLinE Lifelong Learning in Europe

Orientation 2/2007

European identities is an issue connected not only with the European Union, the new members and the nation states, but also with values, culture, language – and the increasing mobility. The challenge is to understand how identity formation takes place in the contemporary world. What roles do education and increasing transnational communication have in it?

IDENTITIES IN A BLENDING WORLD

Wit Pasierbek
FROM TRADITIONS TO CHANGE. FACTORS OF POLISH IDENTITY

Poland faces a process of profound transformation in mentality, perception and experience of cultural, social, moral and religious values. It is a process of coming from tradition to post-modernity. It is also a time of shift from the communist system to the democratic one. It is a very difficult period, especially for young people because such a transitional period gives rise to numerous doubts which hamper the choice of attitudes, values and the way of life.

LLinE Profile
NEW ENVIRONMENT – NEW IDENTITY? LLINE PROFILE OF ANTRA CARLSEN

The past few decades in Europe have seen great changes, some people have met them at a more personal level than others. How do people survive a rapid change from communist culture to free independent individualistic one, several changes of language – none your mother tongue. Or traditions, family, living environment? Or how do they use all this for their personal growth?

Maria Jose Gonçalves
PORTUGUESE ENTREPRENEURIAL WOMEN FOSTERING LEARNING COMMUNITIES

The rate of employers and self-employed females is higher in Portugal than any other European country. More than 20 years ago Portuguese women entrepreneurs started to create professional associations. The Portuguese Association of Women Entrepreneurs APME, one of those associations, is a professional learning community that fosters entrepreneurial knowledge, competences and skills. The project DONA EMPRESA, supported by APME, aims at supporting unemployed women with a business idea, to create enterprises. During its four years it has been quite successful.

THE SOUL OF EUROPE

Timo Jokela
THE LURE OF WINTER. WINTER ART AS ART, COMMUNITY AND ENVIRONMENT PROJECT STUDIES

Winter in the northernmost Europe provides a rhythm for the cycle of seasons and for people’s lives and work, their identity. The Department of Art Education at the University of Lapland in Finland has developed winter art as a method to encourage people to explore natural and cultural circumstances to create artistic products. The aims are to increase the know-how of winter art, promote understanding of ecological, cultural and social sustainability and support regeneration of local identities. Two examples of implementation of winter art education from perspectives of continuing education and lifelong learning.

Markus Schuck
ADULT EDUCATION PROMOTES A FUNCTIONING SOCIETY. INTERVIEW WITH GERMAN MINISTER OF EDUCATION ANNETTE SCHAVAN

Adult education has an increasing role in the integration of non-EU citizens within our modern immigration societies. However, Europe is not merely an economic community, but also a community of values, which is based on fundamental civil rights, democracy and tolerance. So it requires an array of educational options for values like these and active participation of the immigrant community in a social and cultural context.

EUROPE-WIDE PROJECTS PROMOTING EUROPEAN IDENTITY

Several European projects aim at preserving European values and identity. Some, like Europa Nostra and EUSTORY do this through discussing our common history and highlighting showpieces of it from a revived village in Karelia with its roots in the Finnish Kalevala to remnants of the Second World War. The young have to recognise the diverse interpretations of history, preferably by hearing people tell about it themselves, as in EUSTORY.
European Civic Forum attempts to allow people to find their European citizenship, European values. And the initiative taken by prominent European cultural, political and business figures ‘A Soul for Europe’ endeavours to discuss what the essence, the contents of European culture are. What is the identity of Europe? And how have identity and culture changed since 1989, how are they changing through the 2004 expansion of the EU?

INCLUSION AND LIFELONG LEARNING

Indra Odina and Ilze Mikelsone
SOCIAL INCLUSION: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS IN TEACHER EDUCATION IN LATVIA

Teachers in Latvia experience social exclusion in their jobs and in their study places. A case study carried out in two teacher pre-service and in-service education institutions of Latvia found that they lack mostly cooperation and social skills, security or insecurity of access to functional environment, obtaining or keeping one’s job, the attitudes of society, school community and students, as well as status matters. Appreciation is gained from a feeling of achievement, recognition of teaching accomplishments, the job itself, responsibility, opportunity for promotion, personal growth, interaction, reciprocity and learning.

Sanna Raiskio, Hanna Sarvela and Ville Saarikoski
OBTAINING MORE HOLISTIC ICT SKILLS

The development of the information age technologies requires new skills for the users as well. An online course and examination for more advanced and broader technological competence was created in Finland. The course is readily adaptable to the needs in the specific work place.

Leslie Henrickson
INCUBATING REGIONAL PARTNERSHIPS IN CALIFORNIA

Partnerships in education may work within regional consortiums of universities and / or with local consulting agencies. However, the silo effect often prevents sharing of information. A collaborative two-year study on state-partnerships produced a recommendation to develop a sustainable mechanism to promote educational partnerships. The strategies should include aspects such as creating a state-wide network to link partnerships, incentives to start or run them, and to focus on shared goals with locally specific objectives.