Introduction
The European Commission defines Lifelong learning as "all learning activity undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence, within a personal, civic, social and/or employment-related perspective."
Lifelong learning must become a basic component of the European social model and innovative and quantifiable approaches towards this must be adopted. Social partners must be encouraged to research and agree on new forms of lifelong learning and vocational training.
Overview
Lifelong learning entails the ongoing process of acquiring, updating and refining skills throughout the lifetime of an individual so that he or she can take full participation in a knowledge-based society. The development of knowledge and competence should come from all forms of learning whether from a learning institution such as a university, vocational skills acquired at the workplace or through on-the-job training. This ongoing process should be available to all citizens throughout their life and cater to needs and interests of each stage of the lifecycle.
As technology advances at a furious pace each European country has faced its share of the labour force falling into unemployment because the vocation and the skills involved have become obsolete. One goal of lifelong learning is to minimize this phenomenon as much as possible. Another goal is to offer people the opportunity to update their basic skills or take their knowledge to more advanced levels and have access to better employment and a higher standard of living.
Issues
The strategy surrounding lifelong learning contains elements that must be addressed. The stakeholders in lifelong learning include government at all levels, education service providers, the business sector and the social partners, vocational training centres, local associations and others. All these stakeholders must redefine the basic skills required to adapt to the knowledge-based society and track short and long-term labour market trends in order to account for them in procedures, services offered and policy.
Public and private investment in learning must be substantially increased. Resources must be effectively allocated and investment into new and innovative training schemes must occur so as to minimize the phenomenon of high unemployment ironically coupled with labour shortages and skills gaps.
The public must become aware of the existence of lifelong learning programmes and special attention must be paid to removing all obstacles to these programmes especially for the disenfranchised or socially excluded groups such as people with disabilities, the elderly or ethnic minorities.
A learning culture must be created and individuals who understand that lifelong learning leads to better jobs, better pay and higher standards of living will be the integral part of this culture. Those who have not come to this realisation, simply do not know future trends, or who have been socially excluded must be made aware and given incentives to join the learning culture.
What's Next
The European Commission is currently creating a system that will enable citizens to present their qualifications anywhere in Europe - a European Curriculum Vitae. New and innovative ways are being researched and the European Union co-funds programmes such as the EQUAL initiative in order to support lifelong learning. Ways to get small and medium enterprises (SMEs) more involved are also being researched.