"Lifelong Learning for All" programme launched in Germany
"Lifelong Learning for All" programme launched in Germany
Keywords: Learning, Skills, Germany
The German Government has launched a programme called "Lifelong Learning for All". Education Minister, Edelgard Bulmahn, announcing this in Berlin said: "We're setting clear goals and concrete measures to create a learning society which makes it attractive for everyone at every stage in life to take part. Education does not come to an end with receiving a skills certificate of some kind. Only by acquiring new knowledge all the time can we keep going with jobs, careers and everyday life."
Since 1998, the money devoted to further education by Frau Bulmahn's Ministry has been stepped up from DM100m to DM150m, plus another DM50m coming from the EU.
Frau Bulmahn said that lifelong learning was not a concept to be thrust down people's throats. Even at kindergarten stage the purpose of learning could be made attractive. Barriers and handicaps to entering the world of knowledge had to be eliminated; learning was actually always easily available if only people knew about it.
Encouraging people to take on the acquisition of extra knowledge was possible whatever their circumstances, even – and sometimes in particular – at work.
Among the points Frau Bulmahn put forward are:
Everyone should be able to find out what educational opportunities are available.
Encouraging those on the fringes by seeing to it that skills, perhaps even those quite informally acquired, can be rewarded with a certificate of competence.
Developing strategies to strengthen the competences of the jobless and develop the potential of the unskilled.
Promoting exchanges nationally and internationally to broaden outlook and skills.
A special "school/work" section of the programme is to see that youngsters get schooling more in line with what employers want. Technical training will be brought in earlier and it will be made easier for boys and girls to choose what kind of jobs they want to go for. Young people will also be encouraged to develop a positive attitude to self-driven learning – and getting better knowledge of the theories underlying practical skills.
Frau Bulmahn added: "A high standard of education and continuous further training promotes individual gifts and the development of personality. It's a great basis for putting people in control of the changes that society is undergoing, ensuring that we retain our facility for innovation and in so doing building up the jobs market."
