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On LifeLong Learning ▸ Sobre Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida


Pawła Kuczyńskiego


A compilation of texts of mine included in this blog (posts, articles, conferences, interviews, books) related to the LifeLong Learning paradigm, on which I have been working since the 1990s.

Compilo aquí algunos textos míos publicados en este blog (artículos, conferencias, entrevistas, libros) relacionados con el paradigma del Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida, en el cual vengo trabajando desde los 1990s.



▸ En 1996-1998, siendo Directora de Programas para América Latina en la Fundación Kellogg, organicé la Iniciativa de Educación Básica "Comunidad de Aprendizaje", que continué desde el IIPE-UNESCO Buenos Aires (1998-2000). La comunidad local como comunidad de aprendizaje.

▸ En el año 2000, siendo miembro del grupo experto internacional organizado por UNESCO para la preparación de la Década de Naciones Unidas para la Alfabetización (2003-2012), se me encargó la redacción del Documento Base de la Década, el cual fue discutido y aprobado en una sesión especial en el Foro Mundial de Dakar (abril 2000).

Base Document - Literacy for All: A United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012). Drafted for UNESCO in 2000.
Documento Base - Alfabetización para Todos: Década de Naciones Unidas para la Alfabetización 2003-2012. Redactado a pedido de la UNESCO en 2000.

Literacy for All: A Renewed Vision (2000)
Alfabetización para Todos: Una Visión Renovada (2000)

Knowldedge-based international aid: Do we want it? Do we need it?. Paper prepared for the International Seminar on "Development knowledge, national research and international cooperation", Bonn, 3-5 April, 2001. Norrag News, Edinburgh, CAS, UK, 2001.

Lifelong Learning in the North, Primary Education in the South?, International Conference on Lifelong Learning “Global Perspectives in Education”, Beijing, China, 1-3 July, 2001 (abridged version).
¿Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida para el Norte y Educación Primaria para el Sur?. Conferencia sobre Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida “Global Perspectives in Education”, Pekín, China, 1-3 julio, 2001 (versión resumida).
▸ "Aprendizaje a lo largo de toda la vida: Un nuevo momento y una nueva oportunidad para el Aprendizaje y la Educación Básica de Adultos en el Sur". Estudio encargado por la ASDI (Agencia Sueca para la Cooperación Internacional), Estocolmo, 2002.
Lifelong Learning in the South: Critical issues and opportunities for adult education. A study commissioned by Swedish Sida. Sida Studies No 11, Stockholm, 2004 (book, PDF)
Justicia educativa y justicia económica: 12 tesis para el cambio educativo. Estudio continental encargado por el Movimiento Internacional 'Fe y Alegría'/ Entreculturas, Madrid, 2005. (libro para descargar)

Literacy and Lifelong Learning: The Linkages. Conference at the 2006 Biennale of ADEA, Libreville, Gabon, March 27-31, 2006. El UIL-UNESCO afirma que ésta fue la primera vez que se vinculó alfabetización y ALTV.

Ciudades educadoras y derecho al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida. Entrevista con el periódico Ciutat.Edu, Simposio "Ciutat.edu: nuevos retos, nuevos compromisos", Barcelona, España, 9-11 octubre, 2006. Diputación de Barcelona, Área de Educación.

Presentación del libro de Emilia Ferreiro “Alfabetización de niños y adultos: Textos escogidos”. CREFAL, México D.F., 28 febrero 2008.

Niños que trabajan y estudian (Centro del Muchacho Trabajador, Ecuador)
Exposición en la Jornada Internacional "Una propuesta de desarrollo humano que nace desde la infancia trabajadora" organizada por el CMT, Quito, 17 octubre 2008.

Social Education and Popular Education: A View from the South. Closing conference AIEJI XVII World Congress “The Social Educator in a Globalised World”, Copenhagen, Denmark, 4–7 May, 2009.

De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida: Tendencias, temas y desafíos de la educación de personas jóvenes y adultas en América Latina y el Caribe. En 2009 preparé, a pedido del UIL-UNESCO, el informe regional para la VI Conferencia Internacional sobre Educación de Adultos - CONFINTEA VI, organizada por la UNESCO (Belém, Brasil, 1-4 diciembre 2009).

From Literacy to Lifelong Learning: Trends, Issues and Challenges of Youth and Adult Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. Regional Report prepared for the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education - CONFINTEA VI, organized by UNESCO. Belém, Brazil, 1-4 December 2009. Report commissioned by UIL-UNESCO.
De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida: Tendencias, temas y desafíos de la educación de personas jóvenes y adultas en América Latina y el Caribe. Informe Regional preparado para la VI Conferencia Internacional sobre Educación de Adultos - CONFINTEA VI, organizada por la UNESCO (Belém, Brasil, 1-4 diciembre 2009).

Lifelong Learning: Moving Beyond 'Education for All'. Prepared as keynote speech, Shanghai “International Forum on Lifelong Learning”,  Shanghai World Expo 2010, 19-21 May 2010. UNESCO, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy (CSEDS) and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.

Lifelong Learning: Moving Beyond 'Education for All'. Keynote speech, Shanghai “International Forum on Lifelong Learning”,  Shanghai World Expo 2010, 19-21 May 2010. UNESCO, the Shanghai Municipal People’s Government, the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy (CSEDS) and the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO.

On Learning Anytime, Anywhere. Presentation at the "Learning Anytime, Anywhere" session at the World Summit on Innovation in Education (WISE 2011), Doha, Qatar, 1-3 November, 2011.

Youth & Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean. Published in LLinE - Lifelong Learning in Europe, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, 2011.
El enfoque de Aprendizaje a lo Largo de Toda la Vida: Implicaciones para la política educativa en América Latina y el Caribe. UNESCO, Documentos de Trabajo sobre Política Educativa, No. 8, París, 2020.
The Lifelong Learning approach: Implications for education policy in Latin America and the Caribbean. UNESCO, Working Papers on Education Policy, No. 8, Paris, 2020.

Otros textos míos sobre ALV en este blog

El derecho de niños y niñas a una educación básica
El Ecuador y el Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida

Aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida no se refiere solo a adultos

Tres maneras de entender "aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida"

El Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida no se limita al sistema escolar
Lifelong Learning is not confined to the school system

Formal, non-formal and informal learning
Aprendizaje formal, no-formal e informal

Saberes socialmente útiles

Goal 4: Education - Sustainable Development Goals
Objetivo 4: Educación - Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible

On Innovation and Change in Education

About "good practice" in international co-operation in education

Child learning and adult learning revisited

Educar a los niños o a los adultos: falso dilema

Comunidad de Aprendizaje: Educación, territorio y aprendizaje comunitario
Sucesivas versiones presentadas en eventos nacionales e internacionales.

Basic Learning Needs: Different Frameworks

La biblioteca como núcleo de desarrollo comunitario (Una experiencia en Córdoba, Argentina)

El barrio como espacio pedagógico: Una escuelita itinerante (Brasil)

Children's rights: A community learning experience in Senegal

PISA o PIAAC

La educación de un niño empieza 20 años antes de su nacimiento

The oldest and the youngest | Los más viejos y los más jóvenes

Transforming formal education from a lifelong learning perspective


Rosa María Torres

Conference prepared for the
  International Conference on Learning Cities
           UIL-UNESCO and China's Ministry of Education,
           Beijing, China, 21-23 October 2013


(draft, in process)
Pawel Jonca

Lifelong Learning means Learning throughout Life

Many people confuse Lifelong Learning (LLL) with Out-of-School Learning (Informal Learning, Open Learning, etc.), leaving the school system out of it. Many think LLL as Adult Education or as Non-Formal Education, leaving children out of it. All these associations seem to ignore that Lifelong Learning means literally learning throughout life.

In the first place, LLL is a fact: all of us learn from birth to death, everywhere and from many sources: family, friends, play, observation, practice, experience, nature, school, work, reading, writing, solving problems, participating, etc.

LLL is also the paradigm proposed for education and learning policies and systems in the 21st century. It embraces and emphasizes two key concepts: LEARNING and LIFE.

LEARNING: 
- NOT getting access to
- NOT teaching
- NOT studying
- NOT approving

LIFE:
- NOT only adulthood.

Formal education and lifelong learning 
 
Formal education
is "institutionalised, intentional and planned through public organizations and recognised private bodies" ( UNESCO's
International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED, revised in 2011). The education ladder includes pre-school education, primary education, lower and upper secondary education, technical and vocational education, adult formal education, and higher education. 

Formal education is a very important part of the LLL experience. However, viewed in a LLL perspective, formal education occupies a rather small portion of learners' lives. Most of what we learn in life (and some of the most important, such as learning to speak) is the result of  informal learning: non-institutional learning that occurs in daily life, and where no actual or deliberate teaching is involved.

Millions of people worldwide get no or very little formal education; others make it through various school levels, get diplomas and higher education qualifications. All of them - the illiterate and the Ph.Ds - are lifelong learners. Without learning, survival and life would be impossible. Those who never go to school learn basically through informal learning and oral (non-written) interaction.

Life and lifelong learning

Life is getting longer. Life expectation has grown considerably throughout the world over the past two decades. Consequently, adult and older learners have multiplied - current population trends indicate they will continue to multiply in the coming years. New scientific knowledge confirms that aging implies cognitive deterioration but it also confirms that older adults are capable of learning almost anything. Now we also know that learning begins before birth, and that it takes place also while we sleep.

Schooling and lifelong learning

Formal education continues to expand downwards and upwards. Institutionalized initial/pre-school education grow in many countries, and even become part of compulsory education in a few countries; the age to start school is also lowered in some countries. On the other side, higher education continues to expand, adding degrees and titles. School life expectation and the number of years of schooling and/or of higher education graduates are taken as indicators to compare countries' educational status.

However, the real objective is not a competitive race for titles. The objective is learning, enhancing lifelong learning opportunities for all, creating learning societies.

Formal education and learning

Access to school, especially to primary education, has been the traditional focus of national governments and international agencies vis à vis "developing countries". Completion of primary education and other levels and cycles, was the next step. Actual learning has remained an elusive objective until very recently, and often continues to be confused with approving school tests. And yet, the core mission of education is learning. Teaching without learning is absurd and a waste of time. Learning remains a critical area of school systems worldwide. Ensuring learning within the  school system is thus a major challenge in itself.

OECD: PISA & PIAAC

OECD's PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) test applied to 15 year-olds since the year 2000 assesses competencies in three key areas: reading, mathematics and science. Initially designed for OECD countries, over 70 countries have participated in PISA so far.

In recent times, OECD has also applied ‌the Survey of Adult Skills, a survey conducted in 33 countries as part of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies  (PIAAC). The survey was applied in 2012 to 16 to 65 year olds. It measured "Literacy, Numeracy and Problem Solving Skills in Technology-rich Environments". They are considered "information-processing skills", "key cognitive and workplace skills needed for individuals to participate in society and for economies to prosper." The questions could be answered via computer or with pen and paper. 5,000 individuals were interviewed at home in each participating country.

This is the first international survey on the subject, the first one digging into LLL from an adult (16-65) learning perspective. The first results were released in October 2013.


                                          PIAAC: Some results
PIAAC provides insights into how these "information-processing" skills are developed and used at work and at home. Below a concise summary of some of these results:

▸ LITERACY AND NUMERACY skills are low in most countries.

▸ INITIAL + CONTINUING OPPORTUNITIES There appears to be a combination of poor initial education and lack of opportunities to further improve skills.

▸ AGE In general, older adults have lower proficiency in the three domains than younger ones (the peak is around 30 years of age). This is especially true in relation to modern technology. The extent of the gap between generations varies considerably among countries.

▸ GENDER differences are there (men have higher scores in numeracy and problem solving in technology‑rich environments than women), but the gap is not large and is very small among younger adults.

▸ LANGUAGE is a major barrier affecting the immigrant population, especially in the literacy domain.

▸ ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL WELL BEING is positively related to higher skills levels.

▸ WORK has major influence on skills use and development.

▸ FORMAL EDUCATION On average, adults with tertiary‑level qualifications have a 36 score‑point advantage – the equivalent of 5 years of schooling – over adults who have not completed upper secondary education. However,  levels and qualifications are not necessarily linked to skills proficiency.
Source: OECD Interactive Charts  OECD Skills Outlook 2013



Literacy and numeracy continue to be the most important and critical skills (all ages)


For the purpose of the Survey of Adult Skills, PIAAC defines Literacy and Numeracy as follows:

Literacy is the ability to understand, evaluate, use and engage with written texts, to participate in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential. Literacy encompasses a range of skills from the decoding of written words and sentences to the comprehension, interpretation and evaluation of complex texts. It does not, however, involve the production of text.

Numeracy is the ability to access, use, interpret and communicate mathematical information and ideas in order to engage in and manage the mathematical demands of a wide range of situations in adult life. To this end, numeracy involves managing a situation or solving a problem in a real context by responding to mathematical content represented in multiple ways.
Source: OECD Interactive Charts



Historically, literacy and numeracy are at the heart of the school system and of the mission of primary education in particular. Reading, writing and dealing with mathematical problems, continue to be at the top of any list of "21st century skills". However, literacy and numeracy skills continue to be problematic for a large part of the schooled population, be it children, youth or adults, in both "developed" and "developing" countries.

This is what PISA and PIAAC reveal, as well as many other research and evaluation reports throughout the world. Formal education is doing a poor job in this field. This is not new. The situation has been identified and exposed for a long time now.
▸ After completing 4 years of primary school, 130 million children worldwide cannot read and write (Education for All - EFA Report 2012)

▸ "In most countries, there are significant proportions of adults who score at lower levels of proficiency on the literacy and numeracy scales" (...) "Even among adults with computer skills, most scored at the lowest level of the problem solving in technology‑rich environments scale."
(PIAAC 2013)
(See: Rosa María Torres, El fracaso alfabetizador de la escuela | ¿Renuncia a un mundo alfabetizado?)

What does it mean transforming formal education from a LLL perspective?

Among others:

■ A unitary, articulated formal education system  
In many countries, the formal education system is segmented in two or more systems - education and higher education, or initial/preschool education, education, and higher education - in charge of different government bodies (Family, Social Wellbeing, Education, Technical Education, Training, Higher Education, etc.). with little or no co-ordination between them. A major challenge is thus viewing and organizing formal education as a continuum, as a teaching and learning system articulated in all dimensions: administrative and normative issues, curriculum, pedagogy, learning spaces, teacher education, etc. 

■ Placing learning at the centre
Moving from access to learning,
from student to learner,
from studying to learning,
from approving to learning,
from education for all to learning for all,
from lifelong education to lifelong learning.

■ Acknowledging learners’ and teachers' previous knowledge and experience
Acknowledging learners' (children, youth, adults) and teachers’ previous and out-of-school information, knowledge and experience and adopting it as a key pedagogical principle at all levels.

■ Rethinking TIME for education and learning purposes 
The school system is always in a rush, trying to add and cover as much content as possible, with the "next level" as the desirable and visible horizon. A LLL perspective of learning allows moving back and forth, seing beyond the next level and back to the previous level, and outside the school system. Learning requires time.
(See: Rosa María Torres, ¿Más de lo mismo? Un sistema escolar que se estira | Repensar los tiempos escolares)

■ Rethinking SPACE for education and learning purposes 
The school system is one of many education and learning systems. Learning is ubiquitous. Rather than trying to assume total responsibility and control over learning, counting with families as the only "outside partners", school systems and teachers have a critical role in visualizing community and out-of-school learning realities and possibilities, and identifying the role of the community as a learning community.
(See: Rosa María Torres, Comunidad de Aprendizaje: Educación, territorio y aprendizaje comunitario)

■ Rethinking AGE within the right to education and to learning (education and learning for ALL)
Radically rethinking the traditional vision of AGE for schooling, education and learning purposes.
- Learning does not begin with the first day of school. Learning begins at birth (and even before birth). Early childhood is the most important learning period and experience in the life of any individual. When children get to school they are competent speakers of their language, they have learned and know many things. This knowledge must not be denied but rather be assumed as the starting point for the school experience.
- Revisiting concepts such as 'school age' and 'over-age'.
- Promoting (rather than inhibiting) peer-to-peer learning and inter-generational learning.
- Acknowledging adult education as part of the right to education and of the learning continuum.
- Children's right to education must include the right to educated parents.
(See: Rosa María Torres, Pre-niños (los cimientos invisibles) | Children's right to basic education | Educar a los niños o a los adultos: falso dilema | Los niños como educadores de adultos | Kazi, el sin gracia | Kazi, The Graceless | Child learning and adult learning revisited)

■ Connecting school and out-of-school learning systems
Connecting the school system to the multiple learning systems operating out of school: home, community, media, play, work, religion, social and civic participation, etc.

■ Education centres and community learning centres and learning communities
Thinking education centres as community learning centres and learning communities (inter-generational, family-centred, learning-oriented).


SIX EXAMPLES: LLL POLICIES AND FORMAL EDUCATION

A LLL perspective of literacy acquisition, use and development

When and where do we learn to read and write? Where do we read and write? Where do we develop our reading and writing skills?

The answer is: FROM BIRTH and EVERYWHERE.
- When children reach school, they have valid knowledge about reading and writing, they have developed their own hypotheses about their use by seing others read or write and by seing reading and writing materials around them.
- The school system is not the only one in charge of teaching and developing literacy skills. Moreover, within the school system, literacy education is embedded in the entire curriculum, not just in one particular subject.

Finland is a fine example in this regard: the whole society places great importance on reading and enjoys reading. Reading is a national hobby. Reading and writing are given great emphasis in the school curriculum. Families use libraries over the weekend; libraries are spread everywhere. Newspaper subscription is one of the highest in the world.

Given that literacy is often the main reason for school repetition in early grades, a wider vision of literacy acquisition would allow to understand it not as an objective for the first or two first grades but at least for the whole of basic education.
(See: Rosa María Torres, El absurdo de la repetición escolar)

Literacy, and reading specifically, require LLL policies and strategies, prior to and far beyond the school system, not tied to any particular Ministry (typically, Education and/or Culture), making use of all available and potential resources, from the local to the national level.

A schooled society is not necessarily an educated society. An educated society is a learning society. Proficient reading and writing are essential to an educated and a learning society.  
(See: Rosa María Torres, Escolarizado no es lo mismo que educado).

A LLL perspective of teacher education 

Teachers’ school biography and family background are key elements in teacher quality. Teacher education does not start with professional education. Quality formal education requires quality teachers, but quality teachers are educated in quality schools. School reform is thus a requisite for quality teacher education.
(See: Rosa María Torres, Los maestros son exalumnos | Talleres de lectura para maestros)

A LLL perspective of skills development

PIAAC confirms that "actual skills often differ from what formal education qualifications suggest".
▸ "Italy or the United States rank much higher internationally in the share of adults with tertiary degrees than in the level of literacy or numeracy proficiency".

▸ "On average, Japanese and Ducth high school graduates easily outperform university graduates in some other countries".
▸ "In many countries, there are large proportions of the population that have no experience with, or lack the basic skills needed to use ICTs for many everyday tasks".  (PIAAC 2013)
Answers to the question: Where are skills developed, used and eventually lost? include formal, non-formal and informal learning, and especially the role of home, school and work.

A LLL perspective of school "dropout" 

School "dropout" is generally not a personal decision but rather a sign of system disfunction. It is not a sudden fact, but a process. A process that starts in the early grades of primary school and even before, in early childhood and pre-school education. The school system gives students and their families permanent signs that things are going fine or wrong. Problems are viewed as "learning problems", "learners' problems", "individual problems", rarely as "teaching problems" and "system problems". Policies and programmes often see their mission as "reducing school failure" rather than "ensuring school success". Failure becomes the expected outcome, much more than success, especially if students come from poor and disadvantaged contexts. Nothing is more successful than success. If children are trusted, if high expectations are deposited in them, they will succeed. From the start. This is the best way to "prevent failure" and "reduce dropout".
(See: Preventing Dropout Effort Starts in Kindergarten, MindShift, Dec. 1, 2010).

A LLL perspective of family cultural environment and inter-generational learning

All studies and evaluations of school learning achievement conclude on the critical role of out-of-school factors and especially of the family, not only its socio-economic but also its cultural status and background. Literate/educated mothers and fathers, and a culturally rich and stimulating family environment, make a big difference in children's learning and performance in school. And yet, disregarding all scientific and empirical evidence, adult education continues to be treated with ad-hoc remedial policies, often reduced to adult literacy. A LLL perspective would imply an inter-generational approach to children's and adults' learning, address the family as a whole - family literacy, family education, family cultural development.
(See: Rosa María Torres, Niños que trabajan y estudian: Centro del Muchacho Trabajador, Ecuador)

A LLL perspective of "human talent"

Increasingly, the notion of "human talent" gets to be associated with formal education and, specifically, with higher education, science and technology. However: a) every person has talent(s), b) human talent is developed since early childhood, c) there is no necessary correlation between talent and titles. A LLL perspective of human talent development takes all this into account, for investment and pedagogical purposes.


Transforming formal education from a LLL perspective: a major 21st century challenge

Given the importance of the school system as a systematic teaching and learning system for children, youth and adults, one that is spread throughout the world and that is critical to fulfilling the right to education, transforming formal education from a LLL perspective is essential to make LLL an effective new education and learning paradigm, to organize learning communities, and to build learning societies.

This implies an authentic revolution, not just introducing innovations, reforming or "improving the quality of education". It requires scientific knowledge but also people's wisdom and lots of common sense. Political will - top-down and bottom-up - is essential, but so are creativity and imagination!

Març Rabal

Related texts in this blog (English)
Rosa María Torres, On LifeLong Learning Sobre Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida (compilation)
Rosa María Torres, Sobre Lectura y EscrituraOn Reading and Writing  (compilation)
Rosa María Torres and Manzoor Ahmed, Reaching the Unreached: Non-Formal Approaches and Universal Primary Education (dossier)
Rosa María Torres, Lifelong Learning in the South: Critical issues and opportunities for adult education, Sida Studies No 2, Stockholm, 2004 (book, PDF) 

International Initiatives for Education ▸ Iniciativas internacionales para la educación

Rosa María Torres

Compilación de textos sobre iniciativas y actividades vinculadas a organismos internacionales publicados en este blog

Compilation of texts on initiatives and activities linked to international agencies published in this blog


International Co-operation ▸ Cooperación internacional
▸ Knowledge-based aid: Do we want it? Do we need it?

▸ About "good practice" in international co-operation in education


▸ El Banco Mundial y sus errores de política educativa
▸ The World Bank and its mistaken education policies


Avenidas promisorias y callejones sin salida

▸ Maldición de Malinche

Plans, Objectives and Goals for Education Reform ▸ Planes, Objetivos y Metas para la Reforma Educativa

1990-2030: Global education goals
1990-2030: Metas globales para la educación

Recipe for education reform
Receta para la reforma educativa

▸ América Latina: Seis décadas de metas para la educación (1957-2021)

▸ Latin America: Six decades of goals for education (1957-2021)

Adult Literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Plans and Goals 1980-2015
Alfabetización de adultos en América Latina y el Caribe: planes y metas 1980-2015

Education for All (EFA) ▸ Educación para Todos (EPT)

La década olvidada de la Educación para Todos (1990-2000)

Una década de Educación para Todos: La tarea pendiente (IIPE-UNESCO Buenos Aires, 2000)
One Decade of Education for All: The Challenge Ahead (IIPE-UNESCO Buenos Aires, 2000)

Basic Learning Needs: Different Frameworks

1990-2015: Education for All | Educación para Todos

25 años de Educación para Todos
25 Years of Education for All

Six 'Education for All' Goals
Seis metas de la 'Educación para Todos'

▸ La Educación para Todos se encogió

Educación para Todos: De Jomtien a Dakar (1990-2000)
Education for All: From Jomtien to Dakar (1990-2000)

▸ What happened at the World Education Forum (Dakar, 2000)?
▸ ¿Qué pasó en el Foro Mundial de Educación (Dakar, 2000)?
▸ Que s’est-il passé au Forum Mondial sur L’Éducation (Dakar, 2000)?

▸ Lifelong Learning: Moving Beyond Education for All (EFA)

Lifelong Learning for the North, Primary Education for the South?

▸ El Pronunciamiento Latinoamericano por una Educación para Todos

▸ Observatorio: Mitos y Metas de la Educación para Todos - blog
▸ Observatory: Myths and Goals on Education for All
- blog

▸ Military spending and education
▸ Gasto militar y educación

▸ 2005

Education for All 2000-2015: How did Latin America and the Caribbean do?

Millennium Development Goals (MDG) ▸ Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio (ODM)

What did the MDGs achieve?
¿Qué lograron los ODM?


▸ Educación para Todos y Objetivos del Milenio no son la misma cosa - entrevista con la Campaña Latinoamericana por el Derecho a la Educación (CLADE)

▸ Education First
▸ La Educación ante todo


Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) ▸ Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS)

Goal 4: Education - Sustainable Development Goals
Objetivo 4: Educación - Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible
SDG: Translation issues
ODS: Problemas de traducción

VI International Conference on Adult Education ▸ VI Conferencia Internacional sobre Educación de Adultos (CONFINTEA VI)

▸ From Literacy to Lifelong Learning
▸ De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida

▸ Youth and Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean

United Nations Literacy Decade ▸ Decenio de Naciones Unidas para la Alfabetización (2003-2012)

▸ Literacy for All: A Renewed Vision
▸ Alfabetización para Todos: Una Visión Renovada


▸ Letter to UNESCO on the Literacy Decade (2003-2012)
▸ Carta a la UNESCO sobre el Decenio de la Alfabetización (2003-2012)

Indice de Desarrollo Humano - PNUD

Indice de Desarrollo Humano: América Latina y el mundo
El Ecuador y el Indice de Desarrollo Humano

Banco InterAmericano de Desarrollo - BID

Satisfacción excesiva con la educación en América Latina

Foro Económico Mundial - FME

El Foro Económico Mundial y la calidad de la educación

World Innovation Summit for Education - WISE (Qatar Foundation)

WISE Prize for Education Summit: Bottom-up innovators
Los laureados con el premios WISE a la educación

▸ On Learning Anytime, Anywhere (conference at WISE 2011)

PISA - Programa para la Evaluación Internacional de Alumnos (OCDE)

Artículos sobre PISA
Articles on PISA

Laboratorio Latinoamericano de Evaluación de la Calidad de la Educación - LLECE (UNESCO)

América Latina y las pruebas del LLECE

Information Society ▸ Sociedad de la Información

Education in the Information Society
Educación en la Sociedad de la Información

Education as a Human Right ▸ La educación como derecho humano

▸ The 4 As as criteria to identify "good practices" in education
▸ Las 4A como criterios para identificar "buenas prácticas" en educación

Lifelong Learning (LLL) ▸ Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida (ALV)

▸ ¿Aprendizaje a lo Largo de la Vida para el Norte y Educación Primaria para el Sur?
▸ Lifelong Learning for the North, Primary Education for the South?

▸ Literacy and Lifelong Learning: The Linkages

▸ On Learning Anytime, Anywhere

▸ Rosa María Torres, Lifelong Learning in the South: Critical Issues and Opportunities for Adult Education, Sida Studies 11, Sida, Stockholm, 2004.

Youth & Adult Education and Lifelong Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean


Rosa María Torres
 

(published in LLinE - Lifelong Learning in Europe, Vol. XXVI, No. 4, 2011)
 
1. Introduction

This paper draws from various studies I have conducted on adult education and on lifelong learning in Latin America and other regions. Two such studies (written in English) serve here as main references: 

- Youth and AdultEducation and Learning in Latin America and the Caribbean: Trends, Issues and Challenges. Regional report prepared for the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI, Belém, Brazil, Dec. 2009), commissioned by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL).[1]
 
- LifelongLearning in the South: Critical Issues and Opportunities for Adult Education, Sida Studies 11, Stockholm, 2004. Global study commissioned by Sida.

Latin America and the Caribbean is a highly heterogeneous region, comprising two subregions (Latin America, the Caribbean) and 41 countries and territories with very different political, cultural, economic, social and educational realities. Some 600 languages are spoken; Spanish and Portuguese are the two most widespread official languages. Any regional generalization would be abusive, and space does not allow us to elaborate here more on each country. Also, the situation is very dynamic; trends may change considerably in a short period of time. In the current international context, and vis a vis the world and European crisis, Latin America appears strong and united, with economic and social indicators improving over the past few years.[2] On the other hand, Mexico and Chile, the two Latin American countries that are members of OECD, are facing major turmoils, their education systems being exposed and under heavy social scrutiny and criticism.

In most Latin American countries, the term used is Youth & Adult Education (henceforth YAE). The term “youth” was incorporated in the 1980s, acknowledging the increased presence of young people in adult education programmes as well as the need to address the specificity of youth in such programmes.

The information and analysis presented below refers basically to the 12-year period between CONFINTEA V (1997) and CONFINTEA VI (2009).

2. Reactivation of youth and adult education in the region in the past few years

Between the late 1980s and the late 1990s YAE practically disappeared in most countries, following World Bank recommendations to governments in “developing countries” in the sense of giving priority to primary education and to children as opposed to adults. (WB also rectified later its argument about the failure of adult literacy, which was ill-documented). The Education for All (henceforth EFA) world initiative coordinated by UNESCO (1900-2000-2015) has followed the same trend: out of the six EFA goals, Goal 2 referred to primary education has received the most attention while Goals 3 and 4 referred to youth and adult education have received the least attention, as acknowledged every year by EFA Global Monitoring Reports (henceforth EFA GMR). In fact, the 2009 EFA GMR, coinciding with the year of CONFINTEA VI, continued to ignore YAE, not considered of strategic importance to the achievement of EFA by 2015.

For various reasons, since the late 1990s there has been a visible reactivation of YAE in the region. CONFINTEA V contributed to enhance social mobilization and networking around YAE, both before and right after the Hamburg conference. Later on, we have witnessed the emergence of new supranational and international actors engaged in YAE, notably the Cuban government and its ‘Yo Sí Puedo’ (Yes, I Can) literacy programme, and the Organization of IberoAmerican States (OEI) which organized the Ibero-American Plan for Youth and Adult Literacy and Basic Education (PIA) 2007-2015.

Such reactivation is reflected among others in the following: 

Bialfa: Paraguay
Renewed emphasis on youth/adult literacy A new wave of ‘illiteracy eradication’ has taken over the region. Many countries resumed national literacy programmes or campaigns, even some countries with very low illiteracy rates (lower than 3%) such as Argentina and Uruguay. The exception is Cuba, declared ‘territory free of illiteracy’ almost half a century ago (1961), as well as several countries in the English-speaking Caribbean where governmental focus on literacy is on the formal system. There are also sub-national and local programmes run by local governments, religious groups, NGOs, social organizations and movements, and teacher unions.

Clearer institutionalization of YAE There are advances in legislation and policy in most countries. There is increased recognition of the right to (free) education as well as to linguistic and cultural diversity and to inter-culturality as a comprehensive approach to education.  In Cuba and Mexico for a long time, and more recently in countries such as Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia or Paraguay, YAE becomes more institutionalized, pointing towards the building of a system or subsystem, rather than the usual and discontinued ad-hoc interventions.

New actors and partnerships In most countries, there are government partnerships with NGOs, universities, religious groups and the private sector. In a few countries, partnerships have included teacher unions and strong social movements (e.g. in Argentina and Brazil). There are also several international actors engaged in YAE in the region. As indicated, the most active in recent times are the Spanish government/OEI and the Cuban government/IPLAC. Others include the Convenio Andrés Bello (Andrés Bello Agreement -CAB), an international inter-governmental organization focused on supranational integration (12 countries), based in Bogota and linked to OEI; and the Organization of American States (OAS), based in Washington, which coordinates the Summits of the Americas.

More and better information and knowledge on YAE  There is considerable growth in research and documentation at national, subregional and regional level in recent years.  Of course, there are also major differences between countries in terms of quantity, quality, topics and approaches related to research. Big countries such as Brazil and Mexico and also Chile report many surveys and studies.

Advances in evaluation Evaluation has become a central piece of school systems and reforms in the region since the 1990s, but its incorporation is rather recent in YAE. In Brazil, a Functional Literacy Indicator (INAF), based on actual evaluation of reading, writing and numeracy skills of the adult population (15-64 years of age), has been developed annually since 2001 by two private institutions. In Mexico, the National Institute for Adult Education (INEA) has its own evaluation system. In Chile, evaluation of student outcomes is under a National System for the Evaluation of Learning and Certification of Studies, which includes YAE. Both Mexico and Chile have adopted results-based schemes for paying the institutions and/or teaching staff hired for YAE programmes.

Aiquile, Bolivia. Photo: Rosa María Torres
Linkages between education/training and work as a field of research, policy and action  The linkages between education, the economy and work have become a field of concern, policy and action, within the overall concern with poverty, unemployment and social exclusion. Social Economy gains increased attention as an alternative economic model that generates also alternative approaches to education and training linked to production, commercialization, barter and other income-generation activities by families, cooperatives, and organized communities.

Increased attention to ‘special groups’ Visible attention has been given in recent years to the disabled, migrants and prison inmates. The use of traditional and modern technologies has facilitated this task, especially with the disabled and with the migrant population. Prison education has been enhanced since 2006 in the framework of the EUROsociAL programme of the European Commission. Initiatives aimed at the blind, the visually challenged and hearing impaired have been developed in recent years in many countries.

New technologies reaching the field   Radio has been a powerful ally of YAE for several decades and continues to be in many countries, especially in some of the poorest ones such as Haiti, Bolivia, and Paraguay. In the past few years, audiovisual media have become widespread mainly through the Cuba-assisted Yo Sí Puedo literacy and post-literacy programme operating in several countries since 2003. Computers and the Internet are also reaching YAE, particularly for the younger population. Tele-centers or info-centers (different from cybercafes, privately owned and for-profit) are part of basic education programmes in several countries. In remote rural areas, energy plants or solar panels are being installed. In many places today it is easier to find a cybercafe or a tele-center than a library, a computer than a book.

3. Some old and new weaknesses and limitations. Challenges for the future

The ‘Agenda for the Future’ approved at CONFINTEA V, its wide vision and ambitious proposals for adult learning, is not the one that has been implemented in this region since 1997. Neither is the 2000-2010 YAE Regional Framework for Action prepared as a follow up to CONFINTEA V. Advances coexist with old and new limitations related to governmental and non-governmental action as well as to international agencies intervening in the field.

Sectoral approaches and interventions Despite advances in cross-sectoral policies and collaboration with other government actors, YAE continues to be perceived as pertaining to the ‘education sector’, unconnected with major economic, political and social issues. YAE is in fact a transversal issue, but invisible unless it falls directly under an education authority and refers somewhere explicitly to the term ‘adult’.

Dominican Rep: Haitian Batey. Photo: Rosa María Torres
Continued low status of YAE The traditional low status of YAE is related to: (a) age (vis a vis children), and (b) socio-economic status. Estimations of costs of programmes and plans rarely consider infrastructure, equipment or even remunerated work. In many cases, YAE continues to be considered a ‘special regime’ together with other areas that challenge conventional classifications, such as bilingual intercultural education, special education, and multigrade schools.

Activism and discontinuity of efforts Activism has been a characteristic of YAE, often related to one-shot and isolated activities lacking continuity, monitoring, systematization, evaluation and feedback. Countries engage from time to time and over and over again in ‘illiteracy eradication’ or ‘illiteracy reduction’ initiatives. So far, policies have been unable to deal with literacy/basic education in a sustained and integral manner, linking school and out-of-school, children’s and adults’ education as part of one single strategy towards education for all.

Big distances between policies and implementation The right to free, quality education continues to be denied to a large portion of the population. National reports prepared for CONFINTEA VI say little about actual implementation. One key conclusion I drew from the field study on literacy and written culture by out-of-school youth and adults in nine countries of the region is that “policies in this field have become autonomous, with little or no contact with actual practice on the ground.”

Bogotá, Colombia. Photo: Rosa María Torres
High political, financial and administrative vulnerability of YAE YAE continues to be highly vulnerable to national/local political and administrative changes as well as of changes in international priorities. This implies a permanent threat to the continuity of policies and programmes, and to the building of national capacities and accumulated practical experience. A key component of such vulnerability are the meager financial resources available for education in general and for YAE in particular. Few national reports and studies provide concrete information on YAE funding and costs. This is marked in the case of the private sector. In many countries YAE budget represents less than 1% of educational spending. Brazil calculates that, budgetwise, an adult learner counts as 0.7% of a primary school child (Brazil CONFINTEA VI report).

Funding comes from various sources: government, churches, the private sector, social movements, and international agencies. There is scarce information on the financial contribution of bilateral and multilateral agencies to YAE, its uses and impact. In most countries, government plays the major role, especially in basic education levels. 

Government programmes generally do not charge fees and many of them provide access to free equipment and materials. Also, various countries have been adopting compensation policies or plans tied to studying.

Rise of for-profit spirit and market mechanisms There is an important decline in volunteerism, social mobilization and political commitment traditionally linked to YAE. In many countries, NGOs are hired and paid by governments to implement programmes. On the other hand, the trend towards accreditation and certification (completion of primary/basic/secondary education) has attracted the for-profit private sector, introducing fees and other market mechanisms into the field.

Low attention to professionalization of adult educators The low status, poor training and bad working conditions of adult educators continue is an old vicious circle in YAE. Training is generally poor and short, and its deficits are even more visible in the case of indigenous educators prepared for intercultural bilingual education programmes. Availability of audiovisual and digital technologies are contributing to further reduce the importance of professionalization and of initial and in-service training,

Requisites for adult educators have been “upgraded” in some countries, including a professional teaching title or completion of secondary education rather than primary education only; such requisites tend to loosen in rural areas and in literacy programmes, which continue to operate in most cases with community volunteers. The question that remains concerns the desired profile and education/training of adult educators, and whether possessing a teacher certificate ensures good teaching.

Weak dissemination, use and impact of research and evaluation results Research, documentation and evaluation efforts lack sufficient and opportune dissemination. We found differentiated circuits, one closer to academic circles and another one closer to bureacucratic and government structures. Overall, there is little evidence that research results are informing and influencing policy-making, training or teaching practice. They have not contributed to modify long-entrenched ‘common sense’ in the field, including negative perceptions and terminologies linked to illiteracy (e.g. ‘scourge’, ‘plague’, ‘darkness’, ‘blindness’, ‘shackle’, ‘eradication’, etc.), the association between illiteracy and ignorance, between number of years of schooling and ‘functional literacy’, and between adult education, non-formal and remedial education. Also, most diagnoses and recommendations are based on literature reviews, with little connection to realities and little or no empirical research.

Age discrimination within YAE There is a consistent trend towards (a) giving priority to the younger segments of the adult population, establishing age limits (40, 35, in some cases less), and (b) segmenting educational opportunities by age: literacy offered to older generations and other programmes offered to youth. Cuba is the only country that has the elderly as a priority group in terms of educational and cultural attention by government. Uruguay – known for its high percentage of third age population - is also expanding the age of learners within YAE.

Perú - ARE. Photo: PYSN
Continued neglect of indigenous peoples The YAE Regional Framework for Action (2000-2010) identified four priority groups: indigenous, peasants, youth and women. Youth and women have in act been prioritized; indigenous and afro descendant groups have not. Racism is alive despite advances in national and international legislation, including the approval in 2007 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Brazil’s national illiteracy rate (2008) was 7,1%, and among  indigenous peoples 18% and among black people 16% (Brazil CONFINTEA VI report). In Mexico, the national illiteracy rate was 8.4%. and the illiteracy rate among indigenous groups was 36.1% (Mexico CONFINTEA VI report). Also, Intercultural Bilingual Education (IBE) continues to focus in rural areas. However, indigenous populations are also settled in urban areas, especially in large Latin American cities, following strong rural-urban migration patterns.

Continued neglect of rural areas Formal and non-formal education continue to concentrate in urban and the periphery of urban areas, thus maintaining and even deepening the urban-rural educational gap. Probabilities that youth and adults in rural areas get no or incipient education are twice as big as in urban areas, and in some countries three times bigger (SITEAL). Peru has the highest urban-rural school gap. Peru’s CONFINTEA VI report acknowledged that practically all educational institutions doing adult education are located in cities. In Brazil, illiterates in urban areas are 9.7 million against 4.7 million in rural areas; however, in percentile terms rural areas have almost three times more illiterates – 26.3% against 8.7% in urban areas.

Low coverage of programmes YAE programmes are very limited for actual needs. Despite being a prioritized age group, by 2007 less than 10% of 20-29 year olds who had not completed secondary education attended some educational programme. In large countries such as Brazil and Mexico, all efforts seem small and advances slow. According to Brazil’s CONFINTEA VI report, only 10% of the demand was served in 2008. Chile calculated that it would take 20 years to reach the 4 million people who have not completed basic education (Chile CONFINTEA VI report).

Quality and learning remain distant issues Quantitative indicators (enrolment and retention, number of groups organized, materials or equipments distributed, etc.) predominate as indicators of achievement and success. A minimum number of participants is often established as a requisite to start a programme or a center, thus leading often to cheating (e.g. manipulating the statistics, completing the list with family members, friends or persons who are not part of the target population, etc.).  In literacy programmes, goals continue to be set in terms of ‘eradicating’ or ‘reducing’ illiteracy rates, rather than in terms of learning and effective use of reading and writing. Only in very few cases have adult literacy programmes and campaigns been thoroughly evaluated. One such examples is Ecuador’s National Literacy Campaign ‘Monsignor Leonidas Proaño’ (1988-1990).

Continued weaknesses of technical and vocational education/training programmes There is skepticism in relation to the effectiveness of these programmes; several international organizations have commissioned studies and impact evaluations of the programmes they support. The “solution” of keeping or ‘re-inserting’ adolescents and youth in schools (often against their will) - the same unchanged schools that expelled them in the first place – is also debatable. An IIEP study of 52 programmes in 14 Latin American countries concluded that education/training programmes intended to prepare young people for work (a) take a simplistic view of youth inclusion in the labor market, (b) reach only a small portion of the potential population, (c) adopt a narrow approach focused on specific training, and (d) do not take sufficiently into account the importance of formal education, the competitiveness of the labor market and the scarcity of decent jobs.

“Best practices” selected without clear criteria Many practices selected as ‘good’ or ‘best’ practices in education and in YAE in particular are outdated, are based on documents, experts’ opinions or self-evaluation by their own actors, and lack evidence of their implementation, results and actual perceptions by participating learners. Few of them would pass the test of the four As - availability, accessibility, adaptability and acceptability. On the other hand, many relevant experiences remain unsystematized and unknown because of chronic lack of time and of resources in the field, their commitment to action and their many urgencies. Also, it is important to remember that ‘innovative’ does not necessarily mean ‘effective’, or generalizable. Innovations are specific, generally local and small-scale, and cannot be easily replicated or expanded on a massive scale.

Major coordination problems among national and international actors
Decentralization processes and diversification of educational provision have increased coordination and articulation problems amongst the diverse national actors: government across sectors and at the various levels, governmental and non-governmental bodies, profit and non-profit private sector, NGOs, universities, churches, etc. The same is true for the various international actors working in YAE, and in the literacy field in particular. Each of them has its own plans, objectives, goals, timeframes, diagnoses, approaches, methodologies, reporting and financing mechanisms. See table below for the case of literacy.

Table 1
Regional and international adult literacy goals (1980-2015)
MPE
Major Project for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean
EFA I-Jomtien
Education for All

EFA II–Dakar
Education for All

UNLD
United Nations Literacy Decade

PIA
Ibero-American Plan for Youth and Adult Literacy and Basic Education
1980-2000
1990-2000
2000-2015
2003-2012
2007-2015
UNESCO-OREALC
UNESCO-UNICEF-UNDP-World Bank
UNESCO
OEI
Eradicate
illiteracy by 2000
Reduce
illiteracy by half by 2000
Reduce
illiteracy by half by 2015
Reduce
illiteracy by half by 2012
Eradicate  illiteracy by 2015
Elaborated by R.M. Torres

4. Lifelong Learning (LLL) in Latin America and the Caribbean

The paradigm shift proposed worldwide – from education to learning, and from adult education to adult learning – has not been appropriated in this region. Although CONFINTEA V had strong regional resonance, the term learning was never introduced in its follow up. Youth and Adult Education (YAE) was the term used in the Regional Framework for Action following CONFINTEA V.

The Lifelong Learning (LLL) concept - emerged in the North closely related to economic growth, competitiveness and employability - is understood and utilized in most diverse ways worldwide. Generally: (a) LLL continues to be used interchangeably with Lifelong Education, without differentiating education and learning [3]; and (b) LLL is associated to adults rather than to the entire lifespan - ‘from the cradle to the grave’.

All this is reflected in Latin America and the Caribbean. LLL is mentioned in many legal and policy/programme documents, with the same biases and inconsistencies that are found internationally. LLL appears often as a separate line of action or goal rather than as embracing category. In Jamaica’s Ministry of Education’s structure, for example, LLL was added as a sixth section, next to the other five sections on early childhood, primary, secondary, tertiary and special education.

From the documents and websites reviewed, the LLL terminology appears to be more widespread - and more embedded in recent policies and plans - in the English-speaking Caribbean countries than in Latin American ones. In the Caribbean, LLL seems to follow the frameworks adopted in Europe. In Jamaica, for example, the LLL policy devised in 2005 was decided by the Human Employment and Resource Training-HEART Trust /National Training Agency-NTA, the institutions that coordinate workforce development in Jamaica.

Even new initiatives such as the Metas Educativas 2021 (2021 Education Goals) coordinated by OEI do not refer to Lifelong Learning but to Lifelong Education, and is considered a separate goal rather than a goal including all others.

Table 2
OEI: Metas Educativas 2021 (2021 Education Goals) 2012-2021

1. Participation of society in educational action.
2. Achieve educational equality and overcome discrimination.
3. Increase supply for early childhood education.
4. Universalize primary education and lower secondary education, and expand access to upper secondary education.
5. Improve the quality of education and of the school curriculum.
6. Facilitate the connection between education and employment through technical-professional education.
7. Offer every person lifelong education opportunities.
8. Strengthen the teaching profession.
9. Expand the Ibero-American Knowledge space and strengthen scientific research.
10. Invest more and better.
11. Evaluate the functioning of education systems and the 2021 Education Goals project.

Source: http://www.oei.es/metas2021/libro.htm Translation from Spanish: Rosa María Torres

5. A few conclusions


Given the big gap between rhetoric/policies/laws and practice, the inclusion of YAE in recent policies, reforms and legislative frameworks on paper should not lead to assumptions about effective implementation.
Quantitative gains – small as they are - are usually shadowed by quality and equity problems.
Priority given to youth has ended up marginalizing adults and the elderly, just as priority given to women ended up marginalizing men in several countries and programmes.
The acknowledgement of the importance of literacy has traditionally placed it at the heart of YA efforts, and is currently being overemphasized in many countries with too many programmes running in parallel and poor targeting of efforts.
▸ Literacy achievements are rarely sustained and complemented with policies and strategies aimed at making reading and writing accessible to the population, paying attention to their specific needs, languages and cultures.
Many vocational and technical training programmes continue to ignore the complex issues involved in the transition between education and work (not only employment), and of the world of work these days.
The important impulse towards completion of primary/secondary education and accreditation of studies needs to be accompanied by the necessary efforts to ensure effective, meaningful and useful learning.
Many hands involved often do not generate genuine ‘partnerships’ but rather enhanced lack of coordination, competitiveness, duplication of efforts and misuse of resources.
Experience indicates that decentralization and outsourcing not necessarily bring with them the advantages promised.
Expansion of ICTs for YAE purposes is counterbalanced with improvisation, poor use of such technologies, poor criteria to decide on the best one or the best combination to use in each specific case, and – most importantly - neglect of the essential interpersonal pedagogical relationship.
Cost-efficiency applied to YAE is often understood as ‘cheaper and quicker’, thus leading to an amplified vicious circle of low quality and poor results.

6. Challenges for the future

A common language The terminological labyrinth is an old concern in the field of education and especially of YAE worldwide. Glossaries have been proposed and produced over the past few decades, but the terminological/conceptual confusion persists and becomes more acute as new terms emerge. Once again during the CONFINTEA VI process, and specifically in the case of Latin America and the Caribbean, it was agreed that a common language is essential if we want to communicate better and also give more scientific consistency to the field.

Lack of evidence and lack of financial resources: two myths to be revisited Two myths must be revisited with regard to YAE and education in general: that in order to receive more attention what is needed is (a) more evidence and (b) more financial resources. In fact, there is plenty of research evidence, for several decades now, on the multiple benefits of investing in YAE, for learners themselves, for their families and communities, and for citizenship-building and national democracy. Abundant research shows that YAE has positive effects on the self-esteem and life opportunities of men and women as well as on their children’s wellbeing (child mortality, child birth, rearing practices, access to school, learning outcomes, etc.). It is clear that lack of attention to YAE is not related to insufficient data, evidence or conceptual clarity, as argued in the 2009 EFA Global Monitoring Report.[4] There is more than enough knowledge available on YAE – theoretical and empirical, regional and international - to indicate what needs to be done and to do it well. The main shortcoming concerns action, not information and knowledge.

On the other hand, the financial deficit is only a manifestation of a political deficit, namely the lack of political will to make education a priority and to invest in the poor on the basis of quality and equity. Addressing the political deficit is the real priority. Also, as evaluations in the field of school education reiterate, there is no direct and necessary connection between more financial resources and better education. What is needed is not only more – usually highlighted - but better use of available resources, precisely because they are scarce. Parameters of what is ‘good spending’ and ‘good international co-operation’ in YAE must be established.

Internationally, in 2005 the Global Campaign for Education proposed “at least 3% of the education budget” allocated to adult literacy in order to attain the EFA goal of reducing illiteracy by half by 2015. Regionally, the Final Document of the Mexico CONFINTEA VI Regional Conference (Sep. 2008) requested 3% for YAE in general, not only for literacy. Many countries have set financial benchmarks for the education sector in their constitutions, laws and/or policies. Most of them aim at reaching, over several years, 6% of the GNP allocated to education. It is thus clear that the fight for higher financial resources devoted to YAE must be associated with the fight for more and sustained financial resources and attention dedicated to education as a whole.

Time for action and for investing in people Lots of money is spent in research that has little relevance and impact on actual decision-making, on costly events and publications that reach only a few, on reiterated diagnoses that repeat the same problems and the same information. It is time to revise the allocation of scarce financial resources at all levels, from governments and international agencies to organizations of civil societies. It is time for action, for making sure that policies and laws are effectively implemented, that what is already known is translated into practice. It is time for investing in the people, in the capacities and qualities of those engaged in YAE at all levels, not only facilitators on the ground, but also those in planning, organizing and managing positions.

Holistic approach Whatever the advances or inertias, they cannot be attributed solely to education in general and to YAE in particular, but also and primarily to the political, social and economic contexts in which education operates. YAE deals with the most disadvantageous situations and with the most vulnerable segments of society, those most affected by poverty, exclusion, and subordination in many aspects: political, economic, social, cultural, linguistic. How much more or better could be done under the concrete circumstances in each case, remains an open question with at least one clear answer: unless there are important economic and social changes in the overall conditions of the population served by YAE, YAE will not be able to fulfill its mission. It is time to rethink the equation: education by itself cannot fight poverty and exclusion, unless specific and intended economic and social policies – not just compensatory programmes – are in place to deal with them in a radical manner. YAE is not an independent variable.

Recuperate the transformative role of education and of YAE specifically The role of education is not to ensure enrolment, retention, completion and accreditation. The ultimate mission is to enhance personal and social change, to ensure relevant learning, awareness raising, critical and creative thinking, informed and committed action, citinzenship building. YAE’s historical critical and transformative nature has been lost and must be recuperated, challenging conformity and mere social adaptation promoted by current times and ideologies dominating the world. Learners must be educated as citizens, not only as people in need of certain basic skills, but in need of knowing their rights and duties so as to be better able to fight for them.

From literacy to lifelong learning  “From literacy to lifelong learning” was the title chosen for the CONFINTEA VI regional preparatory conference held in Mexico (Sep. 2008). In other words, the challenge to move from usual narrow understandings of adult education as equivalent to adult literacy, from adult education to adult learning and to lifelong learning, anywhere and anytime: in the family, in the community, at work, through the media, through art, social participation and through the active exercise of citizenship. The right to education today is no longer the right to basic literacy, to access school or to complete a number of years of schooling, but the right to learn and to learn throughout life, from early childhood to late adulthood.



[1] This regional report analyzed a large volume of documents, including: national reports submitted to UIL by Ministries of Education/Adult Education Departments based on the questionnaire circulated by UIL; documentation produced in the framework of the Ibero-American Plan for Youth and Adult Literacy and Basic Education (2006-2015) promoted by the Spanish cooperation for Ibero-American countries (it excludes French- and English-speaking countries in the region); national studies on the state of the art of Youth and Adult Education produced in 2007 in the framework of a CREFAL-CEAAL regional study on the subject (available in Spanish, and in Portuguese for the case of Brazil); cross-national field study on “Literacy and access to the written culture by youth and adults excluded from the school system in Latin America and the Caribbean”, conducted in 2006-2008 together with CREFAL in nine Latin American and Caribbean countries; and international and regional documentation produced for CONFINTEA V (Hamburg 1997) and its regional follow-up.

[2] About the current situation of the region, see: ECLAC’s Social Panorama of Latin America 2011 “Poverty and Indigence Levels Are the Lowest in 20 Years in Latin America”
“Good tidings from the south: Less poor, and less unequal”, The Economist, 3 Dec. 2011.

[3] Lifelong Learning in Spanish is Aprendizaje a lo largo de toda la vida. Most translators continue to use education and learning in an undifferentiated manner. The Delors Report entitled “Learning, the Treasure within” was translated into Spanish as “La educación encierra un tesoro”. The1st World Forum on LifelongLearning (Paris, October 2008) was translated as Foro Mundial para la Educación y la Formación a lo largo de la vida and into French as Forum Mondial pour l'Education et la Formation Tout au Long de la Vie.

[4] Also, “the fact that no clear quantitative targets were established at Dakar, apart from the main literacy target, may have contributed to a lack of urgency. In addition, the language of the commitment is ambiguous. Some read goal 3 as calling for universal access to learning and life-skills programmes, but others, including the drafters of the Dakar Framework, understand no such intent.” (EFA GMR 2009, 2008: 91).

Related texts in this blog:
» Rosa María Torres, Adult Literacy in Latin America and the Caribbean: Plans and Goals 1980-2015
» Rosa María Torres, From Literacy to Lifelong Learning ▸ De la alfabetización al aprendizaje a lo largo de la vida
» Rosa María Torres, Literacy and Lifelong Learning: The Linkages
» Rosa María Torres, Lifelong Learning: moving beyond Education for All
» Letter to UNESCO on the Literacy Decade (2003-2012)

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