For a long time, education was thought of as a timeline with a beginning, middle and end. However, today we see that professional and personal development is an ongoing process. According to IBM 's report The Enterprise Guide to Closing the Skills Gap , the average lifespan of the skills taught is decreasing faster and faster - and we need to find new ways to continue learning to be relevant to the market.
Thinking this way, the traditional way of viewing education no longer makes sense, right? This is what the concept of Lifelong Learning suggests, in which scholars in the field see the need to return to school to face new situations, both in private and professional life.
The theme - portrayed in the book Onlearning: how disruptive education reinvents learning - is one of the foundations of the creation of Onlearning ( a concept that we have already explained here ) by the israel whatsapp data creator of LIT and CEO of Saint Paul Business School, Prof. Dr. José Cláudio Securato . In the book, he explains that, in the 1970s, large institutions turned their attention to Lifelong Learning.
The concepts that explain lifelong learning
The UNESCO proposal , for example, states that the teaching-learning process should not be interrupted after the completion of what would currently be equivalent to secondary, technological or higher education.
From a practical point of view, all the concepts that emerged at that time had the following characteristics:
> The need to think about education and learning beyond childhood and adolescence;
> The learning experience, containing two complementary objectives: vocational (with the aim of increasing technical qualifications) and social (in order to seek the development of citizenship and the emancipation of each individual);
> The existence and need to think about education outside of school, in formal and informal environments.
How important is lifelong learning?
According to Securato, the concept of lifelong education is one of the keys to accessing the 21st century. It overcomes the traditional distinction between initial and continuing education, and responds to the challenge triggered by a rapidly changing world.
Furthermore, it opens doors to a more democratic education, offering a second or third opportunity, responding to the thirst for knowledge and allowing self-improvement. It also improves and expands practical training, required in professional life.
An example of the importance of this concept comes from the time before its conception: the post-war decades, especially in the late 1960s, when schools and universities were dealing with the difficulty of welcoming back student soldiers with an educational gap due to military service - with experiences, ages and family conditions different from the others.
Lifelong learning today
UNESCO considers lifelong learning so vital to humanity that it has created the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning . Focused on adult education with continuing education, literacy and non-formal basic education, it pays special attention to disadvantaged groups in countries most affected by poverty and conflict.