It is significant that currently only 4.3% of adults with low formal education in the EU participate in lifelong learning. The need to create, promote and support a learning society is currently being hampered by problems such as how to bridge the gap between informal, non-formal and formal learning, how to support and activate hard to reach and underserved learner groups and how to apply technology to social innovations. As the recent response paper from the Lifelong Learning Platform to the EU's Future of Learning (2018) states: “we urge Member States to broaden[their] scope to the non-formal and informal learning as providers in this area, particularly civil society organisations, are in a strategic position for reaching out to the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in society.” Objectives ----------------- Everyone belongs to Local Recognition Networks (LRNs) of some sort, which may be a professional, civic or social network, informal or formal (club, association, business, trade union, etc.). Whether for leisure or work pursuits, these LRNs are places where individuals develop a wide range of skills, knowledge, attitudes and values that could be activated beyond those places. But to do so, they would need to be recognised beyond the limits of LRNs. The objectives of REVEAL (Recognition of Experience Validation of Experience, Achievements and Learning) is twofold: * providing support to existing informal and formal networks to become active Learning Recognition Networks, i.e. recognising the learning that takes place within in a way that makes it visible beyond * exploring the potential of loosely coupling (informal) 'recognition' and (formal) 'validation' as a means to remove current barriers to recognition REVEAL builds on existing and emerging practices with the support of technologies, Open Badges, open data and their application to social innovation to remove barriers to recognition, encouraging new learning and career pathways based on real life experience with a focus on adults with low levels of formal education in, or expected to be, in precarious job situations, e.g. early school leavers, long term unemployed, women back to work, migrants. Outcomes ----------------- The project flows from analysis, co-design iterative development and testing to guidelines for action: * IO1 - LRN Modelling: identification and recognition of existing Local Recognition Networks (LRN) to formalise their practices. The modelling LRNs practices will be used to initially inform IO2 and IO3. * IO2 - iREVEAL: activating and supporting Learning Recognition Networks with “agile” development of an "Open Access" Open Badge environment supporting the practices identified in IO1. Co-designed during IO3, this IO is primarily focused on technologies (supporting practices). * IO3 - REVEAL Piloting: activation of a number of LRNs contributing to the co-design of IO2: specification, testing, feedback. This IO is primarily focused on practices (supported by technologies. * IO4 - REVEAL Exploitation Pack. A range of resources supporting the emergence and operation of LRNs. * IO5 - REVEAL White Paper. The lessons learned in the course of the project to encourage institutions of further and higher education, public authorities and employers to open their policies to informal recognition practices. Expected impact ---------------------------- The impact will be twofold: * Individual: the project will have a direct impact on people’s lives by offering them a chance to have the skills, knowledge, attitudes and values acquired and activated within those LRNs to be recognised within and beyond those LRNs. This will offer them chances and options to develop economically and socially sustainable life courses even in times of change and interruption or false starts. * Community: individual and community recognition work hand in hand: the recognition of the community (LRN) as a whole will have a positive impact on the recognition of its members and, conversely, the recognition of individuals beyond the borders of their community will have a positive impact on the recognition of the community as a whole therefore empowering further its individual members. Long term benefits -------------------------------- Creating and sustaining an open and learning society where the qualities and contributions of its members is recognised and valued will have a positive impact on social cohesion and economic well-being of all its members. Participants ---------------------- 1. Espace Mendès France (France) 2. Open Recognition Netherlands (the Netherlands) 3. AKMI (Greece) 4. Novo Mesto (Slovenia) 5. Cognizone (Belgium) 6. PRISM (Italy)
The aim of REVEAL was to create the conditions for improving access to lifelong learning (and recognition!) for members of disadvantaged groups. The assumption underpinning REVEAL is to see recognition not as something that happens at the end of a (learning) sequence, a kind of rear-view mirror that reminds us of where we've come from, but as a look, a projection into the future, seeing recognition as the fuel for the development of competence. To paraphrase Axel Honneth, who says that "recognition precedes knowledge", REVEAL asserts that "recognition precedes competence". In other words, it is not only because people are not competent that they are not recognised but, more likely, because they are not recognised that their skills and potential for development are ignored. To achieve this goal, REVEAL's objectives are twofold :) * To support existing informal and formal networks so that they become local recognition networks. * To explore the potential of a loose coupling between 'recognition' (informal) and 'validation' (formal).
Significantly, only 4.3% of adults in the EU with low levels of formal education currently participate in lifelong learning (source: The Lifelong Learning Platform 2018). The Lifelong Learning Platform's response to the EU Report on the Future of Education and Training (2018) states, "we urge Member States to broaden [their] scope to non-formal and informal learning, as providers in this area, particularly civil society organisations, are strategically positioned to reach the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in society." The emergence of a genuine and inclusive "learning society" is still currently hampered by a number of systemic barriers: * Lack of awareness of the benefits of lifelong learning. * Lack of resources - people, funding, initiatives * Lack of accessibility - costs, time, technology, key skills * Lack of perception of the value/relevance of lifelong learning * Lack of continuity between informal, non-formal and formal learning and recognition.