New Skills and Competence Building

1. New Skills and Competence Building Summary of Presentations and Discussions of the Seminar "Towards the Learning Society", Lisbon, 28/30 May 2000 Convenor: ROBERTO CARNEIRO

2. Key Research Issues • Is a sustainable learning society demanding a higher order set of skills and competencies? • Are the educational institutions adequately responding to the challenges of producing these skills and competencies? • Can the learning society develop a more learning inclusive paradigm than its industrial predecessor? • How can Europe make the most of work related and organisational learning?

3. Is a sustainable learning society demanding a higher order set of skills and competencies? • Minimum learning platform • how to define one? • how to implement it? policies? what works? • For the school-age population • For the adult population • Better balance between knowledge acquisition sources- workplace and traditional learning loci • Which is the necessary mix of economically driven skills (firm specific or generic) and citizenship skills? what is the role of public policy and finance in providing for one or the other

4. Are the educational institutions adequately responding to the challenges of producing these skills and competencies? • Are the education institutions themselves learning organisations? • Do institutions generate the contexts capable of nurturing active learning strategies and of generating life-long learners? Teachers´ changing roles? • How best to combine cross-national measurements and assessments with the national frameworks of educational aims and goals? • Can e-learning catalyse a paradigm shift in educational organisations? And could e-learning help to achieve the higher order skills and competencies required by the learning society?

5. Can the learning society develop a more learning inclusive paradigm than its industrial predecessor? • Drastically reduce the outflow of low skilled falling through the education system • Empowering the at-risk adult population to become motivated and successful learners • Better understanding of existing policies and of the key levers to effectively address the at-risk groups • Carry out comparative surveys on the role and ways to mobilise social partners • Establish a clearer understanding on values, beliefs and culture underlying education and training policies

6. How can Europe make the most of work related and organisational learning? • Complementing narrow based corporate-driven skills with a broader conceptual knowledge base accessed through broad basic education and balanced life-long learning opportunities • Finding ways to measure and certify non-formally acquired skills and competencies • Advancing to a European skills system encouraging working and learning mobility • Improving the understanding on how innovation processes influence work related learning and organisational learning • Summoning the employers associations to play a decisive role in overcoming excessively proprietary knowledge and achieving scale, particularly for SMEs training needs