The Lifelong Learning Platform is an umbrella that gathers 44 European organizations active in the field of education, training and youth, coming from all over Europe and beyond. Currently these networks represent more than 50 000 educational institutions and associations covering all sectors of formal, non-formal and informal learning. Their members reach out to several millions of beneficiaries.
What’s the Lifelong Learning Platform all about?
The Platform aims to voice citizens’ concerns about lifelong learning. The idea is that no one should be left out and that bridges are built across sectors to increase access to quality education for all. The Platform promotes a holistic vision of lifelong learning, “from cradle to grave”. Today the pattern school-work-retirement is no longer the norm, so it is important to make sure we help people in their life transitions. Learning is not limited to formal education: it also integrates non-formal and informal learning.
This vision is meant to ensure equity and social cohesion as well as active citizenship. The Lifelong Learning Platform believes that the objectives of education and training should not only be described in terms of employability or economic growth but also as a framework for personal development.
By bringing together actors from all sectors of education and training, the Lifelong Learning Platform creates a space to exchange innovative practices, Europe-wide. By doing so, it contributes to an increased flexibility between systems, and proposes concrete solutions to make lifelong learning a reality for all.
The Platform also strives to set up a strengthened dialogue between civil society organisations and public authorities in order to modernise our educational systems as well as to support public sector innovation.