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Lifelong learning for all: Connecting school with the rest of life (6b)

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1. It is vital to learn how to learn in the digital space which is part of our life

2. Lifelong learning (LLL): a new culture of learning

3. The most important lifelong learning (LLL) skills

4. The LLL skills are natural

5. The LLL skills can be lost… or cultivated

6a. Cultivating the LLL skills connecting school with the rest of life – Be a gardener, not a carpenter

6b. Cultivating the LLL skills connecting school with the rest of life

 

Be an example of “lifelong learner”

 

Children are programmed to learn through imitation. They do not imitate blindly: they see our shortcomings and learn from our mistakes. This means that we do not need to do things right, just live at their side and let them observe us.[27] Ideally, therefore, encouraging “lifelong learners” should be through the prime example of parents. Unfortunately, many experienced such significant frustration with formal education as children that they have a tendency to avoid activities related to learning in adult life. When they have children of their own, they often communicate their negative attitudes and thus perpetuate an intergenerational cycle of poor literacy. However, we are all lifelong learner, whether we know it or not. For example when preparing a new recipe or an excursion. Some are more aware of it than others.

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We live educating and every day provides us with many educational opportunities; to understand this is the greatest favor we can do to our children. In addition, parents need more and more for themselves to be lifelong learners. The desire to serve as learning leaders for their children can also be a motivation to (re)participate in learning. They can discover how it is still a positive experience at any stage of life. A family and intergenerational learning approach can support the development of LLL competencies for all age groups. It allows to overcome the artificial barriers between the home, the school and the community, between all forms of learning – formal, non-formal and informal – and between generations.[5] From here on, spread joy by encouraging lifelong learning in yourself and by talking about it to others. Be an awesome example for your children. Be the lifelong learner you want your child to be.

 

NEXT

  1. It is vital to learn how to learn in the digital space which is part of our life
  2. Lifelong learning (LLL): a new culture of learning
  3. The most important lifelong learning (LLL) skills
  4. The LLL skills are natural
  5. The LLL skills can be lost… or cultivated
  6. Cultivating the LLL skills connecting school with the rest of life
    6a. Be a gardener, not a carpenter
    6b. Be an example of “lifelong learner”
    6c. Share learning experiences
    6d. Improve your digital readiness
  7. Lifelong learning is for all

[References]

  1. Hanemann U. (2015) Lifelong literacy: Some trends and issues in conceptualising and operationalising literacy from a lifelong learning perspective. http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/FIELD/Santiago/pdf/Hanemann-Lifelong-Literacy.pdf
  1. Gopnik A. (2016) The Gardener and the Carpenter. http://us.macmillan.com/thegardenerandthecarpenter/alisongopnik/9780374229702
Lifelong learning for all_06

Lifelong learning for all: Connecting school with the rest of life (6a)

/0 Comments/in /by

 

1. It is vital to learn how to learn in the digital space which is part of our life

2. Lifelong learning (LLL): a new culture of learning

3. The most important lifelong learning (LLL) skills

4. The LLL skills are natural

5. The LLL skills can be lost… or cultivated

6a. Cultivating the LLL skills connecting school with the rest of life

Cultivating the LLL skills is conceiving education as the process of facilitating learning. To do so at school is fundamental, but for this new culture of learning to have a more rapid and profound impact, it must be borne in mind that a child devotes only about 15% of his waking hours to compulsory education within schools.[31] Learning occurs everywhere, not somewhere. You do not learn only in school. The relationships of children with family, friends, places where they are, all the experiences they can live are sources of learning. It is therefore essential to connect the school with the rest of life. It is about creating learning bridges, not only lifelong (with what comes after compulsory education), but also lifewide, with the remaining 85% of waking hours.

Potentially, mothers and fathers are the educators who are in the best position to facilitate lifelong learning habits: they can observe, guide, promote and participate in the daily, formal or informal learning of their children at home, at school and in their communities. They are the first and best teachers of their children and can continue to be so throughout their lives. Children learn through their example. But the truth is that many times they do not know what role to take in the education of their children. What main recommendations can they be given to encourage in their children the love of learning that will serve them throughout their lives?

 

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Be a gardener, not a carpenter

First, it is essential to realize that in order to educate, you don’t need a doctorate in education, nor great economic resources, or to give up work, because educating is above all an attitude. It is important to help parents learn about the lifelong learning process, not to transform them into experts on a particular topic.[32] However, there is no expert manual to succeed as educators, a manual that teachers and parents should follow to ensure that children develop in a particular way. Children learn best by accident, when they are exploring for themselves. Different types of children should be given the space to thrive.

Alison Gopnik[27], a child development expert, argues that raising children in the manner of a carpenter with a defined purpose, molding its material into a pre-designed product, will not make children learn. What works is a less directed form of orientation, which allows them to do much of education and development themselves. Children learn when parents, in the manner of a gardener, create a safe, loving environment in which they can flourish freely, where innovation, adaptability, and resilience can thrive. It is essential to realize that lifelong learning is a natural learning process and that it can be self-nurtured, especially in an environment that stimulates curiosity, motivation and the general love of learning.

 

NEXT

  1. It is vital to learn how to learn in the digital space which is part of our life
  2. Lifelong learning (LLL): a new culture of learning
  3. The most important lifelong learning (LLL) skills
  4. The LLL skills are natural
  5. The LLL skills can be lost… or cultivated
  6. Cultivating the LLL skills connecting school with the rest of life
    6a. Be a gardener, not a carpenter
    6b. Be an example of “lifelong learner”
    6c. Share learning experiences
    6d. Improve your digital readiness
  7. Lifelong learning is for all

[References]

  1. Gopnik A. (2016) The Gardener and the Carpenter. http://us.macmillan.com/thegardenerandthecarpenter/alisongopnik/9780374229702
  1. Redding S. (2000) Parents and learning. http://www.ibe.unesco.org/fileadmin/user_upload/archive/Publications/educationalpracticesseriespdf/prac02e.pdf
  1. Bokas A. & Andress H. (2016) Coaching Parents to Communicate Lifelong Learning. http://www.ascd.org/ascd-express/vol11/1114-bokas.aspx