The Future of Education

In the framework of the project ‘BeE - Be(com)ing European’ an innovative concept for basic education is developed. The project does not focus on a contentual definition of basic education, as the requirements put on adults nowadays are much too complex and dynamic to be integrated in a finite concept of basic education – nonetheless questions on what is needed to take part in European societies are discussed. The project rather deals with the fundamental basis of sustainable learning and ways to motivate learners to take part in lifelong learning. When dealing with learners who have already made negative learning experiences, this is particularly important.

The approach of BeE is therefore to a) focus on the competences learners have gained in their lives – be it in formal learning settings or in everyday life situations. Therefor strategies that help teachers in assessing and in utilizing these competences are developed and ways to integrate this approach in courses are tested. The aim is to promote competence based learning – instead of focusing on deficits – and hereby change the student-teacher relationship. Another important means of doing this is to integrate learning in the everyday-life contexts of the students.

The BeE-concept develops b) ways to integrate metacognitive skills and self-regulated learning strategies into basic education courses. Being able to self regulate a learning process is not only an elementary base for lifelong learning but also promotes autonomy and fosters motivation to learn. To successfully implement these elements in a basic education course, activating learning settings are discussed and tested.

The project consortium consists of eight adult education institutions from seven different European countries, located in big and small cities as well as in rural areas. The different partners deal with various target groups and numerous different subject areas. The heterogeneous composition of the project consortium and its tremendous experience in adult education allows for the development of a multifaceted and innovative approach.

The concept was so far tested in three pilot workshops and will be implemented in the partner institutions. A Grundtvig workshop beginning in autumn 2014 will allow all interested teachers to get the chance to learn about and use competence-based and self-regulated learning strategies. The BeE-concept will, too, be available for the public after the project has finished (November 2014). The project is funded by the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme.