Last May 27th YouthProAktiv participated in the online event organized by the Lifelong Learning Platform on Lifelong Learning for Sustainable Societies.  The event counted with the view of key stakeholders like Jonathan Miche (professor at the University of Oxford) and MEP Dace Melbarde.

The whole world is facing an unprecedent crisis and if Europe wants to accelerate the recovery of both the economy and society, it is crucial to create a solid and well-defined lifelong education which has a view on the needs of tomorrow as for instance, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Entrepreneurship. Failing to do so will result in the growing of left behind communities which cannot access to the labor market as a consequence of lacking from the proper skills to perform future job tasks.

In this sense, technological skills should be better balanced with human skills like emotional intelligence, resilience, leadership creativity, self-reflection and critical and holistic thinking, which are polyvalent and can benefit to every learner regardless of its career, especially in the case of multidisciplinary teams.

Regarding the current health crisis, lifelong learning should focus on getting the best blend of digital and face to face education, meaning to take advantage of what digital resources bring us, such as the possibility to keep learning and working during this health crisis in a safe way. However, online education also requires us to be disciplined, responsible and have advanced time management skills.

To continue with, lifelong learning has several beneficial outcomes such as human welfare and better community engagement. As a result, lifelong learning should be appreciated for its own benefits, not only in the education-employability link, since education empowers our society and individuals and would help people to lead the challenges of the future instead of being led by them.

In this sense, lifelong learning does not necessary mean that people should be constantly learning, but to offer them the opportunity to resume their studies at any point, for instance, in the case they change jobs, retire or have children.

Another key area to focus on would be to ensure that teachers and trainers have a proper knowledge about digital skills and competences, since these fields are already vital, considering the crisis which Europe is facing at the moment. To this end, Ms Daria Arlavi, representative of the Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU points out that Europe must ensure that education is not interrupted during the lockdown, hence, in order to continue the classes in a safe manner, digital competences are crucial from both learners and educators, highlighting adult education in particular, since the digital gap is greater in this field.

To conclude with, panelist Catherine Sustek, member of the Cabinet of Vice-President Schinas, remarks that crisis like the current one can also work as an accelerator in order to find solutions and upgrades to our education system. To this end the European Commission, after some careful adaptation to the current situation, is working on several initiatives such as the revision of the Skills Agenda, the Digital Education Action plan and the European Education Area, altogether aimed to place the learner at the center of the education process in order to achieve a more sustainable education system, which would highlight the European way when it comes to develop human-centric policy.