A closer look at lifelong learning
BY DR GAN SIOWCK LEE
Age is no barrier to lifelong learning. All it needs is the right mindset. – Filepic
IN recent months, much has been said about lifelong learning. In both developed and developing nations, changes in work organisation and management, coupled with a focus on markets, consumption and lifestyle, have drawn leaders and policy makers to the rhetoric of lifelong learning.
There is a growing recognition of the need to move towards lifelong learning, specifically that which focuses on informal and non-formal learning by adults. The purpose of this article is to provide a framework for an understanding of lifelong learning as part of everyday life, a permanent national necessity and an inseparable aspect of citizenship.
What is lifelong learning?
What is lifelong learning? Simply put, lifelong learning is a variety of learning processes throughout life that transform experiences into knowledge, skills and attitudes. It happens automatically with various degrees of success.
Lifelong learning should be understood as the expression and fulfillment of the naturally-occurring curiosity that is found in healthy human beings. It occurs inevitably as it is the process by which past experiences are integrated to respond to unfolding possibilities in the present and future.
In other words, lifelong learning is as old as the human race itself. For the hunter and gatherer in ancient times, living by his or her wits was lifelong learning.
Today, lifelong learning is manifested in myriad variations such as extension programmes, distance learning programmes and technology-based online learning programmes.
Forms of lifelong learning
Every individual is a member of some kind of community and participates in learning within that community. Lifelong learning opportunities exist in three distinct forms – formal, non-formal and informal.
Formal learning opportunities are provided by institutions such as schools and colleges and usually result in credentials such as diplomas, certificates or degrees. The responsibility for providing this form of learning is usually shouldered by the state or government.
The current campaign on lifelong learning in Malaysia is more concerned with providing opportunities for non-formal learning which refers to learning in organisations and agencies where the provision of learning opportunities is a secondary function.
Religious institutions, health institutions, business and industry human resource development programmes, libraries, museums and a plethora of other agencies are examples of such providers.
Lastly, there is informal learning which encompasses the vast majority of learning that takes place within a community.
Characterised by interaction between human and media or material resources, informal learning opportunities are available from family and friends, books and forms of mass media such as newspapers, television and radio broadcasts.
Community-based programmes
Whether a lifelong learning campaign for adults is aimed at personal, community or national development, it is expedient to organise programmes or activities that are community-based. This approach has the potential to impact individuals, groups and communities in the way they live, inform and educate themselves.
Community-based adult education, as part and parcel of the lifelong learning movement, is a process whereby community members can identify their own problems and needs, seek solutions among themselves, mobilise the necessary resources and execute a plan of action or learning.
The community is seen as both agent and objective. Learning is the process and leaders, political or otherwise, are the facilitators or initiators in inducing change for the better.
Before delving deeper into community-based learning pro-grammes, it is necessary to clarify the term “community”.
Community is a very amorphous word. In a broad sense, it is taken to mean a group of people with a common location, common interests or social interaction.
The concept of community is multi-dimensional in scope and perspective. Communities are diverse entities and can be defined as groups of people connected by geographical, political, demo-graphic, cultural, social, psycho-logical, economic or environmental elements.
Thus, a nation may be seen as a mega community with smaller geographic communities such as rural and urban communities.
Then, there are communities of neighbourhoods, communities of leisure interest groups, religious beliefs and affiliations, communities of functions like professors, doctors, workers, and demographic communities such as the Malaysian Chinese community or senior citizen community, bound by characteristics such as race, gender and age.
In this context, community-based lifelong learning is an approach capable of solving diverse social problems and meeting specific common needs within these communities.
Such learning networks would bring people together on the basis of shared enthusiasm and interests in a deliberate and efficient way and strengthen the connection between individual growth, community and national development.
In planning and implementing a lifelong learning campaign, other than identifying the communities for which programmes and activities should be organised, the aims and purposes of such community-based efforts must be clearly defined.
These could be linked to broad national development goals or specific community needs such as career training, skills upgrading, environmental concerns, basic education and literacy, public policies or community interests.
The deliberate effort of the Malaysian government to re-train unemployed graduates is such an example.
However, for such programmes to succeed, active participation of community members is paramount and certain conditions of participation must be present – freedom to participate, ability to participate and willingness to participate.
Challenges for lifelong learning
Ensuring all citizenry has the freedom, ability and willingness to participate is a challenge in itself.
If learning is to be lifelong, a lifelong learning culture must be instilled. This requires a shift in our mindset from the fundamental unit of education in organised learning institutions to the learner as an intelligent agent with the potential to learn from any and all of his/her encounters in the world around him/her.
A campaign can provide learning opportunities but the outcome is more contingent upon the learners’ attitudes and mindsets.
Attempts at creating a culture of lifelong learning will not have a fair chance of success until preparation is made for it during the years of adolescence in schools.
People must acquire the skill to learn how to learn at an early age – the ability to identify learning needs, formulate learning objectives, locate and identify resources and strategies to accomplish objectives, carry out planned learning, and evaluate learning outcomes.
In other words, learners must be equipped with the ability and skill of how, what, why, when and where to learn. Therefore, formal education in schools should not be merely about the acquisition of knowledge but should also be about developing the mind and acquiring lifelong learning skills.
The challenge is – how do we reshape the school curriculum to give adequate attention to this aspect of education? Economic, social and cultural changes mean that we now live in a knowledge society that requires permanent learning. We must come to regard day-to-day learning as routine. We should take part in organised learning throughout our lives, whether for personal or professional development. Non-formal learning should permeate our daily lives.
In short, we must rely less on traditional institutions and become more self-directed in learning.
The challenge is – how do we effectively bring about a learning culture in our citizenry to shift the responsibility for active and deliberate learning to individuals?
In the next century, learning outside of schools will count more in view of the rapid rate at which knowledge and skills acquired through formal learning becomes obsolete.
Lifelong learning is necessary for upgrading skills and knowledge for career advancement as jobs go through rapid transformation in a high-tech, knowledge-based society. Re-tooling the workforce is also a necessity if Malaysia is to remain competitive.
How do we effect the shift from over-dependence on traditional classrooms to “learning centres” and intensive use of technology as in distance and web-based learning?
How do we shift the respon-sibility for developing learning opportunities from the government to employers? The Human Resource Development Fund (HRDF) policy is one way but are there other ways?
We must also take cognisance of the fact that lifelong learning can become a mechanism for exclusion.
It can create new and powerful inequalities between the haves and have-nots.
There are issues around access to knowledge and learning. At a more fundamental level, literacy (The 3R’s and IT literacy) plays a part in exclusion because it provides the framework and some of the tools with which a person may use to engage in this pursuit. Those with the lowest levels of skills or formal education and the weakest capacity for constant updating are less likely to find employment. So, the challenge when planning or implementing lifelong learning campaigns is, “Can we identify disadvantaged communities to help them circumvent this problem?”
Conclusion
The issues involved in promoting lifelong learning nationwide are pervasive and systemic. The challenges seem daunting and the solutions to problems hardly simple. However, to propel Malaysia into the league of developed nations and knowledge-based economies, these challenges must be met.
All stakeholders in the communities, the education enterprise and the government must have the vision and commitment to make the necessary paradigm shift to prepare for the future now instead of waiting to respond to it when it arrives.
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