The European inventory is a key tool for realising lifelong learning in Europe. It will provide a catalogue of good practices in the area of validation for policy-makers and others to seek inspiration in.
Learning taking place outside formal education and training bodies is crucially important for individuals, companies and society at large. Existing information about validation of non-formal and informal learning is, however, in most countries, rather limited in scope. Making informal and non-formal learning visible and validated is an intrinsically challenging task.
The European inventory helps to accomplish this task by collecting updated information on current practices in a wide range of countries and making this information, including best practice examples, available to a wide range of audiences. The European inventory is, as such, a key tool for realising lifelong learning in Europe. It provides a catalogue of good practices in the area of validation for policy-makers and others to seek inspiration in.
The European inventory is an ongoing project. Three complementary reports have so far been produced: one by Danielle Collardyn and Jens Bjornavold and two by ECOTEC Research & Consulting. All three reports are available for download from this Web site. Future inventory reports will be produced on a periodic basis.
For more information please contact Andrew McCoshan at ECOTEC Research and Consulting
During the last years a number of initiatives have been taken at different levels (European, national, sub-national, industry, third sector) supporting the development of new approaches to validation of non-formal and informal learning. Validation of non formal and informal learning has been identified as a European priority on repeated occasions, including the Communication on Lifelong Learning (2001), the Education Council Decision Concrete future objectives for European education and training systems (2002), the White Paper on Youth policies (2002) and the Copenhagen Declaration (2002)
A set of 'Common European Principles' for the validation of non-formal and informal learning have been developed by the Commission in collaboration with a range of partners. This political emphasis on validation was further strengthened by an initiative to organise an informal ministerial conference on the subject in June 2004. These initiatives reflect the strong political momentum existing in this particular policy field and make the inventory project highly relevant for forming current and future policy debates at European, national and other decision-making levels