4. PROJECT FOR PROMOTING LIFELONG LEARNING IN TURKEY

On The Behalf Of The Beneficiary

Mustafa Göksel KÖROĞLU, Project Director, MoNE

Mr. Köroğlu gave details of the project. It was a two-year project which had started in May 2011 with a budget of 15 million Euros.

In the year before the Project, a Grant Scheme with a budget of over 5.6 million Euros had operated in the provinces in the NUTS II regions. The current population of the NUTS II regions is 19.8 million and approximately, 10 percent of this population (17 percent of women) is still illiterate. Most children now attend primary school, but only 67 percent of boys and 56 percent of girls complete secondary school and the average unemployment rate for people between ages 15 and 34, is 20 percent.

Forty-three proposals had been funded, with a wide range of beneficiaries (11 vocational high schools, 7 universities, 5 trade associations, 4 vocational training centres, 4 foundations, 4 associations, 2 unions, 2 provincial private administrations, 1 elementary school, 1 labour union, 1 union for service to villages and 1 municipality) All the proposals were successfully implemented, raising capacity in project implementation in the regions.

Mr Köroğlu said that the Ministry of National Education has previously established capacity in implementing and monitoring grant schemes and this scheme had been managed without any significant contribution of EU expertise, other than in the field of visibility However, it was unfortunate that "The Project for the Promoting Lifelong Learning in Turkey" started after the completion of the Grant Scheme so that there was no opportunity to bring them together.

The evaluation of the Grant Scheme had concluded that more efforts should have been made to include all the target provinces and to ensure that the problems dealt with and the priorities covered by these proposals which were given funding should differ as much as possible from each other. The evaluation also judged that the lifelong learning concept needed to be further developed in order to increase the awareness and knowledge on this issue in Turkey and that, when it comes to lifelong learning, the Ministry should further develop partnerships and continue to strengthen coordination mechanisms.

In conclusion, Mr Köroğlu observed that the Project for Promoting Lifelong Learning in Turkey had been delayed initially by the restructuring of the Ministry of National Education However, when the restructuring was completed, the project had been located in the new General Directorate for Lifelong Learning and was now making progress A final project conference was being planned and this would be held in Mardin in spring 2013.

The Technical Assistance Team Of The Project

Ron TUCK, Team Leader

Rosemary LUGG, Policy Component, Project Expert

Jove JANKULOVSKI Training Component, Project Expert, Pınar ALKAN YARIKKAYA Communication Component, Project Expert

Mr. Tuck set out the contextual factors in Turkey which were important to the Project:

 Turkey has strong economic growth but weak job creation and high youth unemployment

 There is a mismatch between skills of population and skills required by the economy

 Women and disabled people are relatively disadvantaged and there are significant regional disparities

He said that promoting lifelong learning is seen as one of the key interventions for increasing employment, addressing skills mismatch, and reducing disparities.

Mr. Tuck announced that 3 experts of the Project's 3 components will take the floor to give information about project activities.

Ms. Lugg explained the policy and legislation component of the Project. She reminded delegates that the first priority in the current national strategy for Lifelong Learning in Turkey is the development of a legal regulation which will specify the duties and responsibilities of the organs responsible for the co-ordination of LLL. She explained that the Project was supporting the Ministry in drafting this legislation by consulting with working groups of stakeholders – particularly social partners, Ministry Directorates and the municipalities in twelve pilot provinces These working groups had identified challenges for co-ordination in the existing system and developed a range of policy proposals which had guided the work of the Project The project had also supported the review of international experiences in co-ordinating LLL, including through study visits to several European countries

She explained that the proposals for the co-ordination of lifelong learning were strongly influenced by identifying what is known to work in Turkey, and what is not working well A number of areas where co-ordination of lifelong learning should be strengthened at both national and provincial level had been identified in this way. These included: developing and monitoring strategies and action plans, monitoring, evaluating and strengthening courses and services (such as career guidance and the recognition of prior learning), and providing information to individuals and organisations.

Ms. Lugg went on to outline the Project’s proposals. These included: national and provincial councils to lead on policy, a national co-ordination centre in the DGLLL, and a provincial coordination unit. This structure was intended to support the development of strategies and action plans by the councils, strengthen the knowledge base on lifelong learning, and provide information to stakeholders. The national centre would monitor and evaluate the system and provide support to those involved in implementation. The provincial coordination units will undertake monitor and evaluate delivery of lifelong learning in the province against national standards and strengthen the quality of provision by supporting providers. The proposed law on lifelong learning would specify the duties of these structures.

Mr. Jankulovski explained the work of the training component of the Project It was concerned with four areas of work: monitoring and evaluation, guidance and counselling, improving modular programmes, and introducing arrangements for the recognition of prior learning.

The Project was establishing a new method of monitoring and evaluation of lifelong learning activities. The main issue which had to be dealt with was a lack of comprehensive and reliable data. A national working group had been set up and provincial consultation meetings had been held to support the development of performance indicators and methods of data collection. On this basis, training events would be held for the monitoring and evaluation department in the DGLLL, teachers in pilot institutions, and potential personnel of the proposed provincial coordination units.

The main issue in relation to vocational guidance and counselling was a lack of guidance and counselling provision for potential participants in lifelong learning The Project had two objectives: one was to empower pilot institutions to provide this service and the other was to ensure that the provincial units were able to coordinate this service in their provinces.

The current modular programmes had two problems: they tended not to have strong links with occupational standards, and assessment methods not well developed. The Project would work in seven occupational areas to develop assessment plans for units of learning outcomes which were the end point of groups of modules and were related to occupational standards.

The Project was also establishing a model for the recognition of prior learning (RPL), to make it easier for learners to progress on the basis of the learning outcomes they have achieved, no matter how they have achieved them Experts in the Project were creating guidelines for the management of RPL at both national and provincial levels, guidance and support for RPL candidates, and RPL assessment methodologies All of this would be integrated into the system of assessment for qualifications

Ms. Alkan Yarıkkaya gave an account of the work which had been carried out on communication of different kind

She showed delegates the home page of the web portal, which would be a vital tool in the development and implementation of lifelong learning across Turkey and ensuring its sustainability as foreseen in the Lifelong Learning Strategy. She said that the web portal was one of the most important Project outputs, giving access to information on lifelong guidance, the recognition of prior learning, employment opportunities, learning opportunities and monitoring and evaluation. The web portal will have a common database with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, İŞKUR and relevant General Directorates of the Ministry of National Education and when work on it is completed, it will be integrated into Turkey’s e-government system.

The web portal will provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ for individuals, guidance counsellors and the coordination units in the provinces It will be designed to be suitable for access using all kinds of mobile devices, androids and tablet PCs Users will have their own secure login which will give them access to information on learning and employment opportunities not only in Turkey, but also in Europe through the EU’s Ploteus web portal.

Ms. Alkan Yarıkkaya went on to talk about physical events and media coverage During the first six months of the Project, governorates, municipalities, universities, project stakeholders and NGOs were visited and information meetings were held in the provinces of Kayseri, Kastamonu, Kahramanmaraş, Gaziantep, Şanlıurfa, Mardin, Malatya, Erzurum, Kars, Trabzon and Samsun and had been carried in 180 reports in local, national and internet media.

Short films had been made and broadcast on national and local TV Channels to promote the lifelong learning approach with a wider audience and key messages had been conveyed to target groups through a range of media including posters, brochures, booklets, presentations, press bulletins, e-newsletters, the Project web site, and messages on social media.

Following Ms. Alkan Yarıkkaya’s presentation, İbrahim EDİZ, a teacher working in the IT Group Directorate of the Ministry of National Education, gave an account of some of the technical details of the web portal.

Mr. Tuck concluded the presentations of the Technical Assistance Team by summing up the expected outcomes of the Project for Promoting Lifelong Learning in Turkey. These were:

 policy and a legal framework for lifelong learning

 an institutional structure and preparations for implementation

 an agreed and tested methodology for valid and reliable assessment and certification of modules linked to occupational standards

 an agreed and tested methodology for the recognition of prior learning

 a national LLL web portal

 increased national awareness of lifelong learning

Grant scheme projects would also have been created for a second Project on lifelong learning.

Questions From Delegates

Question 1

Are you planning to add phone, chat or other virtual communication means to web-portal?

Pınar Alkan Yarıkkaya

Yes, it is already planned that people will be informed about courses through SMS We may also enable forums.

Question 2

Lifelong learning is a guiding principle, so there is an important question about how lifelong learning will be used to transform general education and university education

Ron Tuck

This project is a starter project, a kind of laboratory We are trying to reform the existing structure in line with a lifelong learning approach, and we are working on transformative features like arrangements for recognising prior learning, the use of occupational standards and the establishment of stakeholder councils with a specific focus on lifelong learning.

Question 3

We would like to work with international partners so would it be possible for the DGLLL to support us?

M. Göksel Köroğlu

The web pages of the National Agencies in the countries you are interested in are the best place to start. There is also an EU lifelong learning programme which supports international collaboration. It has a number of sub programmes for particular sectors – Comenius for schools, Erasmus for higher education, Leonardo for vocational education and training and Grundtvig for adult education

Question 4

Will companies be able to find workers using the web-portal?

Pınar Alkan Yarıkkaya

Yes, through the link and database sharing system to İŞKUR, the web portal will provide access from the "employment opportunities" part.

Question 5

The top age of 64 seems to be too young for lifelong learning. Will it be possible to extend this age limit?

M. Göksel Köroğlu

It could be higher and at the moment it is defined that way for administrative reasons. It may change in the future.

Question 6

İŞKUR Projects provide temporary employment for participants in training, but PEC training is not able to provide employment. This creates unfair competition among training providers. Will policy makers address this problem?

Ron Tuck

Working groups established by the Project have raised issues of this kind and we are looking at issues of fairness in lifelong learning and access to provision in our proposals.

5. KEY THEMES OF THE CONFERENCE Determining the scope and purpose of lifelong learning

The scope and purpose of lifelong learning was an underlying theme of the Conference

Mr Ömer Dinçer, Minister of National Education, said that the 21st century is a digital era marked by rapid change and growth, where everyone will need access to new knowledge and a lifelong learning approach will be necessary if we are to meet the complex needs of the times. This view was echoed by all the speakers at the Conference and there was general agreement about the value of a lifelong learning approach, whether it is to help deal with economic or social change. However, there was some difference of opinion in the Conference about how far the focus of lifelong learning should be on skills related specifically to employment and how far it should cover broader or more general skills and knowledge.

At the beginning of the Conference, Assoc. Prof. Mustafa Kemal Biçerli, the General Director for Lifelong Learning in the Ministry of National Education said the motto of his Directorate is "from learning individuals to a learning society and from a learning society to a learning Turkey". Mr Salih Çelik, Deputy Undersecretary at the Ministry of National Education said that Turkish culture was supportive of lifelong learning, quoting a Turkish saying, "Even if the knowledge is in China, go there and get it".

Mr Erhan Batur, Deputy Undersecretary in the Ministry of Labour and Social Security cited findings by the Gallup polling organisation which showed that finding a good job is the top concern of people around the world This might seem to suggest that lifelong learning should always be job-related, but other speakers pointed to different definitions of what people need to be able to get good jobs. It also emerged that different governments were trying to achieve a range of outcomes through lifelong learning, including improvements in social inclusion.

A number of speakers cited the EU strategy, which is to create “a smart, sustainable and inclusive Europe”. This is backed by integrated guidelines for economic and employment policies, which include increasing labour market participation and reducing structural unemployment; improving workforce skills, job quality and lifelong learning; improving the performance of education and training systems; and promoting social inclusion and reducing poverty. John Hart from Edinburgh University, explained that Scottish government policy was founded on the belief that initiatives in lifelong learning should not only ensure that individuals had the skills to get employment, but should also help people to learn how to stay healthy and manage their finances, so that they could stay employed.

Turkish national speakers were agreed that Turkey needs to address a number of areas where it performs poorly in relation to neighbouring countries Overall Turkey has committed itself to increasing the rate of participation in lifelong learning threefold, but in addition the country needs to tackle the percentage of people with no more than basic education, youth unemployment, workers without formal recognition of their skills and participation in higher education. Mr. Halis Yunus Ersöz, Deputy Undersecretary in the Ministry of National Education, noted that ordinary people in USA may change their occupations four times and change their jobs eleven times during their working life He asked how Turkey could prepare its population for a world where this level of instability in work was the norm.

Focusing on individual needs and personal development

The idea that individuals are the starting point for work on lifelong learning was echoed in a number of presentations For Mr. Norman Sharp, Chair of the Icelandic Quality Board for Higher Education, it was vital that learners should be centrally involved in planning their own learning so that is suited their stage in life, as well as their purposes or needs, and this is an important aspect of a lifelong learning approach. Lack of flexibility can discourage participation in lifelong learning.

This kind of self-reliance and commitment to personal development can be thought of as social entrepreneurship. It is a feature of many lifelong learning systems. Mr. Bela Szombati, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Turkey, reminded delegates that enhancing entrepreneurship is one of the foundations of EU policy, alongside increasing participation in lifelong learning and reducing social exclusion and Mr. Johannes Lindner, Teacher Training Director of the “Austrian Organisation Entrepreneurship Education for educational Innovation” explained how social entrepreneurship can be fostered in an education system as well as business entrepreneurship and can lay a base for lifelong learning

The focus on individual needs was echoed by Prof Dr. Füsun Akkök, an expert on lifelong guidance, who said that for the last ten years lifelong guidance, has been seen as an integral part of any lifelong learning system She presented the case that guidance and support need to be provided for individuals of every age, at any point of their lives to make educational and occupational choices to develop and sustain themselves and their occupations

Ms. Akkök said that curricula should be reformed to ensure that individuals become more self-sufficient students and the education system should encourage innovative thinking. This should be done through courses of general education, hobby courses, and courses to develop social skill as well as through vocational courses. Ms. Annemarie Holsbo, from the Danish Technological Institute, noted that in Denmark, where there is high participation in lifelong learning, many adults choose to participate in liberal adult education activities and that this kind of learning has to be recognised as valuable if the system is to be inclusive and attractive. A number of speakers spoke of the importance of systems, including credit systems, which could give learning a practical value and Ms Daniela Ulicna, from GHK Consulting, gave an account of how the implementation of the EU Credit System for Vocational Education and Training (ECVET) could support flexible learning pathways.

Prof Dr. Rita Süssmuth, President of the German Association of Adult Learning Centres, said that it is a fundamental belief of German adult education that the satisfaction of personal educational needs should be given equal priority with vocational needs She argued that education, including further education, is a human right that should not be reduced solely to economic ends German adult education centres see education as a public responsibility and, taking this as a starting point, they offer a range of courses of different kinds.

For Mr Joern Skovsgaard, of the Danish Ministry of Education, an efficient lifelong learning system must address individual, local, regional and national needs It must provide general courses as well as technical or vocational courses and it must range from basic skills to courses giving access to tertiary education and advanced courses at tertiary level It must be delivered in new, inclusive learning environments and the instructors must be prepared to meet the special challenges of teaching adults.

Other speakers queried the appropriateness of the emphasis on higher education over vocational training in some countries’ policies. Evidence that this could lead to large numbers of unemployed graduates and a lack of people with important middle level skills was presented Mr Andy Green, from London University’s Institute of Education, presented the case that the challenge of today's economies is to attract more people to Vocational Education and Training (VET) instead of higher education The first challenge for VET systems was to keep up with increasing demand for skills and qualifications while the second was to ensure the attractiveness and quality of VET.

Collaboration and the roles of stakeholders

Mr Batur said that lifelong learning lies at an interface between the duties of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and those of the Ministry of National Education, so cooperation to ensure productive links between education and employment will be strengthened by adopting a lifelong learning approach

The theme of collaboration also extended to discussions about appropriate roles for stakeholders in a lifelong learning system The Minister of National Education said that cooperation among stakeholders was of utmost importance in making lifelong learning a reality and noted that the Turkish Strategy Paper incorporates this principle.

Ms. Lida Kita of the European Training Foundation said that the issues of lifelong learning were not just Ministry issues – other stakeholders need to be involved in addressing them. For example, there should be more learning in the workplace and overall the responsibility for resourcing lifelong learning must be shared between public and private stakeholders. This means involvement of social partners, civil society organisations and private training providers at all levels in the system. Mr. Biçerli said, “We need a national mobilisation to adopt a lifelong learning approach". Mr. Skovsgaard said that the Danish experience was that tri-partite governance structures help to ensure quality, relevance and synergy He also said that there needs to be a whole-government approach adopting comprehensive policies which bring together areas and domains that traditionally relate to different ministries In addition, all this must be developed and implemented in an open and transparent way, in cooperation with the stakeholders Ms Holsbo described how representatives from employer and employee organisations participate in the governing boards of the institutions that provide adult vocational training in Denmark, taking a degree of responsibility for priority setting, development, organisation and quality assurance of adult vocational training programmes.

Ms Süssmuth said that creating the necessary legislative, institutional and personnel framework for adult education are the constant challenges moreover striking a balance between the state funding and regulation and the necessary freedom in the system is one of the most central tasks. It is important, however, because adult education is a key asset in modern societies, indispensable for the cohesion of people, their economic competitiveness and their well-being.

The means of realising lifelong learning

Mr. Ersöz and Ms. Kita both referred to the importance of legal reform and putting VET and adult learning strategies in place. They both noted that systems issues had to be clearly related to information on participation and demand for learning or on the skill needs of enterprises and individuals Better data is needed to make reform effective Ms Kita also said that in many countries the legislative frameworks and strategies and the existing councils and agencies tend deal with very specific aspects of education or training This reflects a fragmented rather than comprehensive, overarching approach to education and training development A lifelong learning strategy cannot just be about putting the different subsector strategies together – it must be more comprehensive and inclusive

One of the key ideas explored in the Conference was the recognition of prior learning For Mr. Sharp, RPL is a revolutionary idea and a huge force for good where it is implemented Ms. Anne Venema, from the Dutch Knowledge Centre for RPL said that the essence of RPL is the belief and trust that people can gain knowledge, skills and competences by means other than through school and that this is as worthy as learning through formal education. This is important because very little of what we learn is learned in a formal setting – we mainly learn through social interaction, through deliberate use of text and other media resources, and at work. Assoc. Prof. Ömer Açıkgöz, General Director for Vocational Education and Training of the Ministry of National Education, said that in modern society we value formal education highly, but we are sceptical about non-formal education. The lifelong learning approach requires that we appreciate and recognise knowledge and competence acquired outside formal education. He said that, while RPL would be difficult to set up and implement, it is essential to lifelong learning

Prof. Dr. Sharp said that, like other educational processes, RPL needs to be quality assured and the quality assurance needs to be based on clear purposes and principles Prof. Dr. Oğuz Borat, from the İstanbul Commerce University, said that that measuring and assessment should depend upon performance criteria developed to assess learning outcomes and every individual should be able to see these criteria and know that they are consistent and fair He added that we need a holistic approach We need to define knowledge and skills to make them measurable, but not to evaluate them in a reductive way A number of speakers gave details of the RPL process which had been adopted in their countries.

International collaboration

There was some discussion about the possibility of sharing experience between countries and working together to mutual benefit. Mr. Jürgen Keicher, General Director of TELC (The European Language Certificates), spoke of a practical application of this – the Framework of European Standards and Modern Key Competencies for Foreign Language Teaching and Testing.

Mr Skovsgaard spoke about the possibility of developing a common conceptual framework for lifelong learning and Mr Jin Yang, from the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning, described a current UNESCO Learning Cities initiative, in which Turkey would be involved Both concluded that international learning and cooperation were possible and beneficial in the field of lifelong learning However, Mr Skovsgaard added that it was very important to ensure that what is seen as “best practice” will fit local culture and needs and that “best practice” deals with emerging as well as current issues and approaches.