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LIFELONG LEARNING IN EUROPE | VOL XVII | ISSUE 2 | 2012

Copyright. The copyright of the texts published in the journal Lifelong Learning in Europe is reserved by the KVS Foundation.The text published in the journal Lifelong Learning in Europe is not to be published elsewhere without the permission of the KVS Foundation.The author allows the distribution and use of the text in printed and digital form by the KVS Foundation, the translation of the text and theabstract to other languages for re-publishing by permission of KVS Foundation and the use of the text in electronic distribution in the Internet.

E D I T O R - I N - C H I E F

Kristiina Kumpulainen

Professor

M A N A G I N G E D I T O R

Markus Palmén

E D I T O R I A L B O A R D

Antra Carlsen

NVL, Norway

Renée David Aeschlimann

InfoNet; Centre INFFO, France

Uwe Gartenschlaegerdvv international, Germany

Mary Claire HalvorsonEUCEN; Goldsmiths University of London, UK

Peter Jarvis

Professor, University of Surrey, UK

Anneli KajantoKVS Foundation, Finland

Antti Kauppi

Finnish Adult Education Research Society, Finland

Katarina PopovićProfessor, EAEA; Adult Education Society, Serbia

Anneli Eteläpelto

Finnish Adult Education Research Society, Finland

Magda Trantallidi-Papadimitriou

General Secretariat of Adult Education, Greece

LAYOUT

Ateljee Heijastus

E D I T O R I A L A D D R E S S

LLinE

Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation

Haapaniemenkatu 7-9 B

FI-00530 Helsinki, Finland

Tel: +358 (0) 207 511 591

Fax: +358 (0) 207 511 502

Email

[email protected]

Published by the Finnish Lifelong Learning Foundation

co-operation with the Finnish Adult

Education Research Society.

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ISSN 1239-6826

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182 LIFELONG LEARNING IN EUROPE 3 | 2011

LLI NE

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Lifelong learning veteran

at the Hamburg helm:

The UNESCO Institute of Lifelong

Learning (UIL) is the research and

policy-driven arm of UNESCO for

the promotion of lifelong learning.

Housed in Hamburg, Germany, the

Institute coordinates the CON-

FINTEA lifelong learning advocacy

process on behalf of UNESCO. The

UIL is viewed as a strong advocate

for literacy, particularly in the third

world, with its activities geared to-

wards the Education for All (EFA)and Millennium Development Goals

(MDGs), both UN-led movements

for achieving general developmental

and learning goals.

Danish Arne Carlsen was appointed

Director of the UIL in June, bringing

to the task experience from a long

career dealing with research and pol-

icy related to lifelong learning. LLinE

met with Carlsen in late June to

share a thought on what lies ahead

for the Institute and its new Director,

and on why 2015 will be such an in-teresting year for adult learning.

LLinE: Congratulations on the post!

How do you feel about starting this

new chapter?

Arne Carlsen: First of all, I am step-

ping into a UIL that moved into a

new era not so long ago. In 2007 the

Institute became a fully-fledged insti-

tute of the UNESCO, no longer un-

der German law. This means we have

a clear mandate, as formulated by

the UN and its member states to take

forward UNESCO policies.

I am also looking forward to work-

ing with our Governing Board which

includes very insightful top lifelong

learning experts from around the

world.

LLinE: As the new Director, what

will be your primary focus?

AC: One of the mid-term strategies

of UNESCO is that adult learning in

Africa is a priority. The future profile

of UIL will include this priority. This

is of course not to say that we would

neglect other continents. My aim is

to establish two or three major learn-

ing projects in each world region,

that is Europe and North America,

Asia and the Pacific, Latin America

and the Caribbean, the Arabic states

and Africa. The idea is that thesemajor projects with 2-3 countries at

a time, would function as role mod-

els for all countries in the region.

Also, UNESCO has delegated the

task of global monitoring of the

CONFINTEA follow up process to

UIL, so we advocate for the Belém

Framework for Action to be a reality

for the national policies1 of UNESCO

member countries.

LLinE: What content will these big

regional projects have?

AC: The projects will be within the

overall strategy of UNESCO and the

mandate of UIL, that is advocacy, re-

search, capacity building and techni-

cal advice in the field of literacy and

adult learning and education in a

perspective of lifelong learning. The

projects will be adapted to the needs

of each region. In Europe then, for

example, we would focus on func-

tional literacy, citizenship education

for social cohesion and learning for

the world of work.

LLinE: UIL was in fact among the

first to sound alarm bells on the

prevalence of functional illiteracy in

industrialized countries. How have

we, in the West, ended up in a situa-

tion that large parts of our popula-

tions lack the basic skills to fully

function in society?

AC: We have to remember that many

adults today have had rather bad ex-

periences at school, which has hin-

dered their learning. Also we know

that very many suffer from dyslexia

and other disabilities that luckily can

be helped. But of course our high

functional and digital illiteracy fig-

ures also spring from the fact that we

have raised the bar for ourselves and

education has not caught up with it.

As we know, we have expanded the

concept of literacy from basic literacy

including reading, writing and nu-

meracy to include also the basic

skills, such as digital literacy and life

skills, needed in the knowledge soci-

ety.

LLinE: Can you shed some light on

the immediate future of the Institute:

What will be the highlight of 2012?

AC: Well, in 2012 the second

GRALE report, that is, the Global

Report on Adult Learning and Edu-

cation, will come out, and it has the

title of adult literacy. The report de-

An interview with UIL Director Arne Carlsen

M a r k u s P a l m é n

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LIFELONG LEARNING IN EUROPE 3 | 2011 183

LLI NE

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scribes global adult education trends

based mainly on national reports

submitted by UNESCO member

states by the end of 2011. The

GRALE will come out again in 2015:

then it will have collected and gath-

ered together all results from the

evaluations on the progress of the

EFA and Millennium DevelopmentGoals and also the UN Literacy Dec-

ade ending next year. I actually be-

lieve that GRALE, from 2015, will

have the same status as the OECD’s

Education at a Glance has now. I aim

for our report to be as awaited by all

stakeholders, including civil society

actors and the private sector, as the

OECD report is today. The year

2015 is hence crucial as it is the tar-

get year for EFA and MDG’s and the

GRALE also materializes.

One more exciting thing I would liketo bring up is that in the near future

the UIL will also try to come up with

a clear concept of lifelong learning. It

will place adult education in a life-

long learning perspective and direct

the work of the Institute in the com-

ing years. We will of course not do

this alone, rather we will include

many stakeholders from govern-

ments and civil society, other UNagencies like WHO, UNICEF, ILO

and the world of work. Lifelong

learning is sector-wide and sector

cross cutting. As a result I believe we

will come up with an integrated defi-

nition with elements of employabil-

ity, social inclusion, active citizenship

and personal fulfillment. But I think

that our concept will be more than

the sum of its parts: I would like to

see a holistic concept of lifelong

learning based on a foundation of

humanistic values, such as the right

to learning, peace, democracy, toler-

ance, respect for others, and intercul-

tural understanding. In the 21st cen-

tury there are high demands for

learning for living and for working.

This calls for developing learning so-

cieties. UIL will contribute to sup-

porting UNESCO-member states in

putting this on the agenda.

1 The Belém Framework for Action isthe final document of the SixthInternational Conference on AdultEducation (CONFINTEA VI), adoptedon 4th of December, 2009. Thedocument makes recommendations onissues such as policy and governance,adult education financing and equity.The Framework names literacy as the“most significant foundation” forlifelong learning.

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In contemporary societies, people face growing demands for

change. One way or another, transitions are becoming the normal

condition. This introductory paper tries to make sense of theinter-related themes of transition and lifelong learning in a

number of ways. First, it looks at the ways in which social science

has sought to understand transitions, and in particular how

researchers have tried to understand transitions in a fluid and

mobile society. It then draws out some implications for our

appreciation of the part that learning – formal and informal – can

play and might play in supporting individuals facing transitions,

as well as in producing forward-looking and anticipatory

strategies towards change. It concludes with a few remarks on

possibilities and prospects for research, practice and policy.

John Field

Transitions and lifelong

learning: signposts, pathways,

road closed?


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The boundaries and expectations of

transitions through the life course are

changing, at the level of the individual

and at the level of the wider society. So

are the ways in which people under-

stand learning and its meanings across

the life course, particularly in the con-

text of change and transition within

and through the life course itself. The

role and potential of learning as people

navigate transitions is therefore also

changing, and has become a major fo-

cus of policy concern, particularly so

far as the labour market is concerned.

While much of the attention to date

has focused on supporting youth tran-

sitions, from education into work, the

pace of change in contemporary socie-

ties and economies now places an equal

emphasis on the transformations and

expectations of adult life.

As in all areas of lifelong learning,policymakers’ first concern is with

transitions into and through the labour

market. As EU Commissioner Androul-

la Vassiliou put it in her speech on the

European agenda for adult learning,

lifelong learning “is the key to a flexi-

ble, adaptable and above all employa-

ble workforce”. Large scale invest-

ments, through the European Social

Fund and a variety of related interven-

tions, are devoted to programmes de-

signed to support individuals through

change. And these are almost certainlymatched in scale by the investments of

firms and individuals in re-skilling and

up-skilling in order to improve work-

ers’ adaptability. But if the sphere of

public policy is dominated by labour

market concerns, individuals and com-

munities also face the challenges of

transformations in social institutions,

norms and values, affecting all of social

life including everyday manners and

beliefs, means of communication, lei-

sure and entertainment, differences of

cultures, patterns of health and well-being, crime and public order, the age-

ing society and the generally changing

expectations of the different genera-

tions.

Moreover, we are all at present con-

fronted with an extraordinary financial

crisis, with all its ramifications for ordi-

nary citizens and public institutions. It

is inevitable that in the first instance,

derstand transitions, and in particular

how researchers have tried to under-

stand transitions in our fluid and mo-

bile society. I then try to draw out some

implications for our appreciation of the

part that learning – formal and infor-

mal – can play and might play in sup-

porting individuals facing transitions. I

conclude with a few remarks on possi-

bilities and prospects for the future.

CONTRIBUTIONS FROM SOCIAL

RESEARCH

Researches in many social science disci-

plines have sought to understand tran-

sitions. Much of this research has been

multi-disciplinary in nature, focusing

on such widely-studied problem areas

as the transition from education to

work, or the shift from work into re-

tirement. However, it is worth looking

briefly at some of the ways in which

the disciplines have framed scholarly

approaches to transitions, as these can

shed light in different ways on the con-

tributions of each.

Economics can probably be dealt

with fairly briefly. While the “dismal

science” has much to tell us about the

costs, and benefits, of ageing, its main

contribution to the study of transitions

and lifelong learning has been the con-

cept of human capital. Within econom-

ics, most people understand “transi-

tion” to mean a macro-level process ofstructural transformation and institu-

tional change, with economists typical-

ly writing about societies such as Rus-

sia, South Africa or Vietnam. This is an

extremely important aspect of transi-

tions, and I will return to the macro-

level of analysis later on, as it is often

missing from many psychological and

even some sociological approaches.

Within economics, the study of hu-

man capital dates from the 1960s. Ini-

tially developed by Schultz (1963) and

Becker (1964), the idea of human capi-tal originally emerged as a tool for

economists to place a value on work-

ers’ skills and abilities. Human capital

could be more or less productive, de-

pending on the results of investments

such as education or health care; the

cost of the investments could be meas-

ured, as could the returns, and the bal-

ance then compared. This approach

policymakers will see youth – and par-

ticularly youth unemployment – as the

paramount priority. At the same time,

many of the most highly skilled occu-

pations in Europe mirror the wider

“greying of society”. In Sweden, for ex-

ample, the over-50s account for 48.1

% of primary teachers and 41.1 % of

secondary teachers; in Germany, for

49.3 % of primary teachers and 50.7

% of secondary teachers, and in Italy

for 44. 8% of primary teachers and

57.9 % of secondary teachers (Eurostat

2012, 124–5). Learning for older

workers’ transitions therefore is an im-

portant area for policy, practice and re-

search.

While education and training cannot

– and should not be expected to – re-

solve every problem in every individu-

al’s life, many people and organisations

turn to education and training – and toinformal learning – to help them adapt

to, anticipate, and imagine change.

There is a thriving private sector, large-

ly so far as we know comprising a

small number of large players and a

large number of very small micro-firms,

which supplies courses, materials and

advice for almost every transition in

adult life: taking breakfast this morn-

ing, I read about a book on how to

prepare for Alzheimer’s, and learned of

a psychology student in Mainz who is

studying training and learning groupsfor men and women who wish to flirt

more successfully. These deal with pri-

vate troubles which amount cumula-

tively to significant public issues. Tran-

sitions matter, whether seemingly trivial

or obviously momentous, and learning

is an important resource in handling

them.

This special issue of LLinE is there-

fore not just timely, but covers an ex-

traordinarily broad canvas. As with a

painting by Jackson Pollock, there is a

strong risk that we will be unable todiscern patterns and interpret the com-

plex swirl of transformation and re-

newal before us. This paper, while

hopefully avoiding the trap of over-

simplification, will try to make sense of

the inter-related themes of transition

and lifelong learning in a number of

ways. First, I will look at the ways in

which social science has sought to un-


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has been used by economists to esti-

mate the returns on education over

time, as well as in preparing workers

for particular transitions, such as re-

dundancy and unemployment (Meager,

2009). It also predicts, broadly, that the

return on investment is likely to be

greater the longer that the worker can

apply the higher productivity that re-

sults. While this implies that the returns

are likely to be greater for investments

in younger workers, it does not assume

that there are no returns at all to in-

vestments for older workers, and in

practice economists have had little dif-

ficulty in identifying such returns (for

examples see Stenberg & Westerlund,

2008; Zhang & Palameta, 2006).

While these insights are helpful in es-

tablishing change over time, they are

severely limited.

Psychological models of transitionshave tended to follow a clear sequential

pattern. Within developmental psychol-

ogy, writers such as Piaget and Erikson

proposed a model of the life cycle as a

series of stages of human development.

While Piaget was primarily concerned

with children’s development, Erikson

and Levinson proposed a more exten-

sive periodization, conceiving of the life

cycle in terms of eight stages extending

from birth to death. Three of Erikson’s

stages occur in adult life (young, mid-

dle-aged and older adults), each ofthem characterised by different chal-

lenges and outcomes. In summary, he

portrayed young adulthood in terms of

love (intimacy versus isolation), middle

adulthood in terms of care (generativity

versus stagnation) and older adulthood

as characterised by wisdom (ego integ-

rity versus despair) (Erikson, 1959).

Later writers developed this model fur-

ther, and it reached a wider public au-

dience through Gail Sheehy’s popular

book on the “predictable crises of adult

life” (Sheehy, 1984).More recent psychological ap-

proaches have challenged the idea that

life’s challenges and stages follow a

clear, predictable sequence. Different

situations and different orderings make

for considerable variations in adult de-

velopment. The life span approach de-

veloped by Paul Baltes and his collabo-

rators accepts that age, generational

cohort and the sheer effect of events

will shape development in adult life;

thus a developmental theme, such as

dependence, may be more prominent in

early and middle adulthood than in late

life. They therefore distinguish between

what they call normative age-graded

influences that are clearly correlated

with age, such as puberty or school at-

tendance; normative history-graded ex-

periences, such as war or recession,

that affect all of the population simul-

taneously (though often with a differ-

ential impact for different age groups);

and non-normative experiences that are

important for the individual but are

not tied to a particular life stage, such

as – for example – a delayed entry to

university (Baltes et al., 1980). As two

of the three factors are unconnected to

age or life stage, Baltes concludes that

the life span cannot be divided into se-quenced phases; developmental tasks –

experienced as demands for adapting

and coping – can present themselves at

different times for different people.

For many conventional psycholo-

gists, adult life represents a period of

protracted cognitive decline. While ac-

cepting this general account of biologi-

cal deterioration, Baltes argued that

other, individual mechanisms can

spring into play, and moderate the im-

pact of physical decline. His notion of

“selective optimisation with compensa-tion” pointed to the ways in which

adults can draw on other resources,

such as experience and personal quali-

ties of resilience, to maintain overall

performance (Baltes, 1997). Even this

model, though, is based on the assump-

tion of decline through adult life; Baltes

himself claimed that a “negative age

correlation” was the “first foundation-

al principle of my view of the life span

architecture” (Baltes 1997, 367).

Amanda Grenier suggests that Baltes’

model may therefore have considerablygreater explanatory power for later-life

transitions, particularly those taking

place during the “fourth age”, than for

other adult phases in the life course

(Grenier, 2012, 51).

Sociological accounts have tended to

present transitions as contingent upon

the arrangements of social life. Early

sociological (and gerontological) ac-

counts of transitions tended to define

them in terms of relatively fixed social

roles, or specific age-based stages of

life. The most obvious age-based tran-

sitions are the moves from infancy into

school, from education into work, and

from work into retirement; those in-

volving relatively fixed social roles in-

clude such generational roles as transi-

tion into marriage, into parenthood,

and into grandparenthood. Socialisa-

tion theory, as developed by Durkheim

and the structural functionalists, is the

most obvious example of a model that

tends to assume that transitions were

often assumed to be more or less uni-

versal, and tied to age, so that they oc-

curred sequentially through the life

course.

In education, these notions were

codified in some of the discussions of

“recurrent education”. In an influentialpolicy discussion, the Centre for Edu-

cational Research and Innovation of

the Organisation for Economic Co-op-

eration and Development (OECD)

talked of a new arrangement of the life

course: moving from a sequences of

stages (full-time education into work

into retirement) to what it called “al-

ternation” between periods of work,

learning and leisure through the life

course (OECD, 1973). While the

OECD always present this as a policy

framework, designed to promote life-long learning, it also influenced the

ways in which many educators thought

of the life course, particularly as the

fame spread of the Université du tr-

oisième age movement (U3A), founded

in Toulouse in 1973. The idea of life

stages as a basis for social and educa-

tional policy was popularised in Peter

Laslett’s book, A fresh map of life,

which divided the life course into four

stages: childhood, adulthood, ageing

and decline. Laslett readily acknowl-

edged his debt to the French U3A, aswell as frankly stating that he was

adopting this language because the

terms were “not already tarnished”

(Laslett, 1989, 3).

Laslett’s approach has been widely

adopted, but it is self-evidently sche-

matic. More recent sociological ac-

counts have radically challenged earlier

assumptions about the rigidity of life


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stages, as well as about the lack of

agency among those affected. Some,

such as the “postmodern” Zygmunt

Bauman and the “reflexive modernisa-

tion” theorists Beck and Giddens, have

argued strongly that transition and

change are now routinely embedded in

the social relations of contemporary

life. They also suggest that individuals

and groups shape and influence these

processes; Beck (1986) and Giddens

(1991) focus primarily on the role of

human knowledge in the radical reflex-

ivity that, in their view, now affects all

social institutions and values, generat-

ing risk and uncertainty that require

constant attention to life planning. For

Bauman (1995, 5), constant choice is

unavoidable in “liquid modernity”,

and therefore so is responsibility. How-

ever, this perspective tends to empha-

sise the individual dimensions of transi-tion; both Beck and Giddens stress the

tendencies towards individualisation

that, as they see it, arise from the wider

trends that they are considering ( for a

discussion on individualisation, see also

Kathryn’s Ecclestone’s interview in this

issue). While there is much in what

they suggest, in that continuous trans-

formation of social relations tends to

remove individuals from certain shared

bonds, they tend to exaggerate the ex-

tent to which all transitions are individ-

ual in character. The sociology of age-ing has engaged with much of this liter-

ature, while frequently adopting a criti-

cal stance towards stereotyping and

stigmatising that will be familiar to

many working in the field of adult

learning, and emphasising the impor-

tant role of community and macro-level

change in understanding the signifi-

cance of transitions in people’s lives

(Grenier, 2012).

LIFELONG LEARNING: EFFECT OR

CAUSE?Knowledge and skills, as well as the ca-

pacity for reflection and questioning,

play an important part in understand-

ing both transitions and learning. Gid-

dens, and to some extent Bauman and

Beck, argues that people use their

learning and knowledge in order to

question existing social arrangements,

from marriage to the organisation of

work to the institutions of education;

and they deploy their learning and

knowledge in order to negotiate their

ways through transformations of their

social environment (Field, 2006, 69–

77). We can set this insight into the sig-

nificance of knowledge and reflection

at the social level alongside the impor-

tance of innovation, technological

change and organisational reflexivity in

recent approaches to competitiveness

and growth in the economy. This is im-

portant for our view of transitions and

lifelong learning, because such perspec-

tives lead us to recognise that learning

can help cause transitions, at different

levels, and is not just a way of respond-

ing passively to change.

This emphasis on knowledge and re-

flexivity points to a number of direct

implications for our understanding ofeducation and training in contempo-

rary societies. From this standpoint, we

can understand individuals in contem-

porary societies as “permanently learn-

ing subjects” who are inescapably the

authors of transitions, for themselves

as well as for others, and also the ob-

jects of transitions. Recent research on

the school-to-work transition, for ex-

ample, has started to emphasise young

people’s agency in the transitions proc-

ess. A process that was once relatively

standardised for most young people,with clear pathways between school

and different types of career, has be-

come pluralised and fragmented, show-

ing features of de-standardization and

re-standardization as transition systems

erode and break up, and are replaced

by new systems of training and guid-

ance. But young people are, they argue,

not simply passive objects of these

changes; rather, they draw on their cul-

tural and social resources, such as net-

work ties and youth sub-cultures, to

make sense of and negotiate thesechanging systems, and in turn they con-

tribute to the reshaping of the institu-

tions and practices that promote transi-

tions (see for example Walther, du Bois-

Reymond & Biggart, 2006). While this

approach can often be limited in its in-

sights, focusing as it does on the expe-

riences of young people, we can never-

theless see similar processes at work in

the case of adults’ life transitions.

From a broadly postmodern per-

spective, it has been argued that the life

course has become increasingly elective

and fragmented. Thus Glastra, Hake

and Schedler recently asserted confi-

dently that:

As is now well established, the

standard biography has been replaced

by the “elective biography” . . . This

development has two corollaries. One

is that in certain periods of life, many

different tasks must be combined. . . .

The second is that given the individual-

ization of life courses, coordination of

life and work on an aggregate sociallevel becomes problematic (Glastra,

Hake & Schedler, 2004, 295).

While this is an exaggeration, it

points to aspects of nonlinearity that

seem to be characteristic of late moder-

nity. Institutionalisation has been ac-

companied by individualisation, in a

wider context where there are strong

economic and cultural pressures fa-

vouring greater flexibility; these are ex-

perienced by a variety of actors as

deeply contradictory tendencies, and

they increasingly form the focus for arather heated public debate over issues

such as retirement age and pensions re-

form (Kohli, 2003, 536).

In contemporary Europe, policies for

adult learning often seek a partnership

of individual, state and civil society. In

seeking to “activate” the citizen or or-

ganisation, so that they plan ahead for

their future thriving and wellbeing, and

assume greater responsibility for their

own learning and knowledge accumula-

tion, policies on adult learning largely

reflect the mainstream of European pol-icy thinking on the future of welfare

and state intervention (Rosanvallon,

1995). When applied to lifelong learn-

ing, these ideas place the individual in

the spotlight, reading from a script that

they must at least co-author themselves,

if not entirely on their own (Edwards,

2002). Those who respond will also be

engaging in almost permanent transi-” Learningcan cause,not just ease,

transitions.


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tions in their learning as well as using

learning to prepare for and cope with

other transitions. In turn, each individu-

al faces increasingly differentiated tra-

jectories through their lives resulting

from the particular constellations of

transitions, and their various outcomes,

which they experience. And these indi-

vidualising tendencies reinforce the ab-

sence of a completed, prescribed script

for many of the transitions; habit and

routine no longer provide a reliable

guide to decision-making.

People’s trajectories are partly

shaped by their own capacities for ex-

ercising control over their lives, capaci-

ties which include different degrees of

reflexivity and levels of human capital;

but as well as this agency, people’s tra-

jectories are embedded in a lived con-

text of external factors, which structure

the opportunities that people face (Bi-esta & Tedder, 2006). For older work-

ers, for example, participation in learn-

ing often arises partly as a result of

similar processes of standardisation

and destandardisation. On the one

hand, older workers experience shared

pressures to re-skill in order to remain

within the labour market; these pres-

sures can arise from new technologies,

new markets, new regulatory require-

ments and a range of other factors that

confront whole cohorts of workers at

more or less the same time. Moreover,workers generally face a general mana-

gerial demand for continuous learning,

influenced by wider discourses of the

knowledge economy and competitive

innovation.

Yet the adaptation system within

firms varies considerably from work-

place to workplace, with differing em-

phases on different techniques, and of-

ten with considerable use of nonformal

methods such as coaching, mentoring,

guided observation and the re-use of

digital learning objects, while the path-ways through different training and

learning options are increasingly plu-

ralised and managed – if at all –

through ostensibly simplified (but in

practice often complex) restandardising

mechanisms such as unitisation of the

curriculum, credit accumulation, and

learning passports. Some of the prob-

lems can be seen in the example of ac-

creditation of prior learning, or valida-

tion des acquis, which attempts to dis-

cipline, regulate and codify the varied,

highly personal learning experiences of

the candidates, but can only apparently

do so at the cost of considerable time,

effort and support (Pouget, 2011).

And as well as change that disrupts,

people face change that reshapes and

creates new structures. As Tara Fen-

wick notes, most studies of professional

learning are concerned with the sociali-

zation of early career professionals,

particularly with the transition from

higher education to employment; by

contrast, relatively little has been writ-

ten on the learning of older profession-

als and their transitions (Fenwick,

2012). Yet established professionals

face considerable transformation in

their working environment. Rapid

changes in public expectations and at-tention, new specifications of practice

standards, the growing internationali-

sation of their work, new public man-

agement techniques of accountability

and audit, and changing regulatory

frameworks are all helping to reshape

professional roles and responsibilities.

While we can understand transitions

as both personal troubles and public is-

sues, contemporary conditions have

tended to individualise them and em-

phasise the individual’s responsibility

for their own life planning. And this iswhere lifelong learning steps in. From

career guidance to third age pro-

grammes, from “learning to learn” in

kindergarten to MBA, from Mozart for

babies to flirting training, people face a

crowded world of learning activities

designed to help them through transi-

tions. The “silent explosion” of adult

learning (Field, 2006) that has been ex-

perienced in many western countries

includes much that might be described

as “transitional learning” (Glastra,

Hake & Schedler, 2004), or in Alheit’swords, as “biographical learning”, in

which the capacity to learn for and

from one’s own life is an increasingly

significant resource (Alheit, 1994).

So I am arguing that learning itself is

not only a passive factor, which people

use to adapt to change. It also becomes

an active enabler of change, which peo-

ple use in order to anticipate events

and actively plan their future lives

(which, in turn, then alters the circum-

stances of others). If this is so, then

what types of learning will best enable

people to thrive and prosper through

transition, and seize control over their

lives, not just as individuals, but as

members of a wider community? For

Alheit (1994), biographicity is not

something that can be taught; rather, it

is an inherent capability that educators

and trainers should take into account

and support in creative and meaningful

ways. For me, this comes close to what

is currently known as personalisation;

while it may speak to current concerns

for “learner voice” and consumer-ori-

entation, it is not clear how it can con-

tribute to the wider collective, organi-

sational and community levels of learn-

ing and transition. This remains, then,

work in progress.Glastra, Hake and Schedler offer an

alternative approach in their proposals

for “transitional learning”. First, they

propose that transitional learning

should incorporate “a critical social

analysis of globalization and individu-

alization and their influence on the life

course”. Second, they argue for the cre-

ation of diverse learning communities,

corresponding to features of cosmopol-

itanism in urban life. Finally, they sug-

gest that transitional learning will ena-

ble people to identify and understandboundaries, and know how to preserve

some while taking advantage of mobil-

ity possibilities in other cases (Glastra,

Hake & Schedler, 2004, 304-5). These

principles, while clearly arguable and

possibly over-politicised, at least have

the merit of recognising the broader so-

cial, economic and cultural dimensions

of transitions, and acknowledging that

people may have shared understand-

ings of what transition means for them,

as well as collective interests in pro-

moting or resisting transitions. Andthese principles require us to take a

richer, more engaged view of learning

at the individual and social levels.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

So far, my analysis and argument have

been with economic, social and psycho-

logical approaches to transitions, and

the implications of some recent theoret-


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ical understandings of transition for

our perspective on lifelong learning.This has led me to side with those who

emphasise the fluid and multi-direc-

tional nature of transitions in contem-

porary societies, which encourages us

then to explore the role of education,

training and non-formal learning in

promoting change, and enabling people

to control their lives, as well as in help-

ing people to adjust to transitions that

confront them throughout the life

course. And at this stage I should note

that those who support adult learners

are doubly caught up in this process:

not only do they too experience the re-

quirement to adapt and to anticipate

change creatively, but they must also

then develop the resources and capabil-

ities to support their learners. This has

implications for policy and practice,

but also for research.

When it comes to adult life, research

on transitions is still relatively under-

developed. There is a comparatively

mature literature on transitions among

young people, and particularly on the

transition from youth to adulthood and

from school to work, but this has yetto make a significant impact on studies

of adult transitions; and this work has

not yet stretched out to encompass

continuing transitions through the life

course. In so far as there is a developed

body of research on transitions in adult

life, it has tended to concentrate on a

narrow range of shifts, typically involv-

ing entry into particular types of educa-

tion and training. In the English lan-

guage, there is an enormous body of

work on entrance to higher education

by adult returners; even within thissub-field, there is relatively little inter-

est in how adult returners experience

the transition within higher education,

nor how they fare in the transition into

the graduate labour market.

Nevertheless, there is an emerging

body of research on transitions in adult

life that promises to make a major con-

tribution to our understanding of life-

long learning. This can be seen as part

of a wider set of developments in social

science research into adult learning.

First, the wider biographical turn in

adult education research has focussed

attention on the interplay of learning

with other spheres of adults’ lives, as

these processes work out across the life

course (West, Alheit, Andersen & Mer-

rill, 2007). Second, from a rather dif-

ferent methodological perspective, the

study of transitions has also been en-

couraged by the application of new

quantitative techniques to longitudinal

data sets, which enable researchers to

trace the wider impact of changes on

people’s lives over time. This work is at

a relatively early stage, however, and

while it has shed considerable light on

some of the wider benefits of adult

learning (Field, 2011; Schuller et al.,

2004), it has yet to be applied system-atically to adults’ experiences of learn-

ing transitions. There is considerable

potential for new studies, using ad-

vanced statistical methods, that draw

on panel data which allow for an ex-

ploration of particular types of transi-

tion and their learning aspects; as some

panel surveys take place at a European

level, this suggests opportunities for

comparative studies, allowing us to ex-

amine the effects of different institu-

tional systems and policy frameworks.

When it comes to practice, the adulteducation literature often paints transi-

tions as difficult, troubling, even un-

pleasant. The dominant view is that

people must set out to remedy deficits,

such as poor literacy skills, weak em-

ployability, or a lack of cultural capital.

They are travellers in a strange land,

poorly equipped to understand or ne-

gotiate the various barriers that deny

them access to learning opportunities,

and then navigate the middle class val-

ues and procedures of the providing in-

stitution and its staff. Even once theyhave joined a learning programme,

people need access to emotional sup-

port in the form of counselling and in-

formational support in the form of

guidance, to help them make sense of

the confusing and alien world that they

have entered (Ecclestone, 2004). Yet in-

terviews with adult learners also show

many examples of people who see tran-

sitions as an emancipation, freeing

them from established bonds and obli-

gations, and allowing them to imagine

and redesign their lives anew (see for

instance Merrill, 2009). Not all transi-

tions are unwanted, and not all adult

learners are vulnerable and fragile in

their approach to transitions. For

some, the problem may not be too

much change but too little.

This brings me finally to the impor-

tance of understanding transitions at

the wider social level. Of course it is

important to understand the learner as

a person, facing all the private troubles

that come with adult life and learning.

The individual turn in adult education

has had a number of potentially posi-

tive results, both in practice through

associated developments in terms of

personalised learning, flexible learning

and self-learning, and in research,through a renewed focus on the learn-

er’s ability to construct meaning and

narratives. But this should not come at

the cost of building resilience and un-

derstanding in dealing with transfor-

mation as part of wider processes of

social, cultural, economic and political

change. This requires an ability to un-

derstand and influence change – and, in

European societies, of developing the

capabilities of behaving and belonging

in an open, democratic and participa-

tory manner. As commissioner An-droulla Vassiliou reminded us in her

speech on the European agenda for

adult learning, “just as a modern econ-

omy needs the participation of every-

one, so does a democratic society”. Eu-

rope stands at a cross-roads, but im-

portant though the decisions of today

may be, we need to take the long view

of lifelong learning in, for and about

the transitions, many of them incon-

ceivable today, that we will face in the

years ahead.

REFERENCES

Alheit, P. (1994). The “biographicalquestion” as a challenge to adulteducation. International Review ofEducation 40, 283–298.

Baltes, P. B., Reese, H. & Lipsett, L.(1980). Lifespan developmentalpsychology. Annual Review ofPsychology 31: 65–110.

Baltes, P. B. (1997). On the incomplete

” Researchon adult lifetransitions is

under-developed.


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architecture of human ontogeny:Selection, optimization andcompensation. American Psychologist ,52 (4), 366–80.

Bauman, Z. (1995). Life in fragments:Essays in postmodern moralities.Oxford: Blackwell.

Beck, U. (1986). Risikogesellschaft. Aufdem Weg in eine andere Moderne.Frankfurt a.M: Suhrkamp Verlag.

Becker, G. (1964, 1993, 3rd ed.). HumanCapital: A Theoretical and EmpiricalAnalysis, with Special Reference toEducation. Chicago, University ofChicago Press

Biesta, G & Tedder, M. (2007). Agencyand learning in the life course:Towards an ecological perspective.Studies in the Education of Adults 39,132–149.

Ecclestone, K. (2004). Learning orTherapy? The demoralisation ofeducation.

British Journal of Educational Studies 52,112–37.

Edwards, R. (2002). Mobilising lifelonglearning: governmentality ineducational practices. Journal ofEducation Policy, 17 (3), 353–65.

Erikson, E. H. Identity and the life cycle:New York: International UniversitiesPress.

Eurostat (2012). Key data on educationin Europe 2012. Brussels: Education,Audiovisual and Culture ExecutiveAgency.

Fenwick, T. (2012). Learning amongolder professional workers: knowledgestrategies and knowledge orientations.

Vocations and Learning , Online First.Retrieved 28 February 2012 fromhttp://www.springerlink.com/content/ an18776646311864/fulltext.pdf

Field, J. (2006). Lifelong learning and thenew educational order. Stoke:Trentham.

Field, J. (2011). Researching the benefitsof learning: the persuasive power oflongitudinal studies. London Reviewof Education, 2011, 9, 3, 283–92.

Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the latemodern age Cambridge: Polity.

Glastra, F., Hake, B. & Schedler, P.

(2004). Lifelong Learning asTransitional Learning. AdultEducation Quarterly 54, 291–307.

Grenier, A. (2012). Transitions and thelife course: Challenging theconstructions of ‘growing old’. Bristol:Policy Press.

Kohli, M. (2003). Der institutionalisierteLebenslauf: ein Blick zurück und nachvorn. In J. Allmendinger (Ed.).Entstaatlichung und soziale Sicherheit .

Opladen: Leske & Budrich.Laslett, P. (1989). A fresh map of life: the

emergence of the third age. London:Weidenfeld.

Meager, N. (2009). The role of trainingand skills development in active labourmarket policies. International Journalof Training and Development , 13, 1,1–18.

Merrill, B. (2009). (Ed.). Learning toChange? The role of identity andlearning careers in adult education.Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter Lang.

OECD (1973). Recurrent education: astrategy for lifelong learning . Paris:OECD.

Pouget, M. (2011). The VAE, or the needfor ordering: an impossible quest? Ananalysis of representation andtranslation processes in the Validationdes Acquis de l’Expérience in a FrenchUniversity, Doctoral thesis, Universityof Stirling, available at https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/handle/1893/3586.

Rosanvallon, P. (1995). La nouvellequestion sociale: repenser ‘État- providence. Paris: Editions du Seuil.

Schuller, T., Preston, J., Hammond, C.,Brassett-Grundy, A. & Bynner, J.(2004). The Benefits of Learning: theimpact of education on health, familylife and social capital , London:Routledge.

Schultz, T. (1963). The economic value ofeducation. New York: ColumbiaUniversity Press.

Sheehy, G. (1984). Passages: Predictablecrises of adult life. New York: Bantam.

Stenberg, A. & Westerlund, O. (2008).

“Does comprehensive education workfor the long-term unemployed?”Labour Economics, 15, 1, 54–67.

Tinto, V. (1987). Leaving College:Rethinking the causes and cures ofstudent attrition. Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press.

Walther, A., du Bois-Reymond, M. &Biggart, A. (2006). Participation inTransition: Motivation of young adultsin Europe for learning and working .Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter Lang.

West, L., Alheit, P., Andersen, A. S. &Merrill, B. (2007). Using Biographicaland Life History Approaches in the

study of adult and lifelong learning .Frankfurt-am-Main: Peter Lang.

Zhang, X. & B. Palameta (2006).Participation in Adult Schooling andits Earnings Impact in Canada.Ottawa: Statistics Canada.

JOHN FIELD

John Field is a professor in the School of

Education, University of Stirling, where

he specialises in adult skills and lifelong

learning. He previously worked at the

University of Ulster and University of

Warwick, where he took his doctorate

in 1979. He is also active in the National

Institute of Adult Continuing Education.

His work on social capital has appeared in

many languages; he is currently writing a

history of masculinity, identity and the body

in work camp systems before 1939.

CONTACT

John Field

Room B29, Adult Learning and Teaching,

Pathfoot

School of Education

University of Stirling

StirlingScotland

FK9 4LA, the UK

Tel: + 44 (0) 1786 466145

Email:[email protected]


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Overcoming boredom, dust

and decay– Turning post-Soviet

museums into lifelong

learning spaces

The EU project A-MUSE-ALL seeks to turn museums in

the post-Soviet countries of the Caucasus, and in Russia,

into genuine spaces for lifelong learning. Many museums

in the region have suffered from poor funding and little

contact with potential audiences. The project aims tochange this by training museum staff and facilitating

cooperation among museums in the area. In the context

of political and ethnic tension in the area, this

cooperation is also a bridge-builder between nations and

ethnic groups.

Marika Keresel idze

M U S E UM S

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Cultural policy in the Soviet Union was

part of the ideological policy of the

Communist Party. Museum systems in

the post-Soviet countries were highly

developed. However, after the collapse

of the Soviet Union, museums in the

post-Soviet countries were faced with

great financial problems, challenges of

a market economy and the necessity to

reposition themselves as institutions.

Furthermore, growing socio-eco-

nomic problems in recent years, includ-

ing the global economic crisis, are ac-

companied by increasing political ten-

sions and rising intercultural and in-terethnic problems throughout the

former Soviet Union. Independent ex-

perts agree that relationships between

direct border neighbors are more than

just complex – due to historical, eco-

nomic, social and political problems

and conflicts searching for joint solu-

tions will require a lot of time.

The role of culture and especially

museums as strong tools for solving so-

cio-economic and interethnic problems

has been underestimated. In this critical

time the project A-MUSE-ALL hasturned out to be very helpful. The

project “Beyond Boredom, Dust and

Decay - Museums as Life Long Learn-

ing Spaces for Intercultural Dialogue

(A-MUSE-ALL)” was launched in

2009 under the auspices of the pro-

gram of the European Commission

“Investing in People: Access to local

culture, protection and promotion of

cultural diversity”. This regional

project operates in Armenia, Azerbai-

jan, Georgia and in the Russian Federa-

tion over a period of 30 months. Imple-mented by the Institute for Internation-

al Cooperation of the German Adult

Education Association (dvv interna-

tional) and following eight partners

from the target regions, the project is

co-funded by the European Commis-

sion and the German Ministry for Eco-

nomic Cooperation and Development

(BMZ).

Partners in the target regions in-

clude: Armenian Association of Muse-

um Workers and Friends (AMWF), Ar-menian Scientific and Educational Cen-

tre for National Development (SEC-

ND), Azerbaijan National Committee

of the International Council of Muse-

ums (ICOM), The State Museum of

Azerbaijan Carpet and Applied Art,

Georgian National Museum Friends

Association (GNMFA), Adult Educa-

tion Association of Georgia (AEAG),

Centre of Traditional Culture (Tosno,

Russia) and the Karelian Centre of Cul-

ture (Petrozavodsk, Russia).

The project’s main aim is to supportcapacity building of staff of cultural

and learning institutions in the Cauca-

sus Region and Russia in order to

transfer existing museums into active

spaces of lifelong learning. The project

strives to enhance professionalism and

intercultural competence of museums

and to foster more active engagement

of museums in social learning and in-

clusion processes.

SHARED PROBLEMS IN THE POST-

SOVIET SPACEAlthough there are some differences be-

tween the participating countries in

terms of current political and economic

processes, they are united by shared

challenges of the rapidly changing

world, the need to enhance mobility

and to overcome similar

difficulties. One answer to these “chal-

lenges” is the introduction of the life-

long learning concept in these countries

in general as well as to clarify the role

of the cultural institutions in this re-

gard. International exchange and jointprojects along with a close connection

with the activities of the European Un-

ion in this field are making a useful

contribution to the development of

long-term and sustainable strategy for

joint cultural and educational activities.

“Cultural understanding” is impor-

tant in times of conflict, tension, glo-

balization and multicultural challenges

of the social structures of societies and

nations. There is a lot of political ten-sion especially in the Caucasus region

and with Russia. It is enough to men-

tion the tensions between Georgia and

Russia especially after the war in Au-

gust 2008 and the Karabakh-problem

between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The very nature of museums, offer-

ing formal and non-formal education

through their collections and knowl-

edge, gives a unique opportunity to ad-

dress this issue. Museums offer more

insight and reflection than most other

media, which tend to offer their digest-ed opinions to the public. The museum

is often in competition with these other

media for the favor of the public. But

here it is important for museums to

have the media and politicians recog-

nize the museums’ potential and at-

tribute the right support and role to

them when addressing and fostering

cultural understanding. The specific po-

tential that museums have to contrib-

ute to participative and democratic

learning of societies is demonstrated by

many examples throughout Europe.If we talk about adult informal

learning, museums can be most appro-

priate places to provide leisure atmos-

phere, untapped information and com-

munication opportunities with com-

panions at the same time (compare:

Museums and informal education,

CMS Bulletin Vol. 1 No. 1, 1993, Dr.

Chandler Screven: “Informal settings

such as museums offer untapped poten-

tial for communicating social, cultural

and scientific information, correcting

misconceptions and improving atti-

tudes and cognitive skills. Learning is

voluntary and self-directed in such in-

formal settings. It is driven by curiosity,

discovery, free exploration and the

sharing of experiences with compan-

ions. Learning in museums, in its

broadest sense, is a by-product of the

free interaction of leisure oriented visi-

tors with exhibitions and their sur-

roundings.”)

M U S E UM S

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Looking at the situation of museums

in the Caucasus countries and the Rus-

sian Federation the following commonspecific problems of museums can be

identified: lack of government financ-

ing, sponsoring or donation and

knowledge about fundraising, lack of

practical habits and skills of manage-

ment in a market economy, inadequate

use of modern technologies, unattrac-

tiveness to new audiences and especial-

ly young people, no reach-out pro-

grammes, lack of motivation of muse-

um staff and a general lack of dialogue

with the public. These general prob-

lems have led to a lack of cooperationbetween museums, culture centers and

entities and, accordingly, had a nega-

tive impact on their activities. This has

also deprived the museums of this re-

gion of representation in various inter-

national projects and events. People

have lost interest in visiting museums,

because most of them have also been in

a bad physical condition. Museums

have turned into spaces of Boredom,

Dust and Decay.

OVERCOMING INERTIA,OVERCOMING BARRIERS

Though the participants of the project

realized the urgent need of introducing

the lifelong learning concept in muse-

ums, creating target-group-oriented

programs and an attractive environ-

ment for visitors, they were not able to

implement these due to certain reasons

(financial problems, insufficient compe-

tences, low motivation etc.). On the

other hand, the workers of small coun-

try museums were not familiar with the

modern development trends of muse-ums, so these museums slowly decayed

without any chance of success. The A-

MUSE-ALL project turned out to be

very timely in this regard.

Cultural institutions need to expand

the range of their work, along with the

traditional offering of new ways of

working that promote active dialogue

with society at all levels - from state to

individual.

The role of lifelong learning is invalu-

able in this dialogue - a concept that

adequately reflects the current trends of

development of society. Traditional

forms of education and cultural activi-

ties within cultural institutions, such as

lectures, concerts, art exhibitions andcreative meetings with artists, partly

fulfill this function. However, contem-

porary approaches to a vibrant cultural

life presuppose an active participation

of the museum visitor, i.e. a person en-

tering into an active dialogue with the

object, with a museum, with the past

and the present. This seems a point of

mutual enrichment for adult education

and the museum as the cultural institu-

tion, where education can draw on the

resources and cultural treasures, and

museums can actively and creativelyexploit the potential of adult educa-

tion.

The work of the dvv international’s

representation in Caucasus (dating

back to 2001, with distinct offices in

Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia since

2005) focused at the first stage of its

activities on the field of the Vocational

Education and Training (VET) due to

the grim economic situation of the

countries. However, the field of adult

education, as we know, is very broad

and comprehensive. It can imply gener-al adult education, vocational educa-

tion and training, civic education, in-

formal education, including such forms

of learning like distance learning,

blended learning, training on the job

and so forth.

Cultural education is very often un-

deservingly considered a secondary in-

strument, in fact the role of the culture

in bringing different ethnic groups clos-

er, removing barriers, deploying cre-ative potential of people and contribut-

ing to general education and develop-

ment can not be underestimated. A-

MUSE-ALL has demonstrated this with

its positive, partly unforeseen effects.

It showed us, that it is necessary to

lobby for the role of museums and cul-

tural institutions on a political level. A

participant of one of the study visits in

the framework of the project wrote:

“Five countries are involved in the

project and two ‘couples’ have serious

political problems with each other. Buthere we discovered that we can work

very well with each other.”

The activities in the framework of

the project were conducted on different

“fronts”. One of the most important

fronts was the capacity building of mu-

seum workers.

TRAINING THE MUSEUM STAFF

The educational program for the muse-

um staff of the participating countries

has been elaborated on the basis of a

training needs assessment that was con-ducted at the first stage of the project.

The results of the study showed a high

motivation and demand for further

qualification of the museum workers.

As a result many training events took

place within the project, giving the mu-

seum workers the opportunity to up-

date their knowledge with valuable in-

formation and experience from Euro-

pean countries.

A good number of training events

took place in the project countries, in

addition to those organized abroad.Study visits were made to Germany

and Denmark, giving the participants

the opportunity to make important

contacts (e. g. with the Grundtvig proj-

ect as well as with the Institute of the

Museum Research in Berlin, etc.) and

gain valuable experience, which they

then were able to share with their col-

”Museums

offers insightfree of pre-digested opinions ofother media.

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leagues. Fruitful training sessions were

arranged in the project countries, with

invited international experts.

Trainings on topics of Museums andEducation, Museums Management and

Marketing, Study of Museums’ Visitors

Circle, Interactive Training Methods in

Museums, Intercultural Dialogue etc.

took place in different museums in Ar-

menia. A lecture on “Media Technolo-

gy in the context of museums presenta-

tions and exhibition design” was also

held, which aroused great interest.

Over 45 persons attended the lecture;

they included university students, mu-

seum specialists, and other interested

groups.

Series of training sessions and muse-

um consultations took place in Azer-

baijan. A good example is the regional

training on “Museum Network in

Azerbaijan: realities and perspectives”,

held in Guba (Azerbaijan), where the

region’s museum professionals, civil so-

ciety representatives, local businessmen

and the media were among attendees.

The 2-day-long course focused on top-

ics as diverse as: educational programs

for adults, improving expertise of mu-

seum workers, strengthening of inter-museum relations, the prospects of im-

plementing joint projects, “Club of

Museum Friends” and a network of

museums in Azerbaijan.

Experts of the Georgian National

Museum created a series of publica-

tions (three electronic books) on the

topics of Museums of the 21st century

as Spaces for Life Long Learning and

Intercultural Dialogue. These publica-

tions are very useful guides for museum

workers and all interested parties. Mu-

seum workers from 5 different regions

of Georgia participated in the training

program, created on the basis of these

guides. The book Lifelong Learning in

Museums. A European Handbook ed-

ited by Kirsten Gibbs, Margherita Sani

and Jane Thompson was translated

from English into Armenian and elec-

tronically delivered to all beneficiaries

(museum staff, local experts and uni-

versity students).

Not only international experts but

experts from partner countries were in-

vited to Georgia. One example is thetraining “Museums and Adult Educa-

tion - a step forward to each other”,

which was held by the Russian expert

of the dvv international for the muse-

um workers of Georgia.

Specialists from Russia who took

part in a Training of Trainers (ToT)

course in Bonn developed a training

module. The module was based on the

experience gained in Bonn.

In Russia a very useful learning tool

for active methods of adult education

in museums has been developed byproject experts and disseminated in the

project countries. It is also available on

the web portal of the project www.

amuse-all.net , which was created in

the framework of the project.

The capacity building courses were

very successful, well-liked and appreci-

ated by the participants. Participants

showed great motivation and always

expressed their need in such kind of ca-

pacity building.

CREATING LIFELONG LEARNINGSTRATEGIES

One of the project outputs was the

elaboration of the LLL- and media-

strategies of museums, aiming to trans-

form museums into attractive spaces

for the broad public and into platforms

of intercultural dialogue.

The project implementation team re-

alized the necessity of broadening and

activating the museums friends’ circles.

Such circles help draw new audiences

to museums, connect the museum and

the public and sustain educational andexhibition activities of the museum.

They organize various outreach pro-

grams (exhibitions, workshops, public

lectures/talks, community events, art

festivals etc.) that help to build public

interest in museums’ collections and

promote learning and appreciation of

the collections.

Staff training under way at the Georgian National Museum.

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There were different initial situa-

tions in project countries in this regard.

In Armenia and Georgia MuseumsFriends’ Associations existed already

before the project had started: it re-

mained the task of the project to sup-

port and activate these associations. In

addition to the Armenian Association

of museum workers and Friends, each

of the ten project partner museums

were equipped with newly established

Circles of Friends, including publicity

materials and in some cases formal

statutes. Circles of Friends were also

established in ten Armenian museums

involved in the project. These Circleswere equipped by publicity materials as

well. Some of them have already devel-

oped their charters. In Georgia a new

concept for the cooperation with the

friends of the Georgian National Mu-

seum and a benefit package has been

elaborated. In Azerbaijan and Russia

structures had to be built more or less

from scratch in this regard. In the part-

ner countries of the project, consider-

ing the present situation, it was very

important not only to get acquainted

with the European best practices butalso to share local experience with each

other.

A VIRTUAL EXHIBITION

In addition to the comprehensive web

portal, the project used the social net-

work to disseminate information and

materials to the interested public. A

project facebook page informed inter-

ested users about project and museum

events. Partner museums created their

own pages on facebook sharing their

news with friends: indeed they stillkeep doing so.

The web portal hosted one of the

most remarkable outputs of the project

– the Virtual Exhibition, in which the

project countries presented different

photographs on the topic of “Everyday

Life in Art”. The photographic collec-

tions have been printed and toured Eu-

rope. The tour was complemented by

public lectures on the arts and culture

of their respective countries held by ex-

perts from each project partner coun-try. These lectures were held in the folk

high schools of 15 cities of Germany.

The exhibition contained pictures from

Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Rus-

sia. The exhibition was also organized

in Vanadzor Museum of Fine Art in Ar-

menia.

TENDING TO COMMUNITY

RELATIONS

The ties between museums and society

were expanded through cultural activi-

ties in the frame of the project. Festi-vals, master classes, musical and litera-

ture events, public lectures and exhibi-

tions implemented in the framework of

the project won a lot of new friends to

museums. At the same time, partici-

pants in these events had the opportu-

nity to become familiar with the cul-

ture, habits and art of different ethnic

groups and make parallels to every-

thing that brings people closer to each

other.

Dvv international assisted the muse-

ums in working with ethnic minoritiesin all target countries.

In Georgia different training pro-

grams and public lectures have been

conducted on the topics of intercultural

dialogue, ethnic diversity of the Geor-

gian population, the role of museums

and cultural institutions in social inclu-

sion and dialogue. A very good exam-

ple was the public lecture on Georgian-

Ossetian Relations, accompanied by an

electronic publication with a number of

archive photographs and valuable in-

formation from the museum. Theseprograms were offered to different age

and ethnic groups in the whole of

Georgia, helping them to get acquaint-

ed with each others’ culture and tradi-

tions and to initiate dialogue between

different ethnic groups living in Geor-

gia. Such events were very useful with

respect to the tensions between the

Georgian and Ossetian populations.

Besides the in-country contacts and

initial cooperation that dvv interna-

tional supported between the museumswithin the countries, dvv international

facilitated communication and cooper-

ation between museums of neighbour-

ing countries as well. Armenians met

with the Azerbaijanian people on neu-

tral territories (Georgia, Germany,

Denmark, and Turkey) and Russians

met with Georgians. It is worth men-

tioning that despite a strained political

situation between Georgia and Russia,

a Russian project representative – a

trainer – arrived to Georgia and con-

ducted trainings to Georgian and after-wards to Armenian and Azerbaijanian

colleagues.

The project has covered groups of

people who had never been to muse-

ums before. That means that museums

have gone and contacted different seg-

ments of society including different

ethnic groups like school children,

teachers, parents of the school children,

university students and professors, eld-

erly people, veterans and disabled very

effectively. The project has consolidat-

ed very effectively the way informationabout museums reaches these target

groups.

The project provided a platform for

interaction for Azeris and Armenians,

after years of severed contacts. The re-

gional cooperation within the frames of

the project encouraged a start of the di-

alogue between the conflict states. In

the words of a participant: “We are

happy that we are able to discuss some

issues and share some experiences.

However, we used to meet on neutral

territories.”

The overall results were more than

positive. A huge number of unplanned

events and trainings, organized by the

dvv international offices in cooperation

with local partner institutions, took

place due to big interest and demand of

the beneficiaries. One good example is

the mobile exhibition of the drawings

of the German ethnologist Max Tilke,

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casian people in the beginning of the

20th century. The exhibition was com-plemented by an educational program,

created by a Georgian museum expert.

This program has been conducted in

more than 10 different museums and

educational institutions in different re-

gions of Georgia, with great success

and positive feedback.

Museums in Yerevan have partici-

pated in the international event “Night

of Museums” for many years. Inspired

and supported through the A-MUSE-

ALL project, 10 project beneficiary mu-

seums organized the “Long Night ofMuseums” for the first time. Museums

developed interesting programs and

opened their doors to visitors until late

evening. Along with “Night of Muse-

ums” several other public events, such

as concerts, music festivals, perform-

ances and such were organized in the

regional towns and villages in Armenia.

One of the challenges of the project

was the fact that the participants were

museums of different development lev-

els, from small country museums to

huge national museums. Despite thesize differences, the project helped them

exchange their knowledge and experi-

ence, get connected and enrich each

other.

Overall, this project demonstrated

the importance of cultural work in in-

terethnic dialogue, the invaluable role

and potential of museums and other

cultural institutions in adult education

and lifelong learning, in meeting the

challenges of the 21st century.

It showed how much can be done

and how much still has to be done in

order to transfer the museums into life-

long learning spaces.

MARIKA KERESELIDZE

Mariam Kereselidze was born in Tbilisi,Georgia in 1979. She studied German

language and Literature at the

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