Social and economic aspects of recognition and validation of non-formal adult learning system in Greece

Abstract

Non-formal and informal aspects of education are nowadays related to the concepts of recurrent and lifelong learning, as literature significantly supports the importance of education, learning and training that takes place outside typical educational institutions. As lifelong learning is the master concept that could shape educational systems and economies, non-formal education includes any organized educational activity outside the established formal systems that serves identifiable learning objectives, while informal education refers to the lifelong process where every individual acquires knowledge, attributes, skills, values and behaviors from daily life’s experience. Furthermore, as there is currently a strong trend worldwide, to include similar practices in internal policy strategies, new alternative terms arise such as community learning, community education, etc. together with many pilot initiatives. During the recent years, such initiatives have already taken place in many countries, proving that similar actions could greatly contribute to individuals’ knowledge and skills enhancement as well as help in mitigating social inequalities, tackle unemployment, achieve a better match between jobs and skills, and thus improve employment through economic development by supporting human capital productivity. Due to the promising advantages of the organized establishment of non-formal and informal education, the present paper focuses on a thorough analysis of the aforementioned concepts and describes the initiative of a relevant research in Greece, conducted by the authors. The research consists of two parts, one that includes a reliable and representable sample of educational organizations (bodies), examining the current ways used to support and certify certain fields of informal education, noting the typical ways currently used to recognize non-formal and informal learning as well as an additional sample of individuals (beneficiaries) that are interested in further support, validation and certification of non-formal education and informal acquired learning. The results are expected to contribute to the process of highlighting information on the intensity of the demand for recognition of prior knowledge through mediation certification procedures by adult education organizations, as well as to the submission of proposals for the operation of the relevant national mechanisms under development in Greece, according to the European Directive 2012.