LIFELONG LEARNING

Following the conclusion of the Cannes European Council in 1995 the Commission adopted the White paper Learning and teaching: Towards the learning society. This document considers that "Training and apprenticeship policies (…) must be strengthened, specially by continuing training". That is the base for the debate that the Commission launched in the 1996, the year that the Council and the Parliament has chosen as the "European year for lifelong learning.

In the policy context of the European Employment Strategy, the Commission and the Member States have defined lifelong learning as "all purposeful learning activity, whether formal or informal, undertaken on an ongoing basis with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competence."

Lifelong learning has also been defined as a priority theme for activities under Chapter 3 Action III.1of the Socrates programme for 1997-1998. These studies and initiatives are of great interest to stakeholders in the field, and information on them is available to the general public.

The information network "Eurydice" is responsible for producing documents and in-depth comparative analyses on themes of interest to education policy. Further information on EURYDICE is also available.