News

Anticipating Change: effective approaches to lifelong learning and age management

November 2007

A European EQUAL Conference on the theme of Age Management and Lifelong Learning will be held on 6 and 7 December 2007 in Athens, Greece. Organised by the Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection and supported by the European Commission's Directorate General (DG) Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, this event will gather around 250 people – including European, national and regional government representatives involved in the management and implementation of the new European Social Fund (ESF) 2007-2013.

Conference logo Since the start of EQUAL, the issues of age management and lifelong learning have been a major focus of a large number of funded Development Partnerships (DPs): during the two rounds of EQUAL, there have been 210 DPs working on age management issues and over 800 DPs have been active under the Lifelong Learning pillar. Clearly, this means that there is significant potential within EQUAL to respond to the European Union (EU) agenda on these two important subjects! What is more, age management and lifelong learning constitute critical themes for the new ESF programming period; the situation of older workers and importance of lifelong learning are explicitly mentioned in the new ESF Regulation, and consequently Member States are now finalising and rolling out their ESF Operational Programmes (OPs) with these (as well as other) policy priorities in mind. So what better way to transfer the good practice and lessons from EQUAL – in relation to age management and lifelong learning - to new ESF projects than by organising a conference!

The Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection has taken up this 'conference opportunity' by working together with DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, as well as the EQUAL Managing Authorities from Cyprus, France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Slovakia and Spain. The result of this collaboration is an event entitled 'Anticipating Change: effective approaches to lifelong learning and age management', to be held in Athens, Greece on 6 and 7 December 2007. The overall aim of the event is to disseminate the main policy and practice messages from the Adaptability pillar of EQUAL to European, national and regional actors - particularly those involved in the management and implementation of the new ESF.

And the specific objectives of the event are to:

Disseminate the achievements, lessons and outcomes of EQUAL DPs funded under the Adaptability pillar across both rounds.
Disseminate the achievements and added value of national and regional networking, as illustrated by the National Thematic Networks (NTN) and other cooperative structures set up within EQUAL.
Formulate and present clear and targeted policy and practice messages – based on the experience of EQUAL - in relation to the implementation of lifelong learning and age management measures within the new ESF.

During a variety of plenary presentations and interactive workshops, participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss concrete experiences from EQUAL to respond to the challenges facing Europe, including the ageing of its population, low level of employment of older workers and low participation rates in lifelong learning: on average 42.5% of older workers (aged 55–64) were employed in the 25 Member states of the EU in 2005[1];and only 10.2% of adults were engaged in lifelong learning in 2005.[2]

Talking of projects, there will be plenty of EQUAL DPs and networks coming to present their work at the conference. Not only will they be talking about their experiences and enriching the workshop debate, but they will also be showing their finalised products in a dedicated exhibition space.

Key themes and key actors

About 250 participants are expected to attend the conference. The truly EU-wide audience will include key actors from the European, national and regional levels, including the European Commission, social partner organisations, government representatives involved in the management and implementation of the new ESF, research and policy institutionsand of course, the DPs that have tested the good practice models on which the recommendations are based.

Together these actors will explore the opportunities of incorporating EQUAL's principles and good practices into the new ESF and of using them to inform future work within the context of the implementation of the OP. For example, how can these age management and lifelong learning challenges be addressed in the call for proposals under the new ESF? What specific type of projects should be funded? To be most effective, who should they involve? How should they be supported by the ESF Managing Authorities and Intermediary Bodies? And above all, how can EQUAL project experience help respond to these questions?

New ! Publication now available

A conference publication, included in the delegate pack, will summarise the main achievements, lessons and outcomes of the lifelong learning and age management DPs, illustrated by DP success stories. It will also present a series of policy and practice messages targeted especially at actors within the new ESF. The publication will be posted on the EQUAL website shortly before the conference, so do take a look in December!

The conference programme will be structured according to six sub-themes:

Engaging employers - especially small and medium-sized enterprises
Developing intergenerational learning
Developing vocational training
Validating skills
Promoting social dialogue
Promoting the use of information and communication technologies and e-learning

These sub-themes are seen as 'transversal' – in other words, equally addressing lifelong learning and age management issues – reflecting the fact that, for most DPs, these two themes are closely intertwined. These sub-themes will be the basis of two series of six workshops to be held on the first day of the conference.

Across all of these sub-themes, the conference will seek to present EQUAL experience according to the levels of intervention, namely:

Individual - the specific actions and approaches aimed to support the individual, as well as the endeavours undertaken by the individual him/herself.
Enterprise - the company's actions and strategies for managing and developing its human resources.
Labour market - sectoral or territorial initiatives aimed at addressing labour market trends and challenges, involving cooperation between various stakeholders.

On the second day of the conference, six workshops will be focusing on NTNs and other EQUAL networks. The idea behind these workshops is to explore the various approaches and benefits of networking, in particular at local and regional levels, to address age management and lifelong learning issues.

And to frame all of these workshops, there will be a number of plenary speeches and key note addresses, delivered by high-level representatives of the Greek Government, Greek EQUAL Managing Authority, European Commission and GHK Consulting (European thematic experts for EQUAL Adaptability). These interventions will reflect the importance lifelong learning and age management, particularly in the context of the acceleration of demographic ageing and the future of European society, and with specific reference to EQUAL and the new ESF.

The programme is available on the Conference website
Download the publication: "EQUAL: paving the way for lifelong learning and age management"
Attendance at the conference is by invitation only from Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection. For those who are unable to attend, there will be plenty of information on the conference in December: a web article, as well as two documents summarising the main discussion points and conclusions.

[1] Employment in Europe 2006

[2] Joint Employment Report 2006/2007

[3] The conference programme is still subject to change.

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News Anticipating Change: effective approaches to lifelong learning and age management November 2007 A European EQUAL Conference on the theme of Age Management and Lifelong Learning will be held on 6 and 7 December 2007 in Athens, Greece. Organised by the Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection and supported by the European Commission's Directorate General (DG) Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, this event will gather around 250 people – including European, national and regional government representatives involved in the management and implementation of the new European Social Fund (ESF) 2007-2013. Since the start of EQUAL, the issues of age management and lifelong learning have been a major focus of a large number of funded Development Partnerships (DPs): during the two rounds of EQUAL, there have been 210 DPs working on age management issues and over 800 DPs have been active under the Lifelong Learning pillar. Clearly, this means that there is significant potential within EQUAL to respond to the European Union (EU) agenda on these two important subjects! What is more, age management and lifelong learning constitute critical themes for the new ESF programming period; the situation of older workers and importance of lifelong learning are explicitly mentioned in the new ESF Regulation, and consequently Member States are now finalising and rolling out their ESF Operational Programmes (OPs) with these (as well as other) policy priorities in mind. So what better way to transfer the good practice and lessons from EQUAL – in relation to age management and lifelong learning - to new ESF projects than by organising a conference! The Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection has taken up this 'conference opportunity' by working together with DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, as well as the EQUAL Managing Authorities from Cyprus, France, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Slovakia and Spain. The result of this collaboration is an event entitled 'Anticipating Change: effective approaches to lifelong learning and age management', to be held in Athens, Greece on 6 and 7 December 2007. The overall aim of the event is to disseminate the main policy and practice messages from the Adaptability pillar of EQUAL to European, national and regional actors - particularly those involved in the management and implementation of the new ESF. And the specific objectives of the event are to: Disseminate the achievements, lessons and outcomes of EQUAL DPs funded under the Adaptability pillar across both rounds. Disseminate the achievements and added value of national and regional networking, as illustrated by the National Thematic Networks (NTN) and other cooperative structures set up within EQUAL. Formulate and present clear and targeted policy and practice messages – based on the experience of EQUAL - in relation to the implementation of lifelong learning and age management measures within the new ESF. During a variety of plenary presentations and interactive workshops, participants will have the opportunity to present and discuss concrete experiences from EQUAL to respond to the challenges facing Europe, including the ageing of its population, low level of employment of older workers and low participation rates in lifelong learning: on average 42.5% of older workers (aged 55–64) were employed in the 25 Member states of the EU in 2005[1];and only 10.2% of adults were engaged in lifelong learning in 2005.[2] Talking of projects, there will be plenty of EQUAL DPs and networks coming to present their work at the conference. Not only will they be talking about their experiences and enriching the workshop debate, but they will also be showing their finalised products in a dedicated exhibition space. Key themes and key actors About 250 participants are expected to attend the conference. The truly EU-wide audience will include key actors from the European, national and regional levels, including the European Commission, social partner organisations, government representatives involved in the management and implementation of the new ESF, research and policy institutionsand of course, the DPs that have tested the good practice models on which the recommendations are based. Together these actors will explore the opportunities of incorporating EQUAL's principles and good practices into the new ESF and of using them to inform future work within the context of the implementation of the OP. For example, how can these age management and lifelong learning challenges be addressed in the call for proposals under the new ESF? What specific type of projects should be funded? To be most effective, who should they involve? How should they be supported by the ESF Managing Authorities and Intermediary Bodies? And above all, how can EQUAL project experience help respond to these questions? New ! Publication now available A conference publication, included in the delegate pack, will summarise the main achievements, lessons and outcomes of the lifelong learning and age management DPs, illustrated by DP success stories. It will also present a series of policy and practice messages targeted especially at actors within the new ESF. The publication will be posted on the EQUAL website shortly before the conference, so do take a look in December! The conference programme will be structured according to six sub-themes: Engaging employers - especially small and medium-sized enterprises Developing intergenerational learning Developing vocational training Validating skills Promoting social dialogue Promoting the use of information and communication technologies and e-learning These sub-themes are seen as 'transversal' – in other words, equally addressing lifelong learning and age management issues – reflecting the fact that, for most DPs, these two themes are closely intertwined. These sub-themes will be the basis of two series of six workshops to be held on the first day of the conference. Across all of these sub-themes, the conference will seek to present EQUAL experience according to the levels of intervention, namely: Individual - the specific actions and approaches aimed to support the individual, as well as the endeavours undertaken by the individual him/herself. Enterprise - the company's actions and strategies for managing and developing its human resources. Labour market - sectoral or territorial initiatives aimed at addressing labour market trends and challenges, involving cooperation between various stakeholders. On the second day of the conference, six workshops will be focusing on NTNs and other EQUAL networks. The idea behind these workshops is to explore the various approaches and benefits of networking, in particular at local and regional levels, to address age management and lifelong learning issues. And to frame all of these workshops, there will be a number of plenary speeches and key note addresses, delivered by high-level representatives of the Greek Government, Greek EQUAL Managing Authority, European Commission and GHK Consulting (European thematic experts for EQUAL Adaptability). These interventions will reflect the importance lifelong learning and age management, particularly in the context of the acceleration of demographic ageing and the future of European society, and with specific reference to EQUAL and the new ESF. The programme is available on the Conference website Download the publication: "EQUAL: paving the way for lifelong learning and age management" Attendance at the conference is by invitation only from Greek Ministry of Employment and Social Protection. For those who are unable to attend, there will be plenty of information on the conference in December: a web article, as well as two documents summarising the main discussion points and conclusions. [1] Employment in Europe 2006 [2] Joint Employment Report 2006/2007 [3] The conference programme is still subject to change. Top	Home page Activities & results How does EQUAL work? EQUAL in the Member States News All news Newsletter Useful links

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