Education, Work and Lifelong Learning (Education Programme of IUSDT) Education and Society Education is a human, right not a privilege in society. This right has been recognised and emphasised by the United Nations, the Council of Europe and the European Union as well as the in the constitutions of the Nation States. We socialist teachers demand that the governments safeguard these principles. At the same time we emphasise that education in our society faces new challenges, due to:
but also
This has a decisive influence on growing children and on future generations. The environment and lifestyles of children are changing due to:
From the social democratic point of view educated people are the precondition for the existence and further development of a living and democratic society. The education of people manifests itself in their competence, their ability to make decisions and their ability to act with regard to the demands of life in both culture and society. In this sense at least 6 dimensions of a humane education can be recognised:
The State has to provide equal educational opportunities and requisite educational help for all people, but especially adolescents. A broad educational process and one distributed over the total life span, should always motivate people better and enable them better :
These capabilities represent the results of the learning processes which accompany and characterise the whole life of the person:
The Principles of Social Democratic Education Policy The goal of education from the social democratic point of view is desire for the fundamentals of freedom, equality, justice and solidarity. The foundation of education is scientific critically approved active and interactive acquired knowledge regarding nature, culture and society. Education should make possible the inclusion of the performance in the network of society. Freedom needs the ability and creation of the possibility for individual self-determination and social participation. Freedom encapsulates the right of people to have a say on all matters upon which their lives depend. Freedom makes a reality the dignity of people, which is realised through them taking responsibility for their own self. Freedom demands politically the institutionalisation of the forms of democracy, not only with respect to the state informed opinion, but in all fields of society. Political democracy is to be extended to all areas of society in the form of social democracy. Equality is the demand for equal freedom for everyone. Equality entails the possibility of unlimited participation of the individual in the material and spiritual life of society. Equality shall ensure the right of everyone to free self-development. The opportunity for justice ensures for all people the necessary special proportion of support and funding. In this sense justice means not only equal starting chances, but is eliminating existing injustices. The principle especially of equality must also be taken into account by taking measures to ameliorate the disadvantages of women in many areas of society. Knowledge regarding injustice and disadvantage on the national and international level must cause alarm. Solidarity entails getting involved and giving active help to the person concerned, as well as participation in ensuring the happiness of the individual. Solidarity requires initiatives to produce for others those measures of freedom, equality and justice that one demands for oneself. Each member of the cultural society and democratic state must be thus directed towards the capacity of self-determination, participation and solidarity within the framework of a general education. In a society decisively built on social democratic fundamentals, everyone has the right to the widest development of his rational, emotional and social, as well as creative, communicative and practical capabilities. Everybody must, therefore, be enabled to develop their individual performance potential in the educational process in the best possible way, i.e. many faceted and extensive. But exceptional performance potential must oblige people to solidarity, in order to improve and broaden the living conditions for all members of society, especially for those of lower potential. The State as a Guarantor of Education The state bears the responsibility for the educational system.
Principles for the Development of the Education System Three fundamental principles must direct the further development of the education system with a social-democratic aspect: Democratisation and Participation
Integration and compensation
Internationalisation and orientation towards future
Teacher Training For the purposes of this section a reference to a "teacher" can be defined as an appropriately trained and recognised individual employed in educating a student of any age. In order to ensure a flexible and forward thinking profession able to respond to both their own needs and those of lifelong education, initial teacher training must emulate the system it serves and be flexible as in a modular system based on essential training in the fundamental pedagogical basics but also retaining the possibility to give preference/choice in the age sector of education. Training does not and must not cease after the successful completion of the initial course/s. In common with all human beings teachers have the right to their 'lifelong learning' both in the field of education and their profession, and in their other interests. in order to have a high quality teaching force there must be access, by right, to high quality in-service training. The status of the teacher, in terms of both the moral and the material status, must be of high regard otherwise how else is it possible to place the future of our children in their hands without acknowledgement of the vital role teachers play in promoting motivation of their students and other teachers. In order to promote and ensure active participation in the successful development of the process of education it is vital that:
From First Education to Further Education (Life-long Learning) The ever faster changes in all areas of society require the existence of a process of education for people throughout their entire lives. Three dimensions mark out the learning process of people after completion of the first qualification:
Adult education with its wide variety of offers and diverse institutions (further education, higher qualification, re-training, etc.) takes care of this important task in society. The responsibility for the provision of adult education has to be constitutionally based. The financial provision by the state has to be made legally binding. Funding is to depend upon the nature of the programme and the quality of the institutional offer. Possible financial contributions from the participants have to take account of their incomes, and are, in well-founded cases, taken over in whole or part by the state. The institutions used for first education, such as schools, colleges and work training places are to be made accessible for adult education. Colleges have to give special regard to the duty of further education, especially for their own graduates. The offer of education for the purpose of second-chance opportunities, for example, completion of basic education or obtaining qualifications to allow further study , are to be borne by the state. Evening schools for working people as a means for adult education must offer free access. Legitimate adult education is to be carried out by appropriate teaching methods, and a modular curriculum. Through close co-operation between schools and further education on the one hand and institutions for adult education on the other, attention must be paid in society to the fact that education and work phases change several times in life, and that consequently a new distribution of the total time spent in education arises. The institutions of adult education have thus to be closely tied into the system of educational institutions which give qualifications. The offers of adult education have to be geared especially to the needs and expectations of the students, whereby particular regard must be paid to fitting in with work times and family obligations for both women and men. Motivation towards education is part of the most important task of adult education. Many people being demotivated by their educational experience and social circumstances have first to be attracted to learning and be convinced of the necessity of learning in their own and society's interest. Legal provisions are to ensure the demand for free adult education. Modern teaching and learning methods are especially important for the task of adult education. New developments in information technology make possible more effective forms of distance learning. Access to libraries is to improve by the building up of library networks. An established education information service is to give access to educational offers and the possibilities of gaining support for all those interested. The further development of technologies, which constantly change production and administrative processes and place new demands on people, also demand education alongside work to preserve and extend professional competence just like newly appearing needs within the social and cultural spectrum do. Consumer culture as a purpose of life as well as an aim of life is a sociological problem which is ever strengthened by this age of the Media. The electronic mass media as well as the use of interactive media bears the danger that a persons reality becomes a computer screen. Therefore the pedagogues must take seriously the everyday experiences of children with the mass media In future the time invested in education and training will be just as important for the productivity of the firm as the amount of time worked. In the interest of securing and furthering competitiveness, the professional further education of the workers must be supported by the employers side. A special target group for further education for which the state bears a specific responsibility are the unemployed, those threatened with unemployment and those disadvantaged by society, especially women.
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