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Recommendation 1437 (2000)
Non-formal education
1. The Assembly recognises that investment in
education and welfare is an effective measure for the promotion of active
citizenship and the prevention of social exclusion.
2. The Assembly
acknowledges that formal educational systems alone cannot respond to rapid and
constant technological, social and economic change in society, and that they
should be reinforced by non-formal educational practices.
3. Non-formal education is an integral part of a lifelong learning concept
that allows young people and adults to acquire and maintain the skills,
abilities and outlook needed to adapt to a continuously changing environment.
It can be acquired on the personal initiative of each individual through
different learning activities taking place outside the formal educational
system. An important part of non-formal education is carried out by
non-governmental organisations involved in community and youth work.
4. The Assembly recalls the Final Declaration of the 5th Conference of
European Ministers responsible for Youth in which European countries were
encouraged to promote equality of opportunity by recognising the training and
skills acquired through non-formal education and by finding various ways of
endorsing the experience and qualifications acquired in this way. It welcomes
the setting-up of a "working group on non-formal education" in the Council of
Europe.
5. The Assembly encourages all those who will shape
educational policies to acknowledge that non-formal education is an essential
part of the educational process and to recognise the contribution that can be
made by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in non-formal
education.
6. The Assembly also encourages the application of the new
information technologies to non-formal education and stresses the need to
ensure an easy access to them at national and international levels.
7. The Assembly therefore recommends that the Committee of Ministers call on
governments and the appropriate authorities of member states:
7.1. to recognise non-formal education as a de
facto partner in the lifelong learning process and in youth policy and to
elaborate effective systems for evaluating it (this could be done by the
certification of non-formal educational activities so that they can also be
mentioned in curricula vitae as professional experience and cited as
internationally recognised skills and qualifications). A quality label could be
given to the educational activities of recognised organisations providing
non-formal education;
7.2. to make non-formal education
accessible for all, through measures such as flexible working conditions (for
workers who would not otherwise be able to attend, unpaid leave facilities,
etc.), measures for people in remote areas (travel grants), measures for
socially disadvantaged persons (poor people, marginalised youngsters, the
disabled, minorities);
7.3. to provide or improve training and
re-training for trainers and teachers in non-formal education in co-operation
with non-governmental organisations and especially youth NGOs;
7.4. to support financially non-formal education activities (grants, tax
reductions for non-governmental organisations involved in non-formal education
activities, or for each participant at training courses, free use of official
buildings or training centres, etc.) and the production and distribution of
non-formal education manuals and training materials; to create a
library/lending service of non-formal education materials;
7.5. in parallel with the above measures, to provide support and encourage
more people, in particular young people, to educate and be educated in a
non-formal way ("peer education");
7.6. to monitor the
implementation of the above measures.
8. The
Assembly further recommends that the Committee of Ministers promote non-formal
education in the work programme of the Council of Europe, in particular in the
youth sector, and consequently that it:
8.1. study whether any legislative restrictions exist in the different
member states which might hinder the development of non-formal education, and
assist in the elimination of these restrictions;
8.2. compare
non-formal education activities in the different member states and publish a
catalogue of "good practice";
8.3. develop programmes of
non-formal education that promote equal opportunities in co-operation with the
social partners concerned and the non-governmental organisations working on
these questions;
8.4. co-ordinate its work in the field of
non-formal education with that of the OECD, Unesco, the European Union and the
United Nations Volunteers
programme.