Inspiring Young People to Become Lifelong Learners in 2025

Learnovation research reportThis Paper presents the Learnovation vision for 2025 within and around the formal education system, including primary and secondary schools as well as Vocational Education and Training. There are a number of characteristics shared by these three areas (or territories) of Lifelong Learning: Normally, all or most of a school system’s elements are institutionalized, controlled and regulated by the state, irrespective of whether they are operated by the state or other public bodies or by private initiatives. The same is true for VET in almost all developed countries, where an institutional framework characterizes the respective processes, at least for initial VET and increasingly also for continuous VET. The training of teachers is almost completely institutionalized and the training of trainers is partly institutionalized. This area is "shaped by formal learning". Although informal learning constitutes an important part of the flexibility of the systems and it is acknowledged to contribute substantially to the achievement of learning results, the dominant concept here is that of formal learning. Schooling, VET and the employment of teachers and trainers is mostly funded by public money or in some cases through public privileges, like exemption from taxes, public subsidies, etc. All three territories are normally assumed to be the core structural "engine" of a society, which will deliver equal opportunities for living through equal opportunities for learning. Therefore, we rarely find unregulated markets serving only individual needs here, because societal metaneeds such as social inclusion always play a role. All three territories rank high in the public debate, as they are key for shaping the future and the goal-setting processes of society. The Vision Paper is structured around three main blocks: state of art of innovation, expected future, and recommendations to reach the desired future scenario, the latter being composed of long term recommendations for 2025 and short term agenda on urgent actions to be taken starting from 2010 to let the desired scenario(s) come true