Encouraging learning! (research project)

Lifelong Learning or Lifelong Development as it is called nowadays is a worldwide challenge for groups at risk to meet current challenges in the labour market and in society as a whole. The research project 'Encouraging Learning' identifies good examples of adults who engage in learning processes in spite of their often emotional distance to ‘schoolish’ learning. People like Souad, who decided to join the ‘district mothers’ in her neighbourhood to nip unrest in the bud and maintain safety:

‘First, I asked the mothers for help and now I walk along myself. Everyone thinks we are doing a good job and that makes me happy. I feel appreciated, a feeling I never got in 22 years of marriage. Now I know that I can do more than I thought,' says Souad (Volkskrant, 29 November 2021, translation JosjevdL).

As Souad’s example shows learning is not only important from the perspective of what is currently needed in the labour market, but also from a broader perspective focused on looking ahead, collaboration, innovation and inclusion. The section Lifelong Learning of Globalisation Studies Groningen participates in a consortium, which, in addition to the University of Groningen, includes the Open University in Heerlen, the University of Leiden (PLATO) and several guidance and research organisations (Panteia, Ockham IPS and the Expertise Centre for Vocational Education), to jointly identify and study so-called 'good practices' in order to learn from them. This will lead to an analysis of the conditions for encouraging self-direction and the composition of a monitor to follow how self-direction and learning come together. In this way, we hope to understand how vulnerable groups for whom learning is not obvious, can be encouraged to learn and develop themselves. The Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO) has awarded a subsidy for more than four years for this study, stretching from 2022 until 2026. Within the project, various sub-studies will be conducted into 'good practices' and two dissertations will be written. From the section of Lifelong Learning Marco Mazereeuw and Josje van der Linden are involved in this project.