Lifelong or continuous learning is based on the common understanding that we learn all throughout our lives. It is particularly important in today’s rapidly changing and increasingly complex world. However, learning opportunities are often restricted to particular age groups, institutions or people who can financially or physically access the institution. As a result, youth and adults with disabilities are often excluded from or disadvantaged within formal learning environments. Lifelong learning embraces all the principles outlined in the Non-formal education element. In addition, the concepts outlined below are important.
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Adult learning
Adult learning is a vital component of lifelong learning and is essential for employability, social inclusion, active citizenship and personal development
Adults learn differently from children. The past experience of adults, their specific needs and ways of learning need to be taken into account in the design of teaching methods and materials. Lifelong learning opportunities are best when they are learner-centred, with a focus on personal goals, past life experiences and the promotion of positive self-esteem.
Adults have the potential and desire to direct their own learning, take initiatives and make decisions about learning, including what they want to learn, how and when to learn and what additional support they require. Encouraging them to take a lead role in all aspects of the planning and delivery of their learning opportunities enhances their motivation to learn.
Learning formats for adults need to be flexible and creative; they should be varied and responsive, involve a variety of media, including assistive technology where appropriate, and be available in a variety of locations and at different times.
Types of lifelong learning opportunity
Common types of lifelong learning opportunities include:
Adult education – involves the acquisition of skills or formal qualifications for work
Continuing education – involves credit or non-credit courses offered by formal educational institutions, often for personal development
Professional development – involves learning work competencies, often through employer-provided on-the-job training
Self-directed learning – the personal learning environment may comprise a variety of learning resources and tools, including library and Internet resources
Community learning – to open doors to involvement as active citizens in advocacy, self-help groups and political engagement
Lifelong learning opportunities can also include the following:
Adult literacy classes
Flexible arrangements for learning other basic skills, often through “open schools”
Technical and vocational education and training
Personal development through life and survival skills training
Training in communication skills
Awareness of social issues and rights of people with disabilities
They also include learning opportunities for self-help groups and parents’ organizations, and ongoing learning for minority groups, including people with disabilities, who are unable to find employment to generate income.
Open learning
Open learning often occurs in “open schools” and delivers learning opportunities in ways, times and locations that fit the learner’s life circumstances. Open learning also provides a more relevant curriculum for older learners who have never had the chance to attend or complete formal education at school.
Teaching methods are usually unconventional and creative, and include the use of information and communication technology. Students will often study specially designed teaching materials in their own homes, workplaces or wherever is convenient for them, at a pace that suits them. Youth and adults are often able to follow skills training coupled with academic subjects while self-employed or working.
Learn about how the National Institute of Open Schooling programme in India describes their open schooling structure.
CBR in Action
The National Institute of Open Schooling programme in India structured a programme in which learners can choose and design subject combinations according to their needs and goals. Learning is through specially designed self-paced instructional materials, and is supplemented with audio–video and face-to-face classes at the study centres on holidays and weekends. The programme provides credit accumulation, where each learner’s registration is valid for five years. Learners also have freedom to take examinations in their subjects according to their own schedules and preparations.
Life and survival skills
Life and survival skills refer to the knowledge and skills that everyone needs in order to function and participate effectively at home, in the community and in wider society. Because of exclusion and discrimination, people with disabilities especially benefit from learning these skills. People with mental health problems, intellectual impairments and sensory impairments in particular can gain greatly from life and survival skills training opportunities.
Welcome to INCLUDE! This short tour will introduce you to the many resources available to you in our
learning community.
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This is the Module library page. It is the first thing you will see after you register and log into INCLUDE.
From here, you can choose to view nine different learning modules, each of which examines a different aspect of Community-Based Rehabilitation.
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Each time you make a selection from the Module library, you will enter a learning module (in this case the Health module) that you can interact with in a number of ways.
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You will have a number of opportunities to reflect on your thoughts, feelings and experiences related to CBR, as well as on what you have learned so far. If you want, you can choose to share your reflections with other members of the INCLUDE community.
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Note that when you are inside a learning module, you use the Continue and Back buttons at the bottom of the screen to move ahead to the next page, or go back to the previous page.
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You can also choose to jump directly to a different part of the current module by making a selection from the menu on the left side of the screen.
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In each learning module, you will also have the opportunity to respond to poll questions and learn what others in the INCLUDE community are thinking about CBR.
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You can also review numerous real-life examples of how others are successfully implementing CBR around the world.
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And you can create an action plan to help you:
•Better understand the needs of your programme, and
•Take specific, concrete steps to address them
As with reflections, if you want, you can also choose to share your action plan with other members of the community.
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Additional resources are available any time you want to access them, frrom the menu at the top of every screen.
From the Reflect option on this menu, you can:
•Review all of the reflections you have entered so far, or
•View the reflections other members of the INCLUDE community have entered and chosen to share
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Under Action Plan, you can:
•Work on your own action plan, or
•View action plans that other members of the community have created and chosen to share
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You can also view the full library of real-life examples of CBR in action from this menu.
If you want to locate the examples that are most relevant to your work, you can filter these examples by subject and region, as well as by the gender and age(s) of the population being served.
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In the Community section you can:
•Participate in conversations (discussions) with other members of the INCLUDE community
•View the results of every poll question included in the course
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Finally, you can view a set of additional resources related to CBR in the Resource library.
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Finally, you can view a set of additional resources related to CBR in the Resource library.