Ireland  

Education is a highly personalised yet social phenomenon. Learning spans the lifetime of every individual and the contexts in which learning takes place cannot be separated from the influences of political, social and ever more increasingly economic concerns. The conflation of learning, education, school and college has gone largely unexamined alongside the reductionist idea that ‘being educated’ is  good if for no other reason than the financial benefit to the individual of becoming a ‘high earner’.

The HELLIN conference in Maynooth University, Friday 7^th December 2018, will endeavour to ask some difficult questions of the whole landscape of the formal education system and posit an alternative vision through the lens of Lifelong Learning of how things might be better achieved below the surface of mere custom and acceptance of the unreflected assumed norm.

When we consider that the lifetime career is something that many commentators regard as now unattainable to coming generations we must ask how we prepare people to think about Lifelong Learning in terms of not only upskilling for one’s present career, but retraining or indeed redirecting people into a second or even a third career that is more in line with their accumulated lived experience and the wealth of unrecognised knowledge (RPL) that they bring with them as they become older students/ learners. How do we accommodate those who are currently considered non-traditional or atypical students? What kind of advice, guidance and information do people need to make good decisions in relation to their education, career and wellbeing? How do we reach those who would not normally regard education as being relevant to their life or circumstances? These are some if the themes that we hope to explore on the day.

Keynote Speaker: Professor John Holford, The University of Nottingham, Robert Peers Chair in Adult Education will present: Wider lives need wider education: lifelong education for 21^st century citizens.

Thematic Panel/ Facilitated Workshops:

1. Lifelong Learning/ Further Education – Higher Education and CPD (Policy and Practice) Rory O’Sullivan FE to HE Network; Wendy Fowles-Sweet, University of  the West of England, Bristol; Deirdre Goggin Cork Institute of Technology.
2. Experiences of Diverse Learners (e.g. older learners, migrant learners) Dr Amin Sharif Isaloo Dept. of Sociology UCC; Dr Sabina Brennan Trinity Brain Health and ADAPT, Trinity College Dublin; & TBC
3. Advice, Guidance and Information. Dr Aoife Kerrigan (DACE MU), Inner City Renewal Group; Bernadette Walsh; Anthony Murray DKIT.
4. Alternative Routes to Higher Education. Damian Butler UCC; Sarah Grimson – Trinity Access Programme; Willy Kitchen – University of Sheffield

Plenary Session: Lifelong Learning Reimagined – An Alternative Vision for Higher and Further Education: Dr. Fergal Finnegan Dept. of Adult and Community Education MU; Mary-Liz Trant Solas Executive Director for Skills Development; Maria Slowey DCU Chair: Peter Cassells.

For further information, please contact: [email protected] or [email protected] 01 708 6062

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