Due to the status of EU candidate countries, both the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine tend to align their policies in the field of Adult Learning & Education (ALE) and Lifelong Learning (LLL) with those of the European Union. In this context, a hybrid workshop on the state of convergence of ALE-policies in the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine with the ones in the European Union took place on 25 April 2023 in Chisinau. The event was organised within the Continental Exchange project "Eastern Neighbours" of DVV International, the Institute for International Cooperation of the German Adult Education Association.
Participants were greeted by Levan Kvatchadze, the Regional Director for “Eastern Neighbours” and the opening of the workshop was delivered by Galina Russu, State Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova, Uwe Gartenschläger, Director of DVV International & President of the European Association for Adult Education (EAEA) and Daniel Funeriu, EU High Counsellor for Education and Research. They emphasized the importance of Adult Education, that helps people to adapt to changes in the society and to the demands of the labor market more easily. Especially considering the increased need in mobility, demographic developments in the countries, energy crisis, and the consequences of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
The first session, moderated by the Head of the Continental Exchange project, Ravshan Baratov, started with the input presentation on “Policies on adult learning in the EU and in enlargement countries”, presented by Martina Guarracino, Policy Officer, International Affairs Unit, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion at the European Commission and Cristina Mereuta, Senior Human Capital Development Expert – Coordinator for Active Labour Market Policies at the European Training Foundation.
The second presentation was made by Uwe Gartenschläger, Director of DVV International & President of the European Association for Adult Education (EAEA), who highlighted the importance of ALE and the priorities of the New European Agenda in the field of ALE and presented the position of civil society towards ALE policies in the European Union. A Q&A session concluded the first session.
The moderation of the second session was taken care of by Adela Scutaru-Gutu, Country Director ofDVV International Moldova.
Marcelina Baleca, Head of Lifelong Learning Service at the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Moldova has held a presentation on the state of the art of ALE, on definitions, updated Code on Education and the Strategy 2030 of the Republic of Moldova.
This was followed by a presentation on the Legislation, Governance and Financing of ALE in the Republic of Moldova by Dr. Liliana Postan, professor at the “Ion Creanga” State Pedagogical University.
To review the state of ALE-convergence in Ukraine, two inputs were made by partners of DVV International Ukraine. The first input from Tetiana Lomakina, the Advisor – Presidential Commissioner for Barrier-Free Environment described the implementation of the right to education for adults in Ukraine, during which Olena Zelenska – the First Lady of Ukraine was quoted mentioning: "Education is our contribution to victory”.
Mykyta Andrieiev, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Adult Education Association (UAEA), shared the results of a study on the state policy in the field of adult education in Ukraine conducted by UAEA in cooperation with DVV International in 2021 as well as the process of development and approval of the Law on adult education in Ukraine and stressed, that education should be oriented and accessible for all groups of the population.
Summing up the contributions and questions of the event, Levan Kvatchadze mentioned that learning takes place everywhere. In our era both technological development and non-formal learning should be promoted equally. There is no need to put barriers between formal and non-formal learning.
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