INNOVATIONS IN MATURE ADULT LEARNING

Our reasons Per Formare choosed the topic of mature adult learning because: its twenty-years experience in this field fostering the active ageing find and disseminate best practises on mature adult learning

Definition of Lifelong Learning Lifelong Learning refers to those activities which start in any moment of life to improve personal knowledge, abilities and competences for private social and work reasons. Its main goal is to assure social and working inclusion and it is based on the concept of learning in adulthood. The general goal of Lifelong learning is to contribute to the development of community through the permanent learning.

Level of education in Italy Level of education per age groups ,7% Adults with Secondary and Higher level of education) ,4% Adults with Secondary and Higher level of education) ,8% Adults with Secondary and Higher level of education)

Level of education in Italy Level of education per sex and age ,6% women with secondary and higher education ,2% men with secondary or higher education ,2% men with secondary or higher education ,8% women with secondary and higher education Female Male

Overview of on-going MA’s educational activity Participation to educational activities people over 45 4,5% 2,0% Employed Unemployed

Overview of on-going MA’s educational activity Participation to learning activities per age groups 4,8% 2,3% and 65+

Overview of on-going MA’s educational activity Participation to educational activities per sex 7,5% 6,5% Women Men

Forms of learning Source. EUROSTAT, 2012 (Table: Participation in education and training by type, sex and age groups - % [trng_lfs_09]) Age groups Forms of learning FormalNon-formal ,54, ,12,2 Forms of learning. Generally speaking, data highlight the statistic preponderance of “non-formal” learning activities compared with “formal” ones (6,5% vs. 0,6%). ”Non-formal” learning is more common in the youngest age group (45-54) compared with the oldest one (55-74), with more than 2% points of difference.

The source of learning initiative Age groups The source of learning initiative MAEmployer Employment office Other public institutions (schools, universities) InternetFamily, friends, acquaintances ,19,411,8 4,364,532, ,55,512,1 7,658,526, ,23,12,1 8,337,639, ,00,513,8 13,926,939,8 The table above indicates (in percentage) where people found learning initiatives according to the age in Source: Istat La partecipazione degli adulti alle attività formative: PROSPETTO 14. PERSONE DI ANNI CHE HANNO CERCATO E TROVATO INFORMAZIONI SULLE ATTIVITÀ Added fields The source of learning initiative. Data underline the active role of the youngest age group (45-54) in the independent research of information on learning opportunities (14,1%). The motivation to the independent research gradually decreases in the oldest age group, from 9,5% of years old to 4,0% of years old. Moreover, added data (Istat source) allows to highlight the importance of Internet as a tool used by people under 60 years old to acquire information. In the oldest age group the use of Internet is always relevant, however, it decreases in favour of the acquisition of information through friends, relatives, acquaintances. The role of employers of giving information about learning activities to workers is fewer than personal initiatives for all age groups and it gradually decreases from 9,4% for age group to 3,1% for over 60. On the other hand, the importance in education of Schools and Universities goes progressively up according to the ageing of population, from 4,3% for age group to more than 8,3% for over 60. The Job centers have an important role of giving information to all age groups, except for people years old, which is only subordinated to the personal initiative of people years old (11,8% vs. 14,1%).

Where the MAs study Source. EUROSTAT, 2011 (Table: Distribution of non-formal education and training activities by provider [trng_aes_170]) ADULT EDUCATION (Not group of age defined) Where do the MAs study/ learn? % Formal Education Institution Training institution s delivering various courses (e.g. ZDZ) Commercial institutions whose main activity is not education EmployersEmployers organizations, chambers of commerce Trade Unions Non-profit associations IndividualsNon- Commercial institutions whose main activity is not education Others TOTAL11,011,18,031,78,0ND4,93,67,713,3 Where the MAs study. Data highlight the importance of corporate teaching for everybody, with 31,7% in “non-formal” education for adults. Instead, schools and universities, centers for vocational training and commercial institutions with no prevailing educational purposes, all together constitute 30% of “non-formal” learning opportunities. Chambers of commerce contribute by 8% of cases, whereas a minority role is carried out by non-profit organisations (4,9%).

What the MAs study ADULT EDUCATION (Not group of age defined) What do the MAs study/ learn? General Programm es EducationHumanities and arts Foreign languages Social sciences, business and law Science, mathematics and computing Computer science Computer use Engineering, manufacturin g and construction Agriculture and veterinary Health and welfare Services TOTAL12,32,88,83,325,56,73,51,87,51,310,824,2 Source: EUROSTAT, 2011 (Table: Distribution of job-related education and training activities by field [trng_aes_166]) What the MAs study. Data show a strong interest of adults in management training (social science, business, law), with 25,5% of preferences, and in training related to services, 24,2% of preferences. The interest for general issues is the second topic in order of importance (12,3%), followed by health and social services (10,8%). Lastly, arts and humanistic subjects overtaken of more than 1% engineering, manufacture and construction (7,5%) and of more than 2% sciences and mathematics (6,7%). Information technology, in its theoretical and practical aspects, accumulates 5,3% of preferences. In total, mathematics and computer sciences have 12% of preferences. Eventually, there are foreign languages chosen by 3,3% of adults, followed by training methodologies (2,8%), agriculture and veterinary medicine (1,3%).

Informal learning

Success Factors/Barriers

To sum up Levels of education: Adult women show higher level of education than men People of age group are more inclined to participate to learning activities, to undertake individual researches and use internet as tool

To sum up Learning motivations: finalized to use the acquired competencies at work

To sum up Expenses: mainly incurred by employers (51%) a considerable number of people self-finances its training (40%, data destined to decrease because of the economic crisis)

To sum up Non-formal: education for adults is almost exclusively “non- formal”

To sum up Informal: A great part of adult education is informal and it is a significant data (around 30%) considering the European standard

To sum up Certification of competences: More and more linked with Non-formal and Informal learning, it will have a greater impact on adult training