The seminar ‘Validation of Non-Formal and Informal Learning’ will take place on the 9th and 10th of April, 2013 in Mechelen, Belgium, and is open to 120 participants.
The event is hosted by the European Commission and the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop), in association with the Irish Presidency of the European Union.
European countries are increasingly recognising the need to acknowledge the types of learning that take place outside formal training institutions. There are still obstacles, however, to implementing policy objectives and practical solutions for validating the learning that happens in the workplace, at home, or in leisure activities.
This ‘Validation of Non-Formal and Informal Learning’ seminar will convene 120 participants interested in and involved with the challenges and solutions this topic presents.
Registration is currently open. For more information, please contact koen.nomden@ec.europa.eu.

Collaboration is where two or more people work together to achieve a common objective. In education, the common objective is usually to learn specific content, skills or competencies within defined areas. Ostensibly, learning is an individual goal, and each student does tend to learn in their own way, using their own favoured approaches and tools. We refer to this as personalised learning (a video explains). However, as we become increasingly connected to each other through technology, and our social ties strengthen, so there is greater scope for students to learn together, sharing their resources and ideas, and approaching their study collaboratively. Collaborative learning does not undermine or contradict personalised learning. It simply amplifies it.
When it comes to learning with others, space is usually required. There is plenty to say about collaborative spaces. I can think of at least three kinds. There are the formal, classroom based collaborative spaces and there are the informal, non classroom spaces where we learn most of what we know in interaction with others. Then there are the virtual, online spaces where many of us are increasingly spending our time collaborating, conversing and sharing with our personal learning networks. I guess I could represent these three kinds of space in a simple Venn diagram below, which would then indicate that there is a lot of crossover, fuzziness, and boundary incursion between the three. You could see where we might place formal learning using a VLE, or where students might meet to chat using Facebook, for example. But it's far from perfect. Ultimately such a diagram serves one purpose - it reveals that where there were once very real boundaries, now they are many false frontiers. Read more...

Á l’occasion de la parution du jeunesses: études et synthèses n°12 intitulé « La notionde compétences: clarifier le concept, en mesurer les enjeux », l’Injep organise, enpartenariat avec l’Afev et Animafac, une conférence-débat le mercredi 10 avril à 17h à Paris (9e).
L’approche par compétence s’est d’abord imposée dans le monde de l’entreprise, puisà l’ école, où chaque enfant doit acquérir un socle de compétences dans le cadre deson cursus. Dans le secteur de l’éducation non formelle, c’est-à-dire du développement d’activitésà finalité éducative en dehors du cadre scolaire, cette notion a été questionnée sousl’angle de la validation des acquis de l’expérience (VAE) et du Youth Pass (passeport decompétence mis en place dans le cadre du programme européen « Jeunesse en action »). Autant d’approches de la notion de compétence à laquelle tous ces acteurs nedonnent pas le même sens, ni la même finalité. L’Injep a engagé un travail de clarification autour de toutes ces questions et plusparticulièrement de l’acquisition de compétences dans le cadre non formel etassociatif. Ce travail a été mené avec des acteurs de l’éducation populaire ainsi que descollectivités. La conférence à laquelle nous vous invitons met cette notion en débat. Programme et informations pratiques.

There's no such thing as formal learning. There, I've said it. I feel much better now. I hope you do too.
In the 18th century our best scientists toiled away in an attempt to determine the essence of phlogiston - the substance which allowed things to burn. Turns out, phlogiston never existed; but once you've given something a name it's easy to think that the name must actually correspond to something. And so it is with formal learning.
I thought I would point this out, because I keep finding myself in 70:20:10 conversations, and I think that if we are going to start being a little more honest about learning then we might as well go the whole way.
The thrust of 70:20:10 is that almost all of the learning taking place in your organisation is already informal - stemming from everyday challenges, peers & mentors, and stories. Formal learning (whether e-learning or classroom courses) plays a very small role. Read more...

EAEA has released a statement on European Commission's communication on Rethinking Education, presented last November. The EAEA welcomes the Communication by the European Commission and agrees that Education and Training, and especially investment in Lifelong Learning, play a vital role in boosting growth and jobs. EAEA also agrees that basic skills are crucial for European economies and for people´s participation in society. We would like to raise three main points, which we believe the Communication neglects to underline:
First, the potential of non-formal adult learning:
The Communication touches on the issue of low-skilled adults and mainly concentrates on workplace learning and open learning sources. We believe that non-formal adult learning (1) provides an enormous potential to reach out to different groups of adults, to draw them into learning pathways and to upskill them in non-formal settings, whether in or outside the work place. Non-formal adult learning can reach out to young adults (e.g. school drop-outs) and to migrants, to name just two groups. Non-formal adult learning can boost resilience and self-confidence of individuals in times of crisis, which will enable them to deal with the challenges of the economic crisis. (2)
We therefore propose a recommendation that foresees continued investment in non-formal adult education, thereby using its potential to support adult learners inside and outside the workplace.
Second, a comprehensive understanding of lifelong learning:
EAEA understands that the current situation in Europe necessitates a strong focus on jobs and growth. Nevertheless, we would like to underline that lifelong learning needs to understood from a more comprehensive perspective: formal, non-formal and informal learning (3) are equally important, and a too narrow focus on purely economic results of learning could actually have a detrimental effect on European societies, e.g. by privileging those who are already in the learning process and better qualified, thereby increasing educational inequalities across Europe. Additionally, the current crisis overshadows other developments that need attention, and ignoring them can lead to crises in the mid- and long-term future. We know that demographic change has already started to have impacts on European societies, and will only increase in severity. Furthermore European societies see growing number of persons with low literacy skill as well as increasing numbers of school drop outs, who need support and adult (basic) education services. The communication does refer to low-skilled adults, but mainly in the context of workplace learning. While this is an important aspect, it is necessary to promote outreach and basic skills strategies by adult education institutions. Another key issue is the growing loss of trust in European institutions and an increasing loss of European cohesion. All these issues need to be tackled in order to prevent future challenges, and lifelong learning, especially non-formal adult learning, are excellent tools to help deal with them. We therefore propose to add three recommendations: to invest in older learners and intergenerational learning, to invest in basic skills and to launch a trans-European discussion of European values and cohesion with the help of non-formal adult education.
Third, the recognition on civil society as a main partner:
EAEA especially welcomes the annex on 'Partnerships and flexible pathways for life long skills development', which clearly states the importance of non-governmental organisations and civil society organisations. Nevertheless, we would like to underline that civil society, and especially European associations and national umbrella organisations, have a very specific role that needs to be recognized and supported. They serve as links between the European and national levels of policy making on the one hand and the grass-roots level of lifelong learning on the other. We believe that both sides need these links: the grass-roots level needs the information and the possibility to give feedback to policy developments, and the European and national policy levels need this feedback in order to develop policies that actually work and can improve systems. We therefore recommend continued support for European and national associations.
(1) Non-formal learning is any organised, structured educational activity, carried out outside the framework of the formal system and in some ways connected with providers (institutions, organisations and teachers).
(2) As opposed to: Formal learning can be understood in the context of traditional educational institutions, which occurs in a defined, organized and structured environment in terms of space, time and material. The transmission of knowledge, skills and attitudes (with the stress on knowledge) is done deliberate and systematic. Formal learning is intentional from the learner´s point of view and typically leads to validation and certification.
(3) Informal learning applies to self-directed or self organised learning, in flexible, open forms and ways, outside the traditional education institutions or organisations, sometimes even without any clear idea that the process is about learning.
More information: European Commission's Rethinking Education strategy.
Related files: EAEA_statement_rethinking education.

Validation de l'apprentissage non formel et informel dans les pays européens
Sur proposition de la Commission européenne, le Conseil de l’Union européenne vient d’émettre une « recommandation », datée du 12 décembre 2012, relative à la validation de l'apprentissage non formel et informel.
Par cette « recommandation » publiée au Journal officiel de l’Union européenne du 22 décembre 2012, il est demandé aux États membres d’établir, d’ici à 2018, des systèmes nationaux de validation de l’apprentissage non formel et informel. Ces systèmes devant permettre aux citoyens d’obtenir une qualification, complète ou partielle, sur la base d’aptitudes et de compétences acquises en dehors de l’enseignement formel.
À ce jour, seuls la Finlande, la France, le Luxembourg et les Pays-Bas ont mis en place des systèmes complets pour la validation de l’apprentissage non formel et informel.
Voir la « recommandation »

European countries are increasingly emphasising the need to recognise the full range of an individual’s knowledge, skills and competences – those acquired not only at school, university or other education and training institutions, but also outside the formal system.
See also Validation of non-formal and informal learning.

Conférence CES « Formation non formelle et informelle. Des pratiques parallèles à une intégration systémique ? », Lisbonne, les 26 et 27 juin 2012
Programme

The notion of giving credit in higher education for learning that takes place outside the university was first raised by the European Commission in the Memorandum on Higher Education in the European Community (1991), issued by the then Task Force on Human Resouces, Education, Training, Youth:
‘The mainstreaming of continuing education raises a number of essential academic issues which must be resolved. Foremost among these is the question of access and the basis on which continuing education students and mature students generally are admitted to higher education courses. The positive policies which are to be observed in some institutions and which give credit for maturity and for knowledge and experience gained in the labour market would need to be adopted on a wider scale, as would the provision of preparatory courses which supply the basic preparation relevant to embarking on a particular course of higher education.' (p24)
It next appeared in 1995 in a White paper which stated that the identification and validation were an important part of realising lifelong learning, in particular making visible is learned outside formal education and training, recognising a diversity of learning situations and settings and looking for credibility and authenticity of such learning.
This orientation was confirmed in 2000 in documents launching the lifelong learning perspective. The Memorandum on Lifelong Learning published by the Commission on 30 October 2000 ("Commission Staff Working Document: A Memorandum on Lifelong Learning") states: "lifelong learning sees all learning as a seamless continuum from cradle to grave". It identifies "three basic categories of purposeful learning activities":
- formal learning takes place in education and training institutions, leading to recognised diplomas and qualifications;
- non-formal learning takes place alongside the mainstream systems of education and training and does not typically lead to formalised certificates. Non-formal learning may be provided in the workplace and through the activities of civil society organisations and groups;
- informal learning is a natural accompaniment to everyday life. Unlike formal and non-formal learning, informal learning is not necessarily intentional learning.
These intentions were confirmed by the Communication from the Commission published one year later, on 21 November 2001, "Making a European area of lifelong learning a reality" after a European wide consultation of governments and stakeholders. The Commission gave its definition of lifelong learning "all learning activities undertaken throughout life, with the aim of improving knowledge, skills and competences within a personal, civic, social and/or employment related perspective. The breadth of this definition also draws attention to the full range of formal, non formal and informal learning activity". And the Commission announced that initiatives would be taken by the end of 2002 initiating a systematic exchange of experience and good practice in the field of identification, assessment and recognition of non formal learning.
Since then, more or less all documents on Lisbon, Bologna and Copenhagen Processes have referred to this intention, reflecting the increasing political attention given to learning that takes place outside education and training organisations.
In the Copenhagen declaration, the European Ministers of Education and Training stated that there was a need to "develop a set of common principles regarding validation of non formal and informal learning with the aim of ensuring greater comparability between approaches in different countries and at different levels".
In the Berlin Communiqué, Ministers responsible for Higher Education stated that they were taking steps "to enhance the possibilities for lifelong learning at higher education level including the recognition of prior learning. They emphasise that such action must be an integral part of higher education activity".
In the Report from the Education Council to the European Council "on the concrete future objectives of education and training systems" which set out the contribution of education and training to the Lisbon Process, it identified the need for "inclusive and coherent education and training systems, which are attractive both for young people and adults, as well as a strategy which overcomes the traditional barriers between various parts of formal education and training and non-formal and informal learning". And the 10 year workplan stipulated that Member States should "develop ways for the official validation of non formal learning experiences".
The preoccupation with the formal recognition of non-formal and informal learning has not been developed with the introduction of Lifelong learning in the European agenda. Numerous experiments and activities have been initiated since the 1980's, especially in UK and in France. Assessment of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL) or Assessment of Prior Learning (APL) in UK or Validation des acquis personnels et professionnels in France (1985 Decree) have been promoted by pioneering universities or higher education institutions in order to facilitate access to higher education or to offer exemptions for part of programmes for people who do not have the required qualifications.
First Experiments
These initiatives have also been supported by the European programmes (such as Leonardo da Vinci) through opportunities for exchanges, sharing good practice, comparative analysis and dissemination. In 1994, the CEDEFOP launched a first comparative study of experience in France and in the UK, which was continued on broader basis in 1997. The main objective of the CEDEFOP project - "Identification, validation and accreditation of prior learning" - was to gather, analyse and disseminate experience.
Reports:
- CEDEFOP (1994/1996) "Identification and accreditation of skills and knowledge acquired through life and work experience"
- CEDEFOP (1997) Identification and validation of prior and informal learning: experiences, innovations and dilemmas"
- Jens Bjornavold/CEDEFOP: "Making learning visible", 2000, N. Evans (eds) "Experiential Learning around the world : employability and the global economy", 2000.
The process of adoption of common principles started in Copenhagen in 2002. In Copenhagen 31 Ministers of Education and Training, the European social partners and the Commission stated that there was a need to develop "a set of common principles regarding validation of non formal and informal learning with the aim of ensuring greater comparability between approaches in different countries and at different levels". This reflects the conclusions of the European Conference on validation of non-formal and informal learning in Oslo in May 2002.
Common principles
An expert group was appointed by the Commission in February 2003 which produced its final proposal 03 March 2004 ("Common European Principles for validation of non-formal and informal learning, final proposal from the Working Group H"). 
This proposal was followed by a proposition of the Commission in May 2004 and by the Draft conclusions of the Council and of representatives of the Governments of the Member States on 18 May 2004 leading to the adoption of "common principles". They stressed that "common principles are necessary to encourage and guide the development of high-quality, trustworthy approaches and systems for the identification and validation of non-formal and informal learning ...and to ensure the comparability and wide acceptance of different approaches and systems". And they invited the Member States and the Commission to disseminate and promote the use of the Common European Principles:
- To encourage social partners to use and adapt them for the specific needs of the workplace
- To encourage NGOs providing LLL opportunities to use and adapt them as appropriate
- To support the exchange of experiences and mutual learning
- To strengthen co-operation with international organisations to achieve synergies
- To develop and support coherent and comparable ways of presenting the results of the identification and validation at European level
- To consider how instruments in the Europass framework can contribute to this
- To consider how these principles can contribute to the development of a European Qualifications Framework
- To support the development of quality assurance mechanisms, to disseminate good practices.
This was confirmed in the final Communiqué of the Conference of European Ministers of Education in Oslo in June 2004, "Lifelong learning from rhetoric to reality". The EU Council conclusions on European principles for identification and validation of non-formal and informal learning were to be used as reference point and baseline when exploring and developing suitable practical national solutions. The European Ministers supported the emphasis in these Principles on the entitlement of individual citizens to identification and validation of their non-formal and informal learning, the importance of involving all relevant stakeholders in this process, and the need for quality assurance mechanisms to ensure credibility and trust.
European guidelines
A Cluster on "Recognition of Learning Outcomes" was set up by the Commission in the context of Education and Training 2010 monitors the implementation of the Common Principles. On the basis of the conclusions of several peer learning discussions a new step has now been proposed with the definition of European Guidelines to support "quality improvement in validation processes" and "to enhance the compatibility and comparability of validation processes across institutional, regional and national boarders".
This proposition was presented and discussed during the Lisbon Conference "Valuing learning: European experiences in validating non-formal and informal learning" on 26-27 November 2007. This draft proposition will now be introduced through the normal procedure for adopting European documents.
Inventories
Four inventories of validation of non formal and informal learning practices in Europe are now available.
The first inventory was produced in 2000 by Jens Bjornavold, "Making learning visible - identification, assessment and recognition of non-formal learning in Europe". This report listed the existing practices in European countries and identified 5 models: Austro-German, Mediterranean, Nordic, NVQ, and Franco-Belgian.
The second inventory was produced by Danielle Collardyn and Jens Bjornavold in 2003, "Validation of non-formal and informal learning, a European Inventory, National policies and Practises". It was presented as an introduction of Group H's reflection. According to this inventory considerable development can be observed, since 2000. An increasing number of countries have introduced legal and institutional frameworks making possible validation of non-formal and informal learning on a permanent basis and as an integrated part of existing education and training systems. But in practice, the validation of non-formal and informal still appeared only as small islands in the ocean.
The third inventory and fourth inventory were produced by ECOTEC Research and Consulting in 2005 and 2007.  In the introduction to its first Inventory, ECOTEC stated that "in spite of numerous valuable contributions, existing information on validation of non-formal and informal learning is still rather limited in scope in many countries, and too widely spread in academic publications, policy papers". So, the objective of the European Inventory was to make non-formal and informal learning more visible "by collecting updated information on current practices and making this information, including best practices examples, available within a single volume to a wide range of audiences". The Inventory consisted of National reports on the "state of art" in every European country covering Vocational Education and Training, Higher Education and third sector and of an overview of findings.
Initiatives and practice
Validation of non-formal and informal learning has probably been one of the most debated issues of education and training policies at European level. It is impossible to mention all projects, conferences, initiatives and publications developed during recent years.
EUCEN is one important contributor in the debates, notably at higher education level. In addition to presentations in numerous conferences, two projects managed by EUCEN - Transfine and Refine - proposed important contributions to the development of validation of non formal and informal learning. Transfine was a "Joint action project" funded by DGEAC to set up innovative approaches establishing transversal procedures between different types of training and learning programmes, at different level, offering several types of partnership. The main objective was to explore ways to build a system of transfer and accumulation of learning credits for lifelong learning, integrating formal, non formal and informal learning. As a result, Transfine proposed a European methodological framework for the recognition of non formal and informal learning and demonstrated that many existing tools at European or national level could be adapted for this purpose.
Refine, was a follow up to Transfine. The aim was to test the tools for a European methodological framework for the recognition of non-formal and informal learning. The main result was a proposal for ‘Validpass', designed to be a framework portfolio of flexible tools to facilitate and promote the recognition and validation of non-formal and informal learning.  It was proposed as a complementary element of  EUROPASS, attempting to overcome some of the limits of the current documents included in EUROPASS for this purpose, and particularly to take into account volunteer activities.
A third strategic project, OBSERVAL, finished in October 2010. The aim of this project, which involved 24 country teams, was to provide a complementary approach to the one developed by ECOTEC. The Leonardo network Project created a European Observatory on validation of non formal and informal practices and results in European countries. The objectives were to collect and update data on regulations, arrangements, standards and references, methods and tools, results and statistics, to review national debates and discussions, links with other  European initiatives (NQF-EQF, learning outcomes, adult education action plan,...), to identify good practice (case studies), to provide an nannotated bibliography and literature review (researches, surveys, reports,...) and to present these documents on a website in a common format that will allow both comparison and articulation between practice in different countries, sectors and contexts.
A follow up project, OBSERVAL-Net, started in December 2011. OBSERVAL-Net has developed a new observatory that collects and enhances the data from OBSERVAL, focuses on 3 main areas of VNIL (Bottom Up, the VNIL Profession and Work-Based Competence development and recognition), allows users to upload new reports, case studies, etc and gives them the opportunity to exchange with other VNIL professionals. Other projects: Euroguideval.

4th Festival of Non-Formal Education - 7-9 December 2012, Minsk, Belarus
The Festival of Non-Formal Education, organized by Adukatar has already become the traditional event in the professional communication, as well as a holiday for lots of teachers, andragogues, trainers and other people sharing the values of life-long learning and non-formal education. Underlining the role and possibilities of non-formal education in improving the quality of life and achieving the aims of regional development the festival seeks to:
- present non-formal education as a system providing the life-long development of social, civic, professional competencies and creativity;
- present a variety of programmes and the specific character of non-formal education approaches for all generations in different regions;
- encourage the experience exchange and establish partner relations among the participants;
- organize the discussion of tendencies and prospective development of non-formal education for different generations.
Please apply by October 22, 2012.
More information on the festival can be found on the Adukatar website.
See also III FESTIVAL OF NON-FORMAL EDUCATION.