First EAAL Forum 2024: Skills for all

Skills – for all population groups, for individuals, society and the economy, for all challenges we face in our personal and working spheres, as well as in various communities throughout life.

The acquisition and upgrading of skills is a life-long process that concerns all dimensions of our (co)existence and (should) lead to prosperity and well-being. Prior to that, it enables us to act successfully and pro-actively in response to constant change – the latter taking place in nature as well as in the world we as humans are creating collectively.

The background of this year’ s EAAL forum is three-fold. Firstly, this event is the continuation of the rethinking process that started last year when the European Year of Skills (EYS) was proclaimed. The EYS was launched at the European level (The European Year of Skills Festival) as well as in EU Member states; in Slovenia this happened at the 27th Adult Education Colloquium.

Secondly, the forum is an integral part of the Implementation of the European Agenda for Adult Learning 2024–2025 in Slovenia (EAAL project).
In the past, via the 2021 EAAL Forums, we addressed six socio-economic challenges and the role of lifelong learning in not only coping with them but also co-creating these trends. This certainly requires broad and up-to-date knowledge, competencies and skills.

In the 2022–2023 EAAL Forums, eight skills for life were taken under scrutiny in the EAAL project – at first individually but later on, more and more interlinked due to the emerging realisation that at all levels, a holistic approach and synergy are needed.

An adequate state of awareness by the individual and the whole community is the pre-condition for a culture in which learning, knowledge and skills, in the broadest sense, are considered to be of high value and the driving force for development, is . Therefore, the third aspect of the forum is the Awareness-raising for Lifelong Learning campaign, which has just been launched in Slovenia with the support of EU cohesion funds. With great commitment, the campaign will be implemented until 2028.

You are kindly invited to join us in the upcoming EAAL forum on Skills for All – for our mutual professional and personal benefit but, above all, for the benefit of the people we serve.