8th December 2015

The LLL-Forum in Turkey was held on the 11th November 2015 in Mardin, Turkey. Around 60 experts from different sectors of education participated in the Forum (NGOs, Vocational sectors, Adult Education Centres, small and medium sized enterprises, schools , universities and public institutions). The Forum generated very lively discussions on the role of Lifelong Learning in a region currently facing multiple challenges.

The day started with the opening speech of Mardin’s Vice Governor, Tolga Kamil
Ersöz. He gave a short introduction to the situation of Lifelong Learning in Mardin and passed on some observations made during the LLL-Hub partner meeting in Sofia (4-6th of November 2015).

The opening of the event was followed by the presentation of the project and a question and answer session on expected results and the long term objectives of the project. Current activities in the field of lifelong learning in Turkey were presented and also some which have already been implemented.

In the afternoon the participants discussed the different LLL-Hub themes in 4 separate sessions identifying challenges and developing policy recommendations.

Participants talked about Lifelong Learning Actors, flexible pathways and learner-centred education as well as training systems. Policies about implementation of Lifelong Learning programmes and lifelong learning communities were also discussed. The problems of implementation of lifelong learning programmes in Turkey were pointed out, especially when compared to other countries.

Recommendations included changing the curriculum of lifelong learning programmes, giving more emphasis on different sectors and especially taking into consideration and applying learner-centred systems. Collaboration among different sectors of LLL will be essential for the future of LLL in Turkey. Different partnership types will also give new perspectives for the different sectors.

The Turkish national state of play is currently being updated with the results from the LLL-Forum and will be available in early 2016.

15 of the experts from this LLL-Forum will attend the LLL-Agora in Mechelen/Belgium on 7-8 March 2016 to exchange their views with participants from the other partner countries during panel discussions and workshops.