COUNCIL CONCLUSIONS of 17 February 1997 on local community development through education and training (97/C 70/02)

I. INTRODUCTION

1. Local community development through education and training involves people and institutions at local level in actively promoting lifelong learning opportunities, and nurturing a culture of lifelong learning for members of the local community. It enables people and institutions at local level to further develop their responsibility for identifying their needs, embracing personal, social, cultural and economic requirements.

2. There is a rich diversity of practice and a variety of approaches to local community development through education and training in the Member States. Therefore, the precise definition of the term 'local community development through education and training` will vary in accordance with local circumstances and the constitutional and legal framework of the respective Member State. Moreover, local community development through education and training does not necessarily imply changes in existing legal, constitutional and organizational arrangements for the delivery of education and training services.

3. However, local community development through education and training generally involves people at local level making an effort to maximize their development potential by participating in the planning and implementation of their own programmes of learning within the local community. These programmes are principally for adults and are undertaken outside the provision of formal education and training. Also, the delivery of such programmes could include interaction between education and training institutions and local communities.

4. Local community development through education and training is important for the continuing social, cultural and economic development of the individual and the local community. It is important to enable local communities to cope more effectively with the rapid changes occuring in society and also in promoting active participation in the political and democratic progress by all citizens.

5. The European Commission's White Paper 'Growth, Competitiveness and Employment` recognized a well-educated and active population as 'a must, if Europe is to carry weight in the global political, economic and cultural interplay and if European democracy is to be preserved and developed.`

6. The Paper goes on to assert that if popular participation in democratic development is to be strengthened, not only is a comprehensive system of adult and vocational education and training a requisite, but it must be in a form which in addition to vocational substance also includes general and cultural topics.

7. Involvement throughout life with a wide range of artistic and cultural activities holds a tremendous promise for the enrichment of people's lives and for the fostering of artistic appreciation and creativity. Accordingly, community-based education and training and lifelong learning in general should strike an appropriate balance between social, cultural, economic and artistic considerations.

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to these considerations and to the Council conclusions on a strategy for lifelong learning as well as:

- the provisions of Articles 126 and 127 of the Treaty,

- the principle of subsidiarity enunciated in Article 3b of the Treaty, and,

- the need to comply with the financial perspectives for the European Community,

HEREBY ADOPTS THE FOLLOWING CONCLUSIONS:

II. PRINCIPLES

The following principles should inform approaches to the promotion of local community development through education and training:

1. empowering individuals and groups, through a process of information and education, to attain new levels of personal and social awareness;

2. empowering people at local level to become involved in the identification of their needs and in developing within legal and budgetary frameworks learning and other programmes appropriate to those needs in a progressive and participative way, taking account of the potential of new information and communications technologies;

3. fostering social inclusion by involving people actively in the political, economic cultural and social dimensions of their society;

4. promoting equality of rights and opportunities for all people in local communities.

III. AREAS OF ACTION

The Council, recognizing the significant potential benefit to be gained from an exchange of experience and information among Member States calls on the Commission to initiate, within existing legal and budgetary frameworks, a study of practice and approaches to local community development through education and training in the different Member States with a view to disseminating examples of good practice and identifying ways in which education and training, both formal and non-formal, can contribute to the enrichment of life and development of skills for people at local level.