Community Based Lifelong Learning Centres: Developing a European Strategy Informed by International Evidence and Research

This paper seeks to examine strategies for establishing community based lifelong learning centres in EU member states. It explores evidence and research on the benefits and advantages of such centres, as well as the barriers and difficulties impeding both the establishment and effectiveness of it. As part of developing a strategy for such community lifelong centres, an important focus is on supportive conditions for their effectiveness, rather than a deterministic assumption of their inevitable effectiveness. Though the main focus on such centres is in relation to nonformal education, their scope will be seen to include not only potential bridges to formal education but also opportunities for synergy between nonformal and formal education pathways even in the same location. The scope of this paper will also acknowledge the lifewide dimension to lifelong learning, often neglected, in relation to such community lifelong learning centres.