DCU IoE Roundtable leads to Brussels EU Presidency Forum

A high-level roundtable discussion on lifelong learning - spearheaded in 2017 by DCU’s Educational Disadvantage Centre in the Institute of Education - has proven to be the catalyst for a major EU policy forum on the topic being hosted in Brussels in May this year.

DCU Institute of Education’s Educational Disadvantage Centre organised and hosted a Roundtable on combining community lifelong learning centres and multidisciplinary teams led by the Director of the Educational Disadvantage Centre, Dr. Paul Downes, in September 2017.

This Roundtable was attended by the EU Commission, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr. Katherine Zappone TD; Cedefop (the European Union's European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training); Vice-President of the European Parents’ Association, Claudio Masotti; Tusla, Aontas, and Familibase Ballyfermot, and a range of other key stakeholders. Dean of the Institute of Education, Dr. Anne Looney, welcomed the participants.

Following on from that event, Cedefop is leading the organisation of an international policy forum in Brussels, What role for community lifelong learning centres? The potential of one-stop shops for preventing youth at risk from disconnecting, as part of the Romanian EU Presidency. 

This event, which takes place on May 29, 2019, has been organised in conjunction with the Lifelong Learning Platform for Europe,representing over 40 European-wide civil society networks in the field of education, composed of 50,000 institutions and associations involved in lifelong learning in Europe. 

A joint official briefing paper between the Lifelong Learning Platform for Europe and DCU’s IoE Educational Disadvantage Centre has been developed for the event, in dialogue with Cedefop, Implementing a Holistic Approach to Lifelong Learning: Community Lifelong Learning Centres as a Gateway to Multidisciplinary Support Teams. 

Dr. Downes will be interviewed at the event, as well as giving an invited presentation on these issues. Participants in the EU event will also include representatives from the European Commission’s Directorate General, Education and Culture; Directorate General, Employment; and representatives from the Romanian and Finnish EU Presidencies.