7^th ERDI Expert Seminar
Basic Skills and Literacy
Alden Biesen, Belgium, 25-27 April 2007

Seminar concept

“Basic Skills” has generally been taken to refer to literacy and numeracy, but the Lisbon Council called for adding the new skills needed in a knowledge society, such as ICT, communicative skills, team-working, communication in a foreign language, and entrepeneurship. The EU Working Group on Basic Skills preferred to use the word “competence”, which refers to a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes. “Key competences” are meant to define the competences needed by all European citizens to function in society and the working life.

The seminar addresses policy makers, developers and researchers who work on and/or are interested in the issues of basic skills and adult literacy. The seminar will explore more in depth three aspects that are relevant to discuss regarding Basic Skills:

- Strategies to activate adults to participate in education
- National initiatives and policies
- Professionalisation of teachers/trainer 

To each of these aspects one work session of about 3 hours will be dedicated. Each session will start with an overview given by the workshop leaders on relevant initiatives and practices in Europe. Seminar participants are invited to contribute relevant information to the workshop leaders beforehand (see workshop descriptions for details). In the workshops there will then also be room for more in depth presentations on parts of the topic by the workshops participants themselves. After the presentation, participants will in small groups discuss and exchange on aspects of the theme.

Seminar documentation

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