EAPRIL 2022

FROM FORMAL EDUCATION TO CONTINUOUS LEARNING
Learning as a collaborative interaction between learning professionals, research, education and the workplace

EAPRIL is going live again in 2022 with an inspiring conference at HAN University of Applied Sciences, Nijmegen, the Netherlands. EAPRIL2022 @ HAN focusses on the changing ways people learn. The theme from formal education to continuous learning focusses on learning as a collaborative interaction between learning professionals, research, education and the workplace. Although European definitions of lifelong learning vary, it is widely recognised that there is a need to redefine the requirements for lifelong learning: for example, educational practices need to become more ‘embedded’ in work practices and feasibility is becoming more important to ensure that learning professionals do not lose the balance between learning, work and private life. Thereby, responsivity to diverse learning styles and providing possibilities for those who did not flourish in previous learning situations is vitally important to provide good learning environments.

But continuous learning is not a theme pertaining to adult education alone. If we want the next generation to be able to enjoy what continuous learning can bring, and to see lifelong learning as something natural instead of exceptional, we must prepare younger children and pupils by teaching them skills such as self-regulated learning, digital skills and exploring international educational opportunities.

HAN University of Applied Sciences has developed many flexible courses for learning professionals in the past few years. We have developed our strengths in educating adults to be viable partners for organisations that strive for continuous learning for their employees. At the EAPRIL conference we aim to bridge the gap between formal education and continuous learning by giving participants from various educational cultures and school types the opportunity to inspire each other. Some of the questions we will address are: what do learning professionals need in order to be succesful? What added value do MOOCs and microcredentials have for continuous learning? How can previously acquired competences be valued in a formal learning process?

We are looking forward to gaining insights from the EAPRIL-community on research that contributes to flourishing continous learning practices.We explicitly invite everyone to share and discuss good practices as well as challenges associated with changing views on learning. The European Association for Practitioner Research on Improving Learning (EAPRIL) aims to promote practice-based and practitioner research on teaching and learning within formal, informal, continuous, vocational and professional learning contexts – in many forms of expression. Therefore, the EAPRIL conference is the perfect place for discussions on innovation in learning in multiple contexts.