Lifelong Learning Program

Education pour toute la vie

Dianova in Portugal participates in visit studies funded by European Commission’s “Lifelong Learning Program“. With a budget of nearly €7 billion for 2007 to 2013, the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Program enables people at all stages of their lives to participate in stimulating learning experiences, as well as helping to develop the education and training sector throughout Europe.

Among the various types of actions offered by the program, Dianova applied to a sub-program jointly financed by the European Commission and the Portuguese state, with the purpose of financing 3 to 5-day study visits in a host country for groups of European education and vocational training specialists and decision-makers, enabling them to observe the various practices developed in the EU. For the year 2011, two visits have been approved and funded by the European program in September, allowing Dianova‘s representatives to learn about new practices and meet other education specialists, with the objective of developing and improving Dianova’s educational programs.

Group photo, UKFrom 5 to 9 September, our colleague, Susana Almeida, manager of Dianova’s Training Center, was invited to Penzance (Cornwall county, England) for a study visit of the  “Outdoor Classrooms – Using the environment to Inspire learning” project, hosted by Carnyorth Environmental Education Center. The visit explored numerous facets of education and sustainability, from a variety of angles, as relevant to the political and cultural county of Cornwall, the larger national UK framework and the multinational perspective.

In addition, despite the variety of countries represented, and their differing school and education systems, there was unanimous agreement that education for sustainability and global citizenship needs to be at the core of all education, and that to achieve this, environmental education should be prioritized. More specifically, the latter experience will enable Dianova to improve its Training Center’s outdoor educational activities and the “Parque Aventura Emotiva 3G” project.

Another visit was scheduled to begin on Monday 26 Sept. and will run until Sept. 30. Our colleague, Ms Ana Santos, Head of Innovation and Development Department, was invited to Corinth (Greece) to join a visit study dedicated to “Innovative approaches to improve respect for the environment.