lifelong learning

This article emphasises the characterisation of time as a human social and cultural construct, while not neglecting other perceptions and representations of it. Reflections on the nature and scope of time have always interested the sciences, as a time of times, fostering an interdisciplinary dialogue which calls to all branches of knowledge including the educational sciences and, in particular pedagogy, as they accept the challenge of educating us about time as a civic task in which all of civil society must participate.

This piece, which takes the form of an essay bringing together different documentary sources, proposes two main objectives: a) to identify and integrate a wide set of epistemological, theoretical-conceptual, methodological, and empirical viewpoints used in studies of time; and b) to affirm and assert the importance of time in educational and social research, educational policies, and people’s everyday lives, projecting their achievements into conceptions and practices that extend learning to the entire life cycle.

Time educates and we educate ourselves in it, and so it is necessary to rethink — pedagogically and socially — its meanings in a society that is open 24 hours a day and is symbolically and materially globalised. The complexity inherent in processes of social, cultural, technological, economic, etc. change and transformation presents us with the challenge of imagining an education without spatial or temporal limits. It also forces us to broaden its horizons as a right in the service of the people and the planet. This is stated in the Sustainable Development Goals and in their framework of action, in an attempt to guarantee quality inclusive, and equitable education that promotes lifelong learning opportunities for all. Paradoxically, in their goals, strategic approaches, means of implementation, and indicators, time is absent, unlike space and communication.

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Please, cite this article as follows: Caride, J. A. (2020). Educar y educarnos a tiempo, pedagógica y socialmente | To educate and educate ourselves in time, pedagogically and socially. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 78 (277), 395-413. doi: https://doi.org/10.22550/REP78-3-2020-03

The characteristics of current society and the interest about citizenship education in the context of lifelong learning are essential to a study that aims to describe and understand the development of social and civic competence in the educational field. A Delphi study can make a proposal in which the social and civic competence is composed of 89 items organized into five areas: knowledge, skills, attitudes, values and behaviours. In parallel, the study of a school in Sevilla discovers didactic strategies and organizational processes that benefit the development of the various components of this competence.

The European Year devoted to education and lifelong learning is intended to be one more step towards public awareness of the relevance of education and lifelong learning not only to Europe but also to every European citizen. To all of us, learning to learn throughout a whole life is the key point. Thus, lifelong learning must be integrated in our daily life and, in this respect, the European Commission has proposed five different goals to be discussed all over 1996. These goals are: to promote the acquisition of new contents; to better link schools and the world of work; to fight against social exclusion; to master three different languages; and to equalise capital investments and investments in training.

The information society, that is based on the technological revolution, is already a fact. The information and communication technologies also concern the education world -not only commerce and leisure-, and the education policy should take advantage of them.

Our aim in this paper is to establish some benefits and limitations of technologies in education from a policy approach. Computing and telecommunications may serve a market model, or they may be useful to build a democratic and egalitarian society, or both. For the moment policy discourse is driven from the perspective of markets, rather than from a perspective which places the priority on the needs of the democratic process. It is argued that educational environments are suitable contexts to foster citizensâ?? involvement in the information society in a moral way.

 

Key words: Education Policy, New Technologies, Democracy Models, Equality in Education, Lifelong Learning.