Deutscher LearnAtlas

Regional perspectives in LLL - Indicators and mapping approaches

Written by Administrator 12 May 2012

The Learn Atlas offers a wide view of the learning environment of Germany's regions based on a set of indicators grouped in four categories:

• Learning at school
• Vocational Learning
• Social Learning
• Personal Learning

Read the latest report: http://www.deutscher-lernatlas.de/uploads/tx_templavoila/111201_Ergebnisbericht.pdf

Find more at: http://www.deutscher-lernatlas.de

Learning together for local innovation: promoting learning regions (2007)

Regional perspectives in LLL - Initiatives, projects and studies

Last Updated on 12 May 2012 Written by Administrator 12 May 2012

This book by CEDEFOP examines how one builds innovative local and regional communities. It does so through analysing case studies from different partsof Europe. The emphasis is on learning from practices. Regional innovation depends on dialogue, cooperation, networking and learning between all social and economic actors in a region. The interfaces between different interest groups in a region are the places where learning takes place: people learning together to address complex social and economic problems. This can be understood as region-wide ‘practical learning’ along ‘learning region’ lines.

Read more at: http://learningregion.pbworks.com/f/3047_en.pdf

Agora XI: The learning region (2001)

Regional perspectives in LLL - Conceptual approaches

Written by Administrator 12 May 2012

The word "region" in the term "learning region" should be interpreted in a much wider sense than that of a statutory or legally defined region. In very many cases learning regions may refer to small scale communities, localities, towns or villages involved in collaborative learning activities. The important feature is that development is a collective process to produce an outcome that is in the interest of all concerned and in which top-down and bottom-up developments form a dialectic. Successful partnerships, therefore, reflect local circumstances, are not imposed and do not follow a standard model. In the concept of the learning region being put forward here, the focus is on achieving social and economic objectives in an integrated manner. Regional learning initiatives entail empowering local communities (through the involvement of people from different interest groups) to enhance their living standards and quality of life, both from economic and social points of view.

Read more at: http://learningregion.pbworks.com/f/5140_en.pdf

Learning Regions revisited (PURE project)

Regional perspectives in LLL - Initiatives, projects and studies

Written by Administrator 12 May 2012

This 7^th Cluster within PURE has not yet been activated, but it is clear that the concepts of Lifelong Learning and of the Learning Region have been part of discussions in some regions. Here an amended extract from the interim report of PURE has been inserted as a reminder of how the learning city/region concept found resonance in some of our regions.

In Northern Illinois, the CDG identified ‘learning regions’ amongst three concepts centred on learning that will be important for the region’s future development. Their take on the Learning Region refers to the notion that regions are becoming the focus of knowledge creation, innovation and utilisation in the global knowledge economy.  It was therefore felt by the review team that Northern Illinois understands how it is organised to support the flow of data, information and knowledge.  This is particularly important given that no central agency is responsible for regional and economic planning for this portion of the state.

Read more at: http://pure.pascalobservatory.org/pascalnow/forums/cluster-7-lifelong-learning-and-learning-region-lllr/learning-regions-revisited

Canada’s Composite Learning Index (CLI)

Regional perspectives in LLL - Indicators and mapping approaches

Written by Administrator 12 May 2012

The Composite Learning Index (CLI), a product of the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL), is Canada’s annual measure of progress in lifelong learning. It is based on a combination of statistical indicators that reflect the many ways Canadians learn, whether in school, in the home, at work or within the community.

The CLI uses a wide range of learning indicators to generate numeric scores for more than 4,500 communities across Canada. A high CLI score means that a particular city, town or rural community possesses the kinds of learning conditions that foster social and economic well-being. A low CLI score means that a community is under-performing in certain aspects that are key to lifelong learning.

Read the 2010 CLI Handbook, Five Years of Measuring Canada’s Progress in Lifelong Learning (pdf)

Find more at: http://www.cli-ica.ca/en.aspx

The Educating cities initiative

Regional perspectives in LLL - Initiatives, projects and studies

Written by Administrator 12 May 2012

Educating cities started as a movement in 1990 based on the 1st International Congress of Educating Cities, held in Barcelona, when a group of cities represented by their local governments set for themselves the common goal of working together on projects and activities for improving the quality of life of their inhabitants on the basis of their active involvement in the use and evolution of the city itself and according to the aproved Educating Cities Charter.

Some years later, in 1994, the movement was formalised as the International Association of Educating Cities at its 3rd Congress in Bologna.

Find more at: http://www.bcn.es/edcities/aice/estatiques/angles/sec_iaec.html

EUROlocal: a European storehouse on the local and regional dimensions of lifelong learning

Regional perspectives in LLL - Initiatives, projects and studies

Written by Administrator 12 May 2012

The term ‘Learning Region’ is commonplace in the lifelong learning debate. This is logical - they are a key plank of EC policy - places where lifelong learning is implemented. The EC definition is 'A city, town or region which recognises and understands the key role of learning in the development of prosperity, stability and personal fulfilment, and mobilises all its resources creatively to develop the full human potential of all its citizens.’ These resources include both people and organisations - VET, HEIs, SME's, local authorities, schools and adult education, all key stakeholders in a learning region.

EUROlocal reinforces the EC policy on lifelong learning regions by collecting the tools, strategies, learning materials, reports and everything concerned with the development of learning regions, putting them into an innovative web site that all regions can access, and actively marketing the qualitative benefits of becoming a European learning region. Its workshops promote trans-European cooperation.

Find more about the EUROlocal project at: http://eurolocal.info/

The R3L+ project on Learning Regions and Cities (2012)

Regional perspectives in LLL - Initiatives, projects and studies

Last Updated on 12 May 2012 Written by Andreas Kollias 12 May 2012

Learning Regions and Cities have become a widely adopted concept in European education policies. Due to the different departures and pathways each of them has developed domain specific knowledge, in the area of social capital building, regarding good governance and institution building, stakeholder collaboration, public-private partnerships and transversal cooperation.

The project R3L+ capitalizes on this diversity by bringing together actors from the respective countries in order to learn from each other and jointly elaborate a common quality framework for collaborative action.

Read the report "Quality in Developing, Learning Cities and Regions, A Guide for Practitioners and  Stakeholders", Munich 2012 (pdf)

Find more about the R3L+ project at: http://www.learning-regions.net/

Beyond the region: the learning region (2009)

Regional perspectives in LLL - Initiatives, projects and studies

Last Updated on 12 May 2012 Written by Andreas Kollias 12 May 2012

According to Anne Badenhorst (2009), in a global economy and a world of increasing polarisation and unsustainable development, learning is critical to change. With most of the world’s population in cities and the region increasingly the focus of measures to improve prospects, the learning region concept integrates the conflicting, diverse and complex issues of development.

This thesis examines learning in networks and further develops the theory of the learning region through a case study in Melbourne, Australia. It begins with a case study of an industry network which was part of a research project – City Regions, Intelligent Territories, Innovation Competitiveness and Learning (CRITICAL).

The Learning Region: Institutions, Innovation and Regional Renewal (1997)

Regional perspectives in LLL - Initiatives, projects and studies

Last Updated on 12 May 2012 Written by Andreas Kollias 12 May 2012

According to K. Morgan (1997), a potentially significant theoretical convergence is underway between the two hitherto distinct fields of innovation studies and economic geography. Through the prism of the 'learning region' this paper examines some of the theoretical and policy implications of this convergence. Drawing on the work of evolutionary politicial economy, it highlights the significance for regional development of the interactive model of innovation. The paper then proceeds to examine the policy implication of this model by focusing, first, on a new generation of EU regional policy measures and, second, on a case study of regional innovation strategy in Wales. Finally, the paper offers a critical assessment of the distributional consequences of this strategy, posing the question: is regional innovation policy enough to address the socio-economic problems of old industrial regions?

MORGAN K. (1997) The learning region: institutions, innovation and regional renewal, Reg. Studies 31, 491-503.

Read more at: http://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/regstd/v31y1997i5p491-503.html