PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT (intellectual): languages, information technology etc.
Starting point of the working group
One of the core factors of self-motivated education has traditionally been an individual's desire for intellectual self-enhancement. Personal development used to be the main motivation for independent learners; nowadays, at least in Finland, the utility factors inherent in self-enhancement have gained almost an equally important status. The reason for studying languages could previosly be related to travelling abroad or passion for foreign literature, whereas today the most common motivation is to improve personal skills to meet the requirements of working life. On the other hand, the internationalisation of civic organisations requires language skills, so the question is not unambiguos. Studying information technology also serves personal interests, and it could very well be speculated which needs actually do prevail: private ones or those of working life.
To what extent can this development be explained by the fact that an increasing amount of the citizens of the EU countries are in information-intensive occupations and the general level of education is high? What if the job alone provides sufficiently intellectual challenge? Is self-motivated intellectual development losing ground to such forms of liberal education, where, instead of concentrating on intellectual performance, people prefer to spend their leisure time with hobbies related to handicrafts, performance and self-expression or sports as a counterreaction to work?
Or will the focus of non-credit study shift towards subjects such as studying local history or geneaology?
What can non-award bearing study offer to the immigrants' personal development?
What is the significance of this question for those countries where parts of the population still are illiterate? Do they still have need for information-intensive non-credit study?
How do the participants evaluate the positive and negative aspects of this development? How should their evaluation be taken into account in developing these services? What kind of personal intellectual development can liberal education institutions offer - how much education latitude should they provide? How much latitude is enough? What are the common points between these problems and lifelong learning?
One of the objectives of the workshop is to point out that in most of the European countries, alongside with liberal education institutions, operates one significant institution serving the same purposes - the public library. What are the relations and contacts between liberal education and public libraries?
Excursions
Visit to the brand-new library of Raisio municipality, which has been opened to the public on 15 September, and to the adult education centre, where the inhabitants of Raisio have two different possibilities to acquire material for personal intellectual development. The representatives of the library and the adult education centre explain how this is implemented in their work.
