Annual conference 2003
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Annual conference 2003 |
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| Page last updated 22 June, 2005 |
menu>reports>2001
(En)
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LEARNING UNLIMITED MEETING IN FRANCE
The meeting was well attended, and since participation in the discussion was very active and had to be translated into several languages (thanks to our translators !), we didn't have time to cover everything on the agenda. Some subjects were discussed in small groups during the week. NEWS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES After general introductions, we had news from people from different countries represented at the meeting : Germany : Two people from Germany presented the organisation they represented. (In Germany, home education is prohibited in most federal states, despite some recent favorable court decisions). Anke Caspar-Jürgens, described her work with an organisation promoting family schools in Germany, which led her to found another organisation promoting natural learning : Bundesverband Natürlich Lernen e.v. Elisabeth Kuhnle presented her organisation and has since sent a detailed article on home education in Germany to the " Les Enfants d'Abord " autumn newsletter. Spain : Xavier Ala from Spain is a founding member of ALE, Asociación por la Libre Educación, which supports home education and the right for home educated children to take the state exams and university entrance exams as an individual candidate, a right they do not presently have in Spain. Xavier pointed out that there is a mistake in the last LU newsletter concerning the situation in Spain : the mayor has no say in whether you can home educate or not. The law neither prohibits nor permits home education, which leaves the situation open for home education. United Kingdom : Leslie explained that the legal situation in England is good so far. However, Scotland has introduced draft guidance which provides for more control over home education and which home educators are trying to oppose. She added that she had originally proposed the creation of LU because she was worried about the move towards more government control of home education in other countries, particularly in France. We then had a long discussion on the aims of LU and the statement on autonomous learning AIMS OF LEARNING UNLIMITED Some people felt that it might be contradictory for Learning Unlimited to have the two aims that is presently has. While autonomous learning could be included in the defense of home education, was it possible to promote autonomous learning and at the same time defend other approaches in home education ? This is of particular importance to Les Enfants d'Abord, since the French organisation respects all forms of home education, including autonmous learning, but does not promote any particular method or approach. (even though a lot of members would agree with the second aim of Learning Unlimited). Different views were exchanged on this, but no conclusion was reached.
What constitutes autonomous learning ? The literal translation of autonomous learning in French did not satisfy everyone, even though the expression seems to have been coined by a Frenchman, Victor Marbeau, a school inspector. Many of the French were not in agreement with the word " autonomous ", nor with Victor Marbeau's use of the term to describe his experiences with independent study in the school system. It was concluded that the French group would have to spend some time reworking the translation of the term and the autonomous learning statement to better express what it might represent in French terms. WEBSITE AND CONFERENCE The previous discussion lasted all afternoon, so the two other points on the agenda were mentioned but not discussed on Tuesday : - website : How could the LU website be organised to allow different
countries to have their own space ? Mike, who is presently the webmaster,
has made a few suggestions on this : - conference in Paris : The purpose of this conference would be to invite academics from France and other countries to speak on their research on home education and to publicise the conference as much as possible. The idea seemed to generate some interest but would need to be discussed in detail in a separate meeting. EXCHANGES Everyone was enthusiastic about organising exchanges between families from different countries. Learning Unlimited could centralise requests or offers from families willing to host a child or teenager. Contact Leslie at Choice in Education, P.O. Box 20284, London, NW1 3AA, info@choiceineducation.org.uk. MEMBERSHIP In a more informal discussion during the week, it was suggested that
membership might be useful for funding administrative costs for the
organisation. This organisation works on the European level and has advisory status with the European Council. It has been actively involved in the draft of the new European Charter and has participated in meetings on the future European Constitution, with regard to education. Although the Forum is composed mainly of alternative schools, home educators are also represented (Les Enfants d'Abord is a member). It was suggested that Learning Unlimited might send a participant to the November symposium. Leslie has since contacted Robert Bell of EFFE. He felt it would be best for us to attend the summer conference as that would be the best time to raise interest. He agreed that the reason EFFE has not supported HE up to now is because no one from HE was involved in EFFE. Therefore the best way for LU and HE to become a part of EFFE is to attend their conferences. Leslie and Robert Bell agreed that it seemed silly for LU to try to make EU contacts when EFFE was already consulted. Robert Bell mentioned Fiona Carrie as someone who had supported HE in the past but she has left Human Scale Eduaiton and they are now less interestsed in HE. Leslie therefore thinks we should take Mr Bell's advice and send a representative to the summer conference. He will let her know the details. |