Collective Vision

Short Term (2002)

• An active network of learning communities is engaged and working together in Canada.
• Learning is a national, non-partisan priority – and resources are effectively mobilized.
• The rhetoric shifts to action (“Be a verb!”).
• Canadian researchers and practitioners are linked and best practices are developed and adopted.
• Educators and trainers have access to all we know about learning so they can apply the knowledge and tools effectively.
• Everyone can become a lifelong learner.

Long Term (2020)

Children and Youth

• Universal pre/post-natal parent training is available.
• High-quality, widely accessible child care is available.
• Resources are applied more intensively in the early years of life.
• A generation of 16-year-olds is literate, competent, confident, likable and compassionate citizens.
• Youth unemployment rate is the same as the national rate – and both are low because of a good match between skills and the market.

Seniors

• Seniors are valued, and seen to be an important part of learning communities.

Society/Community

• A civil/civic society is maintained in Canada.
• Robust informal networks of support exist for learning communities.
• All communities are engaged in learning.
• All communities invest in the learning of their members.
• Public attitudes change – “it’s never too late to learn.”

Governments

• Federal and provincial levels cooperate to invest in learning.
• Roles are clarified regarding standards and outcomes among governments, educators/trainers and learners.

Practice and Research

• No dichotomy exists between practitioners and researchers – disparate groups come together.
• Reflective feedback tools and research are available to all.

Learning System

• The formal learning system is interdependent and seamless.
• Formal institutions do fewer things better.
• Learners achieve credentials and get credit for their experience without artificial barriers.
• Learners have the capacity (including health) to learn and love learning.
• There is no distinction between work, school and living as sources of learning.
• Individuals have access to what they need to know – learning systems are open.

Summary of Vision

Changed public attitudes enable an investment in learning and the creation of a learning society. The technical/structural educational system becomes aligned with Canadian values/culture (traditional and/or emerging) regarding learning for all, and leading to the creation of a truly sustainable society.

“Bring education to the people, not the people to education. Not only primary, but secondary and university education must be placed within the reach of all. Education must be obtainable on the farm, in the bush, on the railway and in the mine. We must educate the whole family wherever their work is, wherever they earn their living, teaching them how to earn and at the same time how to grow physically, intellectually and spiritually to the full stature of their God-given potentialities. This is the real education. This is the place of the true university.”

Alfred Fitzpatrick, (founder of Frontier College) 1920′s

Open public discourse, informed by research, must focus Canadians on the questions:

“What kinds of learning do we need?”

“What can – and should – we sustain in our new economy?”

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