"Toda la vida es una oportunidad para aprender" (Toute la vie est une opportunité pour apprendre) était le thème de la toute première édition uruguayenne d'un festival dédié à la promotion du droit et des possibilités d'éducation tout au long de la vie. L'Uruguay est devenu le premier pays latino-américain à célébrer l'apprentissage dans la lignée des célébrations annuelles organisées par plusieurs pays et régions du monde,  dont notre Semaine québécoise des adultes en formation.

L'événement organisé par le Ministère de l'éducation et de la Culture de l'Uruguay en collaboration avec des organismes du milieu associatif s'est déroulé les 7 et 8 décembre derniers. Des activités interactives, des performances artistiques, des expositions et ateliers éducatifs étaient au programme de ces journées qui visaient à contribuer au développement d'une culture de l'apprentissage tout au long de la vie. En plus de promouvoir l'apprentissage auprès de la population, ce genre d'événement permet de consolider les liens et les partenariats entre les intervenantEs des différents domaines de l'éducation : art, culture, travail, éducation formelle et non-formelle.

• Lire la présentation (en espagnol) sur le site du Ministère de l'éducation et de la culture de l'Uruguay
  

Communiqué diffusé par le Conseil International d'éducation des adultes (CIEA - ICAE):

1st. Adult Learning Festival in Latin-American

On 7 and 8 December took place the “First Learning Festival in Uruguay”, the first experience of this kind, not only in Uruguay but also in all Latin America. The aim of this activity, organized by the Ministry of Education and Culture, with the collaboration of ICAE and REPEM (Network of Popular Education Between Women of Latin America and the Caribbean), was to value, celebrate, spread and acknowledge the importance of lifelong learning and youth and adults education.

Interactive activities, artistic displays and different exhibitions of educational experiences were developed during these two days.

The Director of Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Luis Garibaldi, said that this “is a very important experience that revalues the concept of learning given by education itself, i.e. that people who learn are the focal point in the educational processes".

The learning festival is a proposal carried out in other parts of the world and, from its beginning in 1992 by NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) in U.K, new countries have been joining this celebration that now develops in more than 50 countries.

Rachel Thomson (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) and Jim Larsson (Sweden-Uruguay Cultural Institute), in a round table moderated by ICAE, shared the learning festival experience in England and the Sweden experience of the Study Circles respectively.

Rachel Thomson, from the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE), responsible for the Learning Festival in England expressed that the Adult Learners’ Week “..provided the opportunity to highlight that learning is not only good for individual health, self-esteem and employability, but also that it transforms lives..” and he shared with the audience some stories that clearly reflected these changes. The festival highlights that going back to education as an adult learner can be enjoyable.

Jim Larsson, President of the Sweden-Uruguay Cultural Institute, explained the methodology of Study Circles, pointing out that they are a methodological tool very useful to deepen democratic practices. He also informed of a project recently implemented in Uruguay through which 17 study circles have been established in needed areas of Montevideo.

Both speakers coincided in stressing the social, political, economic and cultural importance of youth and adults education as a resource for human growth and development.

This exchange enabled civil social organizations and networks present, like ICAE and REPEM, not only to share information on existing learning practices in the country, but also to foster and promote future links with commissions of education and art, education and work, and non-formal education that work within the framework of the Department of Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture of Uruguay.

[Source: VOICES RISING, YEAR V - Nº 246, December 14, 2007]