EAEA: Adult Education Key Role in the Current Refugee Crisis


In a 2015 statement from the European Association for the Education of Adults, EAEA emphasises  the importance of adult learning for both the refugees

 

EAEA stresses that adult learning is a part of the solution both for the refugees and for the host countries. It can help refugees integrate into their host countries. Adult education institutions provide e.g. language and citizenship courses that support refugees upon arrival. They can also play an important role in providing refugees information on their options and rights. Adult education institutions also organise intercultural meetings for new arrivals and locals. It is important that the original population understands who the refugees are, where they come from, why they have fled, what their status as refugees means and entails and what it means for the society to welcome new inhabitants. On the other hand, these meetings allow refugees to understand the local culture better.

EAEA stresses that education for tolerance and respect is very much needed at a time in which messages and acts of xenophobia are increasing all over Europe. Here again, non-formal adult education plays a crucial role. It promotes active citizenship, intercultural competences and fundamental values, and enables people to engage in a social change of society that leads to more solidarity, e.g. by forming civil society alliances and platforms.

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