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MIROSŁAW SIELATYCKI Welcoming Speech
We learn throughout our lives, in formal, informal and non-formal ways, steadily acquiring new competences and qualifications. Mobility is the element that most accelerates learning and the updating of competences and qualifications. Thanks to mobility, the learning process is more effective and attractive, and it paves the way for new experiences and opportunities. Language competence is a precondition if mobility is to be efficient and to be benefited from, and it ensures that mobility brings the required results, in the educational, professional and cognitive spheres, this in turn helping with the development of cultural competences. At the same time it is worth noting that we observe a positive interrelationship here, which entails improved language competence resulting from mobility. Anton Chekhov used to say that without a knowledge of languages, you feel as if you don’t have a passport. Just like the learning process, mobility should be implemented as part of the LLL (Lifelong Learning) and LWL (Lifewide Learning) formulae, that is during the whole life, in different forms and places. As early as at the preschool stage, one can teach a semblance of it, as part of the eTwinning programme, for example. At schools, pupils benefit from Comenius, vocational education students can use Leonardo da Vinci, and HEI students willingly participate in the Erasmus programme. Last but not least, adult learners can be mobile thanks to Grundtvig. Support for mobility at each stage of education is very valuable, and should also be promoted in the next programming period. Educational mobility, just like learning, has a formal and non-formal dimension. Under the Youth in Action programme, young people from the EU and neighbouring countries participate in projects that develop language, culture, social and civil competences, as well as entrepreneurship, creativity and leadership skills. Thanks to the commitment of partners from the NGO sector, the support of educational institutions, and the motivation of individuals who organise international projects for local communities, participants gain experience, learn from one another, and disseminate the acquired knowledge in local communities. In this context, it is important to maintain the separate character of youth programmes when developing mobility programmes for the years 2014–2020. It is important that mobility has a logical continuation, from the mobility of pupils and of students, to mobility in adult life, including that of workers and tourists. Mobility should characterise all stages from childhood to seniority, as the title of our conference has it. Just as we learn throughout our lives, we should be mobile throughout our lives. And here we can talk about three dimensions to mobility: •• mobility at any age (from childhood to seniority); •• mobility in any form (ranging from formal, to informal and nonformal); •• mobility in any space (from EU territory to EU neighbouring countries and across the globe).