A.06. Learning to Learn for Democracy, Empowerment and Equity

This panel proposal focuses on the Learning to Learn (L2L) hyper-competence, included among Europe’s key competencies for lifelong learning.This theme has attracted new attention among international scholars (Deakin Crick, Stringher, Ren, 2014) for its promise to help closing achievement and attainment gaps among students coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, ultimately yielding to better life outcomes.

However, there are several aspects of this competence that merit attention. First and foremost, how to observe its developmental trajectory from early childhood up to adulthood (Vainikainen & Hautamäki, 2022) and how to promote it at scale in preschools, schools, universities and other non-formal and informal settings (Mannion & Mercer, 2016). Considering the strong inter-disciplinarity needed to tackle L2L, we invite international and national scholars to submit abstracts that aim at the following topics:

- Developmental progression of and ways to support L2L throughout the lifespan.

- Observation, assessment and evaluation tools to capture its unfolding in formal, non-formal and informal settings lifelong.

Qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods, longitudinal approaches to the study of L2L are welcomed, and theoretical or phylosophical too.

A thorough discussion on these topics is needed among scholars and practitioners supporting learners in different contexts, if L2L has to serve the purpose it claims, i.e. help learners of all ages reach their full learning and attainment potential, thereby improving their life outcomes and wellbeing as humans, not just as workers. Otherwise, L2L risks to become an elite concept for the affluent few, or an economic imperatiive or at best a vacuum slogan.