Author Archives: Csuka Dalma Ilona
Inclusive Europe – May 2026 Edition
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| May Edition 02/2026 Inclusive Europe Dear reader, Welcome to May edition of the Inclusive Europe Newsletter, powered by eucen, where we share with you the most recent news in the field of Diversity and Inclusionacross higher and adult education in Europe. This edition explores recent initiatives, policy developments, and collaborative efforts promoting more inclusive and accessible lifelong learning across Europe. From innovative digital education projects to European strategies on inclusion and higher education, the newsletter highlights how universities and organisations are working to strengthen equity, participation, and belonging in learning environments. We invite you to explore this month’s selection of insights, updates, and opportunities. Innovation in Practice |
 Towards more inclusive digital environments: new resources released in Europe The INCLUDE ME+ project has released its final set of resources, marking the successful completion of the project after a period of collaboration, research, and co-creation among its partners. The initiative has produced a comprehensive and accessible collection of practical and transferable tools designed to promote inclusion through mediation and to support more inclusive and participatory digital media practices across Europe. These resources are intended to strengthen the capacity of key stakeholders, including higher education educators, digital media providers, civil society organisations, and students.  New e-zine shares updates and insights on visual teaching in education! The first E-zine from the VISUALITY project has recently been launched. The publication brings together recent activities, insights, and developments related to the use of visual teaching strategies in higher and adult education across Europe. VISUALITY explores how visual approaches can contribute to more inclusive and accessible learning environments for diverse groups of learners. Readers can discover more about the project, its partners, and the ongoing work being carried out to support inclusive teaching and learning practices. Feel free to share it with colleagues and networks interested in inclusive teaching and learning practices.  Exploring belonging in higher education: staff perspectives matter A sense of belonging in higher education is shaped not only by institutional policies, but also by everyday experiences — through teaching, communication, leadership, and the many interactions that define university life. To better understand how belonging is experienced within universities, the BELONG@HEI project is inviting higher education staff to take part in a short anonymous survey. The survey explores what helps people feel included, respected, and supported in their working and learning environments. The insights gathered will contribute to ongoing work on inclusive and student-centred approaches in higher education across Europe, helping identify practical ways universities can strengthen belonging in everyday practice. The questionnaire takes only around five minutes to complete! Your perspective matters.  Exploring belonging in higher education: staff perspectives matter Across Europe, adult education providers continue to search for new ways to reach learners who are often excluded from traditional educational pathways. The FOOD INCLUDES project offers one example of how everyday experiences — such as cooking and sharing food — can become meaningful tools for inclusion, participation, and skills development. The initiative explores how food-centred activities can help create more accessible and flexible learning opportunities, particularly for vulnerable groups such as refugees, migrants, and people affected by social or economic barriers. At a time when millions of displaced people are rebuilding their lives across Europe, projects that combine community engagement with educational outreach are becoming increasingly relevant. Discover the principles behind this new approach to inclusion, with food as its starting point.  What are the key European initiatives for inclusion in University Lifelong Learning? Inclusion has become a central priority in European education and skills policy, reflecting a broader commitment to building more equitable, resilient, and knowledge-driven societies. Within this context, universities are increasingly recognised not only as centres of research and formal education, but also as key actors in widening access to learning across the lifespan. At the European level, several ongoing policy initiatives reinforce these goals.These initiatives aim to strengthen lifelong learning systems, improve access for underrepresented groups, and ensure that higher education institutions contribute effectively to social inclusion. They also emphasise the importance of upskilling and reskilling in response to rapid technological and economic change, ensuring that learners of all ages can adapt and thrive. For the ULLL community, these developments signal a clear direction: lifelong learning is no longer a peripheral mission of universities, but a core component of their societal role. Explore our full policy update to learn more about the latest developments and their implications.  What is the EU doing to make higher education more inclusive and connected? The European Union is working to make higher education across Europe more inclusive, accessible, and closely linked to society as part of the European Education Area. The goal is to ensure that universities support learners from all backgrounds and contribute to lifelong learning opportunities. A key priority is widening participation, especially for underrepresented groups such as students from disadvantaged backgrounds, adult learners, and people with migrant backgrounds. This includes improving access routes, strengthening student support, and promoting more flexible study options. The EU also encourages more flexible learning pathways, including part-time and online study, as well as better recognition of prior learning. These measures help people combine education with work and other responsibilities, supporting lifelong learning. In addition, higher education institutions are encouraged to strengthen links with schools, vocational education, employers, and communities to ensure learning is relevant and inclusive. |
[EPALE newsletter] Learning Together, Not Alone
Dear EPALE members,
These days, we all seem to desperately long for community. I know I do. We search for spaces of belonging, mutual support and shared purpose – that proverbial village in increasingly individualised times.
It is easy to agree that no one should be expected to figure everything out alone. Yet community is not only something we receive. It also asks something of us: time, vulnerability, patience and a willingness to show up for others, even when we would rather rot in the privacy of our own couch.
Learning, too, can become deeply individualised. We are encouraged to ask what learning can do for our careers, confidence or personal growth. But community education and service-learning invite a different question: what can our learning offer to others?
Across this month’s articles, we explore learning not as a solitary pursuit, but as something built together: through mentorship, guidance, reflection and shared responsibility.
Perhaps learning, vulnerable as it is, becomes more meaningful when we allow ourselves to lean on others, and to be someone others can lean on too.
Heini Huhtinen – EPALE Adult Learning Expert
Guidance as a compass for quality jobs and meaningful lives
In a world of accelerating transitions (technological, economic, social) no one should be expected to navigate alone. Lifelong guidance has shifted from a complementary service to something far more fundamental: a connective tissue between learning, work and the kind of life people actually want to live. Yet its potential is still unevenly realised across Europe. In this blog post, Zoltán Várkonyi (EBSN) traces the contours of a new European framework for lifelong guidance developed by Cedefop, and asks what it means in practice for adult learners and the professionals who work alongside them. From career management skills to social inclusion, from basic skills support to learner motivation, guidance turns out to be woven into everything EPALE’s 2026 thematic focus stands for.
► Read more on lifelong guidance
Inspired by Nordic Learning: Encouraging motivation and learning
What makes an adult decide to learn or keep learning when doubt, exhaustion, or the weight of a new life make it feel impossible? Across the Nordic countries, practitioners and researchers have been sitting with that question for years, and their answers share something in common: motivation is not a personal trait. It is something that grows, or fails to grow, in the conditions we create together. This edition of Inspired by Nordic Learning brings together perspectives from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, from newly graduated nurses finding their footing in working life, to Arab women rebuilding confidence in Iceland, to elderly people and their families navigating the challenges of ageing at home. Different contexts, different learners, one recurring insight: when people feel welcomed, supported and seen, learning becomes possible again.
► Explore motivation in adult learning
Learning in Motion – An outlook on the future
What if learning wasn’t something that happens in a place, but something that happens in motion across spaces, times, contexts, and generations? A new publication by the International Training Centre of the ILO challenges us to think beyond devices, beyond classrooms, and even beyond digital technology, reimagining mobile learning as a fundamentally human and adaptive practice. Developed in cooperation with the European Training Foundation, Learning in Motion identifies eight driving forces already reshaping how we learn, from the rise of phygital environments to the paradox of digital freedom, from the overload of choice to the growing importance of intergenerational exchange. For adult learning professionals, the message is clear: upskilling, validation of informal learning, and human connection are not trends on the horizon… they are already here.
► Discover the future of learning
Over 10 million workers trained under the Pact for Skills
What does it look like when thousands of organisations (businesses, training providers, regional authorities, social partners) decide to act together on skills? Five years after its launch, the Pact for Skills is offering a compelling answer: a Europe-wide network that is quietly reshaping how workers access learning, and what that learning can lead to. The latest annual survey reveals a picture of growing momentum, with upskilling reaching millions of workers across the EU and an overwhelming majority of participants reporting real benefits, from better skills intelligence to stronger cross-sector collaboration. And the ambition is only expanding: the European Commission is now calling on members to double down.
► See how skills partnerships are growing
Temporalities in Service-Learning and Community Education
In a world that promises hyper-flexible, individualised, always-on learning, something quieter is being lost: the experience of learning together, in shared time, for a purpose that extends beyond oneself. What happens when education becomes just another thing we curate for our own lives… efficient, seamless, and fundamentally solitary? This thought-provoking article pushes back against that logic. Drawing on concepts from philosophy, African Ubuntu thinking, and critical pedagogy, it makes the case for service-learning as a form of temporal resistance, a deliberate slowing down that allows trust to grow, communities to co-create meaning, and learning to become something more than a transaction. From a Repair Café in a student’s neighbourhood to solidarity movements in Kerala, the examples are small, grounded, and quietly radical.
eucen Highlights | May 2026
[EPALE newsletter] Join the next EPALE Corner webinar!
Dear EPALE members,
After a successful first edition, we’re excited to announce a new “EPALE Corner” webinar on 27 May 2026 at 3pm.
What’s on the agenda?
The EPALE Central Support Service team will show you how to find partners and create high-quality content on the platform. Plus, the second part of the session will be dedicated to your questions!
Ready to unlock the full potential of EPALE?
EUROGUIDANCE hírlevél május
Euroguidance Magyarország Központ
Hírlevél
A Euroguidance Hálózat célcsoportját az életpálya-tanácsadással foglalkozó szakemberek és döntéshozók alkotják, akik az oktatási és munkaerőpiaci szektoron belül tevékenykednek. Maga a Hálózat egy európai szintű együttműködés, amely összekapcsolja a tagországok tanácsadási rendszereit és segíti közös munkájukat.
Euroguidance Cross Border Seminar 2026
A Euroguidance hálózat június 9-10-én Budapesten rendezi meg nemzetközi határokon átívelő szemináriumát „Pályaorientáció a digitális világban” címmel. Az esemény a pályaorientáció jövőjének egyik legfontosabb kérdésére fókuszál: hogyan alakítja át a technológia a karrier-tanácsadást és a pályaválasztást.
A kétnapos rendezvény nemzetközi pályaorientációs és tanácsadó szakembereket, kutatókat hoz össze, hogy megosszák tapasztalataikat a digitális eszközök és innovatív módszerek alkalmazásáról. A program középpontjában olyan aktuális témák állnak, mint a mesterséges intelligencia szerepe a pályaorientációban, a virtuális mentorálás, az online platformok használata, valamint a digitális szolgáltatások előnyei és kihívásai.
A szeminárium lehetőséget kínál arra, hogy a résztvevők közösen gondolkodjanak a digitális pályatanácsadás jövőjéről, megvitassák a lehetséges kockázatokat, és ajánlásokat fogalmazzanak meg a technológia tudatos és hatékony alkalmazására.
Szeretettel várjuk a hazai pályaorientációs, pályatanácsadó szakmai közösség tagjait rendezvényünkre.
A szeminárium munkanyelve az angol, a résztvevőktől pedig aktív részvételt várunk a workshopokon és a beszélgetéseken.
A rendezvény részletes programját itt találja meg.
A rendezvényen való részvétel ingyenes, azonban regisztrációhoz kötött.
Invitation: Beyond 2030: What Role for Higher Education in the New Global Agenda?
Közzétesszük a MELLearN hírekhez az alábbi NORRAG meghívót: https://mailchi.mp/f8c6157832a1/beyond-2030-what-role-for-higher-education-in-the-new-global-agenda?e=a58853b621
Call to the LLLP Webinar with Dr. Wing on Lee for 26 May, 2026
Dear Colleague,
Let me invite you to the following joint webinar of the European Lifelong Learning Platform with Dr. Wing on Lee for Tuesday, 26 May:
https://www.lllplatform.eu/event-details/research-meets-practice-5
Please forward this call to members of your distinguished organisations and to partners collaborating with you on promoting adult and lifelong learning.
I thank you for your kind engagement and attention!
with all best regards,
Dr. Balázs Németh
Vice-president of the European LLL platform
[EPALE newsletter] Határterületeken
 Kedves EPALE tagok! Nemrég beszélgettem Sari Sulkunen professzorral arról, hogy mennyire nehéz sok szempontból átfogóan meghatározni az írás- és olvasástudást, mint alapkészséget – még akkor is, ha kétségtelen, hogy ez az egész életen át tartó tanulás egyik kulcsfontosságú alapja. Ugyanakkor, ahogy Sulkunen is rámutatott, ez a képesség maga is az egész életen át tartó tanulás tárgya: folyamatosan újfajta írás- és olvasástudási formákat kell elsajátítanunk egy olyan világban, amely állandóan új lehetőségeket és elvárásokat teremt.Éppen ezért Sulkunen inkább rávilágít arra, hogy az „elégséges” olvasási és írási szint mennyire helyzetfüggő lehet – attól függően, hogy valaki milyen munkát végez, milyen egyéb élethelyzeti kihívásokkal szembesül, illetve hogy milyen ember.Nem minden alacsony írás és- olvasástudási szinttel rendelkező ember marginalizált vagy küzd nehézségekkel; sokan közülük teljesen jól boldogulnak a mindennapokban. Kaphatnak támogatást másoktól, profitálhatnak a modern kommunikáció egyre vizuálisabb jellegéből, és más értékes készségeikre támaszkodva képesek jelentést alkotni saját környezetükben.Ha így nézzük, egészen lenyűgöző, mennyire alkalmazkodóképesek és rugalmasak vagyunk mi, emberek, miközben egy folyamatosan változó világban navigálunk a saját egyedi készségkészletünkkel.Heini Huhtinen – EPALE felnőttképzési szakértő Az EPALE Podcast ezen epizódjában Heini Huhtinen műsorvezető Sari Sulkunen professzorral beszélget a multiliteráció fogalmáról, és arról, hogy ez mit árul el arról, miként fejlesztik a felnőttek ezeket a készségeket egész életük során – a munkában, az állampolgári szerepvállalásban és a mindennapi életben. A beszélgetés kitér arra is, hogy az MI eszközök miért teszik minden eddiginél fontosabbá a kritikai írástudást és az íráskészséget. ► Hallgassa meg a podcastot!Kultúrák között: Felnőttoktatók nézőpontjai a migránsok tanulási útjairól ► Olvassa el a teljes cikket Bernhard Schmidt-Hertha tollából! (EN) Ossza meg a történetét! ► A jelentkezés nyitva áll, és a felnőttkori tanulás közösségének minden hangját örömmel fogadjuk! Tudja meg, hogyan hozhatja ki a legtöbbet az EPALE platformból! ► Nézze meg az útmutatót! |
