Report on the PASCAL/ACE Inclusion Workshop - Seniors as Lifelong Learners - 23 March 2016

The sixth in an international series of relevant discussions on the Learning Cities Networks (LCN) Inclusion theme has been conducted in Brisbane, Australia.  The topic was "Seniors as Lifelong Learners" and follows on from the recent "Gender Equity" forum run in Modi'in, Israel.  Included in the following report, you will see the sequence of Inclusion topics at venues around the world.

The precursor workshop in Australia on "Seniors as Lifelong Learners" looked at barriers and strategies.  This symposium drew together panellists as ideas provokers to uncover the impacts of research into brain functioning as we age, becoming digitally transformed in this modern era, enjoying continuing learning through U3A ideals, the ground-breaking movement in response to distinctive men's needs, and the richness of learning at libraries. 
 
Captioned with titles such as "What Neuroscience Tells Us", "Tech Savvy Seniors", "Learning for Pleasure", "Shoulder to Shoulder - There's more to Men's Sheds than Bench Work" and "Engaging Seniors in Brisbane Libraries", key points were drawn together with Chairperson comments and questions from the participants per presentation.  Further discussion and suggestions were elicited from the symposium registrants.
 
Interlaced in a 'summing up' diagram, significant factors in meeting the Challenge Question for the Symposium, How Can we Create Lifelong Opportunities for All Seniors? were identified, viz: Inclusion, Barriers, Outcomes, Quality of Life, Policy, Gender & Diversity, Place & Space and Intergenerational Learning.
 
These matters will be further explored in the strand on "Inclusion: Providing lifelong opportunities for all" at the 13th PASCAL International Conference "Learning Cities 2040" at Glasgow University, 3-5 June 2016.