The Croatian Lifelong Learning Week is a national event that takes place every year. The latest edition took place on 24-30 September 2012. The campaign addresses the citizens of Croatia directly, while also encouraging promotion of education and learning on a broader scale. The Lifelong Learning Week is organised by the Agency for Vocational Education and Training and Adult Education. The agency has established a network consisting of six regional coordinators. Their role during the Learning Week is to encourage institutions from their area (adult education providers, associations, local community, counties and others) to get involved in promotional activities. In cooperation with various partners (state administration bodies, Croatian Employment Service, counties, local government, adult education institutions, schools, cultural institutions and other organisations), a wide array of activities were organised to motivate citizens to participate in lifelong learning – and to get acquainted with various possibilities of learning and education. The Croatian Employment Service is the main partner in the implementation of the Lifelong learning week activities.
In Zagreb, the agency organised “the Lifelong learning fair”, where adult education institutions, schools and various organisations provided citizens with information regarding education and learning opportunities. The objective of the fair was to attract and inform as many citizens as possible and to motivate them to join some form of learning. The agency also organised a presentation of the “Maslačak znanja awards” – for outstanding achievements in adult learning within the activities of the Week.
During the Lifelong Learning Week, 462 events were organized and 700 different institutions took part. At these events citizens were motivated – regardless of their age, level of education, working status and other circumstances – to join the lifelong learning process. For the last five years, the Lifelong learning week has become one of the main manifestations for promotion of learning culture in Croatia. The event has surely proved its long term sustainability!
Collaborations with various media outlets were another important factor in the implementation of the Lifelong Learning Week 2012 and as a result, the LLL week attracted widespread media coverage with more than 4200 media announcements.