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Thank you for joining us this morning for the Canadian Council on Learning’s forum on “The Economic Crisis and Innovation: The Need for Training.”
My name is Paul Cappon. The goal of CCL is to provide a strategic, pan-Canadian and international perspective on learning. The mission to find ways to identify and report more effective approaches to learning across the lifecycle is the task that drives us on. CCL is a catalyst for lifelong learning, including training and innovation.
Before presenting and providing some background to this forum, I would first like to introduce our speakers. We are privileged to have with us Sam Hamad, Mark Keese, Andrew Swan and Bernard Spitz.
I am convinced that there are few things more important than the development of our human resources if we want to ensure a future characterized by prosperity and growth for Canada and its trading partners. In today’s competitive global economy, a skilled and qualified population is the key to economic success and social development. Those nations will excel whose people are able to adapt and learn throughout life. In learning, competition and collaboration are not incompatible. The strengthening of a country’s learning level should be felt beyond its borders.
The Canadian Council on Learning uses a UNESCO report on education for the 21st century as a framework to inspire our approach to learning issues. In the report, Jacques Delors described four pillars of learning that are necessary for individuals to achieve their full potential:
These four concepts provide a useful framework for any discussion of the imperatives of a knowledge society, but this morning our goal is to examine, in particular, the relationship between learning, training and innovation during turbulent economic times.
Investment in learning and training creates a virtuous cycle, where greater knowledge leads to greater innovation, which leads to greater productivity, which gives us the capacity to invest in more learning. All members of society benefit.
Here are some questions to ponder: what can we do that will address simultaneously the challenges of sustainable development, innovation and competitive capability? How can we make competitiveness compatible with sustainable development at a time of economic crisis?
These questions raise others. How can we use learning systems to reconcile these goals? How can we put a human face on globalization while we encourage more citizens to become architects of the global village?
We have absolutely got to stop thinking about sustainability as simply an environmental issue. Sustainable human development is the interrelationship of three ideals: the stewardship of our biosphere; the crafting of an economic paradigm that conserves the planet’s resources; and systems of human well-being where harmony with nature and harmony with one another are paramount concerns.
Bringing these three ideals together will not be easy and our learning systems will play a key role. As UNESCO asserted in 1997, education is “the means for … bringing about desired changes in behaviours, values and lifestyles, and for promoting public support for the continuing and fundamental changes that will be required if humanity is to alter its course … Education, in short, is humanity’s best hope and most effective means to the quest to achieve sustainable human development.”
The sustainability of our learning systems involves more than questions of money or curriculum. It requires changing attitudes and highlighting new conditions that contribute to ensuring education for all within a context of sustainable human development.
When it comes to assessing whether we can marshal the forces of informal and formal learning to meet this challenge, I am an optimist. After all, there has been a marvellous explosion in our understanding of the learning process over the past few decades. The accelerating momentum of this knowledge is similar to the revolution in modern communications technologies.
Innovation is the process through which value is extracted from skills and knowledge by generating, developing and implementing ideas. Innovation requires the leveraging of ideas and knowledge to enhance quality of life and economic development.
Learning is central to this process. And with the emergence of a global economy, a country’s learning system helps define its ability to participate in global supply chains where innovation is a key to success. This is equally true for the developed and developing world.
The great challenge for all countries, then, is not just to teach people to do—that is, provide a skill set for the workplace. It also must teach people to learn.
If people learn to learn, they acquire habits, disciplines and attitudes that will enable them to adapt to new opportunities and challenges. They will be equipped to ride the waves of change, rather than being dragged down by the undertow.
A recent study of 14 OECD countries concluded that a country able to attain literacy scores 1% higher than the international average will achieve levels of labour productivity and GDP per capita that are 2.5% and 1.5% higher, respectively, than those of other countries.
Furthermore, studies show that differences in average skill levels among OECD countries account for 55% of differences in economic growth within these countries over the last 40 years.
In today’s society, learning must continue long past the school years for individuals and for economies to reach their potential.
Countries that invest in continuous learning reap enormous benefits in terms of increased labour productivity and economic growth. But it is equally true that corporations reap enormous rewards when they invest in workplace training—in other words, institutional investment and development must include investment in continuous learning.
Investment in learning is a rising tide that lifts all boats. Learning and training is one area where competition and collaboration are not mutually exclusive. Learning leads to better health, broader opportunities and higher quality of life. The growing value of learning in the competitive, global knowledge economy is forcing all countries to place greater emphasis on developing the skills of their people.
When we work together to build more effective learning systems—governments and corporations; universities and NGOs; industrialized nations and developing nations—we create a synergy that will add value throughout the economic system, and our societies and communities.
I am sure that few of you would disagree with UNESCO’s emphasis on education and training as fundamental to sustainable development. If we want to manage our biosphere effectively and sustainably, and overcome our economic difficulties, we have to do everything in our power to ensure that all human beings have access to training and learning at every stage of their lives.
(To sum up, it is vital that technology, learning and sustainable development mutually serve one another. How can we use technology to promote sustainable development and lifelong learning? How can we put a system of lifelong learning in place that is able to keep up with the pace of technological change while teaching humankind the values that are essential if we are to live in harmony with the environment?)
Here are a few old saws that turn out to be true:
The more you learn, the more you gain. The more you know, the more you develop.
These adages on lifelong learning have deep roots that go far back in our history. Was it not Sophocles who said, “Live and learn”? And as the data show about those who participate in sports activities directly or as volunteers, or who belong to a seniors club:
The more you do, the more you can do. The more accessible the opportunity to learn, the more significant the results.
Sam Hamad, Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity in the Government of Quebec, was first elected to the National Assembly in 2003 and won a third term in the December 2008 election. He studied engineering and holds masters’ degrees in civil engineering and management. Before entering politics, he was Senior Vice-President of the Roche Group of consulting engineers. A respected member of the business community, he has served as president of the Greater Quebec Chamber of Commerce and Industry and vice-president of the Quebec Federation of Chambers of Commerce. Mr. Hamad was the first engineer from Quebec to win the Engineers Canada Meritorious Service Award for Community Service. Both a visionary and a pragmatist, he works to promote heritage preservation, environmental protection, social development, education, culture, sustainable development and economic prosperity.
Mark Keese is a senior economist in the Employment Analysis and Policy Division in the Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs at the OECD. He is currently overseeing the OECD’s thematic review of policies to improve labour-market outcomes for older workers. Mr. Keese has worked on a variety of macro-economic and labour market issues including: low pay and earnings mobility, minimum wages, labour markets in transition in Eastern Europe and productivity modeling and measurement. He was a member of the task force that developed the OECD’s Jobs Strategy. Prior to joining OECD, Mr. Keese worked as an economist with the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in analyzing short-term economic trends, forecasting and providing policy advice.
Andrew Swan, Minister of Competitiveness, Training and Trade for the province of Manitoba, was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in 2004 and re-elected in 2007. He served previously as Legislative Assistant to the Minister of Justice and as Legislative Assistant to the Minister of Labour, Immigration and Multiculturalism. After graduating from the University of Manitoba Law School, Mr. Swan practiced law at the firm Thompson Dorfman and Sweatman from 1990. He is a trustee of the Manitoba Marathon Foundation and a board member of the Sargent Park Improvement Team. He is a member of both Athletics Manitoba and the Manitoba Running Association. He was the regular voice of the government on a political panel from 2004–2007 on CJOB radio.
Bernard Spitz is interested in everything about new technology. The quintessential communications man, he founded BSConseil, a strategic decision-making consultancy, in 2004. He has also been CEO of Canal Plus, a columnist for Le Monde, head of strategy for Vivendi Universal and an advisor to former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard. Last October, Mr. Spitz was elected to a three-year term as president of the Fédération française des sociétés d’assurances. Since 2000, he has taught Digital Communication Economics at the University of Paris I - La Sorbonne. He is the author of the best-seller État d’urgence : Réformer ou abdiquer, le choix français.
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