Socrates is the European programme for education. Its aim is to promote the European dimension and to improve the quality of education by encouraging cooperation between the participating countries. The programme sets out to develop e Europe of knowledge and thus better cater for the major challenges of this new century : to promote lifelong learning, to encourage access by everybody to education, to acquire qualifications and recognised skills. The first phase of the Socrates programme was for five years (1995-1999). The programme has been renewed and the second phase will run for seven years (2000-2006). Socrates has a budget of 1 850 € million for the seven-year period.
Socrates consists of eight actions :
Nikoli Frederik Severin Grundtvig (1783 – 1872), a Danish clergyman and writer, is regarded as the ideological father of popular and adult education. He advocated “life enlightenment”, aimed at giving each individual, regardless of age or background, the opportunity to learn throughout life. The objective of learning was twofold, to give personal fulfilment to the individual and to ensure the active participation of all citizens in public life.
As a learning method, Grundtvig advocated the use of dialogue and the spoken word. He further believed that teaching should be based on and relate to real-life experiences and not abstract matters. These ideas inspired the creation of the Nordic folk high schools. These residential colleges of non-formal adult education are now established components of the Nordic education system and exist in other countries as well.
This action is aimed at enhancing the European dimension of lifelong learning. It supports a wide range of activities designed to promote innovation and the improved availability, accessibility and quality of educational provision for adults, by means of European co-operation.
The Grundtvig action addresses a great variety of educational providers, but the final beneficiaries are adults who, at whatever stage of their lives, wish to learn in order to:
This learning can be accomplished within the framework of formal or non-formal or by means of autonomous learning.