The CLI goes international: Europe launches own version of Canada's Composite
Learning Index

OTTAWA, Aug. 30 /CNW/ - The first-ever European Lifelong Learning Indicators (ELLI) Index, a measurement tool that offers a comprehensive overview of learning conditions in 23 European Union member states, was released today by the charitable foundation Bertelsmann Stiftung in Gütersloh, Germany.

Developed by an international team of experts that included researchers from the Canadian Council on Learning (CCL), the ELLI-Index follows the methodological approach and the statistical model of Canada's Composite Learning Index (CLI), which was created by CCL in 2006.

Like the CLI, the ELLI-Index is thematically organized under UNESCO's four "pillars of learning"—Learning to Know, Learning to Do, Learning to Be, and Learning to Live Together—and relies on a complex "basket" of 17 indicators and 36 specific measures to generate lifelong learning scores for nearly two dozen countries, including Austria, Germany, France, Denmark and the United Kingdom.

"As we at CCL know well, trying to quantify a concept as complex as lifelong learning is no easy task, and I applaud the Bertelsmann Stiftung on this impressive and valuable achievement," says Dr. Paul Cappon, President and CEO of CCL. "We are proud to have provided home-grown Canadian ingenuity, talent and expertise to this noble effort. It is my personal hope that the ELLI-Index can generate the same sort of valuable public dialogue about lifelong learning that the CLI has done in its five years of existence."

Published in the weekly newsmagazine Der Speigel, the inaugural results of the ELLI-Index reveal that Nordic countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands ranked highest in terms of lifelong learning. Germany ranked slightly above the European average due in part to its exposure to informal learning opportunities that occur at home and in the community.

Capable of measuring the full spectrum of lifelong learning (i.e., learning that takes place in all aspects of life, work and play, not just inside the walls of educational institutions) the ELLI-Index highlights the role of learning throughout all aspects of human activity and represents an important step towards improving the overall state of learning in Europe for years to come.

Unfortunately, while this tool is being launched in Europe, the future of Canada's CLI is at risk following the federal government's decision to halt funding to CCL as of March 31, 2010.

"It seems ironic that as members of the European Union celebrate the inaugural release of the ELLI-Index, the CLI—the world's first lifelong learning index and the basis for the European index—is faced with such a precarious future," says Cappon. "The ELLI-Index has the potential to propel Europe to vast improvements in learning for many years to come.  Meanwhile, the benefits of CLI may be lost to the country that originated this important learning tool."

The CLI, an annual measure of lifelong learning conditions in more than 4,500 communities across Canada, has been published by Canadian Council of Learning since 2006. Five years worth of results and trends are available for free at www.cli-ica.ca.

Information on the 2010 ELLI-Index and its underlying indicators and results are available at www.elli.org.

About CCL

The Canadian Council on Learning is an independent, not-for-profit corporation. Its mandate is to provide evidence-based information to Canadians so they can make the best decisions about learning throughout all stages of life, from early childhood through to the senior years.

For further information:

For more information please contact:

Sheena Powell
Canadian Council on Learning
613.782.2959 ext: 6252
[email protected]
www.ccl-cca.ca