UNEMPLOYED TIME, LIBERATED TIME - THE GRO WING IMPORTANCE OF SELF-LEARNING

Unemployed time and liberated time are both by-products of the transfo rmation and reduction of work time over the years. Today, the major pr oblems related to unemployed time have underplayed these of liberated time. However, the increase of free time in our media-based societies has generated some major activities which have affected the former bal ance of social times. In reaction to this situation, some French - and English - speaking communities of America, as well as European countr ies, have for the last twenty years promoted basic continuing educatio n, whether compulsory or optional, aimed at developing the desire and ability of each individual for freer self-learning. This ever-lasting process applies first to free time, and then to the constrained struct ures of everyday social and school time. This trend consists of focuss ing all education practices on permanent training in and and out of sc hool in order to develop a taste and ability for self-learning, both i n the individual and the community. This process takes place in variou s situations: 1) during free time newly legitimized individual social time, a source of potential entertainment and self-learning occupying 80 to 90% of liberated time; 2) during social time freely devoted to c ommunity work; 3) and during social time constrained by work and by th e law.