it’s the acquisition of this knowledge or learning which occurs in everyday life that has not been fully valued or understood. this led to the declaration by the oecd educational ministers of the "life-long learning for all" strategy in 1996. this includes 23 countries from five continents, who have sought to clarify and validate all forms of learning including formal, non-formal and informal. this has been in conjunction with the european union which has also developed policies for life-long learning which focus strongly on the need to identify, assess and certify non-formal and informal learning, particularly in the workplace.