The main aim of the strategic cooperation is to develop reflection tools for supporting individual learning paths of adults. Effective tools will improve quality in adult education and training and increase the level of learning outcomes. The adult educators who take part in the project will learn the necessity and ways of using various reflection methods for adults. During our partnership we will also learn how to accompany, support, guide and encourage the adult learner through reflective partners. We will share the knowledge we have from our previous experience and develop common guidelines and advices for facilitator of reflection practice. The handbook with results of researches, tools (learning diaries, journals, reflections sheets, methods) and recommendations will be available for all stakeholders in the sphere of adult education and it will give a chance to improve quality of learning and competences of adult educators to arrange learner-focused programmes. The project team consists of professionals who work with various groups of adults: adult educators, educational managers, teachers of compulsory and vocational schools, decision-makers, adult learners with immigrant background, long-term unemployed, housewives, entrepreneurs, etc. Transnational cooperation is necessary for taking into consideration peculiarities of different cultures and backgrounds, test the tools with various groups and see how they work and what needs to be adjusted. Such kind of cooperation will ensure possibility to use the tools elsewhere in Europe. The project partners are Vestifex and ITC Professional Developmen (Estonia), Konsultfirma Ivan Häuser (Denmark), Sintagmi (Italy), Kapademi (Turkey) and Centre for flexible learning (Sweden). All the partners have their share of responsibility: Vestifex, Estonia - leader of development of learning diaries and learner's portfolio ITC Professional Development, Estonia - coordination of supportive tools for effective collaboration in the project (Google Drive, Facebook group, Hangouts videoconferencing), working out web-based solutions for the tools worked out in the project. Konsultfirma Ivan Häuser, Denmark - leading partner in dialogue-based reflection practices. Sintagmi, Italy - reflection tools in learning in collaborative economy (open education and person-to-person learning models that democratize education), gender aspects of reflection. Kapademi , Turkey - reflection worksheets and recommendations for use for various learning styles Centre for flexible learning, Sweden - reflection in work-based and distance learning. The project work is based on the previous researches, strategies of European education, principles of lifelong learning, forecasts of future education and labour market. Each partner is responsible for testing the reflection tools with at least 30 adult learners locally and 4 through international mobilities. The expected results are: 1. Improvement of adult educators' competences in the partner institutions (developing learner-centred programmes, supporting reflection and self-directed learning, facilitating adult learning, improved fluency in English, skills of intercultural cooperation). 2. More learner-centred programmes in adult education.
Erasmus+ KA2 strategic partnership project „Reflection tools for supporting individual learning paths of adults“ (2015-2017) was initiated with the main aim to collect, test and develop reflection tools for supporting individual learning paths of adults. In our "age of information," rapid shifts in careers, advancing technologies, increasing diversity within our population, and dramatic fluctuations in the personal contexts of our lives set up the need for life-long and life-wide learning. There is an increasing necessity to develop new skills and competences: sense-making, self-awareness, self-reliance, initiative, novel and adaptive thinking, critical thinking, self-directed competence, cross-cultural competence etc. It seems hardly achievable for every individual in short-term perspective. Developing these skills and competencies demand a long and continuous practice, as well as reflection over the practice which involves linking a current experience to what has been previously learned. To reflect, we must act upon and process the information, synthesizing and evaluating the data. In the end, reflecting also means applying what we've learned to contexts beyond the original situations in which we learned something fostering our ability to change and act independently. The main objectives of the project are: - Improvement of adult educators' competences in the partner institutions (developing learner-centred programmes, supporting reflection and self-directed learning, facilitating adult learning, improved fluency in English, skills of intercultural cooperation) - More learner-centred programmes in adult education. The adult educators who took part in the project learned how to accompany, support, guide and encourage adult learner through reflective practice and self-directed learning. The collaborative project work has also promoted development of more learner-centred programmes in the partner organisations and beyond. The project team consisted of professionals who work with various groups of adults: adult educators, educational managers, teachers of compulsory and vocational schools, decision-makers, adult learners with immigrant background, long-term unemployed, housewives, entrepreneurs, etc. Transnational cooperation allowed testing the tools with various groups and seeing how they work and what needs to be adjusted taking into consideration peculiarities of different cultures and backgrounds. The project brings together the collective expertise of six European organisations. OÜ Vestifex (Adult Learning Centre) – Estonia, the applicant and coordinating organisation http://www.vestifex.com/ ITC Professional Development (Professional training and coaching services) - Estonia Konsulent Ivan Häuser (Consultancy company) – Denmark http://www.ivan-hauser.dk/dk/ Sintagmi srl - Italy http://sintagmi.weebly.com/ Centrum för flexibelt lärande (CFL), Söderhamns kommun (Centre for flexible learning) – Sweden http://hufb.se/vuxenutbildning/cflsoderhamn Kapadokya Eğitim Akademisi Derneği (Cappadocia Education Academy Association CAPADEMY) - Turkey http://www.cappademy.org/ The project work was based on the principles of andragogy and life-long learning, strategies of European education, forecasts of future education and labour market.