The project has been developed to solve the issues of low adult participation in life-long learning and high unemployment. This project will contribute to meeting the Europe 2020 goals to increase employment rate by 75% and participation target of 15% in lifelong learning through development of the basic and specific competences of adult educators-practitioners. According to the data of the need analysis in European and partner countries, the following needs are addressed within the project: • To develop the basic and specific adult educators’ competencies working with disadvantaged learners with focus on innovative ways of outreach and delivery of learning activities; • To provide necessary knowledge and information to adult learners with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged background on access to adult learning services and the possibilities for employment on the basis of their lifestyle, abilities and talents. The objectives are: 1. to strengthen the competencies of adult educators-practitioners supplying them with innovative and attractive training material and ICT tools based on the Lifestyle entrepreneurship (LSE) approach; 2. to enhance the professional development of adult educators by introducing the innovative education methods: blended learning, reversed/flipped training, Open education recourses (OER); 3. to develop OER tailored to the needs of adult educators in order to support digital integration in learning to reach learners from disadvantaged backgrounds; 4. to increase the motivation and reduce disparities in learning outcomes of adult learners with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds using the LSE approach and ICT tools with the long perspective of getting self-employed. To meet the above mentioned needs and implement the objectives, the partnership will develop three intellectual outputs: 1. Curriculum for adult educators - practitioners “Promotion Life style Entrepreneurship (LSE) for disadvantaged learners” 2. Training material and ICT tools for adult educators-practitioners which will consist of five Modules: „Basics of Life Style Entrepreneurship (LSE)”, „The Use of ICT and OER in LSE”, “Marketing of LSE for disadvantaged people”, „An assessment tool of learners’ skills and competences in LSE”, “Creating awareness on validation of the acquired competences”. 3. Guidelines for adult educators-practitioners “How to offer LSE training for disadvantaged learners using OER” The Strategic Partnership will consist of six organizations from five EU countries. The project will involve 320 adult educators-practitioners, 72 disadvantaged adult learners (senior citizens, people living in remote areas, in long-term unemployment, women in social exclusion, low-skilled, etc) and 60 stakeholders. During the project the main activities will be implemented: developing of the curriculum and training material; creating and collecting digital stories on successful real life style entrepreneurship experiences; creating e-platform for adult educators and learners, also presenting the project outputs as OER; testing of the training material on adult educators; developing of the guidelines for adult educators how to offer LSE for disadvantaged learners and testing them on adult learners; translation of the project outputs into national languages; organizing learning/teaching activities for adult educators practitioners; dissemination and multiplication activities. The methodology of the project is based on the blended learning approach using the reversed/ flipped training method, ICT tools, OER. The project adapts the good practices from UK to project partner countries on lifestyle businesses as a useful alternative to self-employment around their lifestyle, abilities and talents for adults with the few opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds. The main impact on adult educators-practitioners is developing their competences enabling to provide qualitative adult education services using innovative teaching and learning methods to deal with different groups of disadvantaged learners (disabled people, single parents, women, senior citizens, living in remote areas, etc.). The adult educator will improve general competences, namely since of initiative and entrepreneurship, digital, social and specific competences (being an advisor/ counselor/facilitator; dealing with public relations and marketing) responding to the economical and political challenges of the 21st century. The main impact on learners with disadvantaged background and fewer opportunities is reducing social exclusion, enrolling them in active lifelong learning activities and enabling them to be self-employed and built the business around their lifestyle activities. With the help of adult educators-practitioners the learners will be encouraged to learn using ICT tools and OER, to start their own lifestyle enterprises and to validate their competences gained in informal and non-formal education.
The project “Developing Adult Educators’ Competences to Promote Learners’ Lifestyle entrepreneurship” (ACE) has aimed to solve two main problems: high unemployment of people, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, and low participation of adults in life-long learning. The project results contributed to implementation of the flagship initiatives: “An Agenda for New Skills and Jobs" - to increase employment rate by 75%, "European Platform Against Poverty” – to reduce the poverty, social exclusion through the employment, active participation in public life and learning process (to achieve participation of 15 %). These issues have been met by implemented of the two aims: • To develop the basic and specific adult educators’ competencies working with disadvantaged learners with focus on innovative ways of outreach and delivery of learning activities; • To provide necessary knowledge and information to adult learners with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds on how to get access to adult learning services and the possibilities for employment on the basis of their lifestyle, abilities and talents. The objectives were: 1. to strengthen the competencies of adult educators-practitioners supplying them with innovative and attractive training material and ICT tools based on the Lifestyle entrepreneurship (LSE) approach; 2. to enhance the professional development of adult educators by introducing the innovative education methods: blended learning, reversed/flipped training, Open education recourses (OER); 3. to develop OER tailored to the needs of adult educators in order to support digital integration in learning to reach learners from disadvantaged backgrounds; 4. to increase the motivation and reduce disparities in learning outcomes of adult learners with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds using the LSE approach and ICT tools with the long perspective of getting self-employed. In the project activities two main target groups were directly involved: • adult educators practitioners (320) • adult learners from disadvantaged backgrounds (98) Another target group indirectly involved in the project activities were stakeholders (75). The Strategic Partnership consisted of six organizations: NGOs, public, private. During the project lifetime the following activities were implemented: a project e-platform was developed www.ace-erasmusplus.eu as an open educational resource (OER) for adult educators and adult learners; two self-assessment tests - for adult educators and adult learners; 36 digital real-life business stories (12 video and 24 written); three intellectual outputs were developed: IO1 Curriculum for adult educators - practitioners “Promotion Life style Entrepreneurship (LSE) for disadvantaged learners”; IO2 Training material and ICT tools for adult educators-practitioners, IO3 -“Guidelines for adult educators-practitioners “How to offer LSE training for disadvantaged learners using OER”, “Self-study material for learners, template for the “Action plan”. All project products were translated into 5 national languages, were tested on adult educators and adult learners and improved according to the recommendations provided by each project partner. The dissemination activities involved spread of information about project idea and activities, also multiplier events (E1, E2, E3) for adult educators, learners and stakeholders in each partner country. The methodology of the project was based on the blended learning approach using the reversed/ flipped training method, ICT tools, OER. The project adapted the good practices from UK to project partner countries on lifestyle businesses as a useful alternative to self-employment around their lifestyle, abilities and talents for adults with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds.