BIC, Boosting Individual Competences, is a strategic partnership for adult education based on the cooperation for innovation and exchange of good practices between four partners. The partnership involves: Volkshochschule Olching e.V. , VHS Olching, Germany; Federación de Colectivos de Educación de Personas Adultas de Valladolid, FeCEAV, Spain; Centro Provinciale per l'Istruzione degli Adulti - CPIA di Padova, Italy; Greta du Velay- Lycee Charles et Adrien Dupuy, Le Puy en Velay, France. The project is coordinated by Volkshochschule Olching e.V. , Germany, and has a duration of 27 months (from 01-10-16 to 31-12-18).This project is meant to build up, design and share activities, with the implementation of methodologies such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and Learning with all Senses in adult education, to support teaching refugees, migrants, minorities (Roma), disabled people as well as socially disadvantaged people and multi-cultural classes, through the exploitation and development of the activities, documentation and picture databank created in two previous European Grundtvig projects, “Voices in Pictures” (VIP) and “Visualisation”. Partners aim at improving and extending the offer of high quality learning opportunities for adults through the exchange of good practices in literacy, numeracy, language and general knowledge courses to support integration efforts and to respond to the need for inclusion, also given the continuous immigration that Europe is experiencing, in a lifelong learning perspective. Through the design and implementation of effective activities to enhance basic skills and key competences in adult schooling, BIC project will develop resources specifically meant for adults with low language or basic skills competence or illiterate who need to improve their education. Didactical material, activities and resources will be created, tested and evaluated with the cooperation of learners. This project also aims at exchanging experiences in teaching and presenting relevant educational steps to be done in order to meet the needs of the newcomers in European countries. A paper called “Definition of Relevant Educational Steps to Facilitate Inclusion” (DRESFI) will be edited to sensitise teachers/tutors and responsible people in Adult Education and General Education on the importance of their role for successful integration. The intention of the partners is to broaden results reached in former projects - especially in LLL projects “Voices in Pictures” (VIP) and “Visualisation” - in which the thematic priority was teaching with the help of visual tools, with the implementation of further methodological approaches.CLIL and Learning with all Senses approaches will be implemented to reach all types of learners, independently of their educational and cultural background, and to create new resources which combine L2 language and content learning to improve individual competences and to respond to the personal needs of the target groups. The project will also promote awareness of the importance of growing cultural and linguistic diversity within Europe as well as the adoption of an open-minded attitude towards multiculturalism and will be based on the cooperation of learners.The four partners work with and develop projects for participants with basic levels of training, mostly ethnic minorities, disadvantaged people and immigrants and offer educational and cultural programs to develop personal autonomy, socio-cultural promotion, acquisition and strengthening core competences. They assist young people and adults without the compulsory degree or without the needed qualifications to access other levels of the official education. They provide courses in response to the local needs. They have developed extensive networks of collaboration with other associations at local, regional as well as national level. They work on the issue of specific learning resources for Adult Education and manage innovative projects to improve learning.Target students will get involved in detecting their interests, motivations, needs. They will be invited to take part in the design of activities as these will be developed especially for them and will focus on their needs. They will be encouraged take over a leading role in the creativity process of designing learning contents. They will be invited to evaluate activities on a simple form designed in accordance to rules of Quality Management. The positive assessment of these actions by students will be the key of the project. They will validate the training and materials designed with their contributions and participation, they will contribute to the evaluation in the final process.The teacher teamwork will be specialized in working with basic levels.A "Travelling Scarf" of solidarity is going to be created by all partners and presented to representatives of the European Commission.
“Boosting Individual Competences” (BIC), was a strategic partnership for adult education based on the cooperation for innovation and exchange of good practices between four partners. The partnership involved: Volkshochschule Olching e.V. , VHS Olching, Germany (coordinator); Federación de Colectivos de Educación de Personas Adultas de Valladolid, FeCEAV, Spain; Centro Provinciale per l'Istruzione degli Adulti - CPIA di Padova, Italy; GRETA du Velay- Lyéee Charles et Adrien Dupuy, Le Puy-en-Velay, France. Details of each partner: see http://www.bic-project.eu/partner/ Duration: 27 months (from 01-10-16 to 31-12-18). The partners had all been working before on Grundtvig projects with the Adult Education Centre of Olching. One of their intentions was to broaden results reached in former projects - especially in LLL projects “Voices in Pictures” (VIP) and “Visualisation” - in which the thematic priority was teaching with the help of visual tools. One objective was to develop further methodological approaches such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and Learning with all Senses. Partners aimed at improving and extending the offer of high quality learning opportunities for adults through the exchange of good practices, especially where literacy, numeracy, language and general knowledge courses were concerned. They supported integration efforts in Europe under consideration of the urgent needs of steps leading to inclusion in the longer term. A key objective was to exchange experiences with regard to relevant educational steps to be done in order to meet the needs of the newcomers in European countries. In international meetings and in home countries, teams reflected on that subject, discussed and tested different tools: the result was - as arranged in the project application - the PAPER with the title “Definition of Relevant Educational Steps to Facilitate Inclusion” (D.R.E.S.F.I.). D.R.E.S.F.I. was edited, printed, distributed, uploaded on the project website (www.bic-project.eu) and presented at the CULT session of the European Commission on November 8, 2018 in Brussels. To enhance basic skills and key competences in adult schooling, BIC project developed resources specifically meant for adults with low language or basic skills competences or illiterates who needed to improve their education. This further objective was realised: Didactical material, games and resources were created, tested and evaluated with the cooperation of learners. They are at free disposal for all with a creative commons licence on the project website. Collections of drawings related to jobs and skills were especially created to break through the obstacles due to language boundaries. Scarf of Solidarity: as mentioned in the application form the four players of the partnership created a scarf: squares of 20x20 cm were knitted and sewed in all countries with the help of many hands (learners, teachers, followers, friends, …). The objective was to campaign for solidarity in Europe as one of the most important values of the European Union. With a length of 18,6 m. and the messages sowed on it, the “Scarf of Solidarity” visualised this social cohesion. It was presented in a flash mob, on YouTube videos and finally handed over to the Members of the CULT committee of the European Commission in Brussels on November 8, 2018. To reach their objectives and for concerted planning of the project progress partners came together at five international meetings: one in each country and the last one in Brussels/Belgium as they were expected at the European Commission. Teams´ meetings and workshops took place regularly in each country. Resources were created, tested and evaluated in the course of the partnership with the involvement of learners. Administrative and financial issues were regularly controlled; the financial agreement between partners, the timetable, the repartition of tasks and all further arrangements were at no time altered. International meetings were evaluated with the help of an online tool. BIC was a very successful partnership with high-impact on the partners´ institutions, the teams and learners, local and European educational/public sector entities – especially because of the relevance of the treated topics but also due to the large dissemination of the results. Link to BIC project website: www.bic-project.eu