CONTEXT, AIM AND OBJECTIVES As the adult education system is expanding rapidly in Europe and in the partners’ countries, there is an increased emphasis on the quality and offer of adult education. In order to improve its quality, we should firstly educate teachers and trainers and enable them to exchange knowledge and experiences on a national and international level. According to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS 2013, June 2014) and the Teaching Profession in Europe (Eurydice 2015), adult educators need to develop competences regarding: - teaching students with special needs, - new and innovative teaching methods, - inclusive and students-focused methods, - working with other professions and partners, - flexibility, - addressing learners’ individual needs and growing diversity. The main aim of the project is to improve the adult education system in the five project partners’ countries in order to extend and develop adult teachers' competences. The Assessment Questionnaire (O1) will be drawn up and answers of 100 adult educators and 100 adult learners from each country will be used to define adult educators' needs and adult learners' expectations. The Questionnaire will be used in developing the Competence Curriculum (O2) based on a 60-hour training programme targeted at improving and upgrading adult educators’ competences regarding 4 aspects: expertise, transferable skills, learning atmosphere, and meeting the needs and expectations of learners. PARTICIPANTS, ACTIVITIES, METHODOLOGY At the very beginning of the project, partners will establish a project management team to ensure efficient project management. Four transnational meetings and quarterly Skype meetings will ensure continuous monitoring of the work in progress and achievement of the results. The Participatory Approach and the P.C.M. Methodology will be used for communication and cooperation between partners. A total of 500 adult educators and 500 learners will participate in the Assessment Questionnaire on Adult Educators’ Competences, while 34 teachers and staff members of partner institutions will be involved in the 2 short-term joint staff training events held in Lithuania (M14) and Croatia (M21) to train trainers piloting the Curriculum. A total of 75adult educators/staff members will participate in piloting the Competence Development and Training Curriculum for Adult Educators. The partners will also involve about 285 participants in multiplier events held at the end of the project in August 2020 (M 35). Further beneficiaries not included in the mentioned numbers, are learners in the partner institutions and those involved in the implementation of the Curriculum. DISSEMINATION The main dissemination tools and instruments are the project’s and partners’ websites, newsletters, multiplier events, brochures, photographs, reports, articles workshops, trainings, and international conferences. The target audience dissemination will be: - teachers, staff members, and learners in partner institutions and other adult education institutions at the local level, - local government bodies and authorities regulating general and adult education, - the wider community and the scientific community, - the Ministry in charge of education and adult education, - other Grundtvig/Erasmus+ partner institutions. IMPACT The main expected impacts at the end of the project will be to have: - improved and increased cooperation with EU partners - improved capacity of conducting surveys based on a questionnaire administrated online - improved proposal capacity related to drawing up a new curriculum for competence development - improved the capacity of piloting, monitoring and evaluating a new curriculum for competence development - increased the capacity of project management - increased the capacity of organising an event - improved the capacity of presentation and marketing development - determined the status and perspective of adult education, developed a network of colleagues and experts at the international level - improved adult educators’ competences by defining key competences for all teachers involved in adult education Partners believe that the Competence Curriculum will make a significant and substantial change in the adult education system. The implementation of the Curriculum at the regional (for Poland and Sweden) and at the national level (for Croatia, Latvia, and Lithuania), and the official recognition of the Curriculum by the largest national authorities responsible for education in the project partners' countries will also ensure the sustainability of the project. All materials, written documents, and intellectual outputs produced during the project will available to every potential user on: 1. EPALE 2. the project website 3. partners’ web and Facebook sites The project website will be active at least 3 years after the project’s end and the materials will be available free of charge
CONTEXT, AIM AND OBJECTIVES As the adult education system is expanding rapidly in Europe and in the partners’ countries, there is an increased emphasis on the quality and offer of adult education. In order to improve its quality, we should first educate teachers and trainers and enable them to exchange knowledge and experiences on a national and international level. According to the OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS 2013, June 2014) and the Teaching Profession in Europe (Eurydice 2015), adult educators need to develop competences regarding: - teaching learners with special needs - new and innovative teaching methods - inclusive and learner-focused methods - working with other professions and partners - flexibility - addressing learners’ individual needs and growing diversity The main aim of the project was to improve the adult education system in the five project partners’ countries in order to extend and develop adult teachers' competences. The 01) Questionnaire has been prepared in English and translated into partners' home languages and delivered online. In the period from 1/12/2017 until 31/01/2018, 536 learners (396 female and 140 male) and 498 adult educators (388 female and 110 male) from five project partner countries filled in the questionnaires. One of the aims of the project is to develop and strengthen the competences of teachers involved in adult education, starting with defining the skills and competences of adult teachers that need to be developed according to adult educators’ opinions and adult learners’ expectations. Questionnaire, an external evaluator has been contacted by a researcher from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka, Department of Education, with a specialization in Andragogy. The external evaluator was involved in two moments: - December 2017 (the analysis was focused on the structure of the Questionnaire) - March 2018 (the analysis was focused on the results of the Questionnaire) On the Questionnaire results were based the O2) Competence Development and Training Curriculum for Adult Educators that contains the description of the aim and objectives, the outcomes, contents and assessments. From March to September 2018, partners were involved in the planning of the Curriculum and the piloting was going on from February to June 2019. A total of 109 adult educators/staff members as learners, led by 18 teachers/trainers, in 5 groups (one for each partner) have participated in piloting the Curriculum. PARTICIPANTS, ACTIVITIES, METHODOLOGY At the very beginning of the project, partners have established a project management team to ensure efficient project management. Four transnational meetings and quarterly Skype meetings have ensured continuous monitoring of the work in progress and achievement of the results. The Participatory Approach and the P.C.M. Methodology have been used for communication and cooperation between partners. 34 teachers and staff members of partner institutions have been involved in the 2 short-term joint staff training events held in Lithuania (June 2018) and Croatia (November 2018) to train trainers piloting the Curriculum. There were 5 multiplier events held in October 2018 with more than the 285 planned participants (291 actual participants). DISSEMINATION The main dissemination tools and instruments are the project’s and partners’ websites, multiplier events, brochures, photographs, reports, articles workshops, training programmes and teaching/training materials. The target audience dissemination has been: teachers, staff members, and learners in partner institutions and other adult education institutions at the local level, local government bodies and authorities regulating general and adult education, IMPACT The main expected impacts at the end of the project have been: - improved and increased cooperation with EU partners - improved capacity of conducting surveys based on a questionnaire administrated online - improved proposal capacity related to drawing up a new curriculum for competence development - improved the capacity of piloting, monitoring and evaluating a new curriculum for competence development - increased the capacity of project management - increased the capacity of organising an event - improved the capacity of presentation and marketing development - determined the status and perspective of adult education, developed a network of colleagues and experts at the international level - improved adult educators’ competences by defining key competences for all teachers involved in adult education All materials, written documents, and intellectual outputs produced during the project are available to every potential user on: 1. EPALE 2. partners’ websites and project partners' FB sites and project FB site 3. project Google Drive