BACKGROUND & NEEDS Soft skills are closely connected with employability and it i also seen that EU countries have different methodologies and approaches to assessment (Cinque, 2016) of soft skills competences and furthermore in the train of teachers. Skills development is one of the four main areas of the European Union. The labour market is constantly evolving and therefore competences and qualifications that educators need change over time. These interpersonal skills are seen as a one of the key competencies in EU policy. The Cedefop (2014) defines competence as the ability to apply learning outcomes adequately in education, work, personal or professional development; these outcomes include knowledge; skills; and personal, social,and/or methodological abilities. European Commission have published a new recommendations (2018) for Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, which adopted already in year 2006. An agile competence development is seen as a key factor when developing European education. Competence needs are not static; they change throughout life and across eras. Easily accessible learning outcomes promote adult educators development, indirectly students in adult education will benefit of the results. OBJECTIVES & RESULTS SOSTRA will support adult educators,training companies, school-based training centres, training consultants and HRs teachers in achieving a better understanding of the soft skills competencies, as well as adapting learning process more transparently and consistently into practice. The SOSTRA project is seeking an innovative way to intertwine digital and competence-based education into soft skills development in the field of European adult education. It is further modeling competence-based adult education approaches in open digital badge-driven learning approaches. The objectives of the project are: a) to recognize needs of soft skills competencies through 2 Delphi round, b) to identify and describe 15 key soft skills competencies , c) to develop a self-reflective online test, and d) to co-create an open badge-driven learning process to improve missing soft skills. Project results intertwine of adult educator competencies development with other areas of education policy and recruitment process; the quality of initial adult educators´training and the continuous professional development. Results increase adult educators' employability in the labour market demanded by the 21st century world of work. Competence-based and open badge-driven process makes educators´ personal development more flexible and personalised. The project seeks innovative ways and models to improve the educators and HR´s awareness in the area of soft skills competences. In addition, SOSTRA aims to strengthen the adult education institutions’ operations and culture (HR) in applying innovative methods for skills recognition in the recruitment process. PARTICIPANTS, IMPACTS & SUSTAINABILITY Six internationally experienced organizations from Romania, Poland, Italy, Finland and Spain form the partnership, covering various aspects and expertise in adult education. The partners represent public bodies on national level, private companies with a steering institute, a chamber, VET colleges, VET teacher education and vocational consultancy. Local adult education colleges and training companies are involved in all countries. All partners have an European reach. SOSTRA will implement the products with adult educators, training consultants, HRs and teacher educators. Approx. 1000 people will get in contact with SOSTRA´s results or parts of them. The implementation of the results will be adapted to local needs, conditions and in six languages. Training activities during SOSTRA and the local relevance of the products will enable the involved key actors to become multipliers in each of their countries. Multiplier events and local linkages to stakeholders will support the expansion of the results. Local long-term implementation plans will be part of the final evaluations. The technical solutions will be applicable for average users. This aspect is a conscious criterion to strengthen sustainability of the project results.
Context & background Soft skills are closely connected with employability and it is also seen that EU countries have different methodologies and approaches to assessment (Cinque, 2016) of soft skills competences and furthermore in the train of teachers. Skills development is one of the four main areas of the European Union. The labor market is constantly evolving and therefore competences and qualifications that educators need change over time. These interpersonal skills are seen as a one of the key competencies in EU policy. The Cedefop (2014) defines competence as the ability to apply learning outcomes adequately in education, work, personal or professional development; these outcomes include knowledge; skills; and personal, social, and/or methodological abilities. European Commission has published new recommendations (2018) for Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, which was adopted in 2006. An agile competence development is seen as a key factor when developing European education. Competence needs are not static; they change throughout life and across eras. Easily accessible learning outcomes promote adult educators development, indirectly students in adult education benefit from the results. Objectives, activities & results The objectives of the project were: a) to recognize needs of soft skills competencies through 2 Delphi rounds, b) to identify and describe 15 key soft skills competencies , c) to develop a self-reflective online test, and d) to co-create an open badge-driven learning process to improve missing soft skills. The project team consisted of six European partners from five countries; Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) Finland, Formacion Para El Desarrollo E Insercion, Sociedad Limitada (Defoin) Spain, Universidad De Cordoba (UCO) Spain, Fondazione Hallgarten-Franchetti Centro Studi Villa Montesca (FVM) Italy, Orange Hill Sp. Z o.o. (OH) Poland and Centrul Pentru Promovarea Invatarii Permanente Timisoara Asociatia (CPIP) Romania. The common definition for soft skills was reached by the first survey (398 responses) and the second survey (216 responses) by which the most important soft skills for adult educators and HR people in their daily work were identified. In total 15 key soft skills were identified. Translations of the badge names and descriptions into national languages were conducted. The landing page (online) was created and badge icons were composed. The landing page was updated by self-directed learning materials (such as new created podcasts, learning materials, videos) in partners’ languages (Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Italian, Spanish) and in English. The links for the badge application with detailed competence criteria as well as instructions for skills demonstration was shared via the landing page. The self-reflective online test was created and implemented in the landing page. The purpose of the online test was to assess persons’ skills related to chosen soft skills (15). In all, 274 badges were issued to the participants in all languages (Finnish 48, Polish 30, Romanian 27, Spanish 40, Italian 28, and English 101). The project team arranged three short-term staff learning, teaching and training activities during the project, twelve multiplier events and was able to achieve all set objectives. Participants, impacts & sustainability SOSTRA project succeeded in supporting adult educators, training companies, school-based training centers, training consultants and HRs teachers in achieving a better understanding of the soft skills competencies, as well as adapting learning process more transparently and consistently into practice, seeking an innovative way to intertwine digital and competence-based education into soft skills development in the field of European adult education and to further model competence-based adult education approaches in open digital badge-driven learning approaches. During the project, approximately 38 000 people were reached through dissemination activities. The feedback gathered from piloting the open badge-driven learning process suggested that the learning and teaching situations were conducted well, the process was straightforward and all participants used soft skills daily, finding them to be important skills for educators. The Participants found the project innovative, appreciated the involvement of many countries and that it could be linked to EQF levels. There were some concerns regarding the official recognition of the badges and the evaluation process. The partners found the project results useful for their own self development and will use this type of learning process in the future. Sostra has inspired several new European projects to include digital badges or soft skills development. All materials including self-reflection tests and 15 podcasts in six languages produced during the project are available on Sostra.eu webpage.