The project Generations in Interaction - Intergenerational Learning as a Constructor of Identity and Culture concentrates on intergenerational learning in the field of adult education. The project is based on current needs of enhancing social cohesion and social inclusion through informal learning, where intergenerational learning is an underutilized resource. Intergenerational issues are also strongly related to questions of European aging and immigration. We see intergenerational learning as a two-way process, where older generations can be learners instead of teachers. The hypothesis is that learning in intergenerational context can promote cultural and values’ exchange, increase generational awareness and thus enhance social cohesion between generations. In the pursue of social inclusion and cohesion we see intergenerational learning as a tool of creating trust. Project’s primary target groups are teachers, facilitators and instructors in the field of liberal and non-formal adult education. The objectives of the project are establishing opportunities for intergenerational learning in order to support social cohesion enhancing the importance of intergenerational activity in learning, education and society training teachers, facilitators and educators to identify and use intergenerational learning as a resource in education. The project team consists of 8 organisations from Finland, Slovenia, Poland, Italy and Romania. One of the Finnish partners is responsible for application and coordination of the project. All of the partners have strong experience and know-how in adult education and interest in supporting the use of intergenerational learning largely in different contexts of adult education. Main activities of the project are executing local pilot groups in different countries, build courses for the use of formal and non-formal education contexts, and joining theory and best practices on a web platform. Methods used in pilots contain arts-based and action-oriented methods and utilizing a historical point of view. Narrative and life course approach is central in studying the activities in the pilots. The main result of the project is the increased attention drawn to the subject of intergenerational learning as a constructor of common culture. In practice, the actions of the project enhance the teaching competences of the educators in the field of adult education, and thus enable seeing intergenerational learning as a potential resource in different contexts. In long term, intergenerational interaction and environments created based on the projects outcomes enhance social inclusion and cohesion both on an individual and societal level.
The project Generations in Interaction - Intergenerational Learning as a Constructor of Identity and Culture concentrated on intergenerational learning in the field of adult education. The project was based on current needs of enhancing social cohesion and social inclusion through informal learning, where intergenerational learning is an underutilized resource. Intergenerational issues are also strongly related to questions of European aging and immigration. Nowadays Intergenerational learning can be seen increasingly as a two-way process, where older generations can be learners instead of teachers. The outputs, created by the project partners, provide tools, how learning in intergenerational context can promote cultural and values’ exchange, increase generational awareness and thus enhance social cohesion between generations. The project was based on the idea that the pursue of social inclusion and cohesion we see intergenerational learning as a tool of creating trust. Project’s primary target groups were teachers, facilitators and instructors in the field of liberal and non-formal adult education. The objectives of the project were - establishing opportunities for intergenerational learning in order to support social cohesion - enhancing the importance of intergenerational activity in learning, education and society - training teachers, facilitators and educators to identify and use intergenerational learning as a resource in education. The project team consisted of 7 organisations from Finland, Slovenia, Poland, Italy and Romania. Kansalaisfoorumi from Finland was responsible for the overall coordination of the project. All of the partners have strong experience and know-how in adult education and interest in supporting the use of intergenerational learning largely in different contexts of adult education. Main activities of the project are executing local pilot groups in different countries, build courses for the use of formal and non-formal education contexts, and joining theory and benchmarking of best practices. Methods used in pilots contained arts-based and action-oriented methods and utilizing a historical point of view. Narrative and life course approach is central in studying the activities in the pilots. The main result of the project is the increased attention drawn to the subject of intergenerational learning as a constructor of common culture. In practice, the actions of the project enhance the teaching competences of the educators in the field of adult education, and thus enable seeing intergenerational learning as a potential resource in different contexts. In long term, intergenerational interaction and environments created based on the projects outcomes enhance social inclusion and cohesion both on an individual and societal level. The intellectual outputs created during the project provide exellent tools to achieve the mentioned goals. The training guide for teachers and facilitators provide action oriented methods to enhance intergerational learning. The course and the animations contain a lot of information for applying it in formal and non-formal sector of education. The model of intergenerational center provides a lot of valuable information for public authorities and volunteers on the important conditions for setting up an intergenerational center. All the outputs can easily be found from the knowhow sharing platform which has been created as one of the project´s output as well.