The project called ”Back to Learning” will be implemented by the Government Office of Békés County in an international partnership with 8 members, in collaboration with Maltese, Estonian, Spanish, German, Irish and Hungarian organizations. Almost all EU member states deal with the problem of labour shortage. The acquisition of adequate qualifications required by employers and accessing these trainings are difficult due to the lack of key competences essential for learning and employment, and also for engagement in community and citizenship. The low levels of basic skills are obstacles of the participation in lifelong learning. According to 2016 data, regarding the EU28, only 8 Member States have achieved the goals set out in the EU 2020 Strategy for the proportion of adults participating in lifelong learning. In the management of labour shortage it is not possible to achieve breakthrough results without the development of key competences. Low-skilled adults and workers at risk of losing their job must be made able to learn by the development of their key competences. To achieve the goals set out in the EU 2020 Strategy and to preserve economic competitiveness participation in adult learning needs to be made attractive to those adults, who have not been able to achieve success in the school-based system, and services and trainings tailored to their individual needs must be offered. To realize this, new methods and professionals with new approaches, close cooperation between the interested organizations and networking are needed. The main objective of the project is that through the learning from each other partner organizations expand their toolkit and methods applied in developing key competences. They share their best practices and operational experiences applied in the field of cooperation system of organizations, the organization of trainings aimed for competence development, curriculum development, the sensitizing of professionals engaged in development and those in a position to improve the situation low-skilled adults, and in further professional trainings. The direct target group of the project is the professionals of organizations responsible for career counselling, adult development for key competences, specialists responsible for further professional training of trainers and those shaping the employment policy. The further training of professionals implementing the project is realized through the exchange of experiences and learning from each other taking place at the international meetings. In the six partner countries two-day long meetings are planned to be held in each country with the participation of all partners. The agenda of the meetings are set up according to a uniform set of criteria. At the partnership meetings best practices applied by the host organization and its partners are presented, and apart from this there are special tasks to be carried out, such as discussing and adopting the regulatory documents of the project ensuring appropriate quality of project implementation, guidelines and systems of criteria. The presentation of the methods is practical-oriented, and in addition to the theory, the participants get to meet with the implementers and participants of the programme in field visits. Learning about and applying these new methods of sensitization, counselling and training contribute to the better access to higher education and ultimately to the improvement in the employment situation of the indirect target group of the project – adults lacking in basic skills and competences necessary for learning and employment. As a result of the project, the professional work of the partner organizations can be renewed, the individual and organizational competences developed in the project can contribute to more adults taking part in training courses offering qualifications that meet the needs of the labour market by developing their key competences. As the main outcome of the project the Collection of Best Practices will be prepared that presents the best practices applied by the partner organizations and the related experiences of their operation, and the results achieved by their application as well as the recommendation on the framework for the preparation/further professional training of professionals involved in the development of adult key competence that is applicable at EU level. A comprehensive study will be prepared on the integration of methods into the institutional operation. Furthermore, the Hungarian partner organisations make a proposal for the Concept of Adult Competence Development of Békés County that includes the activities to be undertaken following the project period. The professional materials published in both English and national languages contain useful guidelines not only in partner countries but also in all EU member states on how to provide and ensure motivation to partake in lifelong learning and easier access to higher level and quality trainings.
The two-year project entitled ’BACK to LEARNING – Developing Key Competence of Adults for High Quality Learning Opportunities’ has been implemented by an 8-member international partnership representing 6 countries (Hungary, Estonia, Ireland, Germany, Malta, Spain) with the coordination of the Government Office of Békés County funded by the Erasmus+ programme. The project focused on the further development of the professional activities of organisations involved in the partnership and mutually becoming acquainted with the best practices applied in the topics of cooperation system of organisations, the organisation of trainings aimed for competence development, curriculum development, the sensitising of professionals engaged in development and those in a position to improve the situation low-skilled adults, and in further professional trainings. The meeting in Hungary in September 2020 was implemented in an online form due to the world pandemic while at all the other venues project staff was at present. The exchange of experiences was realised in the form of holding 2-day transnational partnership meetings in each 6 partner country. During the meetings, apart from carrying out project management related tasks, the hosting organisations presented the best practices, methods and the experiences of implementation applied by them or with organisations cooperating with them in the field of adult education that are in accordance with the project aims. Besides receiving theoretical pieces of information, the participants could meet people implementing as well as participating in the programme in the form of on-site visits. The meeting in Hungary held in September 2020 was implemented in an online form due to the world pandemic while at all the other venues project staff was at present. The project primarily intended to provide further development for professionals responsible for career counselling and guidance, the basic competence development of adults, the education of teachers/experts dealing with basic skills development, adult education and forming employment policies at the particular organisations, however the ultimate aim was to integrate the best practices seen and considered to be adaptable into the operation of the implementing organisations, and to further improve the level of their professional work with amending the methods, if needed. One of the major results of the project is the Brochure of Best Practices presenting the methods and approaches applied by the partner organisations and the results and experiences of their operation in practice. In the document 2 best practices per partner country, in case of Hungary 3 programmes due to the 3 partners, are described to the reader. They can directly or – via the further education and sensitisation of professionals – indirectly contribute to develop adults’ basic skills, to reach motivation towards entering adult education/VET thus their labour market integration. During the implementation, measuring impact received special attention. Each partner selected at least one or some elements of the best practices seen, the testing and later adaptation and application of which they considered to significantly improve their own professional work and the network of stakeholders. The project partners measured the impacts according to a pre-defined system of criteria, in which they described which methods they had chosen to test and in what ways they had integrated them into the operation of their organisation, what the experiences of ‘piloting’ were and what amendments they would suggest in order to improve the method. Another very important outcome of the project is the framework system on the further education of professionals facilitating adults’ basic competence development. In the document a proposal using a ‘learning outcome-based’ approach has been made for the profile and competences to be possessed by professionals of three properly distinguished fields (educators/teachers/trainers, counsellor, support workers). Furthermore, a complex pack of proposals was prepared by each country for policy makers, adult education providers and other organisations in relation to measures and actions necessary to be taken to improve adults’ basic skills development. Besides the Brochure of Best Practices, the study summarising the experiences of integrating the acquired methods into the operation of the organisations, the framework system of training for professionals facilitating basic skills development as well as the country-specific proposals are also available at the http://bekes.munka.hu/Engine.aspx website under the menu item ’International projects’ and the partner organisations’ websites. The results published are recommended for any organisation and professional responsible for the project topics because they offer beneficial guidelines related to acquiring basic skills and thus motivation towards participating in lifelong learning.