The project is drawn in the context of the current crisis in Europe that extends in many different areas, five of them having the biggest influence on adults’ education: the economic crisis, the social crisis, the crisis of European cohesion and identity, the ethical crisis and the personal crisis - particularly due to the status on labour market. On the other hand, even there are 17 years for adoption of EU laws that forbid discrimination, about 40% from immigrants, descendants of immigrants and minority ethnic groups continue to face widespread discrimination across the EU and in all areas of life (because of their ethnic or immigrant background, as well as potentially related characteristics, such as skin color and religion) most often when seeking employment. The percent is almost double among over 35 years old adults with low skills (particularly communication in adoption country’s language) and low qualification. For these persons - but not only, autobiographical method could create a comprehensive solution for supporting low-skilled/low-qualified adult learners. By sharing the story of our lives at any age&in any context, we may strengthen a process of self-knowledge, self-awareness, self-education. The more important is this method for people with a “double identity” as migrantsðnic minorities - who are in a permanent inner fight between two social and cultural identities: one of the majority they live in and one of the minority they come from (even is about a country they just migrate from or their ancestors came many years ago or the ethnos they belong to - as we already described at pag.3). In this context the main goal of the project is to contribute to facilitate a bigger participation of low skilled adults coming from migrants and ethnic minorities groups in education/training programmes that will increase their chances on inclusion in society and on the labour market - as a main pillar for their social inclusion Specific objectives: 1. enhancing the professional development of 120 adult educators working with low skilled/qualified migrants and minorities from the 5 partner countries - by equipping them with important knowledge, improved abilities and offering them a complex and flexible training kit for using autobiography in adults’ education (tested on 10 different groups of low low-skilled/qualified adults from migrants/minorities groups) 2. developing and testing (on 10 different groups of low/skilled/qualified adults from migrants and ethnic minorities groups - 2 from each country involved) new, innovative and flexible (easy to adapt) training materials based on autobiographical method. 3. fostering international dimension of low-skilled/qualified adults’ education by developing training materials that use the expertize of 5 countries and an on-line Resource Center - continuously updatable with training materials and other useful information from all Europe. The project is developed by a partnership involving 5 organizations covering the whole Europe (from North - Sweden - to South - Italy and from West - UK to East - Romania) with different backgrounds, expertise and approaches of adult education issues, particularly of tailoring learning opportunities to the needs of individual low-skilled/low-qualified adults. They put in common their expertise and experience in order to develop the following intellectual outputs: O1: Training kit for adult educators “Autobiographical Method for Migrants' and Minorities' Inclusion in Communities they are living In” - in English and each partner’s language O2: A set of 20 case studies (4 from each partner) related to best practices/successful stories in using autobiography in adults' education O3: An on-line resource center that will include all training materials and other results of the project, different tests, exercises, case studies etc. that will be continuously updated with new information and resources by any entity interested (in English and each partner’s language) O4: Comparative study on how the autobiographical method worked on 10 different target groups (1 group of migrants and 1 of ethnic minorities from each partner country) - with recommendation and “tips&tricks” for future users - the main research part will consist in 10 learning programs - 2 (1 for migrants and 1 for ethnic minorities) in each partner’s country, designed based on the training kit O1, adapted to particularities of adult learners from each partner organization. O5: The documentary movie “It’s my life” about 20 low-skilled/qualified adults (10 migrants and 10 ethnic minorities) and how this project improved their lives 5 national and one international multiplying events will be also organized in order to make the project and its outputs known at local, national and international level.
The project was born from the observation of reality and the new challenges we are called to face in the fields of education and social inclusion, in the context of the current crisis in Europe that extends in many different areas, five of them having the biggest influence on adults’ education: the economic crisis, the social crisis, the crisis of European cohesion and identity, the ethical crisis and the personal crisis - particularly due to the status on labour market. The main topic addressed by the project is the widespread discrimination most of minorities (about 40% from immigrants, descendants of immigrants and minority ethnic groups - according to different research and press articles we studied when we wrote the application form) face with, in all areas of life (because of their ethnic or immigrant background, as well as potentially related characteristics, such as skin colour and religion) most often when seeking employment. The percent is almost double among over 35 years old adults with low skills (particularly communication in adoption country’s language) and low qualification. So the 5 partners - organisations covering the whole Europe (from North - Sweden - to South - Italy and from West - UK to East - Romania) with different backgrounds, expertise and approaches of adult education issues, particularly of tailoring learning opportunities to the needs of individual low-skilled/low-qualified adults - have put in common their experience and expertise in order to develop an educational path that uses autobiography for supporting these vulnerable groups in being more confident, with a bigger self-esteem and improved self-image and, generally talking, to give them more power in facing with the difficulties of a ”minority life”. The main goal of the project was to contribute to facilitate a bigger participation of low skilled adults coming from migrants and ethnic minorities groups in education/training programmes that will increase their chances on inclusion in society and on the labour market - as a main pillar for their social inclusion Specific objectives: 1. enhancing the professional development of 120 adult educators working with low skilled/qualified migrants and minorities from the 5 partner countries - by equipping them with important knowledge, improved abilities and offering them a complex and flexible training kit for using autobiography in adults’ education (tested on 10 different groups of low low-skilled/qualified adults from migrants/minorities groups) 2. developing and testing (on 10 different groups of low/skilled/qualified adults from migrants and ethnic minorities groups - 2 from each country involved) new, innovative and flexible (easy to adapt) training materials based on autobiographical method. 3. fostering international dimension of low-skilled/qualified adults’ education by developing training materials that use the expertise of 5 countries The project is built on a “cascade approach” that involves an increasing number of participants with its advancement. In the first stage we involved a direct target group: 20 adult educators - 4 staff members from each partner organisation, professionals in adult education, with at least one experience in a learning activity that involves low skilled/qualified adults (working with migrants or minorities will be a plus but not obligatory), a medium level of English (minimum B1- according to CEFRL). They took part to a transnational learning activity (https://ammmici.org/obiective/) In the second stage we involved other 100 professionals in adult education (with the same profile as the first 20, less the English level) - 20 in each partner’s country, who took part to the local training courses/ToT (https://ammmici.org/training-of-trainers/) and worked in team with the first 20 to develop the local training activities for the indirect target group described below. In the third step we involved about 150 low skilled/qualified adults (we should diminish the total number from the application form because of the Covid crisis) - one group of migrants and one group of minorities in each partner country (detailed description in the research https://ammmici.org/10-different-amici). We produced the following intellectual outputs (available here https://ammmici.org/intellectual-outputs/) IO1: Training kit for adult educators “Autobiographical Method for Migrants' and Minorities' Inclusion in Communities they are living In” - in English and each partner’s language IO2: A set of 20 case studies (4 from each partner) related to best practices/successful stories in using autobiography in adults' education IO3: Comparative study on how the autobiographical method worked on 10 different target groups (1 group of migrants and 1 of ethnic minorities from each partner country) - with recommendation and “tips&tricks” for future users. IO4: The documentary movie “It’s my life” the project”