BACKGROUND & CHALLENGES A key challenge in the adult education sector across the EU is the need for Adult Education Providers (AEPs) to track the lifelong and lifewide progress pathways of disadvantaged learners. Additionally, the range of basic skills for life and competence-development for learners from disadvantaged backgrounds remain without validation, constituting an impediment for learners to upskill themselves, and for AEPs to link informal learning with formal education and employment pathways. In this respect, TaMPADA develops a toolkit for impact assessment geared towards measuring learners’ ‘lifelong’ and ‘lifewide’ progress, building upon the results of the preceding IMPADA project. Taking into account that socially disadvantaged groups are hard-to-reach, the TaMPADA project develops an outreach framework based on ICT, web-based solutions and community synergies with intermediary organisations. OBJECTIVES TaMPADA particularly aims to: a) Develop an ICT- and community-based outreach framework and monitoring toolkit for AEPs to enhance learner-centred approaches to quality assurance. b) Anchor this framework to both evolving and emerging quality assurance practices in adult education in the EU. c) Yield benefits for public authorities and AEPs from the exchange of good practices, and the promotion & harmonization of tracking and monitoring procedures. THE TaMPADA PARTNERSHIP The partnership comprises 5 partners with complementary skills and long experience and expertise on adult education. AEPs, networks of AEPs and experts on research & development methodologies form a partnership with a view to addressing the challenges related to learner-centred impact monitoring for disadvantaged learners. DACES, AZM and Folkuniversitetet have a long-standing engagement with marginalised and socially disadvantaged learners, and play a key role in their respective adult education landscapes since they represent networks of learning centres that extend regionally and nationally (DACES, Folkuniversitetet). LLLP leverages the communication of the TaMPADA framework EU-wide and ensures maximum dissemination and impact across adult education networks, policy-making and implementation circles. PROMEA, bringing to the partnership significant experience with ICT-based methodologies and tool development, contributes to increasing the framework’s tracking & monitoring potential for impact and sustainability, by mobilising and developing digital resources for use by AEPs. ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY - Development of indicators of disadvantaged learners’ lifelong & lifewide progress. - Development of a methodology for AEPs to utilize open public data resources on benchmarks at regional, national and EU-wide level. - Creation of a toolkit for monitoring disadvantaged learners’ lifelong and lifewide progress, combining survey and relevant, open public datasets. - Development of an outreach framework, comprising two paths to outreach (web-based, and community synergies development) addressed to AEPs -Development of an ICT-based monitoring toolkit to be used independently or in the context of outreach strategies. - Validation of TaMPADA framework and tools and policy recommendations RESULTS & IMPACT - Improved partners, AEPs and TaMPADA networks’ potential for learner-centred, long-term impact assessment - Increased AEPs’ capacity to supply quality assured skills and competences responding better to societal needs and to needs of disadvantaged - Increased visibility and transparency of tracking & monitoring practices - Extended networks and synergies between AE stakeholders and between AEPs and community organisations and authorities - Strengthening of links between informal learning and formal education pathways POST-PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY - Valorisation of the TaMPADA toolkit, outreach strategy and recommendation by AEPs and community education providers - Uptake and diffusion of project materials from relevant regulating authorities and networks of AEPs across the EU. - Advancement of national strategies supporting, refining and harmonising tracking and monitoring initiatives set forth by TaMPADA
BACKGROUND & CHALLENGES TaMPADA focused on the need of Adult Education Providers (hereinafter AEPs) to track lifelong and lifewide progress pathways of disadvantaged learners. In fact, it was often noted and observed that life basic skills and competences growth from learners, coming from disadvantaged settings, were granted no validation with counter effect on learners’ personal up skilling and on AEP’s effort to link their informal learning with formal education and employment routes. Having the above-mentioned in mind, TaMPADA developed a toolkit for measuring learners’ lifelong and lifewide progress. Finally, considering the fact that adult learners from disadvantaged settings is difficult to reach and measure the project developed an ICT web-based tool and community inter-institutional synergies with intermediary organizations. This is what TaMPADA attempted to achieve throughout its life span. OBJECTIVES TaMPADA achievements: - Developed an ICT and community-based outreach framework and monitoring toolkit for AEP’s to enhance learners centered approached to quality assurance: tampadadigitaltool.eu in 5 languages. - Anchored this framework to both evolving and emerging quality assurance practices in adult education in the EU. - Yielded benefits for public authorities and AEPs from the exchange of good practices and the promotion and harmonization of tracking and monitoring procedures. THE TaMPADA PARTNERSHIP The partnership comprised of 5 partners with complementary skills and long experience and expertise on adult education. DACES, AZM and Folkuniveritetet have a long-standing engagement with marginalized and socially disadvantaged learners and played an important role in adult education since they represent networks of learning centers regionally and nationally. LLLP leveraged the communication of TaMPADA framework EU wide and ensured maximum dissemination and impact across adult education networks, policy – making and implementation circles. PROMEA brought significant expertise on ICT-based methodology and tool development, contributed to increasing the framework’s tracking and monitoring potential for impact and sustainability by mobilizing and developing digital resources for use by AEPs. ACTIVITIES & METHODOLOGY The TaMPADA partnership successfully explored indicators and identified those affecting disadvantaged learners’ lifelong and lifewide progress. Also, partners developed a methodology for AEPs to use open data resources at regional, national and EU level. In addition, the partnership developed a monitoring tool for monitoring disadvantaged learners’ lifelong and lifewide progress combing results from surveys and other public datasets. Moreover, the partnership developed a framework addressed to AEPs, which covers two dimensions: web-based and communities (inter-institutional) synergies. Finally, the partnership developed an ICT based monitoring toolkit to be used independently and/or in the context of inter-institutional community synergies (tampadadigitaltool.eu), which was validated by AEPs and at a later stage the partnership also produced a policy recommendations paper. RESULTS & IMPACT The TaMPADA consortium: - Raised awareness and improved partners and other AEPs networks’ capacity for learner-centered approach and long-term impact assessment. - Increased AEPs capacity to provide quality assured skills and uplifted competences of disadvantaged adult learners to respond better to their personal and societal needs. - Increased visibility and transparency of tracking and monitoring practices by developing the ICT web-based tool and evidence collection framework available to all AEPs. - Extended networks and synergies among AE stakeholders, AEPs, community organizations and authorities by producing the operational framework for inter-institutional synergies. - Strengthened links between informal and formal education pathways - Organized 11 information days to promote project results, gathering 368 participants. POST-PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY The TaMPADA partners managed to promote the use of TaMPADA web-based toolkit, extended strategy and recommendations to AEPs and community education providers. Additionally, up took and diffused project materials to relevant regulating authorities and networks of AEPs across the EU and finally managed to advance national strategies by supporting, refining and harmonizing tracking and monitoring initiatives set forth by TaMPADA.