Although adult education is conceived in many cases as a basic education, focused mainly on social and personal fulfillment, adults people have a great potential for employability if they receive adequate training, suited to the needs of companies. This is especially true for adults between the ages of 18 and 30 who neither study nor work (NEET). These young adults have basic literacy, because they have only finished their basic studies (or almost finished them) and have not been able to access the labor market, sometimes because they lack the motivation to do so. Aware of this reality, the European Union has tried to aim the objectives of lifelong learning for adults in this age spectrum towards the acquisition of key skills for the labor market as a useful mechanism when looking for new productive models, such as the innovation and technology sector. With this context in mind, the partners of this project proposed to address this need for specific, adapted, and high-quality training that can enhance the employability of adults in the technology sector. Thus, the main objective of the project “FROM LITERACY TO DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL TRAINING: INNOVATIVE AND CUSTOMIZABLE TRAINING ITINERARY TO FACILITATE THE EMPLOYABILITY AND INCLUSION OF ADULTS” has been to structure a process for adult learning through a full itinerary adapted to employability in the technology sector, ranging from the most basic stages of adult education to the basic knowledge required by technology companies, through the development of digital and technological competences like scientific thinking, critical analysis, and digital skills. This sector has a wide labor variability of very diverse profiles (from researchers to staff with no qualifications), meaning that it is a great opportunity for our beneficiaries, not only because they have increased their real possibilities of employability, but also because it offered them an appealing and motivating objective, and in order for these jobs to be accessible to them, it was critical for them to develop some specific skills. To meet these needs and objectives, 6 the partner entities worked intensively for 36 months, thanks to the 5 Transnational Meetings held (of which the first of them had to be online due to COVID-19 restrictions) in Spain, France, Portugal, and Greece, plus many other bilateral virtual meetings, exchanges of experiences, working groups, pilot tests for the results generated, and dissemination activities, to generate a high-quality Intellectual Output: the “STRUCTURED AND PERSONALIZED COURSE FOR THE DIGITAL TRAINING OF ADULTS: FROM LITERACY TO DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL TRAINING”. This course consists of a three-level online training itinerary, structured and certified by a digital badge and the “DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL TRAINING DIPLOMA”. It covers a learning process adapted to adults, that builds its contents through itineraries for the improvement, identification, and monitoring of their capabilities, with a training offer adapted to their individual needs and based on the flexible and digital “micro e-Learning” methodology. The student’s itinerary is personalized after an initial evaluation, including all the necessary contents and materials, and structured into three levels: INITIAL - Basic literacy from a technological perspective, ADVANCED - Digital training through scientific thinking, and EXPERT LEVEL - Basic technological training for employability. In addition to the main Intellectual Output, two tangible results have also been developed: the brief manual for trainers “From Literacy to Digital and Technological Training”, and a compilation of Open Educational Resources (OERs), which both serve as reinforcement to the course. Thanks to all of this, the project has had a highly positive impact in adults in this situation, their training, and their employability; benefits that are also extended to a wider range for individuals and the whole society. Moreover, this impact will be sustained over time, thanks to the continuation of the work of the partnership, that will collaborate in future, and the multiple dissemination activities that were and are still being carried out, such as the multiplier events held and the participation in the educational innovation international congresses EDULEARN21 and ICERI2021.
The technology sector has a wide labor variability of very diverse profiles (from researchers to staff with no qualifications), and can be a great opportunity for our beneficiaries, not only because they will have real possibilities of employability in it, but also because it offers them an appealing and motivating objective. But in order for these jobs to be accessible to them, it is critical that they develop some specific skills. “FROM LITERACY TO DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL TRAINING: INNOVATIVE AND CUSTOMIZABLE TRAINING ITINERARY TO FACILITATE THE EMPLOYABILITY AND INCLUSION OF ADULTS” is a project whose main objective has been to structure the adult learning process through a full itinerary adapted to employability in the technology sector, ranging from the most basic stages of adult education to the basic knowledge required by technology companies, through the development of digital and technological competences such as scientific thinking, critical analysis, and digital skills.
Although adult education is conceived in many cases as a basic education, focused mainly on social and personal fulfillment, adults have a great potential for employability if they receive adequate training, committed to the needs of companies. This is especially true for adults between the ages of 18 and 30 who neither study nor work (NEET). These young adults have basic literacy because they only finished their basic studies (or almost finished them), and have not been able to access the labor market, sometimes because they lack the motivation to do so. Aware of this reality, the European Union has tried to aim the objectives of lifelong learning for adults of this age spectrum towards the acquisition of key skills for the labor market as a useful mechanism when looking for new productive models, such as the innovation and technology sector. That is why this project has addressed the need for specific, adapted, and high-quality training, to enhance the employability of adults in the technology sector.