We had a number of interconnected objectives for this project. We envisaged that by the end of this project AONTAS would be better connected across the continent, that our staff and board would have increased capacity to implement our strategic plan and that we at AONTAS would have an even broader perspective on adult learning in Europe. We hoped to gather a broad range of examples of best practice to bring home and empower our members to implement. Within this, we aimed to: Enhance the domestic and international advocacy work of the organisation. Gather, learn and implement best practice examples from across Europe. Develop the capacity of AONTAS staff and board members to adapt to the changing domestic adult education environment and the internationalisation of lifelong learning. Identify common challenges for the adult and community education sector across Europe. Work with partners to identify solutions to these common challenges. Build relationships with fellow practitioners, advocates and policy influencers to strengthen the sector collectively, across the continent. Make connections for potential future Erasmus+ projects.
We applied for this project because engaging with and learning from European partners is essential to our work. Here at AONTAS, we spend a lot of time listening to and empowering learners to highlight the gaps in our system of adult and community education. To add to the value this Learner Voice work offers us, we applied for this project to add another essential ingredient to our work; examples of good practice from across Europe which help us to develop and advocate for policy solutions that will reduce educational disadvantage for adults in Ireland. For instance, without these mobilities, we would not have learned about Nordic examples of delivering holistic adult education, the value of clear communication internally, the transformative education model, or Slovenian programmes that empower older adults to overcome obstacles that have resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, maintaining and building our network of European colleagues fosters deeper understanding and knowledge of the broader lifelong learning sector and intercultural competency. Gathering these examples, putting new ideas/methods into practice and building relationships with our EU partners and colleagues was the impetus behind this project.