Participation in adult education is currently suffering from the Matthew-effect. However lifelong learning represents an attitude wich serves different objectives for a variety of people. Irrespective of their status, age, origin, educational background, economic background,...formal and non-formal adult education should be accessible, transparent and visible. Next to that adults should be able to experience what job(s) fit them best and how an education, formation or educational pathways leads to a sustainable job where they find satisfaction. However, some adults are struggling to find their way through the possibilities in the labour market and adult education scenery. They cannot see the wood for the trees and are focused on restrictions rather than possibilities. So the aim of this project is to: (1) to share and develop tools for workplace-based learning in learning-orientation (2) to raise participation in formal and non-formal adult education, (3) to decrease the inequality in participation on adult education, (4) to increase the amount of successful educational pathways for disadvantaged groups, by sustainably orientating adults towards adult education and by expansion the labor market. By creating a partnership between Belgium, Netherland and Finland good practices, methods and tools will be exchanged through the study visits to each other’s organizations. Each partner has an own context, vision, expertise, experiences, methods, instruments and workplace-base orientation tools which guarantees a broad spectrum to create a strategic partnership. By sharing good practices, implementing and evaluating methods the project aims at the deepening or elaboration of the one stop learning shop in each organization which is adapted to the specific context of the country. The process of the project will be disseminated at different ways: a study report after each study visit, a website and newsletter about the project specific for each partner organization, a general project website and newsletter. The reports offer other stakeholders the opportunity to use the information and help to increase the impact of the project. There are also diverse evaluation instruments implemented in the project: study visit evaluations, self-assessments, evaluations of the study days in each country, project management team meetings that discuss the progress of the project, etc.
By implementing the SILO-project the three involved partners had multiple goals. The main goal was to share knowledge and expertise about career counseling towards adults, especially vulnerable target groups, about different target groups such as NEET-youngsters, migrants and low-schooled adults and last but not least about workplace-based learning as an orientation tool. By sharing good practices, the three involved organizations were able to look at their own services in a critical way, readopt existing tools and to gain knowledge about new tools or tools they were not familiar with. In a long term, the gain of quality of the career counseling services will lead to a decrease of the inequality of participation in adult education. Next to that, we strive towards an increase of the amount of successful educational pathways of adults in disadvantaged groups. During the three study visits the counselors gained knowledge about different services in other countries, these services are active in the broad field of adult education and/or lifelong learning. This way, the counselors can compare the existing services in their own country and create new services or recommend changes towards existing services.
Nowadays, a percentage of adults struggle to find the correct path between the labor market and adult education scenery, moreover, they have to strife with the changing circumstances, economical needs and competences. Even some of them who did the wrong choice in their younger life due to the pressure or the compulsory education, which is a complication for them in relation to find the job that they would like to do. And last and not least, we have foreigners coming to the European Union either for a better life or any other reasons that attached them to have a life outside their home country, which leaves them even further from reaching a position in the labor market due to the difference of culture, language, or the educational level. That’s why SILO (Social integration through learning orientation) emerged with the purpose of helping and empower this percentage of people in order to be competent in the labor market. Within this international project we will share the experience and knowledge that each organization has about learning career counselling & workplace-based learning as an orientation tool.