The project has been based on the exchange good practices related to the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and SDGs, underlining a growing awareness of education’s essential role in a sustainable future; in fact the partnership was persuaded of the obvious link between adult education and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, being twofold the role of lifelong learning, in the light of adult education’s purposes of providing skills, knowledge and competences, promotion of social inclusion, active citizenship, health and personal well-being, towards the Sustainable Development Goals: on one hand it is transversal and a precondition for the accomplishment of the SDGs, while on the other hand it is a goal in itself: SDG 4 ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. It’s worth highlighting how the Partners, among others, have been addressing the needs to balance environmental, social, economic dimensions through the development and adoption of innovative training/learning pedagogies and methodologies, by intervening upstream in the adult education processes, extending educators' competences targeting innovative motivation strategies which may engage more adult learners in educational provisions, improving their proficiency towards new employment opportunities. The partnership, by implementing the project, successfully achieved the following objectives: -to exploring and exchange those good practices, in the field of adult education, connected to the learning outcomes of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and SDGs, towards the concept and design of innovative pedagogies, to tackle some of existing current societal challenges, for instance climate change by means of extending and developing the competences of educators and other staff members; -to let the Partners’ staff members acquire knowledge and skills, values and attitudes, in relation to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, towards alignment of their strategies, operations and educational provisions, especially in reference to SDG n° 4 “quality education opportunities for all”, posing lifelong learning in general, and adult education in particular, goals in themselves, and a means for attaining all the other Sustainable Development Goals, as a key enabler. The project's concrete results and achievements can be summarized as follows: as regarded selecting, among the SDG4 targets and indicators, those targets which are more relevant to the operations of Partner organizations, the synthesized achievement can be summarized as follows: - the following targets have been highlighted as amongst the most relevant: 4.7 “Education for sustainable development and global citizenship”, 4.4 “Relevant skills for decent work”, 4.3 “Equal access to technical, vocational and tertiary education”: in this perspective, the Partners achieved vision is to further mainstream citizenship education and education for sustainable development (including gender equality and human rights) in training curricula for learners as well as to deepen it during adult educators in-service training. This is more effectively implemented through add-ons to conventional training offer, in the form of a series of short learning modules addressing: essential of ecology, environmental sustainability concrete practices/actions as well as measure to mitigate/adapt to/neutralize climate change, with the dual goal of equipping learners with ecological attitudes and skills useful in everyday life (for instance to face the current energy crisis), relevant to the labor market and finally to engage more adult learners into educational provisions with a view to improving their proficiency. Equipping learners with theoretical and practical knowledge related to climate change and sustainability can help shaping pro-environmental behaviour and social activation, that is supporting to build awareness in communities: - in shopping/consumption habits: our daily choices at store shelves or online stores have social and environmental impacts, especially if attempting to reduce consumption, energy associated to production and distribution, waste generation; - learning to repair broken items or to give away unwanted items (selling or exchanging them to prevent they end up in the trash); learning how to prevent food waste: taking away half-eaten meals from restaurant, dispose expired food products into bio-waste bins; - learning to buy from local food producers, limiting purchases of imported goods, helping to assess and prevent negative impacts on the environment, consequence of long-haul transport; - learning to give priority to fair trade, when buying imported goods, preference to those labeled as fair trade, confirming workers received a fair wage and respect for human rights; - finding solutions to limit the use of plastics, avoiding disposable foil bags, and carrying our own reusable bag when shopping. The Partners feel the educational and social responsibility that what is learned in the classroom can help make the difference event at home, involving families and friends in positive behaviors: properly storing food, adopting measures/technologies to reduce water and energy consumption, respecting bio-diversity for instance through gardening, using sustainable mobility solutions, which may also be good for health. The design/use of digital tools, platforms, learning environment can be paramount to favor the above mentioned, because it allows interaction, creativity and opportunity to access learning materials also in places different from the classroom. As a follow-up with the highlighted SGDs targets, specific sets of knowledge, skills and competences have been deemed as necessary both for recipients of training provisions (learners) and trainers/teachers/ educators/staff from Partner organization. - Target 4.3: it has been highly meaningful to Partners, when providing training, always paying attention and making sure to ensure the opportunity to enroll is equally given to both men and women equally in order to have, whenever possible balanced classes in terms of genre. - Target 4.4: work-based learning recognition (RAFT) has been deemed as highly relevant for the attainment of this target, finding appropriate solutions towards the formal assessment of knowledge and skills acquired in a work-based training situation, with a view to certifying such skills. - target 4.5: focusing on attracting into classes the most diverse roster of learners as possible means, no matter the subject or the expected learning outcomes, adding always another dimension to the learning experience, connected to the so-called inclusive education, which help engage and stimulate learners specifically in the area of social and emotional development and learning, as a cornerstone of a successful learning experience based on coping with feelings, setting goals, making decisions, and feeling empathy for others, positively impacting the proficiency of cognitive learning experiences. -4.c: substantially increase the supply of qualified teachers, including through international cooperation
Exploring and exchanging those good practices, in the field of adult education, as regards the relevant learning objectives and contents related to 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, helping the design and introduction of innovative pedagogies, to extend and develop the competences of educators and other personnel who support adult learners to tackle the current societal challenges. The Partners wanted to achieve the acquisition of knowledge and skills, values and attitudes by the members of the Partners’ staff, in the field of adult education, connected to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, towards alignment of their strategies, operations and educational provisions. As a matter of fact, in line with SDG n° 4 “quality education opportunities for all”, lifelong learning in general, and adult education in particular, are considered both a goal in themselves, and a means for attaining all the other Goals, both an integral part of sustainable development and also a key enabler for it. The partners intended to move along the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a compass for an appropriate educational response to current and future global issues/crisis, requiring a shift in values and lifestyles.
We applied for this project to exchange good practices related to the “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and SDGs, underlining a growing awareness of education’s essential role in a sustainable future, being persuaded of the obvious link between adult education and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In the light of adult education’s purposes of providing skills, knowledge and competences, promotion of social inclusion, active citizenship, health and personal well-being, its role towards the Sustainable Development Goals is twofold: on one hand it is transversal and a precondition for the accomplishment of the SDGs, while on the other hand it is a goal in itself: SDG 4 ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. The needs we’ve addressed were: - to balance environmental, social, economic dimensions through the development and adoption of innovative training/learning pedagogies and methodologies, by intervening upstream in the adult education processes, extending educators' competences targeting innovative motivation strategies which may engage more adult learners in educational provisions, improving their proficiency towards new employment opportunities.