In March 2020, the Covid-19 crisis hit the Vocational Education and Training (VET) of the GIP-FCIP of the académie de Créteil and of his GRETA VET centers. Distance education was not any longer an option but the only possible teaching method. This shift to e-learning highlighted the major issue of accessibility, both digital and pedagogical, hitting the most vulnerable trainees and jeopardizing our inclusive pedagogical approach and therefore our trainees’ chances to professional integration and social inclusion. In this new context, the GIP-FCIP of the académie of Créteil and the GRETA VET network is facing 2 major issues : • How can distance learning become as accessible as possible, with appropriate tools and relevant training paths to ensure the inclusion of all learners ? • How can the educational teams be trained to distance education to allow a true efficient and inclusive pedagogical method ? These issues are beyond the frame of our national VET organization and the GIP-FCIP of the académie de Créteil has formed a transnational strategic partnership with 4 other education and VET organizations : Koena, a French partner dedicated to digital accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities ; the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) in Spain specialized in pedagogical accessibility ; the European Certification and Qualification Association (ECQA) based in Austria, and a Canadian partner the Université TÉLUQ based in Québec and specialized in distance education for more than 40 years. In the frame of an Erasmus+ program (KA2) for innovative practices in a digital era and social inclusion, our partnership has gathered 14 people to design and carry out the IDE@ project : “Implementing a Digital E-learning @lternative”, gathering 4 VET project leaders, 6 higher education teachers, 2 VET and disabilities specialists, and 2 certification and qualification project leaders. The IDE@ project is based on 3 specific Erasmus+ KA2 program VET priorities : • Supporting the uptake of innovative approaches and digital technologies for teaching and learning • Further strengthening key competences in initial and continuing VET • Initial and continuous professional development of VET teachers, trainers and mentors in both school and work-based settings The IDE@ project aims to set up an inclusive, drop-out proof distance vocational training dedicated to VET centers and trainers having to adapt to distance education with all profiles learners. In order to reach this general objective, the project will be carried out according to the following pragmatic methodology over 5 phases : - identification of the obstacles to ensure accessibility to distance training - identification of the teaching skills to be deployed - observation of successful distance learning experiences - implementation and dissemination of efficient training engineering - creation of a certification framework for trainers The project will develop 5 tools in the field of distance VET : - A good practice guide to ensure digital accessibility for all learners ; - A pedagogical guide to set up distance learning accessibility for all learners ; - A competencies' framework to map the competencies of trainers needed for the design and implementation of distance learning accessible from both a digital and pedagogical point of view - A distance education engineering for trainers ; - A certification framework for distance teaching skills. The expected impact of the project concerns 3 circles of target groups: - trainers to help them adapt to distance training - trainees to enable them to access and successfully achieve a distance training - all audiences of the project partners and stakeholders Major planned impacts are : increase the capacity of the VET Professionnals to provide quality inclusive online training provide better quality training to maintain beneficiary engagement and avoid dropping out train, qualify and certify the trainers in digital and pedagogical accessibility for online training. diversify the trainee target audience due to quality inclusive online training IDE@ aims to about 10 000 VET professionnals (trainers and organizations).
In order to meet these two challenges, the project was conducted using a pragmatic and concerted methodology: - identifying the obstacles to inclusive distance learning, from the point of view of both learners and teaching teams - identification of good practice in providing access to inclusive distance learning, from the point of view of both learners and teaching teams - observation of successful distance learning experiences, in particular those of Teluq, implementing 100% asynchronous distance learning courses - identification of the teaching skills to be deployed and formalisation of these skills in a reference framework - formalising tools to professionalise trainers in order to implement accessible and inclusive distance learning programmes, in line with the skills identified in the framework - creation of a certification framework for trainers, in line with the skills identified The aim of this project is to provide support and tools to establishments offering initial, continuing or university distance vocational training.
In March 2020, the Covid-19 crisis hit vocational education and training. Distance learning was no longer an option, but the only possible method. This move to e-learning revealed the major problem of digital and educational accessibility, hitting the most vulnerable trainees hardest and compromising their chances of success and integration. In this new context, the GIP-FCIP of the Créteil academy and the GRETA network are faced with 2 challenges: How can distance learning be opened up to all, using appropriate tools and relevant pathways to ensure the inclusion of all learners? How can teaching teams be trained to deliver effective, inclusive distance learning? These issues are beyond the scope of our national organisation. We have formed a transnational partnership with : Koena, a French partner dedicated to digital accessibility and the inclusion of people with disabilities the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain, specialising in educational accessibility the European Certification and Qualification Association (ECQA) in Austria TÉLUQ University in Quebec, which has specialised in distance learning for over 40 years.