The Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC,2013) showed that 20% of the EU working age population has low literacy and low numeracy skills, while OECD (2019) establishes that “supporting adults with low skills to upskill and reskill is imperative for a future of work that is both more productive and inclusive. It helps individuals to increase their employability and ultimately their social inclusion”. In this context, the partnership lead by CJRAE Vrancea aims to extend the services provided by partners to the beneficiaries through integrating one innovative training for trainers that work with low skilled adults; this training, based on research data and expertise of all partners, will be tested and validated in real training context in the period of implementation and will be used by all partners to train the trainers working with low skilled adults. The project also aims to promote institutional development through at least one new working procedure in each partner organization, based on exchange of good practices with the partners, procedure that will be tested within the implementation period and will guide the future trainings with low skilled adults. Through the activities implemented within the project, the partners aim to contribute to the common development of competencies and knowledge of staff involved in training the low skilled adults through exchange of good practice and innovation, and to contribute to the internationalization of activities of all partners. The partnership foresees at least 20 staff members to be involved in identifying the needed competencies to train low skilled adults through international research (IO1) and innovating a methodology for training of trainers working with low skilled adults (IO2), building on their experience and expertise. Also, 14 staff members will attend a short-term joint staff training event to validate the training methodology and develop their skills of implementing it. All participants are experienced trainers with expertise in working with low skilled adults. To multiply the results of the project, the partnership foresees a multiplier event - International Seminar "Training the trainers to work with low skilled adults" – organized in Romania for developing specific professional skills to trainers of trainers and trainers of low skilled adults, managers of training institutions from Romania and abroad. Also, for the multiplication of project results, each partner will organize at least one training for trainers and at least one training for low skilled adults. Presentation at international conferences in adult education and articles in educational journals will inform the theoreticians and practitioners about the results and possibility to use them in their activity. The participants will develop their skills linked to their professional profile, skills for international cooperation and implementation of transnational projects, English skills and intercultural skills, will increase the quality of their training activities using our innovative methodology and will increase their job satisfaction and motivation for participation in future international projects. The partner organizations will provide better quality trainings by using the intellectual outputs of this project, will benefit from a more modern, dynamic, committed and professional environment inside the organization, based on the new staffs’ skills and their job satisfaction and interest for projects, will have an increased capacity to operate at EU level and develop their international projects team. The primary target groups (trainers working with low skilled adults, managers of adult training institutions, staff in partner organizations, youth-workers and teachers from second chance programs) attending the activities for multiplication of results will have increased professional skills to better respond the needs of their beneficiaries, increased interest into adapting our resources or developing their own resources to provide better trainings, will have better knowledge and understanding of EU practices in training the low skilled adults and a more positive attitude towards international projects (and EU values). The result of our project can also be used by secondary schools and VET institution, adapted to train the teachers working with underachievers, strengthening cross-sectorial cooperation and the quality of the results. All participants in this project (staff members and beneficiaries) will have a greater understanding and responsiveness to social, ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity in their training groups. On medium and long-term, the project will contribute to enhancing the quality of training for the trainers working with low skilled adults, as all interested training institutions and independent trainers will have full and unrestricted access to our developed resources (research & methodology for training) that they can use or adapt.
1. to extend the services provided by the partners to the beneficiaries through integrating one innovative training for trainers that work with low skilled adults, tested and validated in real training context. 2. to promote the institutional development through at least one new working procedure in each partner organization, based on exchange of good practices with the partners. 3. to contribute to the common development of competencies and knowledge of staff involved in training the low skilled adults through exchange of good practice and innovation, operationalized by an increase of 20% during the implementation period. 4. to contribute to the internationalization of activities of all partners, operationalized through an increase of 10% of our staff skills of international cooperation through the implementation period.
The main rationale for this project was the specific need of all partners to develop their trainers’ abilities in working with low skilled adults, as evidence showed that involving low skilled adults in efficient trainings is very important. For instance, the Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC,2013, OECD & European Commission) showed that 20% of the EU working age population has low literacy and low numeracy skills, and the skills of a person tend to deteriorate over time if they are not used frequently. Also, OECD (Getting Skills Right Engaging low-skilled adults in learning, 2019) mentioned that “low-skilled adults are more likely to be unemployed, less likely to take part in training and are over-represented among the group of long-term unemployed” and concluded that “supporting adults with low skills to upskill and reskill is imperative for a future of work that is both more productive and inclusive. It helps individuals to increase their employability and ultimately their social inclusion”.