The world is changing fast and it is vital that education keeps pace. Yet, at a time when innovation is most needed, the world of education is lagging: only 38% of recent entrants to the education sector believe their school/college is adept at adopting innovations, new knowledge or methods (Innovating Education and Educating for Innovation, OECD, 2016). INACT will support educators to rise to the challenge, helping them transform their teaching methods and bring learning to life through innovative and inclusive learning spaces. Inclusive and Innovative Pedagogies for Educators aims to close the gap between policy and practice. We firmly believe that “the quality of an educational system depends upon the quality of its teachers” (Teaching in Focus Brief 2, OECD, 2012) and so educators are at the heart of our work. Our suite of training resources will provide educators with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to create genuinely engaging learning experiences for students, in three key areas: a) Diversity and inclusion - The Online Course (IO1) will introduce educators to “differentiated instruction” as a structured approach to proactively cater for student diversity. b) Innovation for 21st century skills - The Good Practice Compendium (IO2) will broaden and deepen educators’ skillset by showcasing and providing guidance on the most effective pedagogic approaches in fields such as experiential learning, learning through games, collaborative learning etc. c) Digital technology - The Education 4.0 Digital Toolbox (IO3) will empower educators to understand and harness the next generation of digital tools, putting technological solutions at the service of pedagogy and boost their differentiated and innovative teaching. Most educators are aware of diversity. What they find most difficult is knowing how to change their teaching practices and being motivated to leave their comfort zone. It is easy for teachers of all ages and backgrounds to feel lost in the sea of new concepts: blended learning, experiential learning, student centred pedagogy and computational thinking. In response, our approach is to i) focus clearly on a single, substantial issue: innovative pedagogies to improve inclusion and learning outcomes ii) create learning resources that excel in clarity, practical application and which exemplify the creative and engaging techniques we pursue. Our ultimate goal, therefore, is to provide educators with the knowledge, skills and confidence to engage in pedagogic innovation, helping them to create inclusive, innovative and genuinely engaging learning experiences for all their students. The project specifically targets vocational education teachers and trainers in post-secondary schools/colleges and continuing VET but given our partnership profile, INACT is also likely to cause positive impact for educators and managers in Adult and Higher Education too. Our research confirms that most teachers instinctively understand the need for differentiation and wish to move away from “teach-to-the-middle” approaches. This is in line with EU education policy which argues for a focus on the most efficient methods and practices for teachers to help learners manage their learning effectively in today's multidimensional learning environments (ET 2020 Working Group on Vocational Education and Training). In addition, only 25% of students are taught by teachers confident with technology use.(EU Digital Education Action Plan). A secondary target group of INACT are managers of VET organisations and education stakeholders. Innovation requires leadership/governance and DigCompOrg makes clear that change needs to come in three dimensions: pedagogical, technological and organisational. They must be involved, but need cost-effective, accessible training for their staff and guidance on how to implement these transitions. On completion, INACT will have made it possible for vocational education teachers and trainers to access training on inclusive and innovative pedagogic strategies which will help them create differentiated and creative learning spaces for their students. The long-term results will be improved learning outcomes for students from all backgrounds and more innovative, forward-looking European educational institutions who are better equipped to address and respond to diversity and disadvantage. But INACT has wider European implications too. Diversity and disadvantage are both increasingly important on the international agenda and the EU’s commitment to inclusion in education is a vital part of social inclusion in society and the economy in general. INACT translates policy into action and tackles the subject head on at grass roots level. By empowering and upskilling thousands of innovative teachers, INACT has tangible impact on policy goals via innovations in pedagogic strategies and achieves key milestones towards the European Digital Education Action Plan.
Our main objective with INACT was to empower our VET educators (and our peers across Europe) with the knowledge, skills and confidence to engage in pedagogic innovation, helping them to create inclusive, innovative and genuinely engaging learning experiences for all VET learners irrespective of their cognitive skills or different educational, cultural or linguistic backgrounds. Further objective was to contribute to the 2020 Commission's ambition for the EU “to move to a... digital economy that works for people and leaves nobody behind.” At the same time, the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training highlighted the large two-fold challenge that our education system faced at this time and how the megatrends that were shaping our societies required us to change “what” we teach, but also require a profound re-think of “how” we teach. Our aim was to make a tangible contribution to reframing European VET. making it more inclusive and relevant to our diverse and multicultural societies. As well as achieving our own aims, as a European project consortium we were mindful of our collective mandate to advance the Erasmus+ priorities.
Folkuniversitetet (FOLK) has a strong vocational education focus, running schools in higher vocational education, upper secondary schools, courses for seniors and further education for working life. We have been increasingly mindful of the need to make our educational offerings, especially VET more inclusive and we have looked outward to EU for best practice approaches. Having instigated and led previous Erasmus+ projects such as “Accessibility and Inclusion for Migrants” and “EMPOWER”, our wish was to develop further our capacity at the forefront of inclusive VET education. The needs addressed were those of our own institution and our educators. We found in our internal research that while most VET educators were aware of diversity, they did not know how to change their teaching practices to make them more inclusive.We found that the same was true in our proposed partners. Further desk research revealed that this was also a systemic and European wide issue in VET back in 2020. It was interesting that when we reached out to experts in this area across EU a common need emerged, the need to Increase skills of educators in innovative pedagogic strategies to create inclusive, innovative and engaging learning experiences.