The ALITHE project brings together partners from the UK, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus and Romania with a shared experience in engaging adults in education, using the latent cultural and natural assets of the immediate area. During the last 10 years of joint working we have seen great changes in the European villages we work in 1. more young people leaving and a concentration of older people. 2. Less and less intergenerational learning. 3. Growth in eco-tourism but a much greater growth in CULTURAL TOURISM, showing us that the culture of rural areas represents an asset ripe for sustainable development. Cultural heritage becomes latent and hidden and the active engagement and inclusion of older learners within adult education activities more and more necessary. ALITHE will engage and involve older learners but with more IT savvy younger adults facilitating this, thereby encouraging intergenerational learning. The project activities and new curriculum module will celebrate the coming together of generations and empower senior and junior adult learners with new skills, self-confidence and a sense of place within our shared European history and culture. Project Objectives are: 1. Share experience between the partnership of delivering adult education within the Historic Environment (Historic Buildings, Cultural Landscapes, Museums, Archaeological Sites, Heritage Reconstructions, Historical Re-enactment…) 2. Focus on ‘learning by doing’ examples that have potential to twin older and younger adult learners together, facilitating intergenerational learning. 3. Highlight the inspirational potential of providing all adults with learning opportunities in the historic environment, with a range of fully recorded examples and case-studies available online 4. Mobilise a minimum of 15 individual senior learners, twinned with 15 younger learners from within the partnership, including disadvantaged and ethnic minority groups, to participate in curriculum testing and development activities arranged by host partners (6 blended mobility of learner activities each attended by 2 learners from each partner + 1 AP). 5. Demonstrate European transferability of learning outcomes, the activities incorporate Roman and medieval themes. 6. Develop a new ECVET curriculum module to be added to Green Village training, with transferrable Learning Outcomes of relevance across the partnership. The module ‘Intergenerational Cultural Learning’ will be developed, tried and tested during the blended mobility of learners activities in a range of historic environment settings. 7. Record the blended mobility of learner actions in detail through photography, video, personal reports and participant impact and upload to dedicated, linked project websites hosted by each partner. 8. Produce a professional 25 minute film (on the web through Youtube) entitled ‘Developing Cultural Assets’, which will serve as both dissemination for project achievements and as a learning resource for those delivering new curriculum. 9. Provide training for adult education staff working with adult learners in delivery of the new module through a 6-day short term joint training action in Romania. The 24 month project structure has a clear timetable and methodology to test and record learning outcomes in a variety of historic environments which lead to a staff training event to ensure that the training can be delivered effectively. The potential of historic environments as a learning resource is exciting and far reaching. ALITHE will showcase the diverse nature of education activities in a range of environments which are transferable across Europe and accessible to a broad range of adult education providers. The benefit for junior and senior adult learners (learning alongside each other) will be tested, measured and recorded to ensure that the curriculum and specified learning outcomes are relevant and valued for learners from each partner region. ALITHE is about sharing experience and best practice between a partnership with great experience but now recognizing even more the value of local cultural heritage and the critical importance of intergenerational learning. We will promote learning across generations through ACTIVE delivery of training and systematically recording the impact on learners, achievement of learning outcomes and broader impact on self-confidence, social interaction and health. It is clear that the recent COVID-19 outbreak and social-distancing restrictions have had the hardest impact on older members of the community. It is hard to predict how quickly social-distancing and self-isolation for older people will come to an end. But, it will end, and we must look to the future and ensure that opportunities are available for inclusive intergenerational learning at the earliest opportunity. It has never been more important to bring all ages of society together.
During the writing of the ALITHE project, the partnership established clear aims and objectives to be achieved over our 2 year cooperation. These are: 1. Share experience between the partnership of delivering adult education and facilitating intergenerational learning within the Historic Environment 2. Highlight the inspirational potential of providing adult learning opportunities in the historic environment 3. Mobilise a minimum of 30 individual learners from within the partnership, including disadvantaged, to participate in European learning activities arranged by host partners 4. Develop a new ECVET curriculum module, with transferrable Learning Outcomes of relevance across the partnership. 5. Record the blended mobility of learner actions and upload to project webpage for both dissemination for project achievements and as a learning resource for those delivering new curriculum. 6. Produce a film entitled ‘Developing Cultural Assets’, which will serve as both dissemination for project achievements and as a learning resource for those delivering new curriculum. 7. Provide training for adult education staff working with learners in delivery of new module through a 6-day short term joint training action in Romania.
We applied for the ALITHE project to develop an innovative new ECVET curriculum module which could be used across Europe for adult ‘intergenerational learning’ in a variety of historic environments. The direct project partnership, and our wide network of associated partners, recognised the need to engage hard to reach elements of our communities, including those facing economic, social, medical and geographic obstacles, in exciting and relevant ways. Our shared experience had demonstrated the potential of harnessing historic environments as a setting for active learning. By writing ALITHE, we sought to share experience and explore ways in which historic environments can enhance the learning experience. The variety of settings utilised for training activities within the partnership has been broad and includes museums, historic buildings, cultural landscapes and archaeological fieldwork. The project also recognises that providing adult education opportunities, both formal and informal, is about far more than practical skill development. The project recognises the health and wellbeing benefits of ‘active’ learning in groups with a broad age range, which utilise and celebrate historic settings.