The overall objective of TRAIL was to open up European mobility as an accessible and meaningful learning field for disadvantaged adult learners by strengthening the capacity of organisations and professionals involved in sending, hosting, and facilitating mobility. To achieve this, the project pursued four interconnected objectives: – to generate European evidence on barriers, needs, and good practices related to inclusive adult education mobility; – to define the professional competences required to facilitate inclusive mobility through a structured competence framework and assessment foundations; – to design, implement, and test a Continuing Professional Development programme that enables professionals to apply inclusive mobility approaches in practice; – to pilot inclusive mobility learning in real European contexts and translate these experiences into transferable quality criteria, tools, and networking structures. Through these objectives, TRAIL aimed not only to increase participation in mobility, but also to improve its quality, safety, and educational value for learners with fewer opportunities.
Despite the formal inclusion of adult learners in Erasmus+ KA1 mobility, participation by adults with fewer opportunities remains very limited. Existing mobility formats, preparation processes, and quality frameworks are largely designed for higher education or vocational contexts and do not sufficiently address the realities of disadvantaged adult learners, such as older adults, people with disabilities, individuals with health or psychosocial challenges, migrants, and first-time travellers. Adult education organisations often lack data, structured guidance, and professional competences to design inclusive mobility learning that is accessible, safe, and educationally meaningful for these groups. As a result, mobility opportunities are frequently perceived as too complex or risky and are not offered or taken up. TRAIL was developed to address this gap by conceptualising mobility as a competence-oriented learning process that requires intentional preparation, facilitation, and follow-up. Bringing together six experienced European partners, the project aimed to strengthen inclusion, quality, and trust in adult education mobility through evidence-based and transferable approaches.