Digital Competences for adaptive, flexible and inclusive vocational education and training Erasmus Project

Project Title

Digital Competences for adaptive, flexible and inclusive vocational education and training

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Partnerships for Digital Education Readiness

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Access for disadvantaged

Project Summary

Context
The COVID-19 pandemic took virtually everyone by surprise. In the face of unprecedented disruption to work, life and well-being, one of the key features of the response to COVID-19 disruption was the rapid acceleration of digital technologies into all aspects of human activity – from shopping through education to medical consultations. Many people were left behind as a result of this shift – from families on low income with no means to afford the digital tools needed for home schooling to older people who did not know how to access health services online. In this context, there is a need for education and training systems to become more flexible and resilient so as to deliver high quality and inclusive learning particularly for those affected by ‘dual exclusion’ – the process through which structural inequalities are exacerbated by lack of access to digital technologies and digital skills. This process of re-adjustment needs to start with educators, who need to acquire the digital and pedagogical competences needed to work effectively with people who suffer ‘dual exclusion’, and who need support to transition into a rapidly evolving digital economy.

Objectives
• To build on existing EU competence frameworks – in particular ‘DigCompEdu’ – to develop a flexible digital competence framework for educators working in the VET sector
• To incorporate a set of competences that enables educators to use digital tools to work with vulnerable groups, so as to in turn improve their digital competences and knowledge
• To embed the framework in ‘situational knowledge-based practice’ so as to support educators to understand how to apply digital competences in real teaching and learning situations
• To develop an online learning programme – using micro-learning and game-based learning – to enable educators to acquire these competences and apply them in practice
• To pilot the programme with 200 learners in four different VET contexts – school-based vocational training, college and further education training, vocational training for vulnerable young people and continuing vocational training for adult learners
• To disseminate the project results to a wide stakeholder constituency including policy-makers, educators, youth organisations and the research community
• To develop a Toolkit for scaling the programme up and out

Participants
200 VET educators from school through to higher education, particularly those working with vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, who take part in the FLEXI-COMP training programme, with an additional 200 educators trying out the programme through a ‘Call for Participation’ in the second half of the project

Activities
Review of state of the art to assess relevant digital competence frameworks and training programmes for disadvantaged learners and digitally excluded
Lifeworld analysis, working with digitally excluded groups to identify their digital needs and the barriers to participation in the digital economy
Development of digital competence framework and pedagogic model
Development of learning platform and tools to run the training programme
Development of training programme, including micro-learning, blogging and online game
Programme piloting with 200 VET educators
Evaluation of programme
Development of sustainability Plan and Transferability Toolkit

FLEXI-COMP combines two overarching methodologies to deliver project objectives and results. Firstly, design thinking’ applies a five stage process to solve the ‘presenting problem’ of dual exclusion in ‘human-centric’ ways, by focusing on what’s most important from the perspective of ‘users’ and by applying ‘out of the box’ and ‘disruptive’ ideas to address the presenting problem. Secondly, ‘Theory of Change’ provides a road map for the project, specifies its key milestones and outputs; what’s needed to achieve these and what changes are expected as a result. Within this overall framework, the project applies a number of methods, including a ‘situational knowledge-based’ model of defining competences; ‘lifeworld analysis’ to capture the needs, lived experience and ‘critical incidents’ faced by people who are digitally left behind; co-design methods to develop the pedagogy for the training programme and a combination of micro-learning, blogging and an interactive game to deliver it.

Expected Results
90% of 200 programme participants successfully complete
70% report high satisfaction
Educators increase their understanding of how digital tools can be applied in teaching practice, and how they can be used to deliver quality and inclusive learning
Educators increase their core and inclusion-specific digital competences

Long term benefits
Disadvantaged learners improve their digital skills and life opportunities
VET institutions improve the quality and inclusiveness of their provision

Project Website

http://flexi-comp.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 288432 Eur

Project Coordinator

ARCOLA RESEARCH LLP & Country: UK

Project Partners

• SPHERICAL PIXEL S.L.
• Smart Bananas soc. coop. a r.l.
• EUROPAISCHER VERBAND BERUFLICHER BILDUNGSTRAGER (EVBB)
• UNIVERSIDAD DE SALAMANCA
• Talentix Enclave de Soluciones, S.L.L.
• HOGSKOLAN I SKOVDE