Developing of Adult Educaton in Cities and Regions – a Central Europian Perspective Erasmus Project

Project Title

Developing of Adult Educaton in Cities and Regions – a Central Europian Perspective

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 : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Inclusion – equity; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

Every human has the Right to get access to education. In order to make education as effective as possible, it is a basic requirement that people are taught in their mother tongue. Unlike people without hearing impairment, for whom there is a wide range of education, there are no options for deaf people to continue their education outside or additional to their job-related professional qualifications. Even in order to complete an apprenticeship, they are forced to consult a paid interpreter. In some cases, these are not even funded by the state, which is why Deaf people have to bear these high costs themselves in order to achieve education. Exept for schools for the Deaf, there are no institutions in Europe that offer people with Deafness a chance at adult education. The project “Developing Adult Education in cities and regions ” aims to develop an educational concept for deaf adults that is sustainable within the cooperative central european institutions and in the future in an even broader way.

In terms of their educational status, The Deaf community is very heterogeneous. In addition to extremely few deaf academics, the majority of the Deaf community is excluded from the educational landscape. There are many deaf illiterates and such deaf people who, after school education, have learned a simple applied profession and have not gained access to further education and and adult education. Due to the increasingly fast-paced world and the increasing digitalization, competencies in the handling of information are becoming more And more relevant. Deaf people lack basic knowledge in important fields such as History, Politics, Geography and many others.

In everyday life, hearing people are constantly surrounded by radio, television and other forms of media that inform about news and current events. In Germany and many other european countries, however, there are enormous language barriers in the public media and access to Breaking News and general worldly knowledge is often not accessible for deaf People. They therefore do not understand the coherence between the informations, the handling of public media and the independent gathering of information remains strange and largely inaccessible. In order to improve this situation and promote educational commitment among the Deaf, they need good guidance from other Deaf people who act as teachers and devise pedagogical teaching for them.

Within two years, the partnership associations will organise lessons for deaf members of their associations. Those who make their mark through a special commitment and learning potential during their participation in international learning events will be supported financially. Through the experience gained while participating in the international learning events, the beneficiaries can learn more from european values, cultures, history and politics.

At the moment, there are only a few Deaf people within Germany who have completed a Teaching Degree. For this reason, voluntary, committed deaf people, who are aware of this problem and who want to make an improvement on this issue, are being employed to carry out the learning activities. Their work will increase civic commitment and volunteering within the deaf community. Seminars will be created for international project partners, in which they will interact with each other during learning events. However, it is not out of the question, that hearing experts might be invited for certain learning events on a special topic. In this case, sign language interpreters will be neccessary.

The project holds an innovative approach that helps to achieve a far-reaching improvement in the standard of living for Deaf people in the field of adult education throughout Europe. The project aims to ensure the social participation of Deaf people and their inclusion. The educational concept, that ist being developed in the project will promote the movement of the Deaf getting full access to the boader society. This can only be achieved by ensuring high quality education.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 108661 Eur

Project Coordinator

Netzwerk der Gehörlosen-Stadtverbände e.V. & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Krajske centrum nepocujucich ANEPS Zilina
• Gehörlosenverein Ingolstadt und Umgebung mit Sportabteilung e.V.
• Doof & Jong Vlaanderen vzw
• Österreichischer Gehörlosenbund