Acquisition of Key Competences for Economic and Social Sustainability Erasmus Project

Project Title

Acquisition of Key Competences for Economic and Social Sustainability

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 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Gender equality / equal opportunities; Inclusion – equity; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

Digital Skills drammmatically change the way of life and work of Europeans. At the same time they bring a number of challenges: according to the European Commission, more than 70 million Europeans suffer from low level of digital skills, and this makes them exposed to a bigger risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion (New Skills Agenda, 2016). Digital skills are not only about using the ICT, but also about applying competences as described in document Digital Competence Framework 2.1 (updated in 2019) in the following 5 areas:
1) Information and data literacy
2) Communication and collaboration
3) Digital content creation
4) Safety
5) Problem solving

More than 40% of Europeans have insufficient or no Digital Skills, and out of those, 42% are unemployed.
As also the case of Slovakia confirms, in the area of digital skills also the gender issue is present: the OECD International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC), which is a survey of adult skills, reports that Slovakia scores very well in Literacy and Numeracy, but poorly in Problem Solving in Technology-Rich Environment (the combination of ICT literacy and cognitive skills of problem solving). There is also a disproportion between the levels of men and women, to the disadvantage of women. This is the basis for project AXESS – to increase the level of digital skills of low-skilled women, through deploying the educational resources accessible through an open and free platform of the OER type (Open Educational Resources). The long-term goal is to enhance employability (through developed sense of initiative and entrepreneurship and more proactive social and civic engagement). This is why the phrase “digital skills” throughout the project encompasses also the civic and social competences as well as the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. All of these competences are found among the 8 key competences of lifelong learning as adopted by the Council of the EU in its Recommendation.

AXESS brought together 8 partners from 7 countries. Each represents a different approach to education of people with low skills, gender equality, ICT and digital skills. The primary target group are low-skilled women. The target groups participated in the mapping of situation/analysisi of education needs and in the phase of piloting and testing of the designed courses.

The partners implemented the following activities:
A) Development of OER platform AXESS – free and open access to project results and educational resources
B) Mapping of situation in digital skills and educational needs
C) Design of relevant, practical and easy to be used educational materials for face-to-face and online study
D) Pilot testing of courses with a group of more than 300 participating low-skilled women (the fplan was 150)
AXESS’s methodological approach hinges on sound knowledge base and practical experience. AXESS has adopted the methodology of:
analysis ==> development ==> test and validation ==> full scale OER deployment ==> exploitation.

Project AXESS has achieved the following tangible outputs:
Educational materials divided into 10 training modules, that cover digital competences according to the Digital Competence Framework DigComp 2.0 as well as related competences such as sense of initiative and entrepreneurship, civic and social competences. The modules are divided into 4 areas – 1. Problem Solving, 2. Digital Skills, 3. Sense of Initiative, 4. Civic and Social Competences in Digital Age. All education materials are available in 7 languages to be able to spread among wide public.

AXESS has got a positive and immediate impact on all participating organisations, target groups, adult education ecosystem as well as the level of digital skills of low-skilled women:
a) The portfolio of training offer of individual partners has grown
b) Low-skilled women can access relevant, practical training materials that are easy to find, work with and apply
c) Education providers (outside of project partnership) have got access to relevant, practical and multilingual educational resources that can be used and accommodated according to their needs
The project partners commit to maintain and develop the AXESS OER platform at least for another 2+1 years after the end of ERASMUS+ financing. The partners disseminate the use of platform among othe key player, adult education providers and digital education experts to make is sustainable. The involvement of low-skilled women, mostly of female NGOs, and private sector also strengthens the sustainability of AXESS.

All the project outputs are accessible via www.axesslearning.eu

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 221956 Eur

Project Coordinator

ACADEMIA ISTROPOLITANA NOVA & Country: SK

Project Partners

• IDP SAS DI GIANCARLO COSTANTINO (ITALIAN DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS)
• Kleinon SRL
• ZDRUZENIE INSTITUT ZA RAZVOJ NA ZAEDNICATA
• Únia materských centier
• EEO GROUP SA
• INSTITUT DE HAUTE FORMATION AUX POLITIQUES COMMUNAUTAIRES
• INTERNET WEB SOLUTIONS SL