Adult education Courses on Capacity-building for the Employment and Support of Self-advocates Erasmus Project

Project Title

Adult education Courses on Capacity-building for the Employment and Support of Self-advocates

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: Access for disadvantaged; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Disabilities – special needs

Project Summary

The importance of lifelong learning and a constant improvement of personal skills is nowadays a basic requirement in all fields of employment. The rapidly changing world has a tendency of knowledge lapsing swiftly therefore constant learning and adjustment of skills is a must. Computer skills and foreign language skills (usually English) are basic knowledge and basic requirements in many fields of employment. The employment rate of persons with intellectual disabilities is very low, especially on the open labour market with lots of competition from non-disabled people, which naturally leads to poverty and social isolation. People with disabilities are largely excluded from digital society, from opportunities for lifelong learning and from the labour market.

ACCESS project’s coordinator was Hand in Hand Foundation, from Hungary and the idea of the project originated from them. As Hungary is way behind the European mean of adult education programs in general, regarding the quantity as well as the quality of these programs. Besides the strong tradition and relative high standard of special education in the school system, persons with intellectual disabilities have little to no opportunity of improving skills and learning as adults in Hungary. Special education system provides (mandatory) learning until the age of 16, further education can be found only occasionally and mainly focused on vocational training and aims to acquire a specific profession (such as gardening, carpenter, weaving etc.). Important general skills such as computer usage, IT knowledge and the related security and safety issues, foreign language learning are not part of any school system that provides special courses for persons with intellectual disabilities. There are very few opportunities in mainstream adult education where they can practice and improve skills and this disadvantaged group – mostly living from a very low income – cannot afford to attend such courses, even on the rare occasion when they can be found. Although it is well-known that these skills can be effectively trained in adulthood, a sufficient and effective solution to this growing need has not yet been found, mainstream training centres currently lack the special knowledge and methodology in implementation of training materials for persons with intellectual disabilities.

The aim of the ACCESS project was to develop and implement specially designed training programs for persons with intellectual disabilities (and related developmental disabilities), in the fields of basic spoken English, basic IT knowledge and the safe use of the internet in order to consolidate and strengthen the status of these persons on the open labour market. This a huge step forward to the improvement of adult education for persons with disabilities.
Besides the actual training materials (trainers guide, learner handbook) great care was paid to the specific methodology in the training of the teachers in the pilots which recognised the need for flexibility in approach, tailoring materials and levels to the needs of each individual and adjusting the speed and method of learning to suit each learner.

With the project an international cooperation was implemented where the national best practices were shared and used to develop a universal version of the training program. Universal versions were localized by each partner organization, based on the local needs and specialities.

Each main topic (basic spoken English, basic IT and internet safety) contain a trainer’s guide and a learner’s handbook and many additional materials, that support training process. All materials are available under the following link freely after a quick registration: https://kezenfogva.hu/node/1796

The project trained 19 teachers and they trained 104 people with disabilities in Hungary, Slovenia and Sweden. Demand for places rapidly exceeded supply! All the participants found the training very useful and it was noted that participants became more confident and outgoing after the course. Teachers also admitted they learned new skills, especially around IT and developing new materials. The (deliberately) limited scope of the language teaching worked well for most, although for the very upper and lower levels of linguistic ability it had limited usefulness. The IT training was effective, especially when linked with issues of safety on the internet, with the greatest impact coming when IT skills, safety issues and ‘computer English’ were combined. ACCESS has demonstrated that there is a demand for such training from people with disabilities and that using the internet safely is a matter of huge personal significance.

Universal materials are available in English. Localized materials are available in English, Slovenian, Swedish and Hungarian.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 212549 Eur

Project Coordinator

KEZENFOGVA OSSZEFOGAS A FOGYATEKOSOKERT ALAPITVANY & Country: HU

Project Partners

• CENTER ZA USPOSABLJANJE DELO IN VARSTVO DOLFKE BOSTJANCIC DRAGA
• Social Care Training Ltd
• FUB Stockholm