Developing Adult Educators’ Competences to Promote Learners’ Life Style Entrepreneurship Erasmus Project

Project Title

Developing Adult Educators’ Competences to Promote Learners’ Life Style Entrepreneurship

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 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Inclusion – equity

Project Summary

The project “Developing Adult Educators’ Competences to Promote Learners’ Lifestyle entrepreneurship” (ACE) has aimed to solve two main problems: high unemployment of people, especially from disadvantaged backgrounds, and low participation of adults in life-long learning. The project results contributed to implementation of the flagship initiatives: “An Agenda for New Skills and Jobs” – to increase employment rate by 75%, “European Platform Against Poverty” – to reduce the poverty, social exclusion through the employment, active participation in public life and learning process (to achieve participation of 15 %). These issues have been met by implemented of the two aims:
• To develop the basic and specific adult educators’ competencies working with disadvantaged learners with focus on innovative ways of outreach and delivery of learning activities;
• To provide necessary knowledge and information to adult learners with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds on how to get access to adult learning services and the possibilities for employment on the basis of their lifestyle, abilities and talents.
The objectives were:
1. to strengthen the competencies of adult educators-practitioners supplying them with innovative and attractive training material and ICT tools based on the Lifestyle entrepreneurship (LSE) approach;
2. to enhance the professional development of adult educators by introducing the innovative education methods: blended learning, reversed/flipped training, Open education recourses (OER);
3. to develop OER tailored to the needs of adult educators in order to support digital integration in learning to reach learners from disadvantaged backgrounds;
4. to increase the motivation and reduce disparities in learning outcomes of adult learners with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds using the LSE approach and ICT tools with the long perspective of getting self-employed.
In the project activities two main target groups were directly involved:
• adult educators practitioners (320)
• adult learners from disadvantaged backgrounds (98)
Another target group indirectly involved in the project activities were stakeholders (75).
The Strategic Partnership consisted of six organizations: NGOs, public, private.
During the project lifetime the following activities were implemented: a project e-platform was developed www.ace-erasmusplus.eu as an open educational resource (OER) for adult educators and adult learners; two self-assessment tests – for adult educators and adult learners; 36 digital real-life business stories (12 video and 24 written); three intellectual outputs were developed: IO1 Curriculum for adult educators – practitioners “Promotion Life style Entrepreneurship (LSE) for disadvantaged learners”; IO2 Training material and ICT tools for adult educators-practitioners, IO3 -“Guidelines for adult educators-practitioners “How to offer LSE training for disadvantaged learners using OER”, “Self-study material for learners, template for the “Action plan”.
All project products were translated into 5 national languages, were tested on adult educators and adult learners and improved according to the recommendations provided by each project partner. The dissemination activities involved spread of information about project idea and activities, also multiplier events (E1, E2, E3) for adult educators, learners and stakeholders in each partner country.
The methodology of the project was based on the blended learning approach using the reversed/ flipped training method, ICT tools, OER. The project adapted the good practices from UK to project partner countries on lifestyle businesses as a useful alternative to self-employment around their lifestyle, abilities and talents for adults with fewer opportunities and from disadvantaged backgrounds.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 213976,83 Eur

Project Coordinator

Kauno rajono svietimo centras & Country: LT

Project Partners

• The Women’s Organisation Ltd
• Danmar Computers sp z o.o.
• CENTRE FOR ADVANCEMENT OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY LTD-CARDET
• SDRUDZENIE ZNAM I MOGA
• SOCIALINIU INOVACIJU FONDAS