Improving teaching methods in Emotional Intelligence and Gender Equality Training for adult educators through digital solutions Erasmus Project

Project Title

Improving teaching methods in Emotional Intelligence and Gender Equality Training for adult educators through digital solutions

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 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; Gender equality / equal opportunities

Project Summary

There are large persistent gender gaps between women and men in Europe. On average, the gender employment gap in the EU is 11.6%. And 32.1% of women working part-time are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, in contrast to 8.9% of men (EC,2019). Higher gender equality would lead to up to 10.5 million additional jobs in 2050 due to improvements in gender equality (European Institute for Gender Equality.2019) and gender equality in education has spill over effects also in other domains, such as employment

Mainstreaming gender equality in education and training policy remains crucial in countries where equal access to education is taken as a given, which is the case in the majority of EU Member States. Challenging gender prejudices and stereotypes throughout the education cycle can reduce gender imbalances in other spheres of life. Therefore, it is essential that gender based stereotypes are deconstructed and challenged in all the areas of education and training.

To this purpose, WE MEN project gathers six entities from UK, Ireland, Spain, Estonia, Greece and Lithuania, experts in Adult Education and Gender Equality Training. They have worked together in collaboration with national and European stakeholders, identifying the following KEY AREAS OF INTERVENTION to strengthen the role of Adult Education to address gender inequality.

1. Men should take part in the gender training area more actively than at present, as we cannot address gender inequality without also addressing men.
2. Male gender trainers have a strategic role to transform attitudes of other men resistant to gender issue.
3. Gender trainings should focus not only on analytical and conceptual skills but on personal context and transformative approach.
4. The use of gender lenses to deconstruct gender stereotypes learned norms should be included in the field of adult education as a way of promoting (social) subjectivity of contemporary adult learners.
5. There is growing evidence that EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE (EI) contribute towards increasing the performance not only of learners but also of teachers. Using training programmes in EI as a path to address also GENDER EQUITY TRAINING (GET) could have multiple benefits, contributing to: (i) break male resistance to gender training; (ii) improve motivation, learning engagement and results; (iii) upskill both adult teachers and adult learners in a soft skill, the EI, increasingly required by a large majority of jobs.
6. New approaches to GET should take full advantage of innovative teaching methods based on digital solutions. Blended learning, that uses apps, games or measurable programs to teach concepts, can promote deeper learning, reduce stress, and increase student satisfaction. Teachers can become also more engaged with their students.

The AIM of WE MEN project is to address the above identified needs and challenges improving teaching methods in EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE and GENDER EQUALITY TRAINING for adult educators through digital solutions.

To achieve these goals, the project will carry out the following intellectual ACTIVITIES and OUTPUTS:
– Design, test and implement innovative approaches and teaching methods in GET by using training in EI as a vehicle to engage, both male and female, adult educators and adult learners in training programmes addressing gender equality.
– ECVET Educational Program on EI and GET (IO1), focus on personal context and transformative approach.
– Online Open B-Learning Platform (IO2) with high-quality digital tools to upskill adult educators on EI and GET.
– Methodological Framework for the implementation of Adult Education training programmes in EI and GET (IO3).

WE MEN will involve 89 adult educators, target users of the project (28 from partners’ staff /36 experts involved / 25 participants in pilots). The project will also directly involve and benefit 125 adult learners, project beneficiaries that will participate in the pilots. 500 stakeholders will be directly involved at local, regional, national and European level and the project will reach a minimum audience of 1000 recipients through the dissemination activities.

The project will have a positive impact in: (i) partners and other adult education organizations in Europe, developing innovative approaches and teaching methods in GET by using training in Emotional Intelligence; (ii) adult educators, improving their competences in Emotional Intelligence and GET, (iii) adult learners, accessing to training programmes addressing gender equality; (iv) stakeholders, accessing to innovative solutions to implement Adult Education training programmes in EI and GET.

The project will apply EU frameworks and instruments (ECVET, EQAVET, Europass and EPALE) to promote and boost transparency, recognition, transnational mobility and transferability to other Adult Educators and intermediary bodies in Europe, with the active support and cooperation of a network of key associated partners and relevant stakeholders.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 286576 Eur

Project Coordinator

Aspire Education Group Ltd & Country: UK

Project Partners

• OÜ Vestifex
• IASIS
• INSTITUTO PARA EL FOMENTO DEL DESARROLLO Y LA FORMACION SL
• Asociación La Bien Pagá Espacio Escénico
• VsI Skudutiskio akademija
• INNOQUALITY SYSTEMS LIMITED