Open the Door to Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Open the Door to Europe

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 2014

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Labour market issues incl. career guidance / youth unemployment

Project Summary

This project “Open the Door to Europe” matched some of the most important priorities of the Strategical Partnership Projects because it supported the development, transfer and implementation of innovative practices in adult non-formal education; facilitated exchange of knowledge and educational materials as well as enhanced the quality and relevance of the learning offer in adult formal, non-formal and informal education and training; increased awareness about different levels and types of adult education within the European context; promoted network building and collaboration between companies active in the field of adult formal and non-formal education, vocational training, and employment; provided increasing and upgrading of foreign language (FL) skills.
The project sat up and achieved the following objectives:
1. Promote access of the parties involved into adult education – both teachers/trainers and students – to innovative teaching tools and learning materials, in order to improve the quality of adult education and training.
2. Provide teachers and trainers with the necessary tools and methods to improve job relevant communicative, socially situated, FL competence and cultural background knowledge of the target groups: young people, both unemployed in search for a job and University graduates in search for a better job; newly-arrived immigrants in the need of social and labour inclusion; and academic and administrative staff in order to gain a higher position at work.
3. Foster the cooperation between organisations active in the field of adult formal, non-formal and informal education and civil society from different European countries
The above-mentioned objectives were achieved through creation of the OER – e-learning platform containing the following components:
1. Game-based online language courses (CEFR A1-A2) (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Bulgarian, Latvian, Polish, and Turkish) based on job related linguistic materials and social/daily life situations, developed, tested as a blended course, adapted, and embedded in educational programmes of partner organizations.
2. Virtual methodology and teaching tools workshops for teachers.
3. Social portal ”Melting Pot”: e-chat for “language tandems” where foreign language students refined their speaking skills practicing with native speakers.
4. Resource Library for teachers and learners consisting of linguistic, intercultural and job resources section.
The partnership was formed by 7 partner organizations from different sectors of the adult education system which brought about diversity of approaches and experiences: non-formal/informal education providers DomSpain (Spain) and LesCultures (Italy); VET providers Wisamar (Germany) and LatConsul (Latvia); two universities – a private university Collegium Balticum (Poland) and a public University of Uçak (Turkey); and a human resources development and management centre Nikanor (Bulgaria), an expert in labour inclusion. This choice of partners provided a good balance between multi-level formal, non-formal and informal education providers in different European countries united by the idea of improvement of job-relevant FL skills of learners in order to upgrade their professional skills and/or promote their labour inclusion.
The OER stimulated overall interest to innovative teaching practices and contributed to the range of educational services and quality of the educational programmes provided by partner organisations which were able to offer specialized courses in different foreign languages within their local communities. Teachers and learners were able to take any course or use teaching/learning materials from the OER free and at any convenient time, which promoted re-skilling/up-skilling of adult learners and contributed to a reduction in the number of adults with low skills.
At the national level, educators in partner countries got acquainted with innovative teaching tools and learning materials, and, correspondingly, improved the quality of adult education and training. The impact of the project in general was the promotion of different European languages, both more and less used within the European community as well as the promotion of labour and study mobility within the European Union. Besides, it contributed to network building and collaboration between companies active in the field of adult formal, non-formal and informal education, vocational training and employment.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 147789,55 Eur

Project Coordinator

DOMSPAIN CONSULTING SL & Country: ES

Project Partners

• Les Cultures
• Szczecinska Szkola Wyzsza Collegium Balticum
• NIKANOR LTD
• Latconsul SIA
• wisamar Bildungsgesellschaft gemeinnuetzige GmbH
• UNIVERSITY OF USAK