Participatory Model to Designing Learning Outcomes Erasmus Project

Project Title

Participatory Model to Designing Learning Outcomes

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Access for disadvantaged; Pedagogy and didactics; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education

Project Summary

Europe is becoming a learning society and citizens are required to constantly update their competences, not only with regard to the world of work but in an encompassing approach to participate in contemporary societies. Moreover, European societies face a rapid differentiation of educational pathways, opportunities and biographies. This increase in complexity from learners requires great effort into initiative taking, creativity, problem solving, risk assessment and decision taking, all of which requires learners to become stakeholders of their own learning process. It however has been demonstrated, that learner groups with a disadvantaged background or those remote from learning have great difficulties to take ownership of their learning, without being empowered.

However, although a great deal of rhetoric about learner empowerment, adult education practice too often remains caught in traditional instruction methods, fixed curricula and pre-defined learning outcomes. It’s in particular low achievers who suffer from this situation, because in the formal education system they often have made the experience that major parameters of their learning is out of their control, and thus never had the chance to develop a sense of ownership for their own learning.

The PARTICIPATE partnership starts from the assumption that the impact on disadvantaged target groups can be greatly increased if education providers manage to adopt participatory approaches and methods, and this way support their learners to develop a sense of ownership of their learning and to become lifelong learners. The overall objective of the PARTICIPATE project is to promote participatory methods in adult education and, more specifically it will build a model for participatory design of learning outcomes.

The PARTICIPATE project will identify and examine good practice in the field and, from them derive a generic model for the design of participatory evaluation and assessment of learning outcomes, whereby the adult learner is included in this process of setting their own outcomes and indicators. Instead of being initially presented with a final set of specific learning outcomes within an already agreed assessment framework, the learners are offered the opportunity to participate in determining how their course will be measured and evaluated. Complementary PARTICIPATE will promote participatory design of learning assessment, and support educators and practitioners on its implementation.

The major target groups addressed in the framework of the PARTICIPATE project are migrants and refugees (Germany, Greece, Spain), traveller communities (Ireland) and Roma minorities (Romania) and adult education practitioners engaged with those target groups.

A main result of the project will be the PARTICIPATE design model, which will reflect a) the elements and processes making a participatory approach, b) principles and guidelines for the participatory design of learning outcomes, c) recommendations on how the model can be integrated with existing adult education practice, as well as d) identification of capacities needed to effectively implement participatory design methods.

The project will build a European community of practice, which shall help us a) to incubate the PARTICIPATE model in a collaborative setting and actively engage practitioners in the development process, b) to leverage the impact of the project through promotion and multiplying of project results, c) to continuously improve our work through critical debate with lifelong learning practitioners from outside the partnership, d) to identify and guide practitioners and organisations who would be interested in the application of our project results, and most importantly of all e) to ensure the sustainability of results.

The partnership in all partner countries will organise focus groups, including adult learners from the different target groups. The purpose of the focus groups is to understand the perspective and needs of the target groups and involve them as stakeholders in the project design and implementation phase.

The partnership in the course project will conduct 2 workshops, which will take place in Greece and Spain. The two workshops are described in detail, in Learning, Teaching, Training Activities.

Last but not least the project will produce promotional materials and, promote the project and its results through a broad range of channels.

The project is expected to have a significant impact on practices and attitudes of educational staff and practitioners. The participants in the course of the project will learn how to to include participatory approaches in course programmes for adults, and how to actively engage adult learners in the evaluation and assessment of learning outcomes. Moreover it is expected that the introduction of participatory methods positively affects the motivation of the target groups and, strengthens their sense of ownership for their learning.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 69685 Eur

Project Coordinator

LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Nexus Europe Ireland Ltd
• P & W PROJECT GMBH
• CENTRUL NATIONAL DE POLITICI SI EVALUARE IN EDUCATIE
• Pontydysgu SL
• AINTEK SYMVOULOI EPICHEIRISEON EFARMOGES YPSILIS TECHNOLOGIAS EKPAIDEFSI ANONYMI ETAIREIA