Post-YU for Learning Emancipation – Supporting learners on the way to self-realization Erasmus Project

Project Title

Post-YU for Learning Emancipation – Supporting learners on the way to self-realization

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: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Reaching the policy level/dialogue with decision makers; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

The Post-YU for Learning Emancipation (PYLE) was a strategic partnership project in the field of adult education primarily aimed for developing new, innovative and complementary tools and models for empowering learners in the region and fostering autonomous employability among youth in early adulthood. We built cooperation between three partner organizations, Zavod Bob from Slovenia, Volonterski centar Istra from Croatia and CYA Krik from Macedonia. The project went on for 27 months – from September 2017 till November 2019.
Our starting point was high unemployment and non-permanent employment rates of youth in early adulthood (18 to 29 years) in countries of partner organization. Among youth in early adulthood there are many who come to position when they are being left out and remain long-term unemployed. In this group we find unemployed due to low-skillness, the imbalance between the possibilities on the job market and type of education and as well so called NEETs. After reviewing educational opportunities for these target groups as the ones that need supportive and stimulating learning environment and mentoring support we find that there are few or no suitable programs for them. In this regard we aimed to improve opportunities for their involvement and access to education.
In a strategic partnership in the field of youth we created a non-formal educational program PDCAE (http://www.zavod-bob.si/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/PDCAE_IntellectualOutput.pdf) intended to support participants in developing and implementing project ideas that have a potential for participants’ autonomous employments. The pedagogical and methodological basis of the program provides participants with developing basic skills, transversal, soft skills, entrepreneurial skills. Due to specifics and vulnerability of the target group of PDCAE, mentioned above, mentor support in the program is essential. In this regard the target group of this strategic partnership are professionals, adult educators who work with young people in early adulthood: youth workers, social pedagogues, andragogues and pedagogues, psychologists, social workers and others, interested in training for working with unemployed youth. For taking part in this project we animated the unemployed graduates of humanistic studies to get involved and join the training and/or other project activities in all stages of the project.
With the activities in PYLE we were focusing on two main points:
– Creating and publishing intellectual outputs
We tested and evaluated the training for PDCAE mentors with 27 participants. Based on the findings from the implementation we created an Informal Curriculum for PDCAE Mentor Training that is as well transferable to other trainings for working with the unemployed youth in early adulthood. Within the National Recommendations on Implementing PDCAE Mentor Training we published the evaluation findings from the pilot implementations of the training – based on those the evaluators wrote the recommendation for further implementations of the training. The partnership aimed to introduce concepts of emancipatory and transformative learning that are not appreciated in socio-cultural environments of partner organizations even though good practice and research from around the world have shown good impacts on many levels. Thus we as well created and published Pedagogical Outlines for Emancipated Learning to foster reflection on contemporary approaches to learning, especially in adult education, and beyond.
– Establishing conditions for implementing the PDCAE program and mentor training in countries/regions of partner organizations
All partner organizations were presenting project results to policy makers with the aim to raise awareness among them and to explore possibilities for providing facilities and funds. In Slovenia we are currently in the process for public justification of the PDCAE program in cooperation with Youth Network MaMa and Education Development and Quality Office of the Ministry of Education, in Macedonia they are negotiating with the Employment Office to implement the program within the Youth Guarantee.
We maintained and moderated a Knowledge Exchange Base (KEB), a web platform on pyle.si, that served as a board for pinning various topic clouds: project news, emancipatory and transformative learning practices, youth employability, good practice stories, legislation and research, knowledge exchange etc.. Interested public can use KEB as a meeting point of materials/documents concerning adult formal and non-formal education, youth work, examples of good practices and PYLE project news. It also served the project for publishing intellectual outputs.
Throughout the project we met on five Transnational Project meetings hosted by all project partners and organized four Multiplying Events: 24th of September 2019 in Skopje, Macedonia, 22nd of October 2019 in Ljubljana, Slovenia and 31st of October and 27th of November in Pula, Croatia.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 111200 Eur

Project Coordinator

BOB, ZAVOD ZA IZOBRAZEVANJE IN KULTURNE DEJAVNOSTI & Country: SI

Project Partners

• VOLONTERSKI CENTAR ISTRA
• CENTAR ZA MLADINSKI AKTIVIZAM CMA KRIK