Soft Skills Training and Recruitment of Adult Educators Erasmus Project

Project Title

Soft Skills Training and Recruitment of Adult Educators

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 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Recognition (non-formal and informal learning/credits); Open and distance learning

Project Summary

Context & background
Soft skills are closely connected with employability and it is also seen that EU countries have different methodologies and approaches to assessment (Cinque, 2016) of soft skills competences and furthermore in the train of teachers. Skills development is one of the four main areas of the European Union. The labor market is constantly evolving and therefore competences and qualifications that educators need change over time. These interpersonal skills are seen as a one of the key competencies in EU policy. The Cedefop (2014) defines competence as the ability to apply learning outcomes adequately in education, work, personal or professional development; these outcomes include knowledge; skills; and personal, social, and/or methodological abilities. European Commission has published new recommendations (2018) for Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, which was adopted in 2006. An agile competence development is seen as a key factor when developing European education. Competence needs are not static; they change throughout life and across eras.
Easily accessible learning outcomes promote adult educators development, indirectly students in adult education benefit from the results.

Objectives, activities & results
The objectives of the project were: a) to recognize needs of soft skills competencies through 2 Delphi rounds, b) to identify and describe 15 key soft skills competencies , c) to develop a self-reflective online test, and d) to co-create an open badge-driven learning process to improve missing soft skills.
The project team consisted of six European partners from five countries; Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK) Finland, Formacion Para El Desarrollo E Insercion, Sociedad Limitada (Defoin) Spain, Universidad De Cordoba (UCO) Spain, Fondazione Hallgarten-Franchetti Centro Studi Villa Montesca (FVM) Italy, Orange Hill Sp. Z o.o. (OH) Poland and Centrul Pentru Promovarea Invatarii Permanente Timisoara Asociatia (CPIP) Romania.
The common definition for soft skills was reached by the first survey (398 responses) and the second survey (216 responses) by which the most important soft skills for adult educators and HR people in their daily work were identified. In total 15 key soft skills were identified. Translations of the badge names and descriptions into national languages were conducted. The landing page (online) was created and badge icons were composed. The landing page was updated by self-directed learning materials (such as new created podcasts, learning materials, videos) in partners’ languages (Finnish, Polish, Romanian, Italian, Spanish) and in English. The links for the badge application with detailed competence criteria as well as instructions for skills demonstration was shared via the landing page. The self-reflective online test was created and implemented in the landing page. The purpose of the online test was to assess persons’ skills related to chosen soft skills (15). In all, 274 badges were issued to the participants in all languages (Finnish 48, Polish 30, Romanian 27, Spanish 40, Italian 28, and English 101). The project team arranged three short-term staff learning, teaching and training activities during the project, twelve multiplier events and was able to achieve all set objectives.

Participants, impacts & sustainability
SOSTRA project succeeded in supporting adult educators, training companies, school-based training centers, training consultants and HRs teachers in achieving a better understanding of the soft skills competencies, as well as adapting learning process more transparently and consistently into practice, seeking an innovative way to intertwine digital and competence-based education into soft skills development in the field of European adult education and to further model competence-based adult education approaches in open digital badge-driven learning approaches.
During the project, approximately 38 000 people were reached through dissemination activities.
The feedback gathered from piloting the open badge-driven learning process suggested that the learning and teaching situations were conducted well, the process was straightforward and all participants used soft skills daily, finding them to be important skills for educators. The Participants found the project innovative, appreciated the involvement of many countries and that it could be linked to EQF levels. There were some concerns regarding the official recognition of the badges and the evaluation process.
The partners found the project results useful for their own self development and will use this type of learning process in the future. Sostra has inspired several new European projects to include digital badges or soft skills development.
All materials including self-reflection tests and 15 podcasts in six languages produced during the project are available on Sostra.eu webpage.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 223754,74 Eur

Project Coordinator

HAMEEN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU OY & Country: FI

Project Partners

• ORANGE HILL Sp. z o.o.
• UNIVERSIDAD DE CORDOBA
• FONDAZIONE HALLGARTEN-FRANCHETTI CENTRO STUDI VILLA MONTESCA
• CENTRUL PENTRU PROMOVAREA INVATARII PERMANENTE TIMISOARA ASOCIATIA
• FORMACION PARA EL DESARROLLO E INSERCION, SOCIEDAD LIMITADA