Tackling Educational deficits through Arts and Crafts based Enterprise Learning Erasmus Project

Project Title

Tackling Educational deficits through Arts and Crafts based Enterprise Learning

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 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Access for disadvantaged; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

The TEACH KA2 Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership was a collaboration of 4 European Countries (UK- Leader, France, Romania and Turkey) who sought to work together to develop and test a series of intellectual outputs and materials that are now being used engage and support disadvantaged learners through the use of traditional arts, crafts and enterprise.

TEACH, a partnership of Adult Education, VET,and Employer bodies, worked together to develop innovative education training methodologies and outputs that supported disadvantaged groups to reconnect with learning, training and in the process developed skills whilst having fun. In doing so were were able to address the barriers to learning and labour the market

TEACH focused on the following objectives:
1) To train educators from across educational sectors (teachers, VET trainers, adult educators)
2) Develop new and innovative training methodologies and training resources around Arts, Crafts and Enterprise that can better meet the needs of our disadvantaged learners
3) Provide an in depth analysis of how the use of arts and crafts linked to enterprise can help the re-integration of disadvantage groups

Through our work we have seen the use of arts and crafts as effective engager to learning and our project has examined/ tested the following themes:
* Lack of learner engagement with traditional learning methods
* Engagement and Empowerment of hard to reach learners
* Use of Arts and Crafts to motivate learning whilst retaining national traditions
* Progression of learning routes for learners
* Use of non formal education around arts and crafts and entrepreneurship
* Use of social enterprises around traditional arts and crafts

By working on these themes we:
1) Shared knowledge with our partners through practical and focused arts and crafts based workshops and training activities (Engaging and training learners/trainers in many different art and craft forms)
2) Developed intellectual outputs and materials, that demonstrates the use of Arts and Crafts as an ‘engager’ to education, with pedagogical materials, trainer guidance, lesson plans
3) Produced a comparative analysis of key art and craft forms and their value in supporting different forms of learning (School, VET, AE and work based skills development) linked to enterprise.
4) Involve learners and trainers in producing our project materials and outputs.

TEACH was needed for a number of reasons that are still common across our partner countries and more broadly across the EU, they include the high levels of unemployment particularly amongst people with little or no formal education and those facing significant deprivation and disadvantaged.

TEACH sought to train educators and develop resources to better engage, empower and work with disadvantaged groups to develop their employability skills and then to help them develop enterprises where they can sell their goods at decent prices to earn a living or have the confidence to re-enter formal education or work.

We sought to address:
* The engagement disadvantaged groups helping them to re-enter education through the use of arts / crafts and Enterprise based learning
* Empowering people with low skills to improve their confidence and develop their employability, helping them to find and sustain work or learning opportunities
* Creating learning, teaching methodologies and a series of outputs around arts and crafts/enterprise
* To train cross field educators on arts and craft techniques as well as using and developing social firms and enterprises to support learning this will involve developing solutions for a spectrum learners and trainers
* Sharing best practice on education training techniques on the use of arts, crafts and enterprise based learning across our partnership

TEACH has been great in bringing educators from across the EU to learn and develop new skills that they have been able to test with their clients, it has helped them to implement organisational step changes when working with marginalised groups. For instance our Romania partner has been able to engage young adults with low skills, helping them to develop their basic skills through crafts based workshops and in doing so have been able to set up social enterprises around Christmas markets.

Our project has been able to train trainers though our training activities, build trainer confidence, explore new teaching methods and develop organisational capacity and resources, We have also demonstrated our project successes through local conferences and other dissemination activities. These activities have informed our wider network of partners and stakeholders who have been able to explore our projects work and sought to develop mechanism to support disadvantaged learners, for instance Birmingham City Council used elements of our projects learning to test family learning activities and Wolverhampton Adult Education Service has sought to increase their creative adult education provision.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 199892 Eur

Project Coordinator

Praxis Europe CIC & Country: UK

Project Partners

• GECKO PROGRAMMES LIMITED
• Chambre de Métiers et de l’Artisanat du Rhône
• Fundatia Inima de Copil
• Etkin Egitim Org. Gemi Isletmeciligi ve Turizm Ltd.Sti