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Regional capacity for Adult Learning and Education

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EARLALL and EAEA host REGALE Pilot Focus Group on Capacity Building in ALE

Written by Charlotte Ede, EARLALL.

On 20 April, the European Association of the Education of Adults (EAEA) and the European Association of Regional and Local Authorities for Lifelong Learning (EARLALL) hosted a focus group on ALE policy among regional and adult education stakeholders in Brussels. 

 

As part of their work in the Erasmus+ REGALE – Regional Capacity for Adult Learning and Education – project, EAEA and EARLALL hosted a focus group of regional, ALE and European policy-maker representatives who are interested in developing the capacity of regions in adult learning and
education. The focus groups come off the back of the publication of REGALE country reports: ‘Adult Learning Policies in Europe: An Insight of Regional and Local Stakeholders’.


The report highlights that while local and territorial networks are the solutions to the lack of overarching adult learning systems, in Europe, public policy pays very little attention to the quality of adult learning provisions. With this in mind, participants were asked to share their input that will help shape the policy roadmap that the project is developing to fill this gap.

Gina Ebner, EAEA Secretary General welcomed the group to the REGALE project, indicating the strong results of the project with excellent cooperation links and fruitful study exchanges that inspired partners. Then Laurin Reding, European Advisor For Education at SwissCore introduced SwissCore as the liaison office for the adult education sector in Brussels, with a strong focus on collaboration on education across European actors. He highlighted the importance of cooperation between SwissCore and Movetia (an EARLALL Associate Member) and SVEB (a board member of EAEA) and welcomed the group to the premises.


After the presentations of the REGALE project, the participants were welcomed to preview the draft policy recommendations on Regional Capacity Building in Adult Education. Participants strongly agreed with some of the recommendations, including the importance of giving new impetus to the existing European programs for Adult Learning. They also indicated areas of improvement to the policy recommendations, such as including Individual Learning Accounts and Micro-Credentials as specific and flexible tools that should be adopted at the local level.


EAEA and EARLALL took note of the discussions and will use the results to feed into fine-tuning the recommendations. These will then contribute to the policy roadmap, outlining specific tools for developing capacity at the local level, across Europe.


You can view the current range of resources on www.regalenetwork.eu including:
– A repository of best practices
– Capacity-building webinars
– The Report and report summaries on the challenges and opportunities of ALE capacity-building in the project partners’ countries.

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"Innovation in Adult Learning and Education in the Region of Baden- Württemberg"

Written by Aslan Liivak, ENAEA

We came from Estonia, Tallinn by combining adult non-formal educational organisations like NGO Meie Kalamaja and NGO Estonian Non-formal Adult Education Association in our delegation and we had a great opportunity to go and learn about the adult education system in Germany for the period of 23 – 25 March 2022. For that purpose, we travelled to Stuttgart. Stuttgart is a beautiful city in southern Germany, located in the state of Baden-Württemberg. It is the sixth-largest city in Germany. Stuttgart is actually mostly known for its automotive industry, as it is the headquarters of both Mercedes-Benz and Porsche. Additionally, Stuttgart is surrounded by picturesque vineyards and hills.

But hiking and wine tasting and visiting museums were not on our list since our attention was on the Stuttgarter Volkshochschule, it is a public institution in Stuttgart, Germany that provides adult education courses, seminars, and workshops. It was founded in 1919 and is one of the largest adult education centers in Germany, offering a wide range of courses in areas such as language learning, cultural studies, arts, health, and technology. The Stuttgarter Volkshochschule aims to provide affordable and accessible education to all adults, regardless of their social or educational background.

Mostly we were interested in the finance of adult education, how is formal and informal adult education combined and also about hybrid teaching in the context of COVID-19.

In this regard, we learned that the Stuttgarter Volkshochschule is primarily financed by public funds from the city of Stuttgart and the state of Baden-
Württemberg. However, it also generates revenue through participant fees, donations, and subsidies from public and private institutions. The exact
breakdown of funding sources may vary from year to year depending on the institution ́s budget and financial needs.

Hybrid teaching, in the context of COVID-19, is a mode of teaching that combines both in-person and online instruction. With the ongoing pandemic, many educational institutions around the world have adopted hybrid teaching models as a way to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission while still providing students with opportunities for face-to-face interaction and hands-on learning experiences. In hybrid teaching, students may attend some classes in person while attending others virtually, either through live video conferencing or pre-recorded lectures. This approach allows for flexibility and can accommodate students who may not be able to attend in-person classes due to health concerns or travel restrictions.

Hybrid teaching also requires teachers to adapt their instructional strategies and materials to suit both in-person and online learning environments. This can include incorporating technology tools and resources, designing activities that can be completed both in person and remotely, and providing support and feedback to students in both settings. It was fascinating to see how all this was incorporated in their teaching style.

We learned that in Stuttgart Volkshochschule and with them overall in Germany, there is a growing recognition of the value of combining formal
and informal adult education in order to provide a more comprehensive and flexible approach to adult learning. While formal education typically takes place in structured settings such as schools, universities, or vocational training centers, informal education refers to learning that takes place
outside of these traditional settings, such as through community organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), or self-directed learning.


One way that formal and informal adult education can be combined is through the development of flexible learning pathways that recognize and
value prior learning and work experience. For example, in Germany, there are a number of vocational training programs that allow participants to earn credit for prior learning and work experience, enabling them to fast-track their education and training.


Another way that formal and informal adult education can be combined is through partnerships between educational institutions and community
organizations. These partnerships can help to bridge the gap between formal and informal learning by providing opportunities for adult learners to access education and training in community-based settings, as well as through online and distance learning programs.

 

Overall, the combination of formal and informal adult education in Germany can help to provide a more holistic and flexible approach to adult learning, one that recognizes the diverse learning needs and backgrounds of adult learners and helps to facilitate their ongoing educational and professional development.


So in conclusion after warm and welcoming stay in Stuttgart we learned a lot about the financing, hybrid teaching and combining formal and informal
adult education model in Germany on the example of Stuttgart Volkshochschule that we can use and already trying to promote and apply in Estonia.

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RegALE at the ESREA Conference on “New seeds for a world to come. Policies, practices and lives in adult education and learning”

Milan, 29th of September 2022 – 2nd of October 2022,

Written by Francesca Torlone, University of Siena

ESREA Conference is a European event that takes place regularly every year and collects a huge number of researchers and professionals in the field of adult learning and education.

RegALE has been presented during one of the parallel sessions of ESREA Conference where participants discussed and were confronted on some specific key topics in this field connected to policies and their effects, forecasting opinions, challenges in a short, medium and long term perspective. The presentation was about RegALE survey’ results on adult learning and education policies and practices and the connected opinions on the actual state of art of implementation and future development. 

Issues like local and regional networking development, adult learning and education professionals and their professional growth, necessity to widen adult learning to widest groups of adults, low skilled included, need to overcome the “siloed” system that is in place in all countries are just an example of the object of the discussion that took place and raised interest and questions in a comparative perspective.

Also discussion on the way opinions collected were analysed and interpreted was at the heart of the presentation by the University of Siena. 

Participants to the parallel session were researchers from different fields of work – adult education, political sciences, sociologists, representatives of local policy makers -, coming from all the European countries. 

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Webinar: Building a Learning City

Objectives

Covid-19 demonstrates the vulnerabilities of living in close proximity to others. This also high-lightened the importance of working together to deal with the crisis, as well as the importance of reflecting and learning in relation to changes to our lives. This assumption begs the question, which city would enhance the lives of all its citizens, including new arrivals. This question is at the center of attempts to bring adult and citizenship education to
address community and social problems through a pedagogy of the city, in this case the City of Larissa. UNESCO provides the framework, resources, and support for the Learning City project. It is planned as an exercise in democracy and citizenship which is the version of lifelong learning proposed by the Municipality of Larissa the local lead agency for this venture.

The webinar will introduce the participants to the concept of Learning Cities, the goals, the cultural and educational obstacles to the development of a Greek Learning City and the example of Larissa-Learning City.

Speakers and facilitators

Alexis Kokkos is Emeritus Professor of Adult Education in the Hellenic Open University. He has actively participated in the establishment of the institution of Popular Education in Greece, as well as in the foundation of the Hellenic Open University. He was the scientific responsible of the national program of Training the Educators of Professional Training. He is Chairperson of the Hellenic Adult Education Association and editor-in-chief of the international journal ADULT EDUCATION Critical Issues. His books and articles on Adult Education and Training, as well as on Transformative Learning, have been published in Jossey-Bass, Palgrave Macmillan, Brill/Sense, Routledge, Nova Science Publishers, Journal of Transformative Education, RELA, Convergence, LifeLong Learning in Europe, International Journal of Education and Ageing, Andragogical Studies, International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education. He is member of the Leadership Circle and co-responsible of the Research Circle of the International Transformative Learning Association (ITLA) and was co-convener of the European Network of ESREA Transformative Processes in Learning and
Education (2013-2021). He has been advisor on issues related to adult education of the Greek Prime Minister (2009-2012) and the General Secretary of Lifelong Learning (2019-). He has been awarded for his Exemplary Service and Leadership within the international transformative learning community.

Dimitris Deligiannis is Vice-Mayor of Municipality of Larissa and Professor/Consultant at the Hellenic Open University. His bachelor studies were on Literature and Law. His MA studies were on Social Planning in Organization and Management in Education. He obtained his PhD at the Hellenic Open University on the field of adult education. For over a decade, he worked as a teacher at secondary education and has published numerous articles in books and science magazines. In 1998 became Education Director of the Center for the Treatment of Addicts – EXODOS and since 2000 organized the Adult Alternative School, the first adult education structure for ex-users in Greece. Coordinator of the first Vocational Training Programs for former users and responsible for organizing a training structure for juveniles in the Kassavete Prison. In September 2019, he was elected as the Chairman of the City Council of Larissa. During the period 2014 – 2019, he was Deputy Mayor for Social Policy and Chairman of the Committee for the “Larissa – Learning City” for which the City of Larissa was awarded the Lifelong Learning Institute (UIL) at UNESCO 2017.

George A. Koulaouzides, studied mathematics and adult education. He teaches theory and practice of adult education at the Hellenic Open University (Assistant Professor) and the Democritus University of Thrace (Visiting Scholar). He has designed the well-known accredited training program for the instructors of the National Centre for Public Administration in Greece and has a vast experience in training of trainers. He is considered as the person who guided the internationalization of the Greek adult education community. His research interests are learning, transformative learning, educational biography and critical reflection. He has written one book on adult education, translated four books on adult education and qualitative research methods, edited journals and several textbooks. His published work counts more than 100 papers in Greek and international journals, edited volumes and conference proceedings. For 15 years he was working as Secretary General (i.e. CAO) for many Municipalities in Northern Greece. He worked extensively in supporting the Municipality of Thermi in becoming a member of the UNESCO Global Learning Cities Network, and he also supported as an external advisor the on-going application of the Municipality of Corinth. In 2019 he was the first Greek who was inducted in the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame as a distinguished adult education practitioner. He is a member of the executive board of the European Association for the Education of Adults (2019-2021), and a member of the Board of Directors of the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame (2020 – 2023).

Agenda

Format and registration

The webinar will take place on Zoom.

To participate in the webinar, please complete the registration form.

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WEBINAR: Voucher-based adult education scheme

Objectives

For years, a labour market has indicated a lack of qualified employers, but also the fact that skills that workers possess are not in line with the current needs of the economy. Also, due to the lack of required competencies, unemployed people cannot meet the expectations of today’s job market. Taking into account all these indicators and in order to encourage additional training and adoption of new skills among adults, Croatian Ministry of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy in cooperation with the Ministry of Science and Education has launched a system of vouchers for adult education in April 2022. Croatian Employment Service Department is conducting the voucher-based adult education scheme together with the Ministry.

 

The webinar will introduce participants to the voucher-based adult education scheme in which it is planned to include 4,000 people over the age of 15 this year, and in total 30,000 people by 2026, who will acquire green and digital partial or micro-qualifications.

Speakers and facilitators

Kristina Mazalin, mag. psych., is a Senior Expert Adviser in Career Guidance and Education Department within the Central Office of Croatian Employment Service (HZZ), Department for Career Guidance and Education.

Her work focuses on helping to develop and implement vocational guidance and career counselling strategies, as well as education/training measures of active labour market policy, alongside newly established voucher-based adult education project. The scope of work itself involves projects and programmes at European and national level, coordination and cooperation within the  service, advisers in regional and local offices and relevant stakeholders.

Agenda

Format and registration

The webinar will take place on Zoom.

 

To participate in the webinar, please complete the registration form.

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TRAINING: Debating the learning success stories of cities and regions

Objectives

The objective of this Peer learning activity is to familiarise the participants with the methodology and the approaches that were followed by two Greek Cities (Larissa and Thermi) that are active members of the Global Network of Learning Cities. Larissa followed a strategy aiming to foster participation of the general population (community learning) while Thermi focused in developing an innovative framework of operation (sociocracy) to foster young adults’; participation in the social and political life of their respective communities.

Practical information

Organiser: Hellenic Adult Education Association, Greece

Contact person: Katerina Palaiologou, EU Project Manager, k.palaiologou@adulteduc.gr

Dates: 28 – 29 September 2022

Language: English

Venue: Thessaloniki, Greece

Registration

If you would like to participate, please register here. 

Please make sure that your place at the training has been confirmed by email by HAEA before you book your travel and accommodation.

 

This activity is limited to 25 people, and those who have already provided their application to the shared RegALE form will be prioritised.

Agenda

Study Visit_Agenda – please click here

Travel information

For more information, please click here.

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