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.

Building competences of adult educators has gained a lot of attention in the last years, due to the massive increase of adult education across Europe. Adult education is tackling Europe's most pressing challenges, such as the inclusion of migrants and refugees, automation and digitalisation, the inclusion of socially isolated persons (EAEA, 2018). In a fast-changing world, where digital technologies are becoming an important driver for the disruption of education, the need for capacity building of adult educators in digital skills become apparent.The relevance and the quality of the training offer for adult learners is a concern in many EU Member States, especially in Southern and Eastern Europe. The massive increase of online courses of different forms has made it hard for the potential learners to select the most appropriate course that will support them develop the competences they need and progress in their learning paths.In this context, SkillsMatch comes to support adult educators develop digital skills and support course providers to develop new e-learning courses covering the demand for skills. The specific objectives of the project are: • To increase the demand for e-learning courses, certificates and qualifications in the field of digital skills for adult educators• To improve the relevance and quality of e-learning courses on digital skills• To develop a matching tool for selecting the most appropriate e-learning course, based on identified competence gaps• To provide feedback on course providers on competence gaps and learning needs of adult educators.• To provide e-learning providers with a guide on how to understand the market demands and develop more targeted courses • To provide adult educators with short e learning modules regarding soft skills SkillsMatch addresses two main target groups:• Adult educators looking to increase their digital competences and skills with e-learning courses.• Designers of e-learning courses for Adult educatorsThe project will produce three core intellectual outputs that are:O1: Online/mobile matching tool. The online/mobile matching tool will match the identified digital competences gaps with the e-learning offer. It will be based on a smart search engine that will search over the internet, offered courses and will analyse information or metadata from the websites.O2 : Guide for course providers The guide will help the e-learning course providers to understand the specific needs of the target group and to develop courses more adherent to the needs of the adult educators. O3: Learning Nuggets, micro e-learning units regarding the soft skills identified by the European Framework for Digital Competencies of Adult Educators (DigiComEdu). The short modules will help adult learners to understand and to develop the soft skills addressed by the courses. These outputs will be accompanied by 6 Multiplier events at the end of the project, as well as awareness raising events during the project lifetime.The project activities and output will result in:1) Awareness raising on the importance of digital skills development. Through events that will be organised by project partners, as well as with the dissemination strategy that will be followed, adult educators will be engaged and informed about the different levels of digital competences, according to the DigCompEdu, and how they can progress from one level to another, will be introduced to multiple courses offered in different languages and from providers all over the world, which will help them discover cultural and cross-country differences in offered courses. 2) Increase in the demand for e-learning courses that address adult educators. By identifying their digital competence gaps, adult educators will want to find an e-learning course that best fits their learning needs and awards the required qualifications and certificates. 3) Professional development of adult educators. The matching of learning needs, digital competences gaps and courses provided, will contribute to the professional development of adult educators and the enhancement of Life Long Learning. Through the experimentation phase of the project, a total of 90 adult educators will have the opportunity to test the results of the project, before the final launch of the online/mobile application. These adult educators will be prompt to follow one of the e-learning courses proposed by the matching tool. 4) Improvement of relevance and quality of e-learning courses provided. By linking the results of the self-assessment tools that will be filled online by adult educators, e-course providers will have access to statistical data regarding digital skills gaps, grouped by country. This will lead to the improvement of quality and relevance of courses offered since course providers will have the opportunity to adjust their courses according to actual needs.

"<< Background >>The Club of Rome pointed already in 1972 pointed out that an economic concept based on constant growth cannot work because resources are limited. Nonetheless, these so-called planetary boundaries are still being exceeded by far, especially in the industrialized countries. Among other things, the threatening consequences of climate change make clear that a quick change of direction is becoming more and more urgent. Last but not least, the corona pandemic shows how vulnerable our entire economic and social system is and that more resilient structures are urgently needed in order to avoid further disasters.Sustainable development is only possible if people understand systemic relations, i.e. understand the consequences of the actions of everyone and each individual and how one can help shape the future society. ESD (Education for Sustainable Development) is intended to enable learners to take responsibility for shaping a socially, ecologically and economically sustainable future.On May 16, 2021, Federal Education Minister Karliczek demanded that further training and adult education in the future must play a greater role in educating people about climate-awareness and sustainable behavior. The so far low contribution to ESD is attributed to various reasons, e.g. the demand orientation and heterogeneity of the adult education sector.However, we see a further cause in the fact that there is no really applicable competence concept for ESD in adult education. In adult education, competency concepts imported from the school sector often turn out to be cumbersome, since competencies in school contexts are mainly related to methodological and technical contexts. In connection with the goal of sustainable development, however, the evolution strategies of competencies, i.e. the goal of finding the best possible solution to a problem in terms of sustainable development, are much more relevant.Seen in this way, sustainable action can be understood a development task that every person has to master. The aim of the 5P-Competences project is to develop a competence framework based on analyses of the above-mentioned development tasks, which is specifically tailored to the life situation of adults. The competency framework to be created should form a basis for formal and informal learning. Therefore, the competencies and competence categories are formulated under the aspect of their teachability.The next step is to create a digital competence framework that is to be used in virtual learning environments. In a fourth step, a further training program for full-time and voluntary adult educators is being developed and tested, in which the theoretical basics, elements and practical application possibilities within the framework of ESD are conveyed.Finally, the partnership develops a European network and community of practice in which educational practitioners and those responsible for education come together, exchange experiences and good practices, and learn from one another.<< Objectives >>The aim of the project is to develop a competence framework that is tailored to the specific needs of adult education, and in the narrower sense of education for sustainable development. At the same time, a common frame of reference for learning opportunities in the area of ​​ESD is created with the competence framework at the local level.The competence framework is intended to support full-time and voluntary teaching staff in the development of courses and course programs on sustainability topics, and to help ensure that educational offers can be tailored more precisely to the needs of the course participants. Secondly, the participants in the training (teaching staff) shall develop a basic understanding of the developmental tasks that adults must master on the way to sustainable action, as well as the skills required to master these tasks. Thirdly, the digital competence framework is intended to support teachers in developing online learning opportunities on ESD-relevant topics. Last but not least, the Community of Practice promotes the development of a common understanding of ESD and the creation of cooperative structures by enabling the exchange of experiences and best practices between different actors in ESD.<< Implementation >>Management and project implementation activities- Day-to-day management, strategic management- Quality management and monitoring- Dissemination and promotional activitiesActivities related to the development of intellectual outputsFramework concept: development tasks in ESDa) Analysis of documents and strategy papers of the municipalities for the implementation of ESD (all partners)b) Consultation of education officers and experts at local level (all partners)d) Analysis of international, European, national, regional documents (including UNESCO documents on the implementation of ESD) - all partnerse) Analysis of scientific publications (all partners)g) Documentation of the results in a research report (partner 1 LMU Munich)Competence framework for sustainable developmenta) Formation of competence categories based on the results of IO1b) Development of the individual competencies, descriptors and description as ""learning outcomes""c) Development of the preliminary competence frameworkd) Test of the competence framework with teachers, documentationd) Discussion in focus groups, documentatione) Creation of the final competence frameworkf) Translation of the competence framework into the partner languagesDigital competence framework for sustainable developmenta) Preparation of the competence categories and individual competencies developed in IO2 according to the requirements of the learning management systemb) Translation of the digital competence framework into the partner languagesc) Test run in the participating countries (P2 creates guidelines for this)d) Summary of the results in a test report (in English)Training modulesDevelopment of multilingual advanced training modules on the following topics1) Background information on the project2) Introduction to the subject3) Theoretical foundations of the competence concept4) Description and explanation of the competence framework5) Practical application in the context of the creation and evaluation of courses (level: course planning, target group: course instructors and lecturers)6) Use of the competence framework as part of the planning and development of entire course programs (level: event planning, target group: training providers)7) Recommendations for Practice and Good Practice8) Exemplary implementation of the competence framework for ESD topics: 8a) environmental protection and climate change, 8b) Inclusion and equity in education 8c) sustainable management, 8d) migration and flight, 8e) Democracy, participation and participationNetwork and Community of PracticeBuilding the network- Acquisition of participants (all partners)- Member lists (P2)Building the community of practice- Setting up the workspace (P2 and P3)- Setting up multilingualism (P3)- Setting of OER and contributions (all partners)- Commitment of the moderators (all partners)- 3 webinars: Introduction for moderators (P3, all partners)- Official start of the Community of Practice (June 15, 2022)- Start of moderation activities (all partners)- Acquisition of members (all partners)- Community Management (all partners)- Monitoring of community activities (end of each month)<< Results >>The project aims to develop 5 types of results (intellectual outputs):1) A framework model of development tasks that are relevant for sustainable development, that individuals have to face at different points in their lifetime.2) An action-oriented competence framework for ESD (Education for Sustainable Development), which is tailored to the needs of adult education. The competence framework supports teaching staff working in adult education in developing ESD-relevant events and courses that are oriented towards the real developmental tasks of learners.3) Digital competence framework for ESD, which can be read into online learning systems, and be used to develop online courses and programs4) Online training modules on competence-based ESD in adult education. In further education, full-time and voluntary teachers acquire the knowledge and skills that are required to develop competence-based courses and programs on sustainability topics.5) European online network and community of practice for sharing best practice."

"The aim of the CONNECT project was to apply the concept of connected learning to adult education and to test it in an urban context. Digital and urban learning resources should be linked in a blended learning approach. The target cities were Munich (Germany), Dublin (Ireland), Bucharest (Romania), Valencia (Spain) and Kallithea (Greece). During the development and testing phases, the partners worked together with local cooperation partners, including municipal and private educational institutions in the field of adult education, local action groups, migrant communities, non-governmental organizations and sports clubs. In the first phase of the project, a system model for the implementation of connected learning in the context of the city was developed, based on analyses of research publications and empirical field studies that were carried out in all participating cities and countries. The focus here was on informal learning. The results were summarized in a research report, which is available as an Open Educational Resource.In the next step, based on the model, the partners developed and tested urban platforms for self-organized, connected learning. The learning formats, activities and content differ in some cases significantly, as the initial situation in the participating cities or districts is very different and different target groups were addressed. In addition, tests have shown that connected learning can have different functions depending on the context in which it’s applied.In parallel to the piloting of the platforms, various learning topics were tested with regard to their suitability for networked learning. We started from 5 basic topics, which were then varied or supplemented on the basis of the test results. The results were summarized in ""Scenario Reports"". During piloting the facilitators played an important role. Their task was to support the learners in building personal networks and to accompany the learning activities of participants. The project partners for this purpose have developed a corresponding training concept and training materials and hereafter tested them with moderators. Finally, each partner institution created a good practice guide in which the good practices identified in the course of the project were documented. One assumption was that by expanding their networks and opportunities, learners not only acquire new knowledge, skills and competencies, but also identify themselves more strongly with the local community. It has shown that learners are ready to share their own experiences and knowledge if they have the impression that this knowledge also serves the common good. Learners from Kosovo, for example, who had acquired a coaching license in a sports club, spontaneously shared their experiences with others and, with the help of the “facilitators”, placed learning materials on the platform. Another example is the Irish platform, which has developed into a contact point for full-time and voluntary people in the NEIC district. The participants networked on the platform to exchange experiences and knowledge and to work together on upgrading their neighborhood. The CONNECT approach aims to change educational practice, from isolated forms of learning to learning in distributed networks. Teachers are at the same time moderators of personal learning projects and mediators of learning interests in and between learning networks. CONNECT has conducted “Facilitator” training courses for 32 people, equipping them with the skills needed to support adult learners in networked learning. For educational partners such as the state capital Munich and its affiliated educational institutions, but also for the Greek training provider IDEC, CONNECT serves as an experimental field to test connected learning and gradually integrate it into educational practice. According to the partner organizations, the CONNECT approach should also be used to attract new groups of learners who cannot be reached with conventional educational offers and forms. The department for education management in the education department of the city of Munich wants to take over the German platform as a permanent learning facility for its citizens. The Irish partner wants to use CONNECT as part of a national empowerment strategy, adressing uneducated target groups, such as ""Traveler Communities"". With the CONNECT approach, the Romanian partner has a new instrument with which informal learning communities in selected urban districts of Bucharest are to be addressed."

<< Background >>The competitiveness of the European economy requires citizens, particularly young people, to be innovative, creative, flexible, and courageous to face challenges in a dynamic and volatile economy. Young people need to become ‘entrepreneurs’: they should turn ideas into action, successfully develop new commercial and social ventures and be innovators in the organisations where they work. The entrepreneurship skills include creativity, innovation, risk-taking, and the ability to plan.<< Objectives >>- to develop an integrated approach and model for entrepreneurship education that is applicable throughout Europe. More specifically, the project rests on 5 pillars, each of which invites a different level of learning:1.in-company internships of HE students and complementary serious game2.building capacities3.community of practice 4.OER knowledge base5.creating HEI - company partnerships, with a view to experiment and validate the internship model, and ensure its sustainability.<< Implementation >>The project consortium included 14 partners from 8 EU countries. The project lasted 30 months and has been implemented within six WPs.WP1. ManagementWP2. PreparationWP3. Development of the internship modelWP4. Capacity building for teachers and trainers WP5. Development of a serious gameWP6. Development of HEIs - company partnershipsWP7. Quality assuranceWP8. Evaluation WP9. Dissemination and sustainability<< Results >>HEIs–companies’ partnerships for the promotion of entrepreneurial education of HE students during their internshipsCapacity building of HE teaching staff and companies’ trainers to organise entrepreneurial learning and support the acquisition of related skills and competencies.Development of entrepreneurial mindset, skills, and competencies to HE students.An integrated model that invites different levels of learning using the serious online game.Building a community of practice