4motion (LU), the European Peer Training Organisation (EPTO - BE), the Universal Education Foundation (UEF - NL), Ofensiva Tinerilor (RO), AMO Reliance (BE) and the European Institute of Education and Social Policy (EIEPS - FR) united forces for an ambitious project aimed at radically improving the lives of school students by developing their appreciation of their fundamental inner diversity: Potential4Life (P4L).The project developed a new educational programme led by school students aged 16-18 who supported their younger peers aged 12-16 in understanding their inner diversity. This programme enables participants to:- discover their own and others' ways of learning (metacognitive abilities);- feel empowered and better participate in their learning processes and environments;- (re)gain motivation, self-determination and resilience. Interactive face-to-face activities are supported by tools such as board games and digital media: videos with testimonials and tutorials on how to implement the activities, and an app that helps pupils understand their way of learning. The project also included an action-research piloted by EIEPS which used the experience drawn from the local implementation and testing phase in 3 EU countries to feed and further develop the training module. PROJECT MILESTONES:- 1st transnational meeting (17-18/05/16) – LU: all partner organisations and the advisory group met in Luxembourg, hosted by 4motion. The action-research action methodology was defined and definitive allocations were made among each of the partner organisations of the work in developing the training programme and materials.- Prototype Programme Development (04-08/16): A core group of representatives from the partners developed a prototype programme, which was drafted in a 130-page pedagogical manual and 50-page journal, later translated in 3 languages (French, German and Romanian).- Training Activity for Partners (8-12/08/16) – Harzé, BE: hosted by AMO Reliance, the partner organisations selected representatives who would deliver the first round of trainings in the school to be trained over a five day period of introduction to the agreed materials and workshop procedures, and how to facilitate and evaluate the sessions.- Local implementation (09/16-10/17): this phase included mostly the training of young peer training, workshops by peer trainers in schools, coaching and evaluation. Local implementing partners were 4motion (LU), AMO Reliance (BE) and Ofensiva Tinerilor (RO) working in conjunction with local schools. This period included 3 “field visits” carried out by the EIEPS researcher for proceeding to interviews with all stakeholders.- Development of game and digital media formats (09/16-06/17): parallel to the local implementation, was the development of interactive game and digital-media based tools that can be used as stand-alone and will support students and teachers in fulfilling the aims of the programme. The digital media tools include video testimonials from peer trainers and secondary school students about their experience and tutorials on how to implement the activities.- 2nd transnational meeting (11-12/03/17) – Arad, RO: hosted by Ofensiva Tinerilor, all partner organisations met to share feedback on how the project was running in schools so far and made adjustments for the second half of the implementation.- 3rd transnational / evaluation meeting (16-17/10/17) – Brussels, BE: hosted by EPTO, all partner organisations met to present feedback gathered from students and teachers in each of the schools. The project was thoroughly evaluated and the materials finalised.- Multiplier event (18/10/17) – Brussels, BE: hosted by UEF, the event proposed a taster workshop and an overview of the project, its motivation, approach, methodology and results (action-research and intellectual outputs), involving the audience in a conversation about its future development.Throughout the project, 17 partners, 20 peer trainers and 175 students were trained; 3 local and 2 EU NGOs were equipped with educational resources to help youth in difficulty at school. The action-research has shown that by participating in P4L, youth are better able to:- improve their self-confidence regarding their learning;- appreciate that each individual has a unique approach to learning ;- identify their intrinsic motivation for learning – that is motivations other than grades or teacher or parent pressure (which might be considered as extrinsic motivation);- identify their preferred learning strategies;- articulate their own learning preferences and be able to ask for support from their teachers, parents and peers.Due to its demonstrated impact on students’ well-being and the momentum created among partners, P4L will continue after this EU funding, with a stronger focus on involving teachers and parents, combining the app and Board game with the pedagogical programme, and conducing a more robust evaluation process.

The InnoVal project aimed to address the urgent need to offer valid and reliable assessment methods that allow all learners to have a chance at validation. The 2012 Council Recommendation gave a strong political impulse to the goal of having national validation arrangements in all countries by 2018. Yet, according to the CEDEFOP 2014 Validation Inventory Report, EU countries still greatly diverge in terms of mechanisms in place. In order to ensure the validity and reliability of assessment procedures, and to avoid additional costs, many educational institutions prefer to use standardised tests. The use of alternative methods such as portfolios, declarative methods and simulations, is on the increase but remains limited. The 6 project partners from 5 EU countries and an Associate Partner (Bertelsmann Stiftung) believe that the use of standardised tests hinders learners’ take up in validation and represents one of the strongest obstacles to their development in Europe. Indeed, validation systems are often targeting adults who have had a bad experience with formal education and formal assessment methods. This has led them to not completing their secondary education and to not participating in any further formal education. Yet, they have acquired many skills and competences in non-formal and informal learning environments that they would be willing to have validated if the assessment method did not bring them back to their bad past experience with formal education. InnoVal aimed to foster a change in practices related to the assessment of non-formal and informal learning across Europe and across sectors. For the certificates and qualifications issued by validation systems to be credible, assessment methods must be trustworthy. InnoVal gathered experience on innovative assessment methods from across Europe in order to determine which ones have proven to be successful. To help foster trust in these innovative methods, InnoVal has illustrated successful innovative assessment methods with best practices. Based on their respective experience and expertise, InnoVal partners have developed a Training Programme based on Open Educational Material and a Toolbox of Case Studies that is adaptable to different national contexts and sectors. By using new technologies (Online Learning Platform) the project provides a solution to many practitioners who have to implement validation mechanisms without always being prepared to do so. It will proposes very concrete modules on how to deal with non-traditional publics, to implement alternative assessment methods, analysing barriers and enablers, to work with external experts and to be cost efficient. The project therefore addressed the need for capacity building of assessors to ensure reliability of results and to overcome initial resistance. The outputs are based on the initial Need Assessment Review that looked at national policies and practices related to assessment methods to validate non-formal and informal learning at VET and HE levels and the specific needs of our target groups (low skilled adults, including early school leavers, and migrants/refugees). In addition, the review explored the demand side - that is employers and education providers - and their views on the appropriateness of alternative assessment methods. It also explored transferability of policies and practices across contexts. An online consultation contributed to develop a deeper understanding of the barriers and enablers to implementing alternative assessments. Those results together with the experience gained from the piloting phase (training workshops to test the Training Programme), an Advocacy Pack with policy recommendations targeted at policy makers and practitioners have contributed to ensure systemic support for alternative assessments. InnoVal was highly innovative as it brought together VET and HE providers who are advanced either in the use of innovative assessment methods, in building links with the labour market and/or in dealing with disadvantaged groups; research bodies who can provide the evidence with a EU perspective and European networks which can ensure policy impact and broad dissemination and exploitation of results. InnoVal covered 6 countries (BE-FL, FR, FI, EL, PT, DE) and generated interest well beyond. The potential transferability of the case studies and of the innovative methods has been included in all of the project outputs. The partners engaged various target groups from the start of the project (Ministries in charge of Validation, EU, NQF Agencies, EU networks, etc.) in order to ensure a broad impact. InnoVal has therefore contributed to build a shared understanding of quality principles of assessment and has explored the benefits of non-traditional assessment methods for validation for low skilled adults as well as for migrants/refugees and has contributed to Europe’s most pressing challenges.