The Art EQUAL project is based upon a shared need for qualified methods to create learning environments that foster young children’s well-being, self-empowerment, participation and sense of community. The partners in the project are rooted in the arts and cultural sector and have many years of experience with art- and culture-based programmes for and with children. The partners have experienced how these programmes can have a positive impact on the learning environment, the individual child and the child group. The children experience they have a voice that interacts with other voices in a way they might not find in other learning situations. This is especially relevant when working with inclusive education. The partners have experienced that artistic and cultural activities can have a natural inclusive approach by providing a room for all expressions. There is a lack of competition, and nothing is right or wrong. The children can participate in new ways, and when it works well the children are free to explore, play, follow their own motives and find their own expressions in a group with others. The aim of the Art EQUAL project has been to integrate the partners’ experiences into the pedagogical practice of early childhood education by setting up interdisciplinary collaborations between professional artists/culture workers and early years professionals. These collaborations have proofed to have a strong impact on the way artistic and cultural activities become present in children’s everyday lives, and in general how these activities can have a positive influence on pedagogical practice, especially in connection with the social integration of children with disadvantaged backgrounds or special educational needs.The aim of the project has thus been to help early years professionals to develop a new perspective on how art and culture can be integrated into their daily practice, and the other way around to help art and culture professionals to get an insight into and learn from pedagogical approaches and ways of working. The project has provided a range of practical workshops in local nurseries, kindergartens and schools based on collaborations between the pedagogical staff and invited artists or culture workers. The partners developed a common method to ensure a room for equal collaboration and involvement of the professionals’ different experiences, skills and perspectives on working with children in art and culture-based activities. The method is based upon the principles of action learning with the aim of analysing and reflecting on your own practice and learning from your experiences. Throughout the project the practical workshops formed the content of the project’s intellectual outputs. This process was supported by an external evaluator from VIA University College in Denmark who pointed out several recurring values and introduced the partners to relevant evaluation frameworks, such as writing narratives. The experiences from the workshops were collected and formed the basis of the project’s educational resource. The resource includes: - An online platform including a reflection and documentation tool “Let’s Collaborate” for early years professionals: http://artequal.eu/en/- A process guide describing the different steps in collaborative processes based on action learning principles and inspirational models to use in joint reflections- A methodology handbook as an extended version of the process guide including the background of the Art EQUAL project, essays by relevant experts, case studies from the local workshops and basic tips and ideas from the partners- A training course curriculum including a methodological description and practical ideas of implementing the material in training at various levels: national, regional and local.Along with the project’s educational resource the project partners have set the framework for an Implementation Strategy with the aim of encouraging early years professionals, artists, culture workers, decision makers and other relevant stakeholders to implement and make use of the Art EQUAL methodology and resources. In the longer term the aim is to improve and empower the development of inclusive education for children through art- and culture-based activities, at local, regional, national as well as international level. The strategy presents the partners perspectives on how to ensure the project’s results go into real-world practice and benefit both adults and children. It describes the different aspects of implementation in the Art EQUAL project and presents the partner’s basic ideas and recommendations to relevant professionals and stakeholders in early childhood education and care.

"The project Python and Java for Teachers aims to support primary and secondary school teachers from Europe in acquiring and developing skills in working with current issues of Advanced Coding Languages and Computer Science within primary and secondary schools.Through this project there will be a focus on upskilling teachers in fun and game-inspired, non-formal educational methods in Python and Java programming languages. The project will present innovative methods of utilising methodologies to help increase the offering of computer science in schools and ultimately increase the number of computer scientists across Europe so that future demand for coders can be met.Through this project, there is an immediate objective of upskilling teachers, and a subsequent objective of engaging with and upskilling students in Python and Java programming through non-formal methods.Our project methods include the development of three main outputs:1. A hands-on fun-packed training curriculum and workshops with non-formal approaches in learning to code in Python and Java, using fun activities like Games Coding, A.I. and Robotics. The workshops will be the gateway for teachers to understand how to code in Python and Java as these languages are used in the industry and they will explain why they need to teach these futuristic skills to the students. The workshops will also give guidance to teachers on how to make learning to code fun for their students.2. A set of resources and guides for teachers on how to stimulate interest in subjects of computer science, coding and software development, and advice on how to support the introduction of these topics through non-formal educational methods– This will help professionals in schools to develop their own skills base to deliver professional, up to date coding lessons for students. 3. A Methodology and Implementation strategy that promotes cross-sectoral dialogue and the involvement in teaching, in terms of supporting the training of staff, managers, teachers at a local and regional level.A DIFFERENT APPROACHThe term “non-formal education” and its recognition on a global scale came about in the 1960s when consolidated educational institutions had to face an economic crisis and received questions about their lacking ability to adapt to a new society. Since then it has been a driving force in education, not least in the digital age where students have literally ""learnt how to learn"" and have taught themselves to become digitally literate. We believe that the project can contribute greatly to upskilling teachers as facilitators. These methods, together with our approach to embedding transferable employability skills (as redefined key competences; EC, Jan 2018) within the informal learning content, will deliver an innovative practice to benefit students in this digital era, and provide a project legacy of open educational resources in Python and Java for teachers.THE NEED & DEMANDThe dynamic of the labour market, especially in the tech, finance and medical industry has changed greatly over the last few years, and many jobs that are currently in demand didn’t even exist 10 years ago. The EC’s “White Paper on the Future of Europe” states that “children enter society today will end up working in job types that do not yet exist”. A lot of these jobs will require the demanding skill of being able to create code and edit software. Policymakers and employers are putting more and more pressure on teachers and schools and are challenging them to adapt to the digital age and help their learners build transferable skills in order to respond to labour market demand. In order to respond to such a daunting future scenario, as schools working with students, we need to do more to equip students with the appropriate skills for entering the labour market. We must also address ""the need for an inclusive, lifelong-learning based and innovation-driven approach to education and training"" (EC, 14 Dec 2017), and provide students with the appropriate recognition for such skills whether gained non-formally or formally.The problem identified is the lack of skills, competencies, and knowledge in the area of computer science and coding for teachers and that the normal channel of 'teacher training' and CPD in most countries has failed to materialise. In its place, teachers from both primary and secondary schools are now looking for alternative provisions to fill the gap. The organisations represented in the project all have experience in promoting computer science, coding and other subjects amongst teachers to close the growing digital gap between school learning and the labour market. This project will be the most important, first step in training our teachers in primary and secondary schools with two of the fastest-growing coding languages Python and Java."

In 2018, Europe is celebrating diverse cultural heritage - at EU, national, regional and local level. The aim of the 2018 European Year of Cultural Heritage is to encourage more people to discover and engage with Europe's cultural heritage, and to reinforce a sense of belonging to a common European space. With a starting point in the archives and cultural heritage across Europe’s post-industrial communities, specifically using five archives from Dornbirn (AT), Wuppertal (DE), Osijek (HR), Torres Novas (PT) and Coventry (UK), and the adult educational skills of all the partners the project VIRAL aimed to enrich the key competences of adults facing fewer opportunities through new adult education programme for using virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and 360-degree movies (360) technology tools and documentary methods. Across Europe, post-industrial heritage sites have been the centre of their local community for 10s or 100s of years. Often everyone had a friend, a neighbour or knew someone that worked in the factory, mine, harbour or agricultural practice etc. A working-class neighbourhood often grew up around it; maybe there was a kindergarten/school in the factory; the industry concerned imposed a rhythm and style on the community. This is a phenomenon common to the whole of Europe. The factory may have closed, the machines may have gone, maybe the buildings have been demolished, but the stories, can still be collected, listened to, recorded and retold. This special relationship can be used in Adult Education to build bridges over social, gender, ethnic and age ethnical gaps and different social classes. Nowadays, EU societies and economies are experiencing significant digital and technological innovations as well as labour market and demographic changes. Old professions, such those factory jobs mentioned above, no longer exist; many of today's jobs did not exist a decade ago; and many new forms of employment will be created in the future. Without these skills many are at higher risk of unemployment, poverty and social exclusion, particularly among adults already facing fewer opportunities. The new Commission “Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning” (2018) are: - STEM; - languages; - digital competences; - literacy; - cultural awareness and expression; - entrepreneurship; - civic; and - personal, social and learning. The VIRAL project targeted 3 groups and addressed the following needs: 1) Adults facing fewer opportunities such as economic (e.g., ex-workers at post-industrial sites, long-term unemployment) and educational (low-skilled and/or low-qualified) obstacles, with the need to develop new key competences to be better prepare them for changing labour markets and active citizenship in more diverse, mobile, digital and global societies, and raising awareness of how their cultural heritage can be a vehicle for lifelong learning; 2) Adult educators lacking heritage education skills and technical competence in how to use VR/AR/360 in training; 3) Professionals in adult education department within cultural heritage lacking informal, non/formal and andragogic skills and technical in how to use VR/AR/360 in cultural and/or learning environments.The project VIIRAL supplied high quality individual learning oppurtunities for adults and competence development for adult educators in the fields of Virtual, Augmented and 360 video Reality production. This was carried out in the context of utilising archive material and the physical places and environments of post- industrial landscapes. We exploited the often deep interest for the individuals local environment by exploring old industrial factories, mines, harbours, agricultural production centres that once stood at the centre of local communities but are now long gone. Investigating a heritage site is an excellent way of exploring cross-curricular themes in adult education and developing key concepts, competences and processes. The project produced five intelectual outputs: 1. A methodological framework in the form of a handbook will be developed to boost the key competences of adults 2. A Learning Outcome MatrixIt according to the European Qualification Framework (EQF) as a set of learning outcomes (LO) - in terms of knowledge, skills and competences. 3. A set of virtual reality (VR), 360 degree-movies (360) and augmented reality (AR) training resources for adult education in a context of safeguarding the memories of their local industrial heritage 4. A continuous professional development (CPD) course for adult educators and adult educators at cultural heritage institutions will be developed. 5. A multilingual learning platform providing open and instant access to the full suite of project’s outputs will be developed, including the eLearning space, to support the access to the CPD course.

The project Virtual Spitfire has 4 partners from 4 countries; UK, Sweden, France and Greece, all working with adult education in socially deprived areas of post-industrial decline. The project aims to support individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences for low-skilled adults living in post-industrial areas. It will also focus on upskilling adult educators in the use of Virtual Reality in the educational process. This will be carried out by utilising the interest and local knowledge of the people and environments of post- industrial landscapes. We will encourage the often deep interest for the local area by using the context of old industrial factories, mines, harbours, agricultural production centres that once stood at the centre of local communities. The industries may have dissapeared or experienced technological change such as automation leading to loss of employmentSocial inclusion is a process, which assists people to participate fully in life from an economic, social and cultural perspective. The idea is that every member of the society, no matter their background or situation, should be able to participate in the community and society and be encouraged to contribute to social, cultural and work life. The focus of the Virtual Spitfire project is the enhancement of intercultural competences of adults and the improvement of social inclusion capacity through the provision of continuous professional development courses to adult educators for diversity management and intercultural management. Virtual Spitfire project addresses the entrepreneurship, Civic skills, Personal, Social and Learning and Cultural awareness and expression, key competences as specified in Key Competences Recommendation for Lifelong learning (revision 2018). This relies on an awareness of how culture, as a collective social construct, shapes the views of the individual in return. It is important to highlight the crucial process of developing a sense of one’s own place or role in society – which may be understood as one's 'socio-cultural identity' - as well as a sense of the identity of others with positive open-minded attitudes towards diverse cultural differences in different contexts. This understanding of culture, based on the individual existing within particular contexts and communities implies interaction, inclusion and mobility as key issues and opportunities in society. Extending and developing educator's competences.High quality and well trained educators can help adult learners to develop key competences for the labour market and in everyday life. The project is based on a methodological approach designed to maximize impact through the production and sharing of OERs based on practical classroom and work based training activities and on the use of VR and digital media. A Continuous Professional Development course for the training of adult educators on th euse of VR is to be developed by the Virtual Spitfire project. The project focuses on on-line training material where adult educators etc. can access to high quality material for the target group. The project allows adult educators through the use research skills for VR in a simple, effective and relatively inexpensive way to contribute to an individials development. Allowing them to train on simple tasks and key competences that would otherwise be prohibitively time-consuming. Additionally adult educators will receive training on the use of post-industrial landscapes with their asscoiated archives as a resource in their work.The Outputs include:1.Methodological Framework. Using Local Industrial Heritage and Virtual Reality for Adult Education2.Main Virtual Reality Production Example of Spitfire manufacturing3.CPD Training course curriculum4.Scenario-based eLearning and Learning Outcome Matrix5.VIRTUAL SPITFIRE OER PlatformThe impact and long term benefitsAt local level, the availability of “ready-to-use” resources on VR in Adult education and methods will immediately reinforce the response of the sector to the urgent needs of EU societies in terms of social and professional inclusion of different cultural groups and in general people with disadvantaged backgrounds. At regional/national level, the Virtual Spitfire project is expected to create a common methodological framework, based on a smart use of VR technologies for enhancing key competences. At European level the project aims to contribute to the debate of facilitating VR blended training to adult groups into order to enter the labour market. The creation of a local body of adult educators trained and competent in using materials and implementing strategies to successfully transfer key competences to adult learners entering the labour market.

The ambition of the LOG’IN project is to promote access to inclusive housing for people with disabilities and thus promote their autonomy and the power to act socially.Access to inclusive housing for the disabled remains very insufficient in Europe. It is, however, a complementary response to ordinary accommodation and an alternative to institutional accommodation. These are small independent housing complexes, characterized by individual living spaces associated with shared living spaces, in an adapted and secure environment ensuring more sociability.The LOG’IN training program provides the knowledge and skills necessary for qualified professionals in Europe who can provide answers to people with disabilities in inclusive housing. It therefore concerns carers, including inclusion professionals, shared housing, etc.Through their profession and proximity to the disabled, these learners will offer support and therefore play an essential role in addressing the societal challenges of inclusive housing.In this context, the learner's role becomes that of a coordinator, able to identify and support innovative local initiatives, stimulate projects, raise their voice and, more widely, spread good practices.To do this, it is important that caregivers know and integrate into the active partnerships between territorial actors in charge of housing issues, which is not the case even today due to lack of knowledge of the sector. A fortiori, beyond a few local initiatives, they are only very little involved in the context of actions related to inclusive housing.LOG’IN intends to tackle this problem by creating a transnational consortium whose the objective is to build together a European training framework which will strengthen the skills of carers to respond to the solution of inclusive housing and offer it to training centers and institutions in charge of social policies.To respond coherently to these challenges which go beyond national frameworks, the transnational dimension is necessary. In addition, the diversity and complementarity of actors' know-how, situations and local experiences will enrich the repository of available solutions and approaches.Acting on this issue leads us, in a way, to the current health crisis, and raises questions about the collective housing of the most vulnerable.