6th visit : Bitonto 8-11 June 2015
8th June
All the participants met at Porta Baresana in the historical center of Bitonto. From there we went to the welcome dinner organised by the partner ASA.
9th June
On the morning of the second day, the partners had a reunion in the “Officine Culturali” of the city of Bitonto which is a youth centre with various activities. In the morning, the group had a presentation of the host organisation and ASA. They presented C.I.S.E.I, the Centre of Socio-Economic and Labour Integration for Immigrants and vulnerable target groups. They also presented the NGO Sinergia, a very active structure of the region of Puglia and part of the Eurodesk network. They provide information on policies, programs, legislation, rights and EU funding aimed at school staff, associations and students. They organize training activities on EU issues and on community planning, meetings with school staff and assistance in the preparation of application file for EU mobility.
As this was the final visit, we had many things to cover. The partners worked on the publication, we finalized the content of each part and set the deadline to hand out each individual part of the project (end of June).
All the partners looked at the result of the project with regards to the application and worked on the evaluation of the project led by Mike Hobbs from Community Cohesion Limited.
We also checked the procedure of evaluation and then worked on the preparation of the final report to write.
In the evening we all went for dinner in Borgo Bontà, a restaurant managed by Consorzio Social Lab, a consortium of social cooperatives offering typical Italian cuisine with the particularity of employing disadvantaged people facing for example disability, long term unemployment, former prisoner, etc. We really enjoyed the dinner at this social and environmental conscious place.
10th June
On the third and last day we were taken to visit Forpuglia, a training provider in Bari, the capital of the region Puglia. Forpuglia was created in 2003 as a non-profit organisation promoted by the League of cooperatives of Puglia. The aim of the association is to help cooperatives and enterprises in region of Puglia by making available tools devoted to the training of these structures in order to improve their competitiveness on the national and international market. They are also the coordinator of the “Youth Guarantee” in Puglia. We were received by Francesca Fornarola, the director of Forpuglia that presented us the structure and showed us the web-platform for users (NEETs) management.
After that we received our certificates and took group pictures.
The partners highlighted the fact that such comparison between structures and countries is very important and has to be reiterate in the future in order to keep bettering methods and comprehension of the public and change attitudes.
All the participants met at Porta Baresana in the historical center of Bitonto. From there we went to the welcome dinner organised by the partner ASA.
9th June
On the morning of the second day, the partners had a reunion in the “Officine Culturali” of the city of Bitonto which is a youth centre with various activities. In the morning, the group had a presentation of the host organisation and ASA. They presented C.I.S.E.I, the Centre of Socio-Economic and Labour Integration for Immigrants and vulnerable target groups. They also presented the NGO Sinergia, a very active structure of the region of Puglia and part of the Eurodesk network. They provide information on policies, programs, legislation, rights and EU funding aimed at school staff, associations and students. They organize training activities on EU issues and on community planning, meetings with school staff and assistance in the preparation of application file for EU mobility.
As this was the final visit, we had many things to cover. The partners worked on the publication, we finalized the content of each part and set the deadline to hand out each individual part of the project (end of June).
All the partners looked at the result of the project with regards to the application and worked on the evaluation of the project led by Mike Hobbs from Community Cohesion Limited.
We also checked the procedure of evaluation and then worked on the preparation of the final report to write.
In the evening we all went for dinner in Borgo Bontà, a restaurant managed by Consorzio Social Lab, a consortium of social cooperatives offering typical Italian cuisine with the particularity of employing disadvantaged people facing for example disability, long term unemployment, former prisoner, etc. We really enjoyed the dinner at this social and environmental conscious place.
10th June
On the third and last day we were taken to visit Forpuglia, a training provider in Bari, the capital of the region Puglia. Forpuglia was created in 2003 as a non-profit organisation promoted by the League of cooperatives of Puglia. The aim of the association is to help cooperatives and enterprises in region of Puglia by making available tools devoted to the training of these structures in order to improve their competitiveness on the national and international market. They are also the coordinator of the “Youth Guarantee” in Puglia. We were received by Francesca Fornarola, the director of Forpuglia that presented us the structure and showed us the web-platform for users (NEETs) management.
After that we received our certificates and took group pictures.
The partners highlighted the fact that such comparison between structures and countries is very important and has to be reiterate in the future in order to keep bettering methods and comprehension of the public and change attitudes.
Conference ‘Teacher – career counsellor’ (April 15th 2015, Białystok, Poland)
The conference,
organised by Municipal Centre of Methodology Counselling and Regional
Employment Office in Białystok, was attended by career advisors, teachers and representatives
of employment agencies. The main topic of the conference was the presentation
of research into the state of career counselling in Poland. The analysis and
conclusions from the research were presented by its author Anna Czepiel from
Civil Development Forum in Warsaw. Another subject discussed during the
conference were means of providing effective career counselling, presented by
Lucyna Brajer from Municipal Centre of Methodology Counselling.
The second part of the conference was devoted to workshops conducted by career advisors from the Regional Employment Office in Białystok. The participants could choose one of three available seminars:
- The role of motivation in job seeking
- New forms of support for the unemployed offered by the job centres
- Negotiation techniques in job interviews
The conference was an opportunity for teachers and career advisors from the city and region to meet, exchange experience and obtain information useful in their everyday work.
Details and photos on the page in Polish (Languages>Polski)
The second part of the conference was devoted to workshops conducted by career advisors from the Regional Employment Office in Białystok. The participants could choose one of three available seminars:
- The role of motivation in job seeking
- New forms of support for the unemployed offered by the job centres
- Negotiation techniques in job interviews
The conference was an opportunity for teachers and career advisors from the city and region to meet, exchange experience and obtain information useful in their everyday work.
Details and photos on the page in Polish (Languages>Polski)
The Grundtvig Partnership meeting in LIVERPOOL
in April 2015 was the fifth formal meeting of the full “Re-engage” project
partnership, although several of the partners had met at an Ecorys contact
seminar in July 2012, where the project outline had been developed and the
subsequent application formulated; and we had enjoyed subsequent visits to
Dublin in Ireland, Oviedo in Spain, Bialystok in Poland, Paris France, and we
have one final visit in Bari in Italy in June 2015 which will conclude the
project, although the partners would like to continue to work together in the
future if a suitable opportunity presents itself, as we had missed the KA 2
funding opportunity under the adult learners programme.
Partners arrived on the Tuesday afternoon and evening and we enjoyed an informal networking session at the Feathers hotel which we use for all our transnational events; upon registration we discussed progress with respect to the project activity and partners updated each other with regards to progress on the project over some sandwiches and light refreshments.
The main activities on the 8th was a visit closed session in the hotel Conference room as had been agreed by the partners from our previous visit, and we worked through a full agenda (please see in the drop box folder), where we gained a very clear insight into the processes which have been used to engage Vulnerable adults in their training and development programmes here in the UK. There was also a main presentations regarding the future potential direction for the project and we broke off into small working groups to discuss the potential for further developing our partnership with regards to a Youth KA2 project outline proposal which all of the partners were interested in pursuing which would involve elements of vocational and technical areas of course delivery, induction and confidence building, progression and work placements, case studies and the use of e-learning platforms for blended learning and training programmes.
The proposal is something all of the partners wish to consider and we will continue to work on the project outline in the next few weeks to coincide with the project timetable which requires the application to be submitted by the end of April. The team at Community Cohesion Limited was completed by Kathy Newton, one of our learning mentors, and Mr Phil Taylor, a senior research consultant with the organisation who was particularly keen to meet the entire project team over dinner.
The main activities on the 9th of April included a review of the lessons we had learned from the previous day, and the group was able to discuss and consider the merits of the programmes, how adaptable they were for their own national work, and how we could best to transfer these lessons across the EU. In addition we undertook a partner visit on the same day to the Baltic Quarter in Liverpool which is a well-known business incubator. And the agenda was as follows
Timetable 10.00 Introduction in meeting room – Mike Hobbs
10.10 Tour of Baltic Creative – Chris Green
10.30 Q and A in the meeting room
10.35 Presentation from Louise Gatenby – Red Wigwam
10.50 Q and A
The purpose of the visit was to gain a sense of what a startup/business incubator facility can be like; to interact with some of the businesses, and get a feel for the location. As mentioned the project is about how to best engage people outside the labour market from an employers’ perspective; what do employers look for, what makes a good candidate, a good CV, a good worker. To date we have heard, including on the other partner visits, what we might define as supply-side issues, and what interventions might enable an individual with low skills back into work. To balance this up what would be great would be to hear about demand-side issues; from experience within the recruitment industry.
In terms of my own personal reflections, the main areas I would like to concentrate on were the issues around transfer of best practice, and how we could best measure the journeys that individual trainees make on their transition into employment. In terms of transfer we have to be very clear what it is we are transferring; if it is a process what are the stages, how do individuals progress from one stage to the next, how do we know when they are ready to progress to the next stage, how can we objectively measure progress; how can we assess personal confidence in this context. I think there is still some work to do in these areas which we need to take forwards into the next meeting of the partnership in Spain, and we also need to reflect on the processes we currently have in place nationally to see what elements we can successfully transfer, how and within what context.
MICHAEL HOBBS – BUSINESS MANAGER - COMMUNITY COHESION LIMITED
APRIL 2015
Partners arrived on the Tuesday afternoon and evening and we enjoyed an informal networking session at the Feathers hotel which we use for all our transnational events; upon registration we discussed progress with respect to the project activity and partners updated each other with regards to progress on the project over some sandwiches and light refreshments.
The main activities on the 8th was a visit closed session in the hotel Conference room as had been agreed by the partners from our previous visit, and we worked through a full agenda (please see in the drop box folder), where we gained a very clear insight into the processes which have been used to engage Vulnerable adults in their training and development programmes here in the UK. There was also a main presentations regarding the future potential direction for the project and we broke off into small working groups to discuss the potential for further developing our partnership with regards to a Youth KA2 project outline proposal which all of the partners were interested in pursuing which would involve elements of vocational and technical areas of course delivery, induction and confidence building, progression and work placements, case studies and the use of e-learning platforms for blended learning and training programmes.
The proposal is something all of the partners wish to consider and we will continue to work on the project outline in the next few weeks to coincide with the project timetable which requires the application to be submitted by the end of April. The team at Community Cohesion Limited was completed by Kathy Newton, one of our learning mentors, and Mr Phil Taylor, a senior research consultant with the organisation who was particularly keen to meet the entire project team over dinner.
The main activities on the 9th of April included a review of the lessons we had learned from the previous day, and the group was able to discuss and consider the merits of the programmes, how adaptable they were for their own national work, and how we could best to transfer these lessons across the EU. In addition we undertook a partner visit on the same day to the Baltic Quarter in Liverpool which is a well-known business incubator. And the agenda was as follows
Timetable 10.00 Introduction in meeting room – Mike Hobbs
10.10 Tour of Baltic Creative – Chris Green
10.30 Q and A in the meeting room
10.35 Presentation from Louise Gatenby – Red Wigwam
10.50 Q and A
The purpose of the visit was to gain a sense of what a startup/business incubator facility can be like; to interact with some of the businesses, and get a feel for the location. As mentioned the project is about how to best engage people outside the labour market from an employers’ perspective; what do employers look for, what makes a good candidate, a good CV, a good worker. To date we have heard, including on the other partner visits, what we might define as supply-side issues, and what interventions might enable an individual with low skills back into work. To balance this up what would be great would be to hear about demand-side issues; from experience within the recruitment industry.
In terms of my own personal reflections, the main areas I would like to concentrate on were the issues around transfer of best practice, and how we could best measure the journeys that individual trainees make on their transition into employment. In terms of transfer we have to be very clear what it is we are transferring; if it is a process what are the stages, how do individuals progress from one stage to the next, how do we know when they are ready to progress to the next stage, how can we objectively measure progress; how can we assess personal confidence in this context. I think there is still some work to do in these areas which we need to take forwards into the next meeting of the partnership in Spain, and we also need to reflect on the processes we currently have in place nationally to see what elements we can successfully transfer, how and within what context.
MICHAEL HOBBS – BUSINESS MANAGER - COMMUNITY COHESION LIMITED
APRIL 2015
4th partners visit: Paris, 26-28 January 2015
January 26th
All the partners were welcomed at the organisation’s office in Paris, where the team had set up a table of drinks and ‘typically French’ food.
January 27th
Participants were taken to visit a partner organisation close to Paris, in a suburb called Montreuil. There, the group was hosted by the Mission Locale, a local organisation (but member of a network at national level) dedicated to provide advice and mentoring to youngsters (16 to 25 years old), using a ‘global approach’. The idea is to help youngsters not only on employment issues, but also on themes such as education, training, housing, health, mobility etc. The founders of Missions Locales in France were convinced that it was necessary to cover all these issues to help inclusion of youngsters. There are Mission Locales everywhere in France where young job seekers can be welcomed and advised.
The group was welcomed at the Mission Locale and after a short presentation of Itinéraire International and of the programme of the visit, the partners could discover a very interesting programme in relation to the subject of the partnership: the Youth Guarantee.
Since 2014, Mission Locales are in charge of setting up the Youth Guarantee programme. Based on both and European initiative and a French major policy decision, Youth Guarantee is a programme that aims at addressing youth unemployment, by not letting any youngster without a solution within 4 months.
The programme is targeted at Neets (people that are Neither in Employment, nor Education & Training) and especially those in strong economic and social difficulty. The person in charge of the Youth Guarantee at the Mission Locale de Montreuil presented the programme to the participants: after phases of information and identification of the participants, Mission Locale presents a list of candidates before each new session to state representatives who selects the group of beneficiaries. At this point, a follow up process start for 1 year, with a first ‘intensive’ period of mentoring, of 4 weeks, where the work is focused on social skills, group activities, and re-engagement around a project. After this first phase, beneficiaries can start a long term follow up where various opportunities are explored to get closer to employment: trainings, education, work placements, international mobility, every project is an opportunity to gain new skills and knowledge.
The presentation interested all the partners who were asked to provide feedback on Youth Guarantee in their country. As the programme is based on a European initiative, other countries will develop this type of programme.
After a short lunch break, participants were welcomed in another place to attend the afternoon presentations. These were focusing on the core activities of Itinéraire International which are around international mobility as a tool for inclusion. The presentation allowed the participants to understand how it is possible to help young people with fewer opportunities (like NEETS) to access an experience abroad and use it as a positive experience when they return home.
The evening was more European with a dinner organised at a famous Belgian restaurant.
January 28th
All the partners gathered in a working group to give some feedback of the previous day.
Everyone found very interesting the presentation of the Youth Guarantee. The Polish team noticed that it was a good opportunity for adults to get free training. They mentioned that in Poland, going abroad is considered a waste of time. People who go abroad are students, through the Erasmus program, and not people out of the school system. The Irish team raised the fact that there was a variety of people intervening in the Youth Guarantee process, which consist in a global approach. At People and Process, there are two kinds of approaches: the training itself, or a work on professional skills (like resumes, cover letters…). They also appreciated the way Itinéraire International works with youngsters: all the process is individualize. The Italian team noticed that in their country, both people with diploma and unemployed people are able to go abroad, but the areas are usually limited to tourism and social work.
Mike Hobbs from Community Cohesion Limited then gave some news about the future project that the partners had planned to submit: “Aspire” was not approved, because some content was missing on the area of expertise of each partner, what each partner can bring to the project according to its core activity.
Manuel Fernandez from CEPA Oviedo El Fontan suggested to add a workshop activity to the program of the project. The idea would be to train professionals, who can after deliver a training to youngsters.
The Liverpool visit was decided to take place from 7th to 10th of April.
All the partners were welcomed at the organisation’s office in Paris, where the team had set up a table of drinks and ‘typically French’ food.
January 27th
Participants were taken to visit a partner organisation close to Paris, in a suburb called Montreuil. There, the group was hosted by the Mission Locale, a local organisation (but member of a network at national level) dedicated to provide advice and mentoring to youngsters (16 to 25 years old), using a ‘global approach’. The idea is to help youngsters not only on employment issues, but also on themes such as education, training, housing, health, mobility etc. The founders of Missions Locales in France were convinced that it was necessary to cover all these issues to help inclusion of youngsters. There are Mission Locales everywhere in France where young job seekers can be welcomed and advised.
The group was welcomed at the Mission Locale and after a short presentation of Itinéraire International and of the programme of the visit, the partners could discover a very interesting programme in relation to the subject of the partnership: the Youth Guarantee.
Since 2014, Mission Locales are in charge of setting up the Youth Guarantee programme. Based on both and European initiative and a French major policy decision, Youth Guarantee is a programme that aims at addressing youth unemployment, by not letting any youngster without a solution within 4 months.
The programme is targeted at Neets (people that are Neither in Employment, nor Education & Training) and especially those in strong economic and social difficulty. The person in charge of the Youth Guarantee at the Mission Locale de Montreuil presented the programme to the participants: after phases of information and identification of the participants, Mission Locale presents a list of candidates before each new session to state representatives who selects the group of beneficiaries. At this point, a follow up process start for 1 year, with a first ‘intensive’ period of mentoring, of 4 weeks, where the work is focused on social skills, group activities, and re-engagement around a project. After this first phase, beneficiaries can start a long term follow up where various opportunities are explored to get closer to employment: trainings, education, work placements, international mobility, every project is an opportunity to gain new skills and knowledge.
The presentation interested all the partners who were asked to provide feedback on Youth Guarantee in their country. As the programme is based on a European initiative, other countries will develop this type of programme.
After a short lunch break, participants were welcomed in another place to attend the afternoon presentations. These were focusing on the core activities of Itinéraire International which are around international mobility as a tool for inclusion. The presentation allowed the participants to understand how it is possible to help young people with fewer opportunities (like NEETS) to access an experience abroad and use it as a positive experience when they return home.
The evening was more European with a dinner organised at a famous Belgian restaurant.
January 28th
All the partners gathered in a working group to give some feedback of the previous day.
Everyone found very interesting the presentation of the Youth Guarantee. The Polish team noticed that it was a good opportunity for adults to get free training. They mentioned that in Poland, going abroad is considered a waste of time. People who go abroad are students, through the Erasmus program, and not people out of the school system. The Irish team raised the fact that there was a variety of people intervening in the Youth Guarantee process, which consist in a global approach. At People and Process, there are two kinds of approaches: the training itself, or a work on professional skills (like resumes, cover letters…). They also appreciated the way Itinéraire International works with youngsters: all the process is individualize. The Italian team noticed that in their country, both people with diploma and unemployed people are able to go abroad, but the areas are usually limited to tourism and social work.
Mike Hobbs from Community Cohesion Limited then gave some news about the future project that the partners had planned to submit: “Aspire” was not approved, because some content was missing on the area of expertise of each partner, what each partner can bring to the project according to its core activity.
Manuel Fernandez from CEPA Oviedo El Fontan suggested to add a workshop activity to the program of the project. The idea would be to train professionals, who can after deliver a training to youngsters.
The Liverpool visit was decided to take place from 7th to 10th of April.
3rd partner visit: Bialystok, 8-10 September 2014
The third
project visit took place in Białystok, from 8th to 10th
September 2014, and was hosted by Municipal Centre of Methodology Counselling. The
visit was attended by ten delegates from the partner institutions. The meeting
in Poland started with a welcome dinner on Monday evening. The agenda for the
next two days included presentations, working sessions and study visits.
On Tuesday, the participants of the visit attended meetings, presentations and workshops. Firstly, the guests visited the host organization – Municipal Centre of Methodology and Counselling. Presentations included: information about the city and region, the host organization and its activities in the project and the outline of Polish educational system with emphasis on upper secondary and vocational schools. The next item on the day’s agenda was a visit to the Regional Labour Office in Białystok, where we talked about the regional labour market, discussed and analysed current situation, and compared it with situation in the partners’ countries. We also visited the Information Centre which offers practical help in finding employment. The next step was the visit to ‘Europartner’ – a local organization dedicated to promoting social entrepreneurship. ‘Europartner’ currently coordinates a project that assists the formation and development of Social Cooperatives in the region. Employees of the organization presented examples of good practices and explained how this kind of undertakings assist the unemployed and people at risk of marginalization and social exclusion. We learned what kind of problems such initiatives (and the third sector in general) face in Poland. In conclusion of the meeting we agreed that there is an opportunity to establish cooperation in the future between ‘Europartner’ and the Re-engagement partners, and a place for new activities in the area of social entrepreneurship.
Wednesday was dedicated to discussion and workshops. We had a review of the previous day’s activities and participated in a workshop summarizing our projects so far. The summary clearly showed what activities were completed up to this point and what still needs to be done. Another point of the day’s program was the work on the publication that is to be the final result of the project. Partners agreed on the plan of action and division of tasks connected with the publication. There was also time for planning future visits and discussing new project application.
As a host organization we were happy to share our expertise and activities we carried out within the project. Our area of expertise differs from the organizations hosting two previous visits, however, we hope that we managed to add to the development of the project.
On Tuesday, the participants of the visit attended meetings, presentations and workshops. Firstly, the guests visited the host organization – Municipal Centre of Methodology and Counselling. Presentations included: information about the city and region, the host organization and its activities in the project and the outline of Polish educational system with emphasis on upper secondary and vocational schools. The next item on the day’s agenda was a visit to the Regional Labour Office in Białystok, where we talked about the regional labour market, discussed and analysed current situation, and compared it with situation in the partners’ countries. We also visited the Information Centre which offers practical help in finding employment. The next step was the visit to ‘Europartner’ – a local organization dedicated to promoting social entrepreneurship. ‘Europartner’ currently coordinates a project that assists the formation and development of Social Cooperatives in the region. Employees of the organization presented examples of good practices and explained how this kind of undertakings assist the unemployed and people at risk of marginalization and social exclusion. We learned what kind of problems such initiatives (and the third sector in general) face in Poland. In conclusion of the meeting we agreed that there is an opportunity to establish cooperation in the future between ‘Europartner’ and the Re-engagement partners, and a place for new activities in the area of social entrepreneurship.
Wednesday was dedicated to discussion and workshops. We had a review of the previous day’s activities and participated in a workshop summarizing our projects so far. The summary clearly showed what activities were completed up to this point and what still needs to be done. Another point of the day’s program was the work on the publication that is to be the final result of the project. Partners agreed on the plan of action and division of tasks connected with the publication. There was also time for planning future visits and discussing new project application.
As a host organization we were happy to share our expertise and activities we carried out within the project. Our area of expertise differs from the organizations hosting two previous visits, however, we hope that we managed to add to the development of the project.
Dissemination activities...
On 12th June 2014 Municipal Centre of Methodology Counselling organized a conference "Labour market in Białystok and means of providing assistance in finding employment for graduates and the unemployed". The speakers included the director of local Unemployment Office and representatives of institutions working in the field of assisting the unemployed and combating unemployment. The conference was attended by teachers, professional development consultants, workers of local employment agencies, graduates and other persons interested in the subject of unemployment. The conference was an opportunity to present "Re-engagement" project, present an updated and accurate picture of the situation on the local labour market, and exchange experiences.
Details, documents and photos on the page in polish (Languages>Polski)
On 12th June 2014 Municipal Centre of Methodology Counselling organized a conference "Labour market in Białystok and means of providing assistance in finding employment for graduates and the unemployed". The speakers included the director of local Unemployment Office and representatives of institutions working in the field of assisting the unemployed and combating unemployment. The conference was attended by teachers, professional development consultants, workers of local employment agencies, graduates and other persons interested in the subject of unemployment. The conference was an opportunity to present "Re-engagement" project, present an updated and accurate picture of the situation on the local labour market, and exchange experiences.
Details, documents and photos on the page in polish (Languages>Polski)
2nd partner visit: Oviedo, 7-9 April 2014
The second meeting of the “Re-engage vulnerable adults with Europe” Grundtvig partnership took place from April 7th to 9th. Fifteen delegates from the 6 partner organizations met in Oviedo and participated in the working sessions organized by CEPA “El Fontán”, the host of the visit. We had an informal meeting on Monday evening, and the next days, April 8th,9th we had working sessions and presentations.
Marian Presented the City of Oviedo, The Spanish Educational System and the courses and training offered by the CEPA.
Manuel introduced the activity that the CEPA is carrying out in the frame of the project: “Addressing diversity and contact the world of work”.
We visited the Public Employment Service where we had a presentation by Myriam González about the Professional Certificate. The director told us about the practical and technical details of the employment office.
María Luz presented the methodological aspects of the adaptive teaching of English, focusing on the teacher role, learners’ expectations, communicative approach and teacher coordination.
Finally we had a working session together with a group of learners and we had the opportunity to see how they work on the e-learning platform. We also had and interchange of views with a live feedback from the learners about the training program they are following and the impact on their learning process.
On April 9th we had a review of what we had learnt from the previous day and we discussed about the benefits of the program developed in Oviedo. We also considered the convenience of extending the partnership to a KA2 Erasmus+.
Despite the differences between the institutions we think it is worth highlighting that both People & Process from Dublin and CEPA El Fontán from Oviedo are working in an adaptive way to achieve their goals and the goals of the project: re-engage vulnerable adults.
From our point of view as the host organization, we are pleased to note the level of coordination of teachers within the institution and the collaboration with the Employment Service. We are also very happy with the learner’s feedback about the program. We appreciate the effort they do and their sense of responsibility when they face their training with and adaptive approach which implies extra work and more dedication of time.
We shared our expertise with our partners as a way of contribution to the project. We try to promote an adaptive teaching and show how the values of this program enrich the learning process.
Marian Presented the City of Oviedo, The Spanish Educational System and the courses and training offered by the CEPA.
Manuel introduced the activity that the CEPA is carrying out in the frame of the project: “Addressing diversity and contact the world of work”.
We visited the Public Employment Service where we had a presentation by Myriam González about the Professional Certificate. The director told us about the practical and technical details of the employment office.
María Luz presented the methodological aspects of the adaptive teaching of English, focusing on the teacher role, learners’ expectations, communicative approach and teacher coordination.
Finally we had a working session together with a group of learners and we had the opportunity to see how they work on the e-learning platform. We also had and interchange of views with a live feedback from the learners about the training program they are following and the impact on their learning process.
On April 9th we had a review of what we had learnt from the previous day and we discussed about the benefits of the program developed in Oviedo. We also considered the convenience of extending the partnership to a KA2 Erasmus+.
Despite the differences between the institutions we think it is worth highlighting that both People & Process from Dublin and CEPA El Fontán from Oviedo are working in an adaptive way to achieve their goals and the goals of the project: re-engage vulnerable adults.
From our point of view as the host organization, we are pleased to note the level of coordination of teachers within the institution and the collaboration with the Employment Service. We are also very happy with the learner’s feedback about the program. We appreciate the effort they do and their sense of responsibility when they face their training with and adaptive approach which implies extra work and more dedication of time.
We shared our expertise with our partners as a way of contribution to the project. We try to promote an adaptive teaching and show how the values of this program enrich the learning process.
1st parner visit: Dublin, 20-22 January 2014
The first partner visit of the Re-Engage project took place in Dublin from January 20th to 22nd, and was hosted by People and Process Ltd.
All the partners gathered on Monday 20th in the evening for an informal dinner so everyone could get to know each other.
The working session started on Tuesday 21st : we left Dublin to go to Monaghan, two hours away from the capital, to visit one of the many People and Process' training centres in Ireland. Brian Gallagher started with an introduction of this country : its culture, traditions, but also the economic situation, with a focus on employment, and on emigration/immigration. Then, he told us about People and Process, a training organisation which aims at providing adults with training, in order to get them back on the labour market. The training offer covers a large part of Ireland, depending on the needs of the regions. The subjects are many and varied : engineering, IT, communication, business, project management... Following on from the training, the students usually have a work experience so they can discover working conditions.
Following Brian's intervention, Tony Murphy did a presentation about the advantages of group exercises, and then Tom Ryder about work placement. This is what we can remember from these presentations :
In the afternoon, we met some students from the centre. We exchanged with them and their tutor about their opinion on the courses, their expectations and the way they see their future.
On Wednesday 22nd, we summarized what had been done the day before. We exchanged about what was important to remember in the framework of our project. We talked about a way to create a learning process inspired from each organisation, that could be applied to all, as our goal is to exchange practices to reach adults that are no longer in a training or working process. This process will be a key element of our final publication.
The following visit was planned to occur from 9th to 12th of April in Oviedo, Spain.
Mike Hobbs from Community Cohesion Limited briefly presented the project evaluation process : after each visit, every participant will fill up an evaluation form, dealing with different aspects of the visit, such as contents, agenda or partners contribution, and will give a mark from 1 to 4. The final overview of these evaluations will enable us to produce a global evaluation at the end of the project.
The visit ended with a presentation of the new program Erasmus + and the possibilities it gives us to create new projects.
All the partners gathered on Monday 20th in the evening for an informal dinner so everyone could get to know each other.
The working session started on Tuesday 21st : we left Dublin to go to Monaghan, two hours away from the capital, to visit one of the many People and Process' training centres in Ireland. Brian Gallagher started with an introduction of this country : its culture, traditions, but also the economic situation, with a focus on employment, and on emigration/immigration. Then, he told us about People and Process, a training organisation which aims at providing adults with training, in order to get them back on the labour market. The training offer covers a large part of Ireland, depending on the needs of the regions. The subjects are many and varied : engineering, IT, communication, business, project management... Following on from the training, the students usually have a work experience so they can discover working conditions.
Following Brian's intervention, Tony Murphy did a presentation about the advantages of group exercises, and then Tom Ryder about work placement. This is what we can remember from these presentations :
- A professional relationship with students throughout the guiding : students are placed in working conditions by their tutor, so they learn how to behave professionally.
- The psychological approach of behaviours : the tutor spends time presenting schemes of psychological reactions. For instance, he explains what is an adult, a child and a parent behaviour, so that when a students shows signs of such a behaviour, the tutor can tell him why it is good or bad for the group.
- The importance of work placement : theoretical knowledge must be completed with a practical experience, an internship. This is a key experience before the students actually enter the labour market as employees.
- The letter of recommandation : at the end of the internship, each participant receives a letter of recommandation from his work placement mentor, which is very important to find a job.
In the afternoon, we met some students from the centre. We exchanged with them and their tutor about their opinion on the courses, their expectations and the way they see their future.
On Wednesday 22nd, we summarized what had been done the day before. We exchanged about what was important to remember in the framework of our project. We talked about a way to create a learning process inspired from each organisation, that could be applied to all, as our goal is to exchange practices to reach adults that are no longer in a training or working process. This process will be a key element of our final publication.
The following visit was planned to occur from 9th to 12th of April in Oviedo, Spain.
Mike Hobbs from Community Cohesion Limited briefly presented the project evaluation process : after each visit, every participant will fill up an evaluation form, dealing with different aspects of the visit, such as contents, agenda or partners contribution, and will give a mark from 1 to 4. The final overview of these evaluations will enable us to produce a global evaluation at the end of the project.
The visit ended with a presentation of the new program Erasmus + and the possibilities it gives us to create new projects.
Visits
Each partner will organise a three-day visit dedicated to the project progress. The visit will include a presentation of a model related to a specific topic by the host organisation, in the form of a workshop, seminar, visit, etc., according to the choice of the host partner. The partners will also examine and analyse the experience shared by the host with the aim of identifying the strongest competencies, or the expertise of the host in his topic. Finally, a special time will be dedicated to a common work of the partners and to a choice of best practices, with the aim to integrate them in the guide.
For now, the planning of the visits is the following:
Each partner will organise a three-day visit dedicated to the project progress. The visit will include a presentation of a model related to a specific topic by the host organisation, in the form of a workshop, seminar, visit, etc., according to the choice of the host partner. The partners will also examine and analyse the experience shared by the host with the aim of identifying the strongest competencies, or the expertise of the host in his topic. Finally, a special time will be dedicated to a common work of the partners and to a choice of best practices, with the aim to integrate them in the guide.
For now, the planning of the visits is the following:
- 20th - 23rd of January 2014: Dublin, People & Process Ltd as host organisation:
- 7th - 10th of April 2014: Oviedo, CEPA Oviedo El Fontan as host organisation:Focus on the presentation of our area of expertise .
- September 2014: Bialystok, Municipal Centre of Methodology and Councelling in Bialystok as host organisation:Educational offer for adults in terms of the situation on the labour market. We plan to conduct analysis of causes of abandoning education and exclusion from the labour market with participation local organizations working with specialists in adult education.
- December 2014 : Paris, Itinéraire International as host organisation.
- March 2015 : Bitonto, ASA S.r.l as host organisation.
- June 2015 : Liverpool, Community Cohesion Limited as host organisation.
- July 2015 : End of the project visit.