Month: December 2021

After a fantastic two-year journey that engaged more than 200 European practitioners in adult education, the consortium of the DIMA 2.0 project is proud to launch not only policy recommendations and a toolkit with strategies for adult education providers but also a self-learning platform.

DIMA 2.0, a project that sought to improve and extend the supply of adult education strategies will be officially completed by the end of this month. The project developed a set of resources for adult education providers and adult educators that will guide them to design high-quality strategies, taking into consideration the needs and characteristics of low-skilled and low-qualified individuals. Over the course of the project, the partners actively engaged adult education providers, adult educators, education policymakers, academics, and specialists in their countries to identify and document the national and European needs and to ensure the relevance of the project’s results.

The DIMA 2.0 resources aim at the professional development of these professionals aligned with the needs of their countries. The main deliverables of the project include:

• A Toolkit for developing and monitoring strategies for adult education providers
• Training modules for adult education providers and educators: a comprehensive curriculum and training materials to support educators and teachers based on the resources of the Toolkit, which includes four Modules supporting adult educators to teach specific key competences to adults, wish a focus on the use of digital means. Additionally, the training modules have been developed as a self-paced online course, which is hosted on the project’s e-learning platform.
• An E-learning space and OERs that features a self-paced E-learning Course for adult education providers and educators, with online training modules that focus on strategies that will cover the needs of low-skilled adults. The E-learning space also hosts an e-Library with useful resources related to Adult Education needs and priorities.

These tools and resources have been developed based on the findings of an extensive survey that took place in the beginning of the project in countries of the organisations participating in the consortium and in Europe in general.

The project has also produced a policy recommendation summarising lessons-learned, providing guidance for adult education providers and decision-makers. This set of recommendations will be building a bridge between policymakers, organisations, and providers working in adult education and add to the dialogue on European ALE policy and its initiatives.

The project’s deliverables are expected to enhance the motivation, knowledge, and understanding of adult education providers in the field, and build their competences to design more effective programmes and improve existing ones, with a special focus on low-skilled or low-qualified adults.

The project kicked-off back in December 2019 by a consortium from Cyprus, Belgium, Spain, Ireland, and an associate partner from Switzerland. Building on the great groundwork done by DIMA 2.0, the project’s consortium is happy about the achievement and is thanking all ALE practitioners and stakeholders who have contributed to this great outcome.

DIMA 2.0 will be officially completed by the end of this month. Aiming to improve and extend the supply of adult education strategies, DIMA 2.0 developed a set of resources for adult education providers and adult educators that will guide them to design high-quality strategies, taking into consideration the needs and characteristics of low-skilled and low-qualified individuals. Over the course of the project, the partners actively engaged adult education providers, adult educators, education policymakers, academics, and specialists in their countries to identify and document the national and European needs and to ensure the relevance of the project’s results.

Check out the fourth and last newsletter of the DIMA 2.0 project below:

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CARDET is proud to announce the successful completion of the conference ‘Developing Adult Education Strategies: Trends and Priorities in Cyprus and the EU’. The conference was co-organised with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth, and the consulting company INNOVADE LI LTD, with the support of the Lifelong Learning Foundation (IDEP) and the University of Nicosia.

The conference facilitated the dialogue between educational organisations, adult educators and national educational institutions on current issues concerning adult education and lifelong learning in Cyprus. At the same time, tools, policies, good practices and other initiatives promoted by the European Union in this field were presented and highlighted. The conference was also an opportunity for representatives of private and public adult education institutions and educators for further discussion and cooperation at national level.

The conference commenced with welcoming remarks by Dr Charalambos Vrasidas, Executive Director at CARDET. Consecutively Dr Elias Margadjis, Director of Secondary Technical and Vocational Education in Cyprus, highlighted the current challenges presented in the field of adult education in Cyprus and the role of the Ministry of Education to meet the requirements and expectations of the trainees and trainers.

This was followed by a presentation of the Erasmus + Project “DIMA 2.0: Developing Strategies for Adult Education Providers and Adult Educators”, which was the project that the conference was based on, by Andreas Georgiou, Director at INNOVADE LI.

The rest of the conference, focused on adult education and training on a local and EU level, with representatives from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth presenting the actions taken, and important programs and initiatives, such as Eurydice, EPALE, and the Renewed European Agenda for Adult Learning (EAAL). In addition, Tina Mavrič, project manager at the European Association of the Education of Adults (ΕΑΕΑ), provided an outlook on the state of adult education and the collaboration of different organisations on an EU level. The conference concluded with a panel discussion on the future of adult education in Europe. The discussion was attended by Dr Elias Margadjis, Director of Secondary Technical and Vocational Education, Tina Mavrič on behalf of the EAEA, and Andreas Tsolakis from the Directorate of Primary Education of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport and Youth. The discussion was moderated by Dr Charalambos Vrasidas. The discussion highlighted the importance of introducing quality standards for the qualifications of adult educators, and the importance of the pedagogical abilities of the trainers. The complexity of the adult education sector in Cyprus and the fact that there is a decentralised system with many programs, which are managed by different government agencies in different ministries without central supervision, were also discussed.

Overall, the conference found that the field of adult education in Europe will undergo several changes and developments in the coming years and that the field of has many prospects for development, while emphasizing the possibilities of its contribution to personal and professional development, participation and the well-being of citizens.