Combat Social Exclusion with "Creative Learning Communities"

The effective inclusion of individuals from groups at risk in the educational systems throughout Europe is a priority policy area within the EU. VET (Vocational Education and Training) is a means of raising skills and retaining individuals who would drop out of the educational system. Therefore VET must offer innovative learning opportunities. Moreover, creativity is a crucial competence for individuals with disadvantaged backgrounds as it can empower them to (re)-enter the labour market.
 
Acquiring Competences instead of Theoretical Knowledge
The European Project CLC (Creative Learning Communities), coordinated by die Berater®, aims at supplying trainers working with learners from groups at risk with creative and innovative learning materials. Creative Learning Communities are learning environments, based on Peter Senge’s notion of “learning organizations”, where people can learn how to think creatively in order to develop new ideas and put them into action. The project will provide VET trainers throughout Europe with new teaching pathways to engage with learners from groups at risk so they can nurture their learning and creativity development processes. The competences acquired by learners will permit them to change perspective and develop new ideas and possibilities for themselves.

CLC and the European Key Competences
The main target groups of the CLC project are trainers and learners in VET. The project concentrates on the development of Key Competences by groups at risk ranging from minorities or elderly people to long-term unemployed, early school leavers and those below the poverty line.

“Key Competences are seen as combination of knowledge, skills and attitude that all individuals need for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment." (2006/962/EC) The CLC project is devoted to the Key Competence 7 (KC7) – sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. KC7 is an individual’s ability to turn ideas into action, including creativity, innovation and risk-taking, as well as the ability to plan and manage projects. KC7 means translating ideas into new products and processes, and taking novelty out into the world in an effort to create value or improve upon existing products, systems or practices.

Research conducted as part of the CLC project was carried out in 2011 with the project’s target groups in order to develop training materials according to their needs. CLC will provide teaching materials which will be available for VET trainers to teach disadvantaged learners specific skills and competences that are essential for their well-being and improvement of their current life situation.

Creative Learning Material for Europe
Within CLC educational experts develop a toolbox and manual which entail essential creative teaching and learning materials for VET trainers and learners to be used in the training. The teaching and learning materials will enhance VET trainers to incorporate creative teaching and learning into their curricula. VET learners will be able to develop directly or indirectly key competences using the toolbox and the manual for more in depth information on the project.

The toolbox will be available by the end of 2012 and can be downloaded from www.skills4me.eu