How to measure informal competences?

What are the personal, social and organisational competences needed to be successful in the service economy and how can these competences be measured? – this question sums up the issues that the LLP project VITA currently works on. With European societies being more and more based on the service economy, professional lives are increasingly determined by the need for continuous learning to adapt to rapidly changing demands and concepts like external (customer) orientation, team work/ cooperation, etc. Especially social competences are necessary for effective management in the service sector and are becoming competitive factors at the job level and as such aspired competences both for employment and societal reasons.

These rather cross-cutting competences are often learnt in informal contexts, be it in extracurricular activities connected with school education, societal learning (active citizenship) or organisational learning in higher education beyond formalised curricula. Thus the mentioned competences are being developed in a sphere that overlaps all educational sectors: schools, higher education, VET and adult education.

As far as the validation of these competences is concerned an "off the shelf"-assessment against standardised systems (e.g. entirely developed on basis of EQF, ECVET and ECTS) is barely conceivable because in most of the cases they are not suitable to display non-cognitive learning outcomes that determine service orientation, such as interaction, tolerance, commitment, motivation etc.

VITA intends to link formal validation approaches based on EQF with evidence of social and personal competence development which are essential in the service sector.
The project is currently seeking for experts from informal/non-formal pioneer projects in any learning domain to inquire them about innovative approaches and projects to validate service-related competences. In order to make this inquiry process as efficient as possible, we have created an online questionnaire which can conveniently be filled in online and can be found here:
http://dieberater.vitasurvey.sgizmo.com/s3/

Healthbox – successful work in adult education

 

Almost one year after the EU-Grundtvig project “Healthbox- Integration of Health Issues in Adult Education”  came to a successful end, the potential remains for the broader, continued usage of the material. Trainers from across various countries expressed their interest in using the Healthbox material in their work with people from socially and economically disadvantaged backgrounds. 

Promoting healthy lifestyles through education

In September, Doncaster College (UK) started to use the Healthbox with 3500 learners, and following positive feedback on the project outcomes, die Berater® went on to share information  about the educational input of the Healthbox through internal workshops for their trainers. In these workshops groups discussed the usage of the Healthbox in different training settings, providing additional practical dissemination channels.
The training materials can be downloaded here: www.bridgestoeurope.com

State of the Art: Wikis in education

Wiki tools are used worldwide as a collaborative and participative working processes tool mostly to organise and develop information from an open group of users. Those collaborative groups, beyond the technical knowledge, need a set of rules governing users’ behaviours, so a respectful and civil interaction can take place.

WikiSkills aims to join the Information Technology learning dynamics with this social collaborative aspect that can be an important added value for society. Wikis are not only an Information Technology tool; WikiSkills aims to investigate their impact on society as it implies very important social behavior such as cooperation, respect, team working, content development and community management.

The WikiSkills project aims to analyse and apply benefits of using wikis for lifelong learning programmes, thus empowering civic behaviour, social inclusion, employability, cultural understanding and abilities to learn autonomously.

Within WikiSkills a European State of the Art Report was developed, which aims at describing the European situation regarding Wiki tools uses within the 4 LLP targets groups. To this end, a desktop research, and a selection of good practices, has been conducted in each partner’s country, in order to identify the status of those wiki tools in European educational environments. Moreover, the report includes an on-line national survey addressed to educational practitioners of each partner's country.
The present document sums up the results of the desktop research of wiki tools, existing projects, good practices and results of the national on-line survey. Finally, an analysis of success factors using wikis in educational contexts as a result of the previous parts of the report.

The full European State of the Art Report can be downloaded here:
http://newsletter.dieberater.com/download_berater/doc_wikiskills_stateoftheart.pdf

European School Competition for climate friendly Schools

Climate change represents one of the greatest environmental, social and economic threats facing the planet. Especially the younger generations need to learn to live sustainably in order to counteract climate change and subsequent environmental problems, since they are likely to experience the effects of climate change much more than we do today.
CLIMES (Climate-Friendly Management in European Schools) is a practical learning project aiming at climate friendly management in European Schools. CLIMES will develop a systematic approach to introduce the topic of climate change mitigation and adaptation in European schools.

Now is the time for action! We invite you to join a European school competition!

Our road to a climate friendly school - Ongoing or completed, short term or long term projects on climate change can enter the competition.
Register on our website www.climes.eu and e-mail a project description written in English
to award@climes.eu together with any other documentation (reports, media coverage,
pictures, videos, drawings etc.) about the project, and a picture of all the pupils that
participated in the project.

Who can participate?

The competition is targeted towards pupils currently attending any European school, at the
age between 14 and 19 years. Competition entries can be submitted by individuals, small
groups or school classes.

And the award goes to…

The projects will be evaluated by an independent jury according to the following criteria:

• Level of student initiative
• Ingenuity
• Sustainability
• Practical use
• Level of impact

 

Award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden

The winners will be invited to present their project at the CLIMES-conference in Stockholm
13 to 15 December 2012. The CLIMES-conference will include seminars and workshops for
the pupils as well as an award ceremony.

When is the closing date?

The competition entries are to be presented by October 1st 2012.
You find more information on our CLIMES website: www.climes.eu.
For further information please contact Bozica Ilijic, b.ilijic@dieberater.com.

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