A project partnership consortium comprising seven partners from six different European countries: Romania (Coordinator), Poland, Slovenia, Italy, Cyprus and UK were put together to address the priority of Grundtvig Multilateral projects “Quality assurance of Adult Learning, including the professional development of staff” (Skills for True well‐being, 527797‐LLP‐1‐2012‐1‐RO‐GRUNDTVIG). The proposal of the project also corresponds to the European Pact for Mental Health and well‐being launched at a Conference on Mental Health and well‐being on 13 June 2008. It was stated that “The level of mental health and well‐being in the population is a key resource for the success of the EU as a knowledge‐based society and economy. Hence, the realisation of the objectives of the Lisbon strategy, on growth and jobs, social cohesion and sustainable development. The mental health and well‐being of citizens and groups, including all age groups, different genders, ethnic origins and socio‐economic groups, needs to be promoted based on targeted interventions that take into account and are sensitive to the diversity of the European population.” The consortium of the European partnership project comprises of public and private bodies, universities, adult education organisations, training and consulting companies, social cooperatives and non for profit organisations (Skills for True well‐being, 527797‐LLP‐1‐2012‐1‐RO‐GRUNDTVIG).

Well‐being has been identified as a foundation for effective teaching and learning. Educators/Professionals/Tutors in adult education are especially vulnerable to burn out syndrome. They spend most of time interacting with students and co‐workers and need to update their knowledge and skills continually and sometimes they need to attend to the challenging task of evaluating Adult Learners or subordinates as well as being evaluated. Without practical tools for monitoring their inner state and tools for self‐management they are likely to suffer from decreased motivation and work engagement, drop in their creativity and work performance as well as poor health and hence frequent absenteeism. In order to work fruitfully the educators need practical skills enabling them to find and maintain their optimum teaching state. Satisfying levels of well‐being in the field of education certainly plays an essential role. The success of education relies heavily on the quality of interaction between a teacher/trainer and students. Research shows that well‐being is a core inner resource that allows a person to use his or her potential fully, work productively, deal with stress and life challenges, contribute to the community and create meaningful life aligned with one's values. Well‐being is the foundation for physical, emotional, mental and social health. well‐being is of growing significance in policy circles and public debate. However, the education system does not strongly focus on providing people with skills that directly help to enhance and sustain their well‐being.

Research shows that well‐being is a core inner resource that allows a person to use his or her potential fully, work productively, deal with stress and life challenges, contribute to the community and create meaningful life aligned with one's values. Well‐being is the foundation for physical, emotional, mental and social health. Well‐being is of growing significance in policy circles and public debate. However, the education system does not strongly focus on providing people with skills that directly help to enhance and sustain their well‐being. In an attempt to identify and develop self‐management skills to create satisfying levels of sustainable well‐being, the consortium of the European partnership project (Skills for True well‐being, 527797‐LLP‐1‐2012‐1‐RO‐GRUNDTVIG), engaged in a Transnational well‐being Analysis to examine a baseline well‐being level in Adult Learners on National and European levels as well as define key needs related to promoting well‐being. The findings of the Transnational well‐being Analysis (comprised into a Transnational Wellbeing Analysis Report), served as the basis for developing pilot courses, workshops and seminars for Adult Learners. Following on from there, was the well‐being Pilot courses implementation phase as well as the evaluation of the pilot courses.

The implementation phase of pilot courses for Adult Learners was aimed at examining specific needs of adult learners related to well‐being and support adult education organisations in creating holistic organisational paradigm which empowers people at all levels to achieve more of their potential. The implementation phase of the courses were to further create supportive learning environment that encouraged Adult Learners to express themselves, develop their talents, explore new opportunities and pursue challenging goals. 

Another important product of the project was the Wellness – Guidebook, which serves as service manual for adult learners and professionals in the field of adult education. The guidebook outlines specific skills that allow adult learners and professionals to monitor their levels of wellbeing and self-regulatory strategies in  order to reach satisfying levels of wellness. The guidebook contains information on different skills set that is beneficial for wellbeing in different educational context.

The project partners produced a video lasting 23 minutes about the design of the courses of the project. The main purpose of the video detailed the experiences of the partners and the dissemination of the project outcomes. It further detailed the benefits of the courses as experienced by the target groups who participated in the courses.

The project website: http://www.welnessllp.eu/en/

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Author: Dr Mona Vintila, PhD, project coordinator, West University of Timisoara
E-mail: mona.vintila@socio.uvt.ro