Emphasising basic skills in the European Year of Skills
On Tuesday 27 June, from 10 am to 4 pm CEST, EPALE will be hosting the online discussion Emphasising basic skills in the European Year of Skills.
The written discussion will be introduced by a live stream (10-10.45 am CEST), with Sam Duncan, Associate Professor in Adult Education and Literacies at UCL Institute of Education, and Estera Možina, Slovenian Institute for Adult Education, moderated by Tamás Harangozó from the European Basic Skills Network.
The live stream will be followed by a moderated written discussion, hosting the contributions of our EPALE community members.
Investing in basic skills in the framework of the EU Year of Skills is inevitable to ensure that its objectives are met. For any reform to succeed in the long run should consider adults with insufficient skills to allow for a wider participation.
Through this online discussion, we will be focusing on the role of basic skills initiatives in the future of EU reforms addressing skills. We will address the following questions that were in the centre of recent basic skills-related EU projects:
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How can we call for action for basic skills development during the EU Year of Skills?
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What are the main challenges and potentials in the professionalisation of basic skills trainers?
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How can ongoing EU policies in adult learning (microcredentials and individual learning accounts) contribute to the professionalisation of basic skills trainers?
We warmly invite you to share your experience and initiatives.
Comments are already open, so you can start sharing your thoughts, resources and suggestions.
Comments
'Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility'
Thank you for your comment also. Schools and training programs typically fixate on a defined career path, but most people’s careers do not follow such predictable paths. The ability to be more flexible in a career means that you can learn new skills and assume responsibilities outside of your original position.
Basic skills
Basic skills have the greatest rate of return if they are learned at school age. What basic skills can be learned in middle age so that their learning is effective?
reflections
Learning basic skills is a process, they are formed in a new quality at each age. More "experienced" students should be helped to organize and realize their existing skills.
Developing a mindset of…
Developing a mindset of lifelong learning is crucial in middle age. Embracing the opportunity to learn new things, staying curious, and being open to acquiring knowledge and skills in various areas can lead to personal growth.
development of skills
If some 10 years ago 3R skills were as an important topic in discussions then now we we are speaking of 5 or even 6 C s , 8 C s skills . The number of necessary skills are growing .This process demonstrates that the learning to learn and more precisely the learning skills have to be developed more intensively to obtain skills and competences for everybody not only for adult educators.
Good point
I totally agree with you, Peter. Stay curious, be open to gaining knowledge, skills, inspiration in different contexts.
learning skills
The roots for the development of basic skills “come”from the families,their attitude to the development of motivation to learn . Parents and teachers serve as role models for their children in developing of learning skills. We have to speak more about the development of learning skills at different age groups.
This is so true, Ilze! Thank…
This is so true, Ilze! Thank you for highlighting the role of families!
Return of investment
Return of investment is actually a great notion to promote basic skills trainings to employers, workplaces.
You may find this OER section interesting which is about how we can calculate return of investment of adult basic skills programs. You can find more information about initiatives that tried to measure the return.
You will need to scroll a bit down on this page to find the 'Return of investment' chapter.
Open the OER section here.
There is an interesting graph too in the OER!
Hi! The most straight…
Hi! The most straight-forward example is digital skills. That's something that seniors didn't learn at school, but that is nowadays considered to be very "basic" skills.
Pašvadības prasmes - rezultāts vai process?
Pašvadības prasmes nosaka cilvēka gatavību "kārtot dzīves eksāmenus", pielāgojoties mainīgajām nodarbinātības prasībām. Pašvadības prasmes veidojas pakāpeniski, vieda mentora vadībā: uzticoties, atbalstot, ticot. Pedagogs ir kā zinātnieks un mākslinieks vienā personā, kuram ir nepieciešamās zināšanas, bet zināšanu pielietošana katrā konkrētajā gadījumā, ir māksla.
Kāds ir Jūsu viedoklis?
Self-management skills - result or process?
Self-management skills determine a person's readiness to "take life's exams" by adapting to changing employment requirements. Self-management skills are developed gradually, under the guidance of a smart mentor: by trusting, supporting, believing. A teacher is like a scientist and an artist in one person who has the necessary knowledge, but the application of knowledge in each specific case is an art.
What is your opinion?
self management skills
I completely agree with Elga , that teacher and adult educator is a great actor and researcher who needs to learn as much as possible about the group,participants of the course before the course is being run. Thinking of being a great actor........agree completely. Emotional environment is usually of great importance to keep the attention of the listeners.
What a nice way to put it!
Thank you again for your comment, Elga!
I truly believe that the skill you call self-management skill is one of the main objective for adult learning programs. To me it refers to autonomy that one reaches as one moves beyond the challenges posed by the changing labour market, as you propose, but also any challenges one faces in other fields of life (family, learning, social relationships etc). This is very often reflected in the attitude or behavioural element of the competence concept.
In my experience, it calls for a carefully arranged learning process that is built on improving learner autonomy to reach this end, that is especially important for basic skills programs.
Ilze & Tomas!
Thanks for the important comments. We all want to be able to take care of ourselves for as long as possible, to use the latest technologies ourselves, and to be the determinants of our everyday life, so such a discussion is important in order to crystallize the right approach.
Basic skills
In the future, who can decide about the use of micro-credentials and level of education they will be used on? Is it only convenient for university stuff/learners or it can be recognized and valuated in adult learning systems (for example, second chance/basic adult schools) in various countries?
I believe we have yet to see…
I believe we have yet to see the range of adoption the EU approach to microcredentials will reach in the future. One potential are might be universities and higher education institutions who already offer modular courses that not necessarily lead to full qualifications, but show a diverse nature of certifications (for example, business training programs, micromasters, professional development courses). Often these non-formal qualifications or certificates are handed out after completing online courses which implies all the more reason to go for microcredentials.
In vocational education and training (VET), it may be more difficult to adopt microcredentials in some countries where VET systems are rather inflexible and somewhat chaotic. Nevertheless, the potential is there.
For adult learning programs it may be more up to employers' reception and judgement just how much value they see into using for example digital badges.
For the professional development of basic skills trainers EBSN's project offers teachers modules that are awarded by microcredentials and it is very much in line with the EU approach.
You might want to look into the EBSN Professional Development Series here.
Social and emotional skills
Social and emotional skills are becoming increasingly vital to all parts of life in a world that changes so quickly. Being socially and emotionally skilled helps an individual gain overall well-being, do well at work, and keep learning throughout their lives. But in a time where the primary emphasis is on digital skills, how can educators effectively encourage and support the development of social and emotional skills among adult learners?
reflections
Social and emotional skills - this, above all, could be the problem of the "digital generation". Maybe you should try to look at this issue from the other side?
Great point, Liga! I think…
Great point, Liga!
I think we tend to forget about the 'human' element when we discuss skills. Especially since we highlight 'skills' as opposed to 'competence', which I think had a broader scope.
Among all the EU framework of skills, I think the least discussed framework is the 2020 published EU framework called LifeComp. Its title reflects a broader scope: The European Framework for Personal, Social and Learning to learn Key Competence.
- The personal area includes self-regulation, flexibility, wellbeing.
- The social area includes empathy, communication, collaboration.
- The learning to learn area includes growth mindset, critical thinking, managing learning
It may interesting to look at how LifeComp can play a role in adult basic skills program design and in other adult learning programs too.
survival skills
What about survival skills ? They are also very, very necessary . Do we speak and work enough to develop these skills ?How do we develop these skills especially for marginalized groups?
I think cases when it really…
I think cases when it really comes to the most disadvantaged people who may have cumulative challenges where on obstacle result in another (e.g. lack of qualification, unemployment, loss of living safety, being exposed to criminal environment etc) is an example where basic skills programs cannot be the one-stop-shop solution, but rather calls for a multi-sectoral approach, most typically with the collaboration of social, health, employment and training sector at the same time or in some order.
It would be interesting to read projects addressing similar types of target groups!
One such initiative can be…
One such initiative can be mentioned here:
"The Young Service Steward Program is an EEA and Norway Grants Fund for Youth Employment Project implemented by an international consortium with organizations from Hungary – Romania – Spain with professional support from Norway."
It focuses on two areas of development:
- "Support NEETs aged 25-29 by a 360° competence upgrade in a blend of digital skills, life skills, counselling, and employment in a flexible delivery system.
- Establish Local employment agreements among the key stakeholder of PES/public/private activation to enforce the 360° competence upgrade.
The Young Service Steward Program aimes at preventing the growing competence gap between activation programs and the skills needs of the labour market. The Program matures the local employment within welfare and environmental services.
The objective of the Young Service Steward Program is to use the 360° NEET competence upgrade to widen the employment and vocational possibilities for the NEET group better involved and included.
The outputs of the program will come as tools to improve digital skills, life skills, counselling, mapping tool, and by an innovative Impact Prospect to show how the NEET Youth can become a part of the solution, instead of being the problem of weak local communities. This will be in the form of e-learning, guides, LMS, and virtual tools." (YSS project website)
Another interesting project from Romania
Another interesting project from Romania was presented at EBSN's annual conference earlier this month. Its called REDEAL.
The REDEAL project is about enhance lifelong learning opportunities for adults in disadvantaged areas by developing the adult learning infrastructure and services at community level. The project offers professionalisation opportunities to adult trainers to engage disadvantageous adults.
Read more about this initiative on the project website or the presentation slides given by Maria Toia from CPIP, a project partner who is also an EBSN member organisation.
21st century illiteracy
Please describe - what is 21st century illiteracy?
What preventive work needs to be done?
To quote Alvin Toffler, “The…
To quote Alvin Toffler, “The illiterate of the 21st Century are not those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”
I wonder if 21st century…
I wonder if 21st century illiteracy refers to making sense of information via 21st century tools, contexts or if it collides with the general definition of illiteracy...?
Thank you for your comment, …
Thank you for your comment, @Foteini!
Labour market needs, indeed, drive most of the educational and training programs to some extent. In a way this is inevitable as adults with basic skills needs are often unemployed or at risk of becoming unemployed. Secure employment is one way of avoiding social exclusion. I think this may be true for a great number of adults in the EU.
On the other hand, we should not neglect the fact that there are people for whom these skills would need to be completed with soft skills that allow them to actually put these technical skills in practice in an efficient way. That's why I appreciate 'Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility' in your list.