From the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic – which has been an unprecedented challenge for us – we felt that our community was being greatly affected by the consequences of the lockdown and social distancing measures. The pandemic has forced us to adapt to new ways of working and of providing education.
This has led educators to develop innovative online training techniques, pushing them to explore new solutions, take risks and think outside of the box.

EPALE wanted to support adult educators and enable the community to connect, share and inspire each other through a brand-new initiative: the Community Stories.
From the start, the initiative’s goals have been to fully engage our community in telling their stories, overcome the sense of isolation, and share the issues that were affecting their everyday life and that were challenging their education activities. 

We have received dozens of stories in a short space of time. The EPALE community rallied to face the challenge and share their stories, to support their colleagues and enhance the value and innovativeness of adult education.

These 114 inspirational stories from the pandemic represent an impressive fresco of these challenging times, from the perspective of passionate adult educators.

To facilitate reading, we have divided them into four main categories:

• Social Inclusion
• Basic Skills
• Culture
• Work Skills.

Each category includes an impressive variety of experiences, perspectives, and shades from around Europe.

We have also used #tags to signpost you to particular subjects or the main learning environment.

For editorial reasons, we have had to shorten the original texts of the stories, which in some cases were long and elaborated. But by simply clicking on each story, you will be taken directly to the full text here on EPALE.

The EPALE Community Storybook 2020 is available for registered users, so do not forget to sign in to access the Storybook below. We wish you a pleasant reading!