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Naglašavanje osnovnih vještina u Europskoj godini vještina

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Nives VUCIC

Ulaganje u osnovne vještine u okviru EU godine vještina neizbježno je kako bi se osiguralo ispunjenje njezinih ciljeva.

U utorak, 27. lipnja, od 10:00 do 16:00 sati, EPALE će biti domaćin online rasprave Naglašavanje osnovnih vještina u Europskoj godini vještina.

Pisana rasprava bit će uvedena prijenosom uživo (10-10:45 po srednjoeuropskom vremenu) sa Sam Duncan, izvanrednim profesorom obrazovanja odraslih i pismenosti na Institutu za obrazovanje odraslih UCL i drugim dionicima iz obrazovanja odraslih i  osnovnih vještina, a moderator će bitiTamás Harangozó iz European Basic Skills Network

Prijenos uživo pratit će moderirana pisana rasprava u kojoj će biti prisutni doprinosi naših članova EPALE zajednice.

 

Ulaganje u osnovne vještine u okviru EU godina vještina neizbježno je kako bi se osiguralo ispunjenje njezinih ciljeva. Da bi bilo koja reforma dugoročno uspjela treba uzeti u obzir odrasle osobe s nedovoljno vještina koje bi omogućile šire sudjelovanje.

Kroz ovu online raspravu usredotočit ćemo se na ulogu inicijative osnovnih vještina u budućnosti EU reformi koje se bave vještinama. Pozabavit ćemo se sljedećim pitanjima koja su bila u središtu nedavnih EU projekata povezanih s osnovnim vještinama:

  • Kako možemo pozvati na djelovanje za razvoj osnovnih vještina tijekom EU godine vještina?

  • Koji su glavni izazovi i potencijali u profesionalizaciji trenera za osnovne vještine? 

  • Kako tekuće politike EU u obrazovanju odraslih (mikrokvalifikacije i individualni obrazovni računi) pridonose u profesionalizaciji trenera za osnovne vještine?

Pozivamo vas da dijelite svoja iskustva i inicijative.

Komentari su već otvoreni tako da možete početi s dijeljenjem svojih misli, resursa i prijedloga.

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Komentar

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Agata Kowalska
čet, 06/27/2024 - 11:56

Promoting fundamental skills during the European Year of Skills is a crucial advancement towards enhancing individuals' readiness for the contemporary world's challenges. A vital aspect to consider is the capability to manage stress effectively. Coping with stress is an indispensable skill in both personal and professional spheres. Training and education on stress management techniques can greatly influence individuals' mental and physical well-being, as well as their work efficiency

 

 

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Lauma Celma
Community Collaborator (Silver Member).
čet, 01/11/2024 - 07:49

Media literacy has become one of the most essential skills in today's life. In the association, we have organized media literacy training for residents of more remote settlements and found that people lack understanding of the most basic issues. Therefore, we started with the simplest - such as passwords to a person's various accounts, PIN codes, etc. It seems to be self-evident, but in life it is different. And only after that we could start talking about fake news, hate speech, which, especially in the context of the Ukrainian war, is currently abundant in the Internet environment and creates additional psychological tension in people. Game forms that are accessible and usable by children, youth and adults alike are great.

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Ingrida Muraskovska
Community Hero (Gold Member).
sri, 11/22/2023 - 07:45

Thanks for the great discussion! I would also like to add that we can use the concept of basic skills in a broader sense when it comes to an individualized approach. Basic skills are skills, due to the lack of which a person has reduced opportunities for life and work. For someone, it can be language skills, for someone - learning skills, for another - entrepreneurship. Individual learning accounts are a good opportunity to deal with the improvement of basic skills on an individual basis. This requires the ability of educators to work flexibly with a diverse adult audience.

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Tamas Harangozo
uto, 06/27/2023 - 15:58

Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of my colleagues and our experts today, I would like to thank all of you for your active participation and inspiring contributions! Let us continue sharing experiences in a less structured way, as moderation is over at 4 pm today. 

  • If you find it relevant and useful, don't forget to share the discussion page in your network to let your partners know about today's insights and links!
  • We will be back with a summary blog in the following days in which you can read the main points and resources we mentioned today!
  • Keep yourself posted on future EPALE discussions to continue the promotion of adult learning through the EU Year of Skills! 

Thank you all again for your participation!

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Angela D'Arcy
uto, 06/27/2023 - 13:49

It was good to see basic skills highlighted and I particularly liked Estera Mozina's emphasis on the importance of professional identity, resilience and fulfillment.  It would be good to hear more on this.  I also liked that the point that good action research leads to the merging of theory and practice.  I remember, as part of my earlier studies, looking at the role of the reflective practitioner - and the importance of being reflective in practice and constantly questioning.  That has stayed with me throughout my years of teaching.

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Andrea Sedlaczek
uto, 06/27/2023 - 13:32

When discussing digital literacy as a basic skill, these discussions are often limited to functional and technical skills, i.e. being able to use digital technologies. Digital literacy however cannot be considered in isolation from wider media and information literacy: In order to be able to engage with digital technologies and the content distributed via them in today's world, it is crucial to have a basic understanding of the processes behind the production of media and content and to have critical skills for reflecting and evaluating media and information. Media and information literacy is thus an important basic skill, not just for the workspace, but also for civic participation and for all areas of personal life. The Media and Information Literacy Curriculum of UNESCO from 2021 is a useful reference point here.

We at COMMIT in Austria have been working in a project, where we try to help basic skills educators to develop methods for promoting critical media and information literacy at a basic level for adult learners, focusing on relevant issues like the production of news, dealing with desinformation or hate speech, data privacy or Artificial Intelligence.

What worked best for the educators was to plan short workshop sessions with participants (1,5 h max) and to use creative activities that were both fun for the participants and made them reflect on the issues in a new way. For the educators it was also important to see their workshops not as a traditional teaching situation, where they are the expert, but as a mutual learning experience, where both the participants and the educators/trainers can learn something from each other's experiences. These insights might be helpful for other basic skills programs as well.

If anyone is interested in our project, you can find more information (in German) here: https://explore-skgt.at/ 

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Thank you, Andrea for sharing your thoughts and the details about your project experiences.

This sentence especially grabbed my attention: "it is crucial to have a basic understanding of the processes behind the production of media and content". Sometimes we tend to forget that mechanisms of media have their own internal structure, motif and actors which have an effect on how information is collected and presented. To develop critical media literacy it is important to learn about these mechanisms too. 

One of our Members at EBSN, Celia Sokolowski published an extensive open education resource collection on EPALE on critical digital and media literacy. You might find it interesting although this was compiled back in 2019: 

OER on Building Inclusive Policies for Ensuring Digital Literacy and Skills

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Tamas Harangozo
uto, 06/27/2023 - 12:54

Here are some of the points we discussed in the livestream:

  • Basic skills programs are contextual - their content and the facilitators, trainers working in these settings are expected to consider the context
  • Trainers working in basic skills development already come to teaching with a set of expertise that can be elicited during the training - professional development courses need to consider the prior knowledge and experience of the personnel. 
  • Teachers and trainers' identity is influenced by professional, but as well as personal factors. Professional and personal identity should be in balance to make trainers more resilient to challenges they face during work. 
  • Participation is an important element that result in motivation. Carefully designed action research methodology can contribute to a productive and self-fulfilling career engagement behaviour. 

What were you take-aways?

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In addition to the points mentioned, I would also add flexibility, variable content in the projects, cooperation, complexity of expertise, encouragement, support, basic skills - among other things what allows discussion, the importance of personal factors, the basic skills are not basic, but complex :-)

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Sanita Baranova
uto, 06/27/2023 - 12:44

When planning adult education, it is essential to provide an opportunity for adults who finished formal education several years ago to enhance their basic skills. Basic skills provide a strong foundation for ongoing learning and personal development. Adults with solid literacy and numeracy skills are more likely to pursue further education or training, enabling them to adapt to new challenges and opportunities.

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I fully agree with this comment, and this is also what research and data supports. It is very much linked to the fact that the level of education correlates with participation in adult education. That's why proactive, targeted approaches, linking education and social services, for adults, especially disadvantaged groups, to engage them in developing basic skills is so important, as they most probably wont seek and use existing opportunities themselves.

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Dora SANTOS
uto, 06/27/2023 - 11:42

Good morning!

Basic skills are at the begining of our learning journey. They are really the starting point to accumulate much more learning layers. It’s impossible to be sucessfull in our society without reading, writing, ICT. But soon we discover this is not enough. We also need specific and technical skills related to a job, as well as soft skills to different domains of our lives.

All this combination is a huge challenge in the professionalisation of basic skills trainers, especially when it comes to adults. This target group can not wait to achieve a good level of literacy and numeracy to obtain other skills, like the techinical ones. All these skills come together in adulthood. So, adult basic skills educators should pay attention to adults as individuals already having a job, a family and comitted in society. These adults should learn the skills considered basic although in other domains of their lives they are not acting at a basic level. That’s why, in my opinion, it is so complex to talk about basic skills in adulthood.

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Thank you, Dora for your insights.

"This target group can not wait to achieve a good level of literacy and numeracy to obtain other skills, like the techinical ones."

I like your observation in this. This shows that trainers and training programs should be abke to address individual, place-based training needs of adults who work, learn, act in their family's interest in various fields of social life. As mentioned by Sam in the video stream, robust, traditional types of teacher training systems may not be able to address these needs. 

Do you agree? Do you see any good examples in your network that can tackle this challenge?

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Dora SANTOS
uto, 06/27/2023 - 12:41

In reply to by Tamas Harangozo

I think the Portuguese Project “Letras Prá Vida” can be a good example.

Letras Prá Vida is a set of literacy workshops promoted by Escola Superior de Educação de Coimbra. This project is based on adults’ daily needs.

The workshops involve people from different backgrounds, with different levels of literacy, aged between 20-95 years old. Most of them are women, older people. Some live in institutions and others are Roma people.

They gather once a week in different places and timetables. The projec mainly values literacy for life, using Paulo Freire’s method, as well as flexibility,.

You can have a look here:  https://www.facebook.com/letraspravida/ (although it is in Portuguese)

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Jana Galová
Community Hero (Gold Member).
EPALE Ambassador.
uto, 06/27/2023 - 11:25

I think, that to promote the development of basic skills the following key points are crucial. Create awareness about the importance of basic skills in employability and personal development. Encourage collaboration between educational institutions, governments, businesses, and civil society organizations to address the issue collectively. Invest in comprehensive teacher or lecturer training programs to equip educators with effective strategies for developing basic skills in students. Promote innovative teaching methods that foster critical thinking, problem-solving, communication, digital literacy skills and other important skills. Emphasize the importance of lifelong learning and provide opportunities for adults to acquire or enhance their basic skills. Engage the general public through media, social platforms, and public events to prioritize basic skills development. 

In our region we organize seminars and round tables focused on further education, motivating adults to learn. A small number of participants is enough, in a small group it is much easier to discuss and find interesting solutions. The important thing is to start somehow and create a network of like-minded people around you who know each other best personally. Only then do you go on to bigger events.

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Thank you, Jana for sharing details about your awareness raising initiatives. Is your organisation directing adults to any specific programs in those sessions?

I like your sentence: "Encourage collaboration between educational institutions, governments, businesses, and civil society organizations to address the issue collectively." This reflects the multi-sectoral nature of basic skills development. 

 

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Yes, I'm sure. We recommend additional resources, adult learning opportunities for participants at each event. Including the EPALE platform where they can find event invitations, lots of other inspiring content. Every year EPALE Czech Republic organizes offline seminars on current topics, publishes regular podcasts, webinars, organizes a foreign educational trip. I think we have a community of people around us who are passionate about further education and self-development.

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Tamas Harangozo
uto, 06/27/2023 - 10:42

Thank you All for following the stream discussion with our experts today!

You can find more details about the Prison Reading Group's project that Sam mentioned in her talk here: https://prisonreadinggroups.org.uk/  and to learn more about the action research project on the professional identity of teachers in Slovenia, see Estera's presentation from EBSN Annual Conference 2023 here

We continue our day here in the comment section. Feel free to share your thoughts on the points you've learnt about in the livestream and on the following points too: 

  • How can we call for action for basic skills development during the EU Year of Skills?

  • What are the main challenges and potentials in the professionalisation of basic skills trainers?

  • How can ongoing EU policies in adult learning (microcredentials and individual learning accounts) contribute to the professionalisation of basic skills trainers?

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Thank you Tamas, I wish I had been logged in on LinkedIn with the EPALE Ireland account and not my own when I commented on Sam's remark (Hi Mark here!).

The links to Sam and Estara's work are great thank you, but do they have a presence here on the platform where we can linked people too an engage with Blog posts etc?

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Tamas Harangozo
uto, 06/27/2023 - 10:57

In reply to by EPALE Ireland

Thank you, Mark for your comment! 

Estera and Sam had to leave for now, but they may return to our discussion here later during the day. In any case, they are EPALE users too, you should be able to find them via the site. If not, I can help.

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Ieva Margeviča-Grinberga
Community Collaborator (Silver Member).
uto, 06/27/2023 - 10:36

Adult reading skills are a critical issue that persists despite educational and technological development. While in the past, it was commonly associated with individuals who had limited formal education, it has become increasingly evident that even those with higher education levels can struggle with certain types of texts, particularly scientific ones, without visual aids.  The complexity of scientific texts, filled with technical terminology, can pose significant challenges for many adults. Adult educators should offer reading strategies for reading complex texts in lessons, thus promoting adult reading skills development.

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Tamas Harangozo
uto, 06/27/2023 - 11:08

In reply to by Ieva Margeviča-Grinberga

Thank you, Ieva. I think you touch on one of the most important reasons why we still need growing investment in basic skills programs for adults. The fast-paced development of technology and the diversification of the ways we present information (digitally, non-digitally) present us with the challenge that education systems may not able to follow up on in time, on one hand, and workplaces may not consider adults' need to adapt to the emerging technologies employees are expected to use day by day. 

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Anita LĪCE
čet, 07/06/2023 - 11:06

In reply to by Ieva Margeviča-Grinberga

That's really interesting problem raised. But the problem does not always lie in the reader. I would like to argue that writers/communicators should also learn to write/speak/explain more clearly.

I see a big problem in the way how state institutions communicate. The common style is very formal, with as many legal terms and references to legal acts used as possible, with long and complex sentences. Sometimes the main essence of the letter can be said in 2 sentences, but the text takes at least 2 pages. Although I have a doctoral degree, I have had situations when I was calling an author to clarify what did he/she really mean by his/her letter or drafted amendments, because the text can be unclear and could be understood in various ways.

Not even speaking about complex regulations. For example, there are so many examples when taxpayers simply do not understand how they can legally register and pay taxes, as there are so many options and exemptions.

A nice initiative in Latvia is "Easy language agency" https://www.vieglavaloda.lv that works to promote clear and simple language.

A bottom line to this comment - It's not only a fault of information users, bur rather of information creators and communicators. Let's all try to be clearer in our communication!

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Ilze IVANOVA
uto, 06/27/2023 - 10:29

Nobody will deny  that  the acquisition of basic skill are  of the most important part of the life of everybody.At the same time we have to remember that  it is a purposeful activity that requires effort and motivation and understanding what is necessary and meaningful for the person to live in the 21st century , because the life is so rapid and changing and unpredictable.May be somebody of you have  developed so called standard requirements for adult educators in this changing world ?

 

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Great observation, @Ilze! I agree that basic skills programs need to consider that what's coming today may change tomorrow. The learning to learn element might be vital in this respect here.

Nevertheless, it is also important to note that innovation is the forerunner of social change, new technologies appear day by day (e.g. ChatGPT) that bring new challenges to adults with basic skills needs. Yet, we should bear in mind that simultaneously to this rapid change, there are still great number of adults still struggling with decoding texts, numeric information that they very often need to tackle in a digital environment. This may easily result in challenges or complete marginalisation in societies.

I think it is an essential point for the EU Year of Skills!

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@Ilze, you may find this podcast session interesting. We made this session with Dr Sam Duncan (researcher from UCL Institute of Education), Dr Réka Vágvölgyi (researcher from the University of Kaiserslautern) and Graciela Sbertoli (former Secretary-General of EBSN) to address the question: how can we define basic skills so that it last? 

Re-thinking Adult Basic Skills - Research, policy and practice

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Guido Adragna
uto, 06/27/2023 - 10:02

Welcome to our discussion "Emphasising basic skills in the European Year of Skills"! 

We invite you to to interact here in the comments section by sharing your view and asking questions!

The streaming will be followed, as usual, by a written discussion until 4pm. We look forward to your contributions :)

Guido (EPALE Moderator)

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Tamas Harangozo
uto, 06/27/2023 - 08:29

Dear Colleagues,

We are excited to start today's discussion at 10:00 CET! We will break off with a livestream session with our invited experts Sam Duncan from UCL Institute of Education and Estera Možina from the Slovenian Institute for Adult Education!

We will start by discussing matters around professionalisation of basic skills teachers and then, continue with the EPALE discussion. I will by your moderator for the day until 16:00 CET! You are of course more than welcome to share your thoughts after 16:00 CET too and re-watch to video stream as it will continue to be available on EPALE!

Thank you in advance for joining us! See you soon!

Tamás 

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Egija Laganovska
pon, 06/26/2023 - 22:40

Basic skills are the foundation for lifelong learning and are fundamental for individuals to navigate various aspects of life effectively. Literacy, numeracy, and digital literacy skills enable individuals to access information, communicate effectively, and engage with modern technologies. These skills are essential for personal growth, employment opportunities, and civic participation. However, I want to draw attention to the fact that nowadays, one of the basic skills is the ability to learn. Unfortunately, this skill often hinders acquiring all other basic skills. All courses should help adults learn the skill of active learning.

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Tamas Harangozo
uto, 06/27/2023 - 08:08

In reply to by Egija Laganovska

@Egija Laganovsk, you are absolutely right about the learning to learn element! Metacognition is often emphasised by blogs, articles when promoting the need for learnig, re-learning, de- or unlearning even. I wonder if it really hinders the acquisition of some basic skills. In many examples basic skills courses are embedded in context (financial, family, health or foreign language learning etc) which may contribute to - among several other aspects - to learning to learn as adults adapt what they learn to their contextual needs right away. Active learning nevertheless is an essential approach in these settings. 

Do you know of any initiatives that are good examples of such learning processes?

 

Thank you for your comment, and see you in a short while in the livestream!

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Peter Maľa
uto, 06/27/2023 - 08:57

In reply to by Egija Laganovska

Basic skills also empower individuals to participate actively in society. Reading and writing enable individuals to engage with civic issues, understand their rights and responsibilities, and express their opinions.

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Social participation is, indeed, one of the key objectives of basic skills programs. Not only is it addressed via the contextual nature of some basic skills programs (health literacy, financial literacy, workplace learning programs), but it should also be reflected in the pedagogical and/or methodological approach these programs take. I think this is why Estera's presentation on the action research program was so relevant here. 

Thank you, Peter for your comment! Which field do you work in? Do you see good examples of engaging learners in social life too? 

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Renāte Zīverte
uto, 06/27/2023 - 10:22

In reply to by Egija Laganovska

Completely agree that skill to learn is a very important skill. Some advices or tips on how  to learn, in my consideration, would encourage more adults to learn.

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Both research and personal experience confirm that learning culture plays an important role. In addition, learning new skills throughout life requires the desire to learn and the ability to learn new knowledge and skills.

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Ramirez Amurrio Pilar
pon, 06/26/2023 - 19:50

We are going on UNE 71362 in our strategy for the next 3 years and I think it´s very close to the skills thah content creators and teachers need. We´ll be watching and taking notes tomorrow

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Stephanie Pietsch
pon, 06/26/2023 - 08:28

I'm currently working at my first project within the Lifelong Learning field, so it may be that I wasn't able to get the full picture yet. But what I noticed during research and discussions is that we are using a variety of 'buzzwords': Basic Skills, Future Skills, 21st Century Skills... and sometimes I'm not sure about where's the exact distinction between all of those. And I also have the impression that I'm not the only one feeling this way.

But: you can only systematically improve something if you can define and measure it. So I would really appreciate a clear definition: Which skills can be seen as Basic Skills right now (for me, literacy is a big point)? Which criteria are used to define them?

Many thanks in advance!

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Thank you, Stephanie. Talking about skills in general is rather complex. As I observed the 'catchy' phrases are often used to grab the attention of stakeholders and generally to raise awareness and motivate participation in adult learning programs, which has been a great challenge in the EU for a long time. Wording surely matters. The way people use these terms inevitably reflects their own or their organisation's approach to skills, I think. 

In this context, we are applying the European Basic Skills Network's approach in which literacy, numeracy, digital skills are meant but also in a more extended way involving contextual skills we often refer to as financial literacy, health literacy, work-based basic skills, etc.

I hope this helps! Looking forward to continuing the reflections later today and thank you for your comment, you raised an important question!

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Welcome, @Ľubica in the discussion, thank you for joining. Indeed, skills for life is an integral approach that is capable of approaching the complex nature of basic skills too. It is difficult to 'boil down' what basic skills are objectively, but we can say that reading-writing, numeracy and digital skills are all part of certain aspects of all models (i.e. future skills, skills for life, even key competences).

I wonder what this complexity brings to the professionalisation of teachers in this field. How can we address this in the training of basic skills teachers? 

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Hello! A very valid question. As a researcher of related issues (here is the link to my dissertation on employability attributes of graduates https://dspace.lu.lv/dspace/handle/7/49066) I have also noticed that various approaches are used.

"21st century skills" is more catchy term used, but in fact describes transversal competencies needed now and here, not in the future (here is link to our report about these skills https://be21skilled.eu/skills-panorama/).

When speaking about basic skills (foundation needed for any further development), I would refer to the Council Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning.

The terms "general competencies" and "transversal competencies" in my opinion are the most encompassing and broad.

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Foteini PESMATZOGLOU
ned, 06/25/2023 - 07:07

Basic skills of adults have been a frequent topic of discussion amongst various policymakers, educators and employers over the course of the recent years. Skills insufficiency  evidently has a significant impact on our societies. Low-educated individuals are less likely to participate and have a positive role in public life. The changes in the global labor market require people to have different skills than they did yesterday or they do today. This means that a major part of the workforce needs to be reskilled.  To anticipate the challenges and opportunities both companies and employees will face in the near future, a list of  future workspace skills that will be highly in demand such as: 

Analytical thinking and innovation

Complex problem-solving

Leadership and social influence

Technology use, monitoring and control

Resilience, stress tolerance and flexibility

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I agree with the above list of skills. My experience in adult basic education has taught me, however, that the meaning of these skills can differ greatly, depending on the learning biography of the people concerned. What does leadership and social influence mean, if you belong to a group of adults that is systematically marginalised?  What contibutes to resilience, stress tolerance or flexibility, if you're daily experience is about social / economic survival and not personal development?

Basic skills of adults are closely linked to their habitus - i.e. the way adults of particular backgrounds perceive and react to the world. As educators or employees we tend to conceptualize the debate and the programme's offered in terms of our own habitus and simply assume that this matches the understanding and interestes of the people we consider in need of these basic skills. This, unfortunately, is seldom the case.

Where are the spaces, where there is honest dialogue with marginalised groups about their understanding of and need for basic skills?

 

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@Gisela, your point on the understanding of and need for basic skills of marginalised people is, I think, a guiding principle in designing programs that address the needs of the disadvantaged adults. These programs as I see often are not specifically termed 'basic skills' programs because they consider the perception of the participating adults. In my experience they are often titled as second chance programs, bridge programs, succeeding in life projects, back to the labour market etc. This may reflect an approach to consider the perception of the adults, as no-one is actually comfortable facing their own needs in basic skills. That's when the term becomes rather counter-productive, I think, in recruiting participants. However, this is not to say that these social programs are always successful in building on the actual needs of adults, of which labour market may be one aspect besides many others...

How do you see this? 

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