A look at the Horizon

Learning Mobility of Individuals

Adult education staff mobility

Thanks to the grant obtained for the state institute for adult education CPIA of Asti, teachers and administrative staff, including some collaborators, were involved from July to September 2022 in multiple Erasmus mobilities: language and teaching courses, job shadowing opportunities, held in some European countries: France, Ireland, Spain, Malta and Sweden.

Methodology courses were held in Ireland and Spain.

The course called Technology in the classroom was held in Dublin, Digital citizenship to promote awareness of the use of technologies with useful applications in teaching was an important topic.

The language courses took place in France, Ireland, Spain, Malta.

Language schools offer courses of all kinds, including for adults. The collaborative spirit, cordiality and conviviality are important, consequently extra-curricular activities are also organized outside the classroom. The method of the courses is mainly inductive. Language teaching leaves out the purely grammatical aspect to devote itself to practical experimentation of the language, focusing particularly on issues of daily life (leisure, customs and society, work, interpersonal relationships ...). Direct correction of the error is avoided except in rare cases. Group activities give participants more control over what they say without paying too much attention to mistakes. This allows for a more creative use of language: the combination of new elements with known elements, talking about oneself, with role-plays and games, which favorsoracy, without forgetting literacy.

A few school collaborators who deal with the initial reception of students who don’t yet speak Italian also took part in the language courses. Three of them traveled to Malta and Dublin for basic English classes. Thus they will be able to help new students filling out enrolment forms.

Job shadowing, i.e. weeks of observation of work and good practices in school and training contexts similar to that of the sending school, took place in Sweden (Falkoping) and in France (Caen).

Job Shadowing is aimed at the professional, cultural and human enrichment of the participating teachers, who travel to other European countries to learn and discuss teaching methodologies and organizational management of the host country's education system.

For example, during the experience in Caen, the CPIA teachers learned that the Italian problems regarding early school leaving and youth unemployment in Italy are not dissimilar from those in France.

However, the management of these problems differs in the two countries. Indeed in France we find public and private institutions working in close partnership, to provide guidance and training, which can be linguistic, educational and professional.

Each intern benefits from an individualized study-work path for their entry into the professional world. The course is based on three fundamental components: the construction of a professional project, the guarantee of basic skills, the possibility of socio-educational workshops. The school/company alternation is at the heart of the training system; the pedagogy is based on the needs of the individual and on the implementation of a continuous partnership with companies and professional and linguistic training institutions.

During the job shadowing experience in Falkoping, Sweden, the teachers involved were able to observe the differences and similarities with Italian schools for adults: the Swedish colleagues all work on the same platform made available by the Ministry, which offers educational material for all levels of Swedish language learning as L2, from Alpha to B2. This approach allows teachers to plan lessons linearly. Professional training courses of various types are also offered, especially in IT and in the hotel sector. Students are stimulated, through guided tours and specific teaching units, to get to know the city and the services it offers.

The language courses, but in general all the mobility projects, have allowed the staff of the CPIA of Asti to improve their language skills, team spirit, problem solving skills and knowledge of the territory. In fact, in addition to attending the course, they also spent time discovering the culture of the foreign country, while using the foreign language (French, English and Spanish).