Access For All

The idea of ESTEEM project is to return learners, people from minority ethnic groups, unemployed people and others who experience social and economic disadvantage. These people are often marginalised in their access to training and employment. And there is usually a mismatch between their needs and requirements and the provision of education and training for employment.

In this respect Lifelong learning provides opportunities for more people to obtain the skills and qualifications they need to enter the labour market. The key to successful engagement with this process is the ability to get into employment. However, certain groups are less able to do this, because of economic disadvantage, structural barriers to their participation, limited educational experience, ethnocentric attitudes and cultural insensitivity. The ESTEEM project is aimed at empowering these groups by helping them take more control of the development of their learning.

more information can be found on the project website.

QATRAIN 2 aims to enable students with disabilities to participate more fully in Vocational Education and Training (VET) at post 16 level. The project will produce a web resource that will assist teachers/trainers and quality assurance staff to develop a more inclusive approach to the design of teaching, learning and assessment strategies. In turn, this will enable students with disabilities to participate more fully in Vocational Education and Training.

For the purposes of the project, Vocational Education and Training (VET) is any form of initial education, training or apprenticeship which contributes to the achievement of a vocational qualification, recognised by the competent authorities in each partner country, and that leads to employability. VET students are those who have completed compulsory education and are under 25 years old.

The web resource will be undergoing a period of testing and review in the coming months and will go live in May 2009.

More information can be found on the project website.

The main aim of the ETTAD project is to Enable Teachers and Trainers to improve the accessibility of Adult Education for people with disabilities.

The project will produce a web-based resource for teachers and trainers that will identify potential challenges that disabled learners might experience in engaging with their courses. The resource will also offer strategies and recommendations for adjustments to practice. Such strategies/more inclusive practices that will enable disabled learners to overcome these challenges and this will allow them to participate more fully in adult education.

For the purposes of the project, adult education is defined as non-vocational learning which may lead to enhanced employability but focuses on learning for personal, civic and social purposes. Adults are those aged 25 and over who have completed/left initial education and training.

The web resource will be undergoing a period of testing and review in the coming months and will go live in May 2009.

This project (134653-LLP-1-2007-UK-GRUNDTVIG-GMP) has been partially funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

More information can be found on the project website.

Validating Mentoring 2 project will support the needs of disabled people and others disadvantaged in the job market by developing systems for the recognition of their non-formal and informal learning. This is particularly important for a group that, compared to its peers, lacks formal qualifications with the consequent effects upon their employability. It will do this by establishing new mentoring programmes in 3 countries for disabled people, older people and young people at risk and it will transfer to them the principles and practices of effective, high quality, mentoring and validation, based on the Code of Practice for Mentoring developed the first Validation of Mentoring project BG/05/C/F/TH- 83 300 (www.mentoring-validation.org). In support for the transfer, it will develop and evaluate comprehensive systems for the self-assessment of mentoring programmes. The principles and practices developed will be potentially transferable to other areas of informal and non-formal learning.

This project focuses on the needs of disabled and other disadvantaged people – who gain particular benefits from the non-formal nature of mentoring. It is particularly useful for people who lack work-experience and who have not had the opportunity to develop their full skills and competences, as is often the case with disabled and other disadvantaged people.

The development of a validation system for mentoring will be a major advance and is based on the project team’s extensive experience in this field, which enables it to draw upon best practice from across Europe in all aspects of its work. Without authoritative validation those who participate in mentoring (both mentors and mentees) are denied legitimate acknowledgment of their achievements, and employers cannot properly judge the qualities of staff and potential recruits.

The project is a direct expression of the principles of the Copenhagen Agreement and complements the range of community initiatives that seek to ensure that the benefits of informal and non-formal learning are fully realised as a part of VET.
More information can be found at the project website.