BEST practices for TRaining in Adults Non-formal Education – BEST TRANE

The BEST TRANE project has been selected by the National Agency as an example of good practice.

The participation in non-formal education of older people aged 55+ is still very weak in Europe. The access to education of unemployed seniors is even more limited: in 2012 only 50 % of people aged 50+ attended educational courses for professional or personal reasons.

According to Eurostat data, in 2016 just over 45 % of adults aged 45–64 participated in some form of education or training and 80% of them were job-related learning activities. Non- formal education centres are traditionally dedicated to younger people and leave few spaces to engage older learners. There are no main provisions and dispositions from the national governments to tackle this issue. As a consequence, educators working in non-formal education centres often lack specific skills to engage and teach older learners.

This project addresses this gap by offering innovative training models to adult educators in non-formal centres, through the collection of information, examples of existing good practices and different views on working with older people and involving them in non-formal education.

To achieve its objectives, BEST TRANE provides adult educators with access to a Trainers’ Manual. This Manual collects best practices about working with senior adult learners, involving senior learners in non-formal education centres, presenting innovative interactive activities both for seniors and young people and encouraging intergenerational dynamics in non-formal education classes. The research and studies that will be collected to inform the development of the Manual will follow a specific methodology, that will be planned and delivered over a series of phases: Phase 1: Each partner will first carry out research related to their countries and local realities about the situation of non-formal education, its providers, the training programmes for trainers and intergenerational dynamics in non-formal education centres in their countries. The findings from this research phase are presented to all partners at the first partner meeting and summarised for inclusion in the manual.

Phase 2: In this phase, project partners research the low participation rates of senior adult learners in non-formal education activities in their countries. As part of this research phase, partners also study the methodologies used to motivate older people to participate in non-formal classes. The consortium then jointly analyse these methodologies, and how they are applied in each country, and the summary forms the next section of the Manual. PHASE 3: In this phase, partner organisation conduct further research to identify best practice examples of exercises and activities that can attract senior adult learners to non-formal learning, and assess how to apply them in a creative and collaborative manner to intergenerational classes. These results are also included in the Manual.

Phase 4: On the basis of the analyses carried out and shared between the partners in previous months, a first draft of the Trainers’ Manual is developed during this phase. All partners provide the results of their research to Solution who are responsible for drafting the Manual. Solution then merge all the contents of the study in the draft version of the Trainers’ Manual. The content of this first draft is tested with a group of adult educators who will attend a transnational training event in Ireland.

Phase 5: After the training in Ireland, feedback from participants is collected and analysed, and their suggestions are incorporated into the final version of the Trainer Manual. The final version of the Manual is to be presented at the Final meeting and the Final Conference of the project.

P1: Solution – France
P2: The Rural Hub – Ireland
P3: Società Cooperativa Sociale Fuori dal Sommerso – Italy
P4: Eurospeak – UK
P5: Center for Social Innovation – Cyprus