The selection of technology, tools and methodologies, intended for education, makes it difficult for educational institutions and adult learners to choose between them. For people who despite being at a disadvantage in society, have gathered up the courage to take up studies, disappointing experience is among the worst that can happen. Bad choices can cost worsened reputation of schools, lost self-confidence among the staff and students, time and money and a breach in trust between students and institutions. Therefore, it is important to learn from others´ best practices and experience in the use of technology in education and career- and study counselling. Professional development of teachers, career- and study counsellors and other staff. To: Share best practices, knowledge and experience of interactive tutorials in teaching and learning; Motivate career- and study counsellors, teachers and other staff to learn Interactive use of technology in counselling and teaching/learning; Help career- and study counsellors learn to design and implement effective strategies for specific adult target groups to enhance basic skills in learning; Design ICT action-plans; Organize workshops on the development and use of exemplary technical projects; Introduce special learning approach and knowledge of how to assist students in the use of ICT in education; Nurture the joy of studying and prevent as possible disappointment among adult learners; Improve access of the institutions´ target groups to education, regardless of place and time; Create the opportunity for learners to assess their own progress with interactive study-material; Make a project web-site linked to the partner institutions´ web-sites. Six institutions from Europe participate in the project. 79 people from the institutions take part in the activities. Invitees included, 50 people participate in each event and learn from each other's best practices.Participants; the project´s coordinator, project managers, teachers, career- and study counsellors and other staff, will be selected and involved in the different activities according to their expertise and experience. Activities: Design and use of interactive tutorials in teaching and learning. Technology in counselling and teaching/learning. Designing and implementing effective strategies for specific adult target groups to enhance basic skills in learning. Development and use of exemplary technical projects.Use of ICT tools and Media as a support for language courses. Assisting students in the use of ICT in education. Presentation of language learning apps.Nurturing the joy of studying and preventing disappointment among adult learners. Improving access of target groups to education. Introduction of self-paced e-learning with access to interactive materials. Use of apps and mobile devices to improve target group´s quality of life. SELFIE: Learners assess their own progress. Supporting adult schools to design ICT action plans. A project website.To carry out the project we will use a mixed-method approach, applying a combination of research methods and workshop activities. It is designed around a series of interrelated activities leading to a common result: to increase the technological knowledge of teachers and counsellors.Results:Professional development of participants and others. Interactive study material, user-friendly and rewarding interface.Shared best practices and experience of interactive tutorials.Career- and study counsellors motivated to learn the use of interactive technology in counselling. Career- and study counsellors can design and implement effective strategies for adult target groups.Knowledge of: how to design ICT action-plans, development and use of exemplary technical projects, special learning approaches and how to assist students in connection with the use of ICT in education, how to nurture the joy of studying, prevent as possible disappointment among adult learners.Access of the institutions´ target groups to education, regardless of place and time.Learners can assess their own progress A project website The impact and longer term benefits of the project will be on the partner institutions´ staff and other educational staff that will be introduced to the project results and learn from them. The institutions´ target groups will benefit from it by easier access to educational opportunities and guidance, independent of time and place. The project will have impact at local and national level since it will facilitate studies and guidance among disadvantaged groups. At European level it will spread tried knowledge among the partners and in their respective communities. It will also bring about experience in communication between different nationalities in Europe.The INTERACTE project is in line with all the priorities stated in the ET2020/European Agenda for Adult Learning priorities8, see: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/book/export/html/326_en

<< Background >>There is an urgent need to address low-skilled migrant women´s challenges to access education and labor market. The participating countries share common challenges: migrant women are more often outside of workforce or in precarious jobs compared to migrant men, and host country nationals. In all countries, participation of migrant women in education and working life is low leading in social exclusion. The main obstacles for these women to access the education and labor market are low language skills, lower level of formal education and working experience, insufficient skills recognition processes and tools, structural barriers like cultural background and gender leading in little participation in everyday life beyond family life and difficulties in combining work and family life, and lack of social networks. The WOW-project tackles the key obstacles low-skilled migrant women to accelerate their pathways in education and employment.<< Objectives >>The overall aim of the WOW-E-project is to increase low-skilled migrant women´s capabilities and opportunities to access education and labor market. The objective is to assess and recognize the skills of low-migrant women (especially the non- and informal skills) and harness the skills in women´s upskilling pathways towards education and work life. While tackling the challenges the migrant women face in labor integration, the objective is also to ensure the inclusive labor market environment. The WOW-E-project will address the attitudes and existing employment and recruitment practices of employers, and in close collaboration with associated employer partners, develop new and innovative solutions, methods and practices to include low-skilled migrant women in work life.<< Implementation >>The objective is to assess and recognize the skills of these migrant women (especially the non- and informal skills) and harness the skills in women´s upskilling pathways towards education and work life. Women´s pathways are supported with career counselling and capacity workshops, and employer collaboration to create more receptive labor market and working environment for migrant women. To reach the project goals, several activities will take place. The project´s main activities are 1) modelling the skills assessment and profiling process, tools and methods that includes informal and non-formal skills, 2) developing a skills and needs-based capacity building activities to increase women´s work-related acquirements and skills, 3) developing a model and content of the motivating and culturally sensitive career counselling to support women´s educational and work life pathways, and 4) developing a model that includes solutions, tools, methods how employers can facilitate migrant women´s access in employment, and be more equipped to adapt and integrate them in the work community and to implement the work tasks according to requirements. The activities to reach the project goals are divided in two phases. In the first phase of the project, the development of the main deliverables will be initiated, and required mappings and needs assessments are conducted. In the first phase, also the first pilots targeting migrant women will take place. The pilots are implemented by each participating organisation. In the beginning of the second phase, the findings of the first pilot will be analysed and deliverables re-designed as required. Toward the end of the second phase, another pilots will be conducted. The last activity of the project is to combine the experiences, deliverables and findings into a comprehensive Framework of Education and Employment Paths for Migrant Women.Meetings, workshops and events will be organized to strenghten project´s dissemination and engagement of stakeholders and partcipants. These activities are coordinated with the development work of project deliverables.<< Results >>The project´s final result is a transnational Framework of Education and Employment Path for Migrant Women. The objective of the Framework is to enhance low-skilled migrant women´s access in education and work life through a skills assessment and harnessing the skills in a progressive individual learning and career path, entailing in social inclusion. The Framework includes models and concepts of 1) skills assessment, identification, recognition and profiling adapted to the needs of migrant women, 2) needs-based capacity workshops, 3) culture and gender sensitive career counselling fostering women´s aspirations toward education and employment, and 4) innovative and practical solutions co-created with employers how they can promote migrant women´s access in working life. Outcomes of the project are low-skilled migrant women´s increased opportunities and capabilities to pursue their pathways towards education and working life, which will increase migrant women´s employment rates, self-esteem, empowers them and promotes social inclusion. The project will also build the capacities of employers, as well as create opportunities for them to recruit new employees especially in the fields which are suffering from the lack of workforce. Overall all, the WOW-E-project will increase awareness of low-skilled migrant women´s labor integration, needs and challenges to be addressed to success in efforts to promote women´s pathways toward education and working-life.

There is an increasing number of migrants in Europe, which means, among other things, a growing potential for the labor force. At the same time, one big generation is approaching the age of retirement and a demographic decrease can already be foreseen. The working life needs more workers, and long vocational training programs are not always the best and the most effective solution. Recognition of migrants’ vocational skills and the development of the methods that are related to this process are a very current topic in Europe at the moment. In order to offer efficient vocational or further training for the migrants or to indicate them a place that corresponds their professional skills, there must be an investigation that shows the prior learning, competencies and skills that are relevant for their professional development.New tools and methods for assessing migrants’ prior vocational skills need to be developed. The Fast Track project responds to this need and develops tests for three professions: assistant nurse, kitchen assistant and tiler. The selection of these professions is mainly based on interviews with working life: there is a tangible need for workers in these fields and, on the other hand, the level of the language skills is lower than is many other professions. The approach in the tests is non-linguistic and the outcomes will be web-based which helps the project to reach a large audience – and users also in the countries that do not participate in the project. Moreover, this method could be easily transferred to other contexts and to other vocational fields; the manuals, workshops and other support provided by the project will help in this process. The basis for the approach, as well as the prototypes of the tests in other vocational fields, have already been created in Finland in 2008-2010 and the feedback from the stakeholders has been positive: the approach has been stated as innovative, needed and efficient for today’s needs in working life. The partnership of this two-year project consists of training providers from Finland (Axxell, the coordinator, and Omnia), Denmark (Vestegnens Sprog-og Kompetencecenter), Germany (Bildungsmarkt e.v.), Iceland (Mimir-simenntun) and Turkey (Trabzon teknik ve endustri meslek lisesi denizcilik anadolu meslek lisesi).

The project ensured that teachers were trained as intercultural mediators, to better understand the cultural issues that foreigners bring with them and become able to effectively transmit the elements of the host culture. This is a fundamental step to ensure the effectiveness of intercultural communication, knowledge and skills. Intercultural learning is of great importance, due to the movement of migrants to Europe and extremely important for teachers of migrants. Increased number of migrants is entering several countries in Europe where there is little or no experience in receiving them and how to solve problems in the classrooms attended by students from different cultures. It was urgent to support teachers and students by helping them understand cultural differences. Intercultural understanding supported teachers offering high quality teaching, deal with complex classroom realities and adopt new methods and tools. Special attention was paid to the integration of refugees and recently arrived migrants. Therefore the role of the teacher and volunteers, connecting people of many cultures, is vital. The objectives were to:- support educators towards a better understanding of interculturalism, share best practices and methods in teaching adult migrants and refugees between different European countries and help with changing problems due to migration into opportunities. - reinforce network between our institutions with the aim of sharing knowledge and experience and increase our capacity to operate at a transnational level. 97 individuals from seven countries participated in the activities. Invitees included, about 50 people participated in each event, or around 350 people who spread the knowledge. All the coordinators, teachers and volunteers were experienced in the field of adult education but with different experience of teaching migrants and refugees. Most of the partners had previously taken part in EU projects. Some have experience of cooperation with volunteers.The main activities were in the form of research and sharing of best practices in the field of interculturalism. Each partner was responsible for finding quality material / topics in order to share their best practices with the others. Also, each partner organization discussed what could be improved and which lessons could be learned from other partner organizations. Each partner was also responsible for the preparation of a conference/seminar/workshop which was focused on certain predefined topics within the field of Adult Education. A mixed-method approach was used, sequently applying a combination of research methods and workshop activities. It was designed around a series of interrelated activities among the partners leading to a common goal: increased quality and intercultural awareness of teachers and volunteers in the field of adult education with the purpose of becoming a good and active cultural mediator between migrants and the local society. Results were discussed during activities and amendments made. The results of the project are:An interactive project website with the opportunity for teachers, volunteers and learners to upload materials, find information and tips about new knowledge of interculturalism, andragogy, and new teaching methods, such as the story line and story-telling. Also, how to use digital devices in adult education, the European Framework Certification and CIS Certification for migrants and refugees. In addition to that, how to use work practice as a means of teaching and assessment as a tool for introducing the local school system to migrants. Another factor is how to become familiar with methods of using volunteers in non-formal language teaching and better communication skills in a foreign language for the participants. The general impact is: Increased quality of education and training - Increased knowledge of transversal skills, social-, intercultural- and language competences - Increased critical thinking among teachers and volunteers - Use of learning outcomes when describing and defining qualifications - Strategic and integrated use of ICT and educational resources in education - Increased motivation for English language learning and development of communication skills among participants - Intercultural communication skills and intercultural understanding - Reinforced interaction between different practices. Budget control was the responsibility of the project leader. It was monitored closely that the funding was spent according to plan. Monthly there was a check on the actual status of the budget. During activities its status was on the agenda. Dissemination is a key factor in the longer term benefits of the project. Besides introductions within the partner institutions and relevant organizations it was done through the partners´ websites and/or other social media available to the partners.