This strategic partnership project was carried out in order to share best practices relate to adult education. The main aim was to group organisations across Europe working in the field of adult education and share innovative practices of teaching intercultural dialogue to adults, using drama, storytelling and video making techniques.The main objectives of the project were: *to share best practices among project partners *to increase professional development of adult educators *to collect and develop methods of intercultural dialogue *to develop and reinforce EU networks for teaching and learning *to enrich partnership of adult education providers in partners' countries and Europe, *to support social and educational value of European cultural heritage.This project focused on intercultural dialogue, to be taught using innovative methods involving the use of drama, storytelling and video making. The participants in this project were members of staff, trainers and educators from the participating organisations, who could on one side share the best teaching methodologies applied by the respective organisation, but also take part in the trainings as learners and develop new skills and competences, benefiting not only themselves but the partner organisations in the wider sense, including related networks.Because each partner brought different expertise, that made for a holistic approach to adult education that combined different disciplines such as drama, storytelling and video making.Participants in the training had also the tasks to organise local activities with adult learners in their local communities, to use the methods and techniques learnt during the project and to improve the curriculum offer of each partner organisation.The concrete activities in the project included:- the organisation of 3 transnational project meetings- the organisation of 2 short term joint staff training events- the organisation of 2 local activities per each partner after the international training events- the creation of a handbook which is a collection of best practices, theoretical and practical activities that can be used in adult education. The handbook will be shared by partners throughout their networks and will remain a point of reference for the partner organisations and adult education providers. They will be able to use the materials and adapt it to their own practice.The intangible results of this project were: - acquisition of new competences and ICT skills for educators in the partners' organisations; - exchange of didactic experience among staff at international level; - enhanced intercultural competences for the staff and learners; - development of a lifelong learning network of partners and other stakeholders involved at the local, national and EU level; - increased EU project management competences. The tangible results were: - E-Handbook with methodological and pedagogical materials for educators; - videos about the trainings; - digital stories made by adult learners collected by each partner; - promotional materials (project logo, leaflet, press releases, information for social media, project Facebook page, etc). Project learning materials are available online on the project Facebook page and will be available to download free of charge.

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECTThe Commission communication Rethinking Education: Investing in Skills for better socio-economic outcomes set up the purpose to sharing best practices on how to promote the creativity and innovative capacity of young people by identifying competences and skills acquired through non-formal and informal learning relevant to employability. They also stressed the need to improve and widen the recognition of non-formal learning, not just in relation to employability, for example promoting cohesion through formal education and non-formal learning, supporting young people’s innovation and creativity. The role of art and performing arts in formal and non-formal education is relevant to pursuing learning-by-doing methods, reinventing ourselves not only as a person, but also as a group, learning the art to live together through respective differences and attitudes. The project, focused on adult education intended to improve and extend the offer of high quality learning opportunities, also extending and developing educators’ competences for better outreach and improved learning outcomes. OBJECTIVES • Exchange of good practices and teaching approaches from both the Education and the Creative Sector • providing teachers/educators with tools to better respond to learning opportunities and - seek new and more engaging ways of teaching for the modernizing of curricula and find solution for inclusion of disadvantages communities • expand interpersonal relations between direct beneficiaries and between them and their local communities • Increase meaningful skills and reinforce problem solving capacity in learners • reinforce new socio-cultural perspectives in selected target groups • enhance good interactions and mutual comprehension between people from different cultures thanks to the use and practice of verbal and non-verbal communication • foster the creation of experiential learning communities and experience of social inclusion • support best practices of empowerment community and new social ecosystems • reducing social stereotypes related to social conditioning and issues • Support educators to discover and prevent healthy and learning disorders in young learners as dyslexia, dyscalculia, dysgraphia thanks to the application of performing arts languages • share good practices, professional experience and respective expertise and know-how • reinforce social empathy and kinesthetic, ideokinetic, cognitive and receptive skills in learners • investigate regarding plans for integrating cultural and creative sectors with educational sectors. The project saw the participation of 6 organizations located in 5 different countries: UK, Italy, Spain, Germany and Estonia, working at different levels with the target groups identified in the project, and able to bring the necessary expertise in order to achieve the project results.NUMBER AND PROFILE OF PARTICIPANTS: Using non-formal education and training we developed art and media skills in 18 adult learners from UK, Italy, Spain, Germany and Estonia during a workshop training in the UK. Participants were adult experts, teachers and trainers engaged in the field of formal and non-formal education and training methods, such as psychology, pedagogy and social sciences curricula, dancing and holistic methods, social affairs and support of disadvantages groups. The staff were selected according to their expertise, and the possibility to both deliver workshops and the ability to used learned techniques in local events. After the international training each country organised 2 local event with 15 people each, mainly from disadvantaged backgrounds (people with learning difficulties or people at risk of social exclusion), for a total of 150 local participants. During the local events, partners used the methods and techniques learned during the international training event.IMPACTThe project gave the participants the chance to:- reinforce experience and know-how about innovative ways of teaching and disseminate cross-sectorial methods thanks to non-formal learning;- discover new ways of practical and performing activities as result of a balanced mix of creative and holistic approach and conventional training and teaching;- broaden audience development thanks to cooperation with other European organizations and enhance knowledge about EU policies and overall objectives regarding education and training;- share experience with other actors active in the same fields of interest and employability, increasing at the same time links and connections with creative sectors.The learners in the local activities had the chance to acquire new creative and social skills to reinforce empowerment of communities, and learn new educational approaches to enhance personal and social responsibilities, change management, problem solving, self-confidence and motivation, physical and mental abilities, and so on.

Partner institutions from the UK, Bulgaria, Romania and Lithuania got together to implement this project about inclusion and respect for diversity. All partner countries experience situations of intolerance (related to ethnic origin, sexual orientation, etc), especially among youths, and a lack of efficient strategies at national level to deal with it. With this project, partners, who are organisations working with youths at different levels, decided to come together and share methods and techniques in order to equip youth workers from the partner organisations with tools to promote respect for diversity among youth people and develop successful long term strategies to create a better society. Project partners identified as target group educators and trainer working with youths. Each partner identified the needs of their target group to acquire new strategies to promote respect for diversity and social inclusion and, on the other hand, to share the strategies each partner is using, enhancing European experience to deal with cultural diversity. The project aimed to develop a culture of diversity in order to facilitate the social inclusion of young people belonging to discriminated groups, such as ethnic minorities. The main objectives were the following: 1. To increase the professional development of each partner organization through European collaboration, through non-formal and intercultural learning for managing cultural diversity by means of 2 Short-term joint staff training events. 2. To create a project website containing information about the project, including videos of the activities carried out, which could serve as a point of reference or inspiration for members of the community who wish to use the tools provided in their daily activities with young people, to facilitate social inclusion of young people belonging to minorities. 3. To launch an awareness-raising campaign- Respect for Cultural Diversity The objectives were achieved through: - 2 Short-term joint staff training events during which the target groups of each partner learned, among other things, to use arts (drama, painting, dance) and sports (football, volleyball), and other activities (making bread) for developing a culture of diversity and to stimulate social inclusion of young people belonging to different minority groups. - A project Website containing information about the project, including a section with Videos containing examples of the activities carried our, including best practices in non-formal learning- as a valuable tool for learning will be used by youth workers. - Launching of an awareness raising campaign called Respect for Cultural Diversity. This campaign was first launched via a dedicated Facebook group, due to lockdown and the difficulty in organising public events in the partner countries. Each partner organised different activities in their country to promote diversity, such as flash mob in the UK, or a singing and dancing activity in Lithuania, and so on.- Local activities with young people to implement the methods and techniques learned during the international training events. The project had an impact on the staff of the partner organisations taking part in the trainings. They acquired skills and competences to be better prepared to train youth to develop o culture of diversity, to respect cultural diversity and to stand against intolerance, for social inclusion. Also, the project had a great impact on youth too. Through the activities they have become more capable to develop a culture of diversity, to respect people belonging to different cultural diversity groups, to stand against intolerance. Partner organizations also improved their professional capacity acquiring new strategies and practices to deal with cultural diversity as well as acquiring innovative methods of combating intolerance, so that youths can be more tolerant and more involved in lives of their communities.

Challenges in achieving education for all in Europe are still present, namely: unpredictable demand for future skills, large disparities in access to education, the need to train adult educators in transversal curricular approaches to provide more life-context and authentic learning opportunities to sustain the transition to employment, the need for skills to integrate digital devices in instruction, lack of a common and coherent methodological approach in guidance and counselling services in order to be effective across all educational levels. These challenges have a high impact, particularly on low-skilled and low-qualified adults who lack the resilience, learning strategies or engagement to learn on their own.Currently, there are training, counselling or coaching e-platforms strictly dedicated to one area. Targeting a holistic approach, the project identified the needs of staff who support adult learners to have at hand, integrated into one, all necessary means to assist the low-skilled and low-qualified adults all through the way on their upskilling path to increase their competitiveness and adaptability in the labor market. In this respect, the project’s overall goal is to empower these professionals with an integrated and innovative iPath2UpSkilling Platform and Programme together with the specific skills required for using it in order to assure high quality upskilling pathways for the low-skilled and low-qualified adults. During 30 months, the project aims to:(1)develop the iPath2UpSkilling Platform (O1).(2)develop the iPath2UpSkilling Programme as an approach to Upskilling Pathways for low-skilled and low-qualified adults (O2).(3)empower 25 educators, trainers and other personnel who support adult learners with the necessary skills to use the iPath2UpSkilling Platform & Programme (C1 and C2).(4)expand at least 50 partnerships with Training Providers, Competence Assessment Centers & Second Chance Schools for Adults (O3)(5)raise public awareness on the project's results to 1000 persons.The main feature of this innovative iPath2UpSkilling Platform (O1) is the development of tailor-made itineraries as a part of the iPath2UpSkilling Programme (O2). The Programme assists the adult educators to firstly do profiling activities so that later to set up the most convenient training itinerary and a personalized pathway with activities that complement the capacities and resources made available to the adult trainee. The professionals will use the iPath2UpSkilling Platform and its resources in their daily work with the low-skilled and low-qualified adults to grant access to upskilling pathways in a flexible and an individual manner, ensuring at the same time both online and in-person instruction. Online instruction will be given through online trainings and other Open Educational Resources existing on the Platform's Library (O3). The in-person instruction will be ensured through online video guidance and coaching services and through the pointing out and giving a direction on the interactive online map towards specific Training Providers, Competence Assessment Centers and Second Chance Schools for Adults. Also, in the context of working with the low-skilled and low-qualified adults coming from schools with curricula centered only on reading, writing, math, science, history and foreign languages, the adult educators and trainers have identified from practice other two primary training needs area in any roadmap to upskilling: transversal key competencies and other competencies not taught in schools. If this training needs are covered, the low-skilled and low-qualified adults can successfully upgrade qualification. The project connects 4 online trainings on transversal competencies and other competencies not taught in schools (O3) with the certified qualifications awarded by Training Providers, Competence Assessment Centers and Second Chance Schools for Adults from the participating countries (UK, AU, CY, RO, TR) through an interactive online map. This approach grants a successful tailored Upskilling Pathway for those in need and valuable resources and working tools for adult educators and trainers.The web-based iPath2UpSkilling Platform is also freely available to all, becoming a virtual space where the adult educators can create networks, collaborations, exchange best practices, anticipate skills’ changes, participate in common actions and be visible up to the European level. The platform will be used to support trainers to easily build and host online courses even after the end of the project. Due to the fact that they will be empowered with online tools (O3), 3 Handbooks (IO2), 1 Mentorship Manual (IO2) and skills to create and develop new online trainings and Open Educational Resources as result of two trainings attended in the project (C1 and C2 activities), the Platform will develop by itself in time, assuring its durability and transferability beyond the project’ or partners’ border.

"IntegrateME! project is focused on the role of VET Trainers/Teachers/Mentors in the promotion of Cultural Literacy of immigrants and refugees towards their smooth integration in the EU diverse society. Becoming culturally literate, immigrants and refugees will acquire the knowledge and skills to understand and participate in a given culture and be smoothly integrated in the society of EU, personally and professionally. Knowledge of divers cultures, respect of beliefs and recognition of identities, through an intercultural approach, are decisive components that encourage the integration of immigrants and refugees in European societies. Being culturally literate, could improve their everyday personal and professional reality in their ""new"" socio-cultural environment, in which they will collectively work for the economic growth and social welfare of Europe. At the same time, ICT innovation is reshaping every aspect of our life (professional, social, educational, personal, etc), and so far has shown a great potential in affecting and improving it. In this sense, one aspect of our lives that is greatly affected is the development of virtual learning environments, which are considered to have a high degree of interactivity and complexity, not only due to the need of specialized and appropriate ICT learning environments but also due to the need of innovative didactic methods and learning material in order to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of ICT available resources, as the educational activities must be comprehensive, aiming to meet the needs of tomorrow. Having all these in mind, the purpose of IntegrateME! project is to contribute to the development of a VET Open Educational Resource on Cultural Literacy aiming at training VET Trainers/Teachers/Mentors, who in chain will train immigrants and refugees towards their smooth integration in the diverse society of EU according to the Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development focus on ""leaving no one behind"". This project aims to meet immigrants and refugees long-term need for knowledge, skills and competences acquisition regarding Cultural Literacy, in order to help their smooth integration in their ""new"" home and contribute to their personal and professional inclusion in diverse environments. IntegrateME! project is an international synergy between 6 European organisations with a transnational character, having as target groups VET Trainers/Teachers/Mentors, VET Centres and educational organisations, immigrants and refugees. They will jointly work to develop a VET Open Educational Resource, extending their scope beyond the boarders of their countries in order to define common strategies for fostering critical thinking through the use of ICT tools on Cultural Literacy. The project has the following objectives: 1.To design innovative training contents and methodologies for VET Trainers/Teachers/Mentors on Cultural Literacy embracing effective use of ICTs2.To increase the professional development (knowledge,skills, competences) of VET trainers to effectively support immigrants and refugees in integrating themselves, through Cultural Literacy, in their ""new"" home,3.Enhance pedagogical competences and skills development for effectively teaching issues related to Cultural Literacy 4. Build a creative, motivating and positive learning environment.The objectives will be accomplished through the following project's innovative products: *VET Trainer Curriculum to be used by VET Trainers/Teachers/Mentors for their professional development on Cultural Literacy, *VET Trainer Pedagogical Handbook on Cultural Literacy including in depth information, basic concepts, definitions and innovative methodological approaches regarding Cultural literacy, *Creation of a VET Open Educational Resource including an e-learning platform to be used as a training tool in the framework of Cultural Literacy, * Development of a Serious Game, which will be an on-line educational game in order to promote and motivate learning on Cultural Literacy in a playful manner."