SHAREIT

Project description

ShareIT is a EU project aimed at informal knowledge transfer among trainers in literacy and basic skills. Trainers from Scotland, Switzerland, Austria, Poland and Germany visit training institutions all over Europe, do job shadowing and exchange their views on our Trainers' Platform and social media i.e. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

In the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany, Poland, and Switzerland and other European countries academically backed up qualifications, trainings and modules for trainers in literacy and basic skills provision (reading, writing, numeracy, and use of ICT) have been developed and tested over the past years with contribution by most of the partners and/or key staff involved in SHAREIT (e.g. Project „In.Bewegung“, funded by ESF and the Austrian Ministry of Education; project “PROFESS”, funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, the training course “Introduction to Teaching in Adult Literacies Learning (ITALL) (PDA)” at Anniesland College, “Literator” and “Numerator” for literacy and numeracy trainers funded by the Swiss Government). Surveys amongst qualified trainers and evaluations (v. Rosenstiel, 2010; Stoppacher 2009) show that there is additional need and demand for the development of structures facilitating the implementation of methods for informal professionalization of basic skills trainers. 

In needs analysis conducted in the course of projects mentioned above basic skills trainers expressed that they lack networking structures and peers they could ask for professional advice. Initial qualifications and trainings would mainly be centred on theoretical inputs and would not prepare trainers for real training situations or give answers to questions arising from training. Furthermore trainers strongly expressed the need for professional exchange with other trainers who are facing similar questions and a professional interest in learning about didactics/methods of Basic Skills delivery in other European countries.

Experiences gained by education providers show that methods of informal professionalization such as mutual counselling and peer learning, giving feedback, job-shadowing, and collaboration of pedagogical personnel and trainers prove to be highly efficient if applied. The lack of specific process know-how and tools, as well as a lack of adequate resources often prevent basic skills providers from implementing such methods or tools. Especially trainers working on their own (small providers, rural areas) lack professional exchange and would benefit highly from knowledge transfer. 

Although digital literacy is obviously developing to be the basic skill in the years to come and Social Media and Web 2.0 tools are readily available to facilitate cost- and time-effective professional exchange, trainers do not use or are not trained to use these tools. This outcome of one of the workshops dealing with the training of basic skills trainers within the Grundtvig LP SOMEBA, which is co-ordinated by inspire, was considered by the participating countries to be asking for action.

Moreover, the question of how basic skills programmes can effectively and qualitatively be delivered to best meet individual learner’s demands and needs is still highly negotiated. By linking up pedagogical staff and trainers on one hand and providers (managing directors, project managers, quality managers) on the other, space for reflection and discussion on pedagogic quality and models especially on a micro-didactic level could be opened up. Disadvantaged learners would eventually profit from better quality. 

Finally, most qualifications and trainings for trainers in basic skills seem to be developed without taking into account existing competences and the needs of those who will be trained. Developers of qualifications and trainer trainers lack important input for adapting and improving formal qualifications and trainings.

SHAREIT`s goal is to meet these demands by collecting, testing, evaluating, and transferring effective on-the-job methods for informal and co-operative professionalization. We will support networking and informal of professionals with appropriate measures – a training, an online Platform, tools for and a handbook on efficient professional exchange - and systematically link up basic skills trainers on a transnational level. 

The project aims and measures support European policies and contribute to applying, adapting and testing – in concrete adult learning - the relevant tools or policy approaches. The adaptation of tools for the assessment of skills and competences acquired by trainers through methods of informal, co-operative professionalization will be following the European guidelines for the validation of informal learning and the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework will be applicable in the framework of training trainers for Basic Skills Provision. Trainers on transnational exchange and organisations sending or hosting staff will be introduced to Europass.

Objectives

• Collecting, testing, and evaluating effective methods for professional exchange and informal learning such as peer consulting, peer group supervision, job-shadowing, feedback techniques, and such, and transferring them into the context of basic skills provision.

• Initiating and implementing transnational professional exchange of trainers and pedagogic personnel in basic skills by means of innovative approaches and tools in the field.

• Facilitating the transfer of know-how on didactics and methodology acquired through formal training into practice.

• Enhance practical skills of trainers in literacy and basic skills regarding Social Media and the use of Web 2.0 tools to facilitate effective virtual exchange.

• Disseminating and exploiting products developed and tested to attract further European countries, further organisations and trainers to join the network and seek professional exchange.

Target group

• Basic skills trainers: Trainers specializing in literacy, numeracy, and the use of ICT in various European countries, especially those in Scotland, Switzerland, Austria, Poland, and Germany. These trainers seek informal professionalization, networking, and peer support to enhance their teaching methods.

• Adult education providers: Institutions and organizations involved in delivering basic skills training, particularly those who facilitate job-shadowing, networking, and professional exchange for trainers.

• Trainers working in isolated settings: Those who work in rural areas or small-scale providers, where access to professional networks and peer collaboration is limited.

• Pedagogic personnel: Educators and support staff involved in adult education, who are looking to enhance their methods through professional exchanges and on-the-job learning techniques.

• Developers of qualifications and training programs: Individuals or organizations responsible for designing and implementing qualifications for basic skills trainers, seeking to adapt formal training methods based on real-world feedback from trainers.

• Training institutions and organizations across Europe: Providers of adult education who send or host trainers for professional exchanges, aiming to adopt and adapt new tools and methods for informal learning.

• European policy-makers and quality assurance bodies: Those involved in the development and validation of informal learning practices and the improvement of pedagogical quality within the framework of the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework (EQARF) and Europass.

Results

The main project results i.e. Training for Trainers in Basic Skills, Online Platform for professional exchange, Handbook for (quality/project) managers of adult education organisations, for teacher trainers, for developers of trainer qualifications, Tools and processes for transnational exchange and the evaluation of informal learning while on exchange, are available online on respective platforms. Below you will find the video documentaries of some of the teachers trainings.

News

For news and updates on the project go to our facebook page here.