The following four projects created instruments and approaches, which in combination provide a powerful European approach for the professionalisation of Adult Educators:
- GINCO: The Grundtvig network for International Course Organisers (503706-LLP-1-2009-1-BE-GRUNDTVIG-GNW) was founded in 2007 and consists of 21 organisations from 14 member states. It has developed several studies on the requirements of IST courses in the LLP period and a number of tools and instruments including a quality approach for high quality courses that consider the “spirit” and intentions of European courses for AE professionals.
- PROVIDE: Based on the study “Key competences for adult learning professionals” by Research voor Beleid, a European development project converted the approach to the VET sector in the project “PROVIDE” (DE/13/LLP-LdV/TOI/147633). A competence oriented learning approach was developed which was based on an e-Portfolio platform and piloted in a number of VET institutions.
- IMPACT: it developed a comprehensive implementation strategy for VINFL with a special focus on IT-based interoperability and on integrating educational stakeholders from the practice to this important European field (2014-1-DE02-KA200-001611). A large scale stocktaking phase of all available ECVET projects and an online survey were carried out. IMPACT transferred the recommendations on structures of ECVET qualifications (2009) of the European Parliament and the Council into a technical specification. This specification was put open source on a specific website as basis for software development of validation tools that facilitate the transfer of qualifications, units and learning outcomes. The platform is centrally managed and maintained on an open source e-Portfolio system consisting of a combined learning and validation environment that was developed on the basis of a sound technical ECVET specification. For the first time the seamless connection between open source learning technologies (e-Portfolio- LMS –validation software) could be established and was piloted within the learning projects of the trained teachers. A specific showroom platform for KA1 stakeholders (course providers and sending organisations) was conceptualised, designed and piloted with a limited number of providers.
- OWL/GRETA: the German Institute for Adult Education has worked for the development of a scientifically funded and application-oriented concept for a learning platform to enable the target group to develop pedagogical competencies in order to professionalize their pedagogical actions. The OWL platform provides broad information and allows for supra-regional/multidisciplinary community building. It is based on a thorough competence framework, which is based on the parallel project GRETA (www.die-bonn.de/institut/forschung/professionalitaet/greta.aspx?) which connects to the DQR (the German Qualification Framework).