e-Guide for Community Workshops

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The aim of this e-Guide is to present the self-study training material for adult educators-practitioners in order to run educational workshops for local communities “Successful integration of low-skilled adults through education”. The e-Guide is presented as an Open Educational Resource (OER) for free and open use via the M-Easy website.

The role of the local communities in fostering inclusion and integration of low-skilled adults through education and learning is crucial. That is why it is important to develop adult educators’ civic and social competences in training of local communities’ practitioners in order to engage them in fostering the low-skilled adults to life-long learning. The staff members and volunteers, who work at local community centers, staff of non-governmental organizations and adult education centers at the grass-root level have to be able to motivate the low-skilled adults to constantly improve their competences by joining educational courses and be more active in the social life of the local communities.

Integration into the local community is not always easy, especially for migrants, refugees and low-skilled adults. The project M-Easy has developed 10 success stories on how education, lifelong learning and efforts of the socially excluded people themselves may open new opportunities and ease the challenging process of integration. These inspiring stories could be used to boost peoples’ confidence to overcome difficulties and believe in themselves. At the same time, the stories will raise awareness within the members of the local community and educate themselves in terms of equity, diversity and tolerance. Thus, the local community has to be more aware about the necessity of lifelong learning, about the impact of well-performing education and training systems on providing low-skilled adults with the skills required by the labor market and the economy, while allowing them to play an active role in society and achieve personal fulfillment.

A set of 10 on-line success stories presented as Open Educational Resources on the project website:

http://measy.lpf.lt/training_course_en.html.

These success stories will be a basis for running the community workshop using the reversed training methodology – participants will be encouraged to study them in advance, before the face-to-face meeting. Also, these success stories could be used as handouts for promotional and educational purposes in libraries, local community centers, cultural centers, etc.

The main aim of the Workshop is to develop adult educators’ civic and social competences, particularly in training of local communities in order to engage them into fostering inclusion and integration of the low-skilled adults through life-long learning. The workshop is planned for 16 academic hours (further a.h.) and consists from two parts: the on-line session for self-learning (independent studying) of 10 success stories by participants (8 a.h.) and the face-to-face session to deepen the knowledge on the topic (8 a.h).

The workshop is innovative as it complies with the European Union strategy 2020 which stresses a demand/challenge for Europe to create more cohesive and inclusive societies which allow citizens as well as newly arrived immigrants to play an active role in the labor market and democratic life. This workshop contributes to raising awareness about the strategy among the citizens of local communities.

Having participated in the workshop, the adult educators-practitioners, who work in the field of community education, will:

  • be able to contribute to raising awareness within local communities about the European Union strategy 2020 and needs of Europe for more cohesive and inclusive societies which allow citizens as well as newly arrived immigrants to play an active role in labor market and democratic life;
  • strengthen their capacities to increase the understanding of local communities on the importance of lifelong learning for integration of low-skilled adults;
  • be able to increase engagement of the local communities in motivating low-skilled adults, including refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, to learn in order to foster their inclusion and integration;
  • become facilitators-multipliers of this workshop.

In order to run a successful workshop, the adult educator has to raise the following four main topics, which are clearly connected with the lessons plan (see part V of this e-Guide):

Stress that the education is a key to promote common European values, foster social integration and employability, enhance intercultural understanding and a sense of belonging to a community, and to prevent violent radicalization.

Tips for this topic. To be prepared to speak on this topic, it is advisable to read the following main statements, concerning the EU policy on the topic.

The Europe 2020 strategy launched in March 2010 is giving the overall direction and political priorities for promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth up to 2020. It is conceived as a partnership between the EU and its Member States driven by the promotion of growth and jobs. Constructed around five headline targets in the areas of employment, research and development, climate and energy, education and the fight against poverty and social inclusion, the strategy also set out a series of action programs, called “flagship initiatives”. It is important for this Workshop to stress Initiatives 6 and 7:

  • “An agenda for new skills and jobs” to modernize labour markets and empower people by developing their skills throughout the lifecycle with a view to increase labour participation and better match labour supply and demand, including the labour mobility.
  • “European platform against poverty” to ensure social and territorial cohesion such that the benefits of growth and jobs are widely shared and people experiencing poverty and social exclusion are enabled to live in dignity and take an active part in society. The number of Europeans living below the national poverty lines should be reduced by 25%, lifting over 20 million people out of poverty. One of the main benchmarks is to increase the employment rate to 75% (“75 % of the population aged 20-64 should be employed”).

Read more at:

https://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/pdf/COMPLET%20EN%20BARROSO%20%20%20007%20-%20Europe%202020%20-%20EN%20version.pdf

The “Education and Training 2020” work programme (ET 2020) was adopted in May 2009. In line with the Europe 2020 growth strategy, ET 2020 pursues the following four common EU objectives:

The ET 2020 also supports the achievement of the following benchmarks at European level by 2020:

More about ET 2020 you could read at https://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/european-policy-cooperation/et2020-framework_en

Stress that the local communities and citizens in general have to be prepared to help the refugees, asylum seekers, migrants in their social integration. Thus, it is important to educate the local communities on the issues of equity, diversity, tolerance.

Tips for this topic. To be prepared to speak on this topic, it is advisable to read the following main statements, concerning the EU and national policies on the topic.

The EU is home to 21.6 million third-country nationals, accounting for 4.2% of the total EU population. New migrants settling in the EU every year represent less than 0.5% of the EU population.

Most migrants residing in the EU are likely to stay in the medium-term. Therefore, finding a job and being included in the society is crucial to their successful integration. Social support such as access to housing, healthcare, and assistance for children is equally important.

Challenges are the following:

  • Worse labour market outcomes compared to EU nationals: the average employment rate of working age non-EU migrants residing in the EU was 55% in 2017 (against 68% of the host-country nationals).
  • Wider labour-related gaps among women.
  • Unfavorable outcomes in education, skills and social inclusion: 39% of third-country nationals (or 5.7 million) live in relative poverty, over twice the rate for EU nationals (17%)

The integration of migrants is a responsibility of the national policies; however, the EU also supports integration of migrants into European labour markets and societies. Addressing integration challenges is a multidimensional process and requires integrated policy actions in several policy areas. The role of the local communities on fostering inclusion and integration of migrants through education and learning is crucial. Thus, the local community has to be more aware about the necessity of lifelong learning, about the impact of well-performing education and training systems on providing low-skilled adults with the skills required by the labour market and the economy, and playing an active role in society and achieving personal fulfilment.

To be better prepared for the workshop, you can read A EUROPEAN AGENDA ON MIGRATION at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0240

Give a clear message about the importance of lifelong learning for integration of low-skilled adults, including refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.

Tips for this topic. As participants will read the 10 success stories in advance during the on-line session, it is advisable to organise group work based on the prepared feedback by participants. Thus, it is suggested to you as a trainer to analyse all ten stories yourself before running the workshop (see web-site http://measy.lpf.lt/training_course_en.html –Community workshop). The list of the stories is presented in the short format below.

1. Adama from Gambia, currently living in Cyprus “My wish is to continue with my studies, persist with my work and actions here so that I can be in a position to give back to the community and Cyprus.”
2. Ahmed Nour from Somalia, currently living in Cyprus “I have always believed in the importance of education which I consider as key for personal success.”
3. Alla from Russia, currently living in Lithuania “It doesn’t matter what is your job, but your dignity matters. Do the job that you like.”
4. Anastasia from Ukraine, currently living in Lithuania “If you want to do something – do it now. World is constantly

changing and tomorrow it won’t be the same.”
5. Elsa from Honduras,

currently living in Poland

 “You have to be active if you want to integrate!”
6. Lina from Lithuania “Openness and sincerity are the first steps towards friendship. “
7. Mario from Italy, currently living in Lithuania “There are plenty of opportunities around, the most important. “
8. Tetiana from Ukraine, currently living in Poland “Studies have helped me find my place in a new country.”
9. Alhagie from Gambia, currently living in Italy “The key to integration is social and cultural participation.”
10. Diassigui from Senegal, currently living in Italy “Winning is an attitude. The leader’s attitude determines the pace of the group. “

It is advisable to answer the questions below yourself and make the remarks. It will help you to run the workshop and to suggest the success stories which are more relevant to the needs of your target audience.

Your personal feedback on the success story.

  • What main aspects of successful integration have been emphasized in the story?
  • Could this success story motivate the members of the community (immigrants, refugees, the low-skilled) for active involvement into the society and/or in starting (continuing) learning?
  • Could this success story be presented in the local community events in order to raise the awareness of the local people on the issues of equity, diversity and tolerance?
  • Could this story be used to foster social integration and promote the sense of belonging to the local community for the disadvantaged people (immigrants, refugees, the low-skilled, etc.)?
  • Could this success story be appealing to your country? Will it cover the needs of the target group of the workshop you will lead?
  • What could be the importance of the success stories to the members of the local community in terms of raising their awareness towards the socially excluded people?
  • What lessons and conclusions from the success stories can be emphasized to your learners?

After you have analysed the success stories yourself, you are in position to organise the group work on the success stories within your workshop (see Lessons plan).

Present the training course developed within the project innovative ‘M-Easy’ in order to give the possibility to the citizens to be active and provide neighbors in their local communities (low-skilled adults, including refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants) with information about the possibility to develop mathematical skills.

Tips for this topic. It is advised to present to the learners of the workshop the developed training course M-Easy by using web-site www.measy.lpf.lt. It is also essential that you study the e-Learners Guide yourself http://measy.lpf.lt/learners_guide_en.html  to better understand the idea of the M-Easy training course. Brainstorm with the participants on how to disseminate the training course M-Easy within their local communities.

The set of the success stories is presented as an Open Educational resource; thus, it creates the possibility to run the workshop by using reversed training methodology. It means that you as a trainer will provide your trainees/learners with the opportunity to make an initial analysis of the on-line training materials (success stories as OERs) by themselves and after fulfilling their independent learning tasks, discuss the results with the facilitator during the face-to-face session. Thus, this innovative reversed training methodology will be used for running the the workshop with the planned duration of 16 academic hours (a.h.) and includes two parts: on-line session for self-learning of 10 success stories by participants (8 a.h.) and face-to-face session to deepen the knowledge on the topic (8 a.h).

The participants of the workshop have to be registered by you on-line. The participants need to enroll in the course on-line. After that you will send the participants a welcome letter with a short introduction of the workshop and a link to the success stories and questions for feedback (see Annex 1). You may create your own text as well. This session is based on the Role Model Method.

The Role Model Method can be defined as teaching by analysing of good examples in informal and learner-friendly manner. This method is very good for motivating disadvantaged persons to make positive changes in their lives. However, it is important to ensure the good quality of content of success stories: they have to be attractively presented, not very ambitious, have to look as possible to follow and to be presented in the national language of learners. It is recommended to use this method during the online session of this workshop.

You also have to ask each of the learner to prepare the personal feedback on each of the story by sending them by email the same questions as it was given to you for the self-study:

  • What main aspects of successful integration have been emphasized in the story?
  • Could this success story motivate the members of the community (immigrants, refugees, the low-skilled) to get actively involved in the society and/or in starting (continuing) learning?
  • Could this success story be presented to local community events in order to raise the awareness of the local people on the issues of equity, diversity and tolerance?
  • Could this story be used to foster social integration and promote the sense of belonging to the local community for the disadvantaged people (immigrants, refugees, the low-skilled, etc.)?
  • Could this success story be appealing to your country? Will it cover the needs of the target group of the workshop you will lead? What could be the importance of the success stories to the members of the local community in terms of raising their awareness towards the socially excluded people?
  • What lessons and conclusions from the success stories can be emphasized by you to your low-skilled community members?

Then you will establish a date for the face-to-face sessions, which will be organised in accordance with the lessons plan (see part V).

Start the session with participants introducing themselves, eliciting their expectations. Use the Icebreakers and Energizers methods (see Lesson plan for face-to-face session in the part V). Then deliver a theoretical presentation on the topic of the Workshop (Annex 2).

Then it is suggested that you sensitize the participants – members of the local communities and adult educators-practitioners on the topic by organising the brainstorming on the following questions:

  • Have you had any experience of dealing with socially excluded people (immigrants, refugees, the low-skilled)? Was it successful?
  • Do you have any tools (booklets, leaflets, etc.) to motivate the members of the community (immigrants, refugees, the low-skilled) to become actively involved in the society and start (continue) learning?
  • List a few means and activities that you/your local community organize to raise the awareness of the local people on the issues of equity, diversity and tolerance. Do you think this is enough?
  • How do you foster social integration and promote the sense of belonging to the local community for the disadvantaged people (immigrants, refugees, the low-skilled, etc.)?
  • Do you have experience to use the Role Model method, based on success stories? From your point of view, what has to be done to make this method effective?The discussion is led by the trainer and the main message the trainer is supposed to convey – that it is important to share their experiences because people learn best from each other. The discussion will create the good basis to make the transition to the group work on success stories.

Divide the participants of the workshop into a few groups, give them the task to analyse together their feedback on one of the success story. For this session it is suggested to use the dialogical groups method.

The dialogical group method – discussions between the group participants on the questions prepared in advance during the face-to-face sessions. In our case it will be the questions on success stories which have been read by participants already during the online sessions. The effectiveness of such discussions much depends on the experience of the facilitator and on how much the questions for discussion is interesting to all members of the group. Thus, it is suggested to moderate the presentation of the groups and together with learners to find out which success stories are interesting for this particular group of learners.

It is advisable to assign each group with a different story and ask them to present it to the other group(s) and suggest how this success story could be used to promote lifelong learning and integration into the local society. You can ask participants to read the success stories once again (if it is necessary to refresh their minds) directly from the website by using PCs or use the paper version printed in advance. Each group will present the stories by answering the same questions as it was above presented for self-reflection by making collaborative answers. Other participants are encouraged to express their opinion if it differs from the group’s presentation. If the number of the participants is lower than 20, you can make two sessions of group work as all 10 stories have to be analyzed. Summarize the group’s work with a clear message about the importance of lifelong learning for integration of low-skilled adults, including refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.

Suggest to the participants of the workshop to learn about the new opportunity for low-skilled adults to improve their math skills in the very innovative way of using the website of the M-Easy project. Organise the discussions about the possibility to use the M-EASY training course within their communities.

In order to ensure the multiplication potential for further use of the workshop training material to organize the trainings for local community leaders, staff members, volunteers, it is suggested to show the e-Guide via the website www.measy.lpf.lt and advice the participants to read the e-Guide after the Workshop.

In order to evaluate the impact of the workshop, it is advisable to ask participants to give their feedback on how their expectations were met Encourage participants to share their feedback with the group, ask them about the improvements they would suggest running the workshop as well as their intention to run the workshop within their local communities.

Ask participants as well for the formal evaluation by using the Evaluation Form (Annex 3) of the Workshop.

After the workshop, the participants will get the certificate (see Annex 4). It will confirm that he/she got acquainted with the training material of the workshop Successful Integration of Low-Skilled Adults Through Education and is ready to facilitate the training of the leaders and staff members of the local communities using the obtained competences.

The lessons’ plan is developed to help you to organize the workshop. This plan gives an overview of the blended learning process using the reversed training methodology, the Role Model and the Dialogical Group methods. The training course is planned for 16 academic hours (a.h.) with 2 sessions: one online session (8 a.h.) and one face-to-face session (8 a.h.).

 

Type of session Duration (*a.h.) Content/Topics Methodology
On-line 8 §  Facilitator: Send an email to learner with the Introduction of the Workshop (Annex 1). Ask learner to send by email his/her expectations

§  Learner: Individual on-line learning using the Set of success stories with writing the feedback for each story using questions (presented in Annex 1)

Consultations with the facilitator via emails (according to the learner’s need)

 §  Reversed training/flipped learning

 

 

§  Role model method based on success stories
Face-to-face 8 §  Participants introduce themselves, elicit their expectations

§  Presentation of the European background of the Workshop, its impact to the local communities and low-skilled adults.

§  Brainstorming on the topics (Annex 2)

§  Group work on the success stories. Presentation on the results from the groups

§  Summarizing the results of the group work.

§  Short presentation of the M-Easy training course using website:

http://measy.lpf.lt/tc_learner_part.html

§  Introduction of the e-Guide for further use by participants.

§  Reflection from the participants on how their expectations were met.

§  Evaluation of the Workshop. Certification.

 §  Icebreakers; Energizers

 

§  Lecturing by using PPP (Annex 2)

 

§  Sensitizing on the topic

§  Dialogical group method

 

 

 

§  Discussion about the possibility to use the M-Easy training course

§  Multiplication potential for further use.

§  Impact of the Workshop. Questionnaires (Annex 3)

*Note: 1 academic hour = 45 minutes

Tentative Workshop Schedule of the Face-to-face meeting can be as follows:

10:00 Introduction of the participants, eliciting their expectations
10:20 Presentation of the European background of the Workshop, its impact to the local communities and the low-skilled adults
11:00 Brainstorming session on the topic
12:00 Lunch
12:45 Group work on the success stories. Presentation on the results from the groups
15:00 Summarizing the results of the group work.
15:30 Short presentation of the M-Easy training course
16:00 Coffee break
16:20 Introduction of the e-Guide for further use by participants
16:40 Reflection from the participants on how their expectations were met.
17.00 Evaluation of the Workshop.
Certification.

  1. Europe 2020 strategy,
    https://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/pdf/COMPLET%20EN%20BARROSO%20%20%20007%20-%20Europe%202020%20-%20EN%20version.pdf
  2. “Education and Training 2020” work programme,
    https://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/european-policy-cooperation/et2020-framework_en.
  3. Kaner S. (2007). Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making. 2nd ed. San Francisco. Jossey-Bass.
  4. Ace project. [online]. Available at:
    http://www.ace-erasmusplus.eu/modules/2/index.php?lang=en – Use of ICT and OER in training of LSE.

Annex 1. Introduction of the Workshop to the participants
Word PDF

Annex 2. PPT presentation to be used by trainer during the Face-to-Face sessions.
PowerPoint PDF

Annex 3. Evaluation Form by the participants
Word PDF

Annex 4. The Certificate
Word PDF

NB! Don’t forget to insert the logo of your organization and the change the name of the head of your organization.