"Why: Across Europe, the participation of low-skilled workers in continuing vocational training remains far below average, and their risk of unemployment high. In the debate on skilled workers, these employees are increasingly coming under scrutiny throughout Europe as endogenous potential for securing competitiveness. As a consequence, companies are becoming increasingly important as a means of gaining access to low-qualified target groups for lifelong learning.Work-based basic skills training - WBBS for short - as a continuing education offering is proving to be an important way of reaching employees with no or no recognised vocational qualification for the further development of their basic skills in Europe. A wide range of national and European projects and implementation strategies have generated empirically sound findings on how access to companies and employees can be designed, how learning and competence development close to the workplace can be initiated and realised and which organisational conditions promote this educational service as a business field. It has been shown: If strategies of further training for semi-skilled and unskilled workers are to be successful, work-based learning - as close to the workplace as possible - must be professionally organised. Due to the diverse specifics of WBBS training in companies, this training service represents a challenge for adult educators. This is where the Profi-Train project with its professionalisation approach comes in.Who:Partners of the project are:bbb Büro für berufliche Bildungsplanung, R. Klein & Partner GbR, Dortmund; Dipl. Päd. Rosemarie Klein Managing Director (Koordinatorin) & Dipl. Päd. Gerhard Reutter, Dipl. Päd., Senior Researcher.BEST Institut für berufsbezogene Weiterbildung und Personaltraining GmbH, Wien; Helmut Kronika, Managing DirectorERGANI Center for Support and Advancement of Employment for women in Thessaloniki; Parthenopi Sourmaidou, Managing Director; Anna ERUDICIO nadacni fond, Plzen; Jarmila Modra, researcher; Vlastimil Outly, Senior Expert, Jana Vanova, Researcher, Vera Komerova, researcherMEDE Ministry for Education and Employment. Directories for Lifelong Learning, Malta; Christianne Fenech, Project Manager, Mandy Mifsud, researcherSIAE Slovenian Institut for Adult Education, Lubljana; Estera Mozin, Researcher and Project Leader; Petra Javrh, ResearcherWhat:PROFI-TRAIN builds on the existing knowledge of WBBS training and presents a transferable and flexible further training concept for teaching, scheduling and process support staff in further training. The further training concept ""Acquiring competencies for work-based basic skills"" consists of three components: - IO 1 ""Self-Study-Manual. Acquiring Competencies for Work-Based Basic Skills Training (WBBS) - IO 2 ""Guide with six training modules for attendance seminars - IO 4 ""European Roadmap for Stakeholders"", who can implement sustainable professionalisation strategies The products are based on initially prepared country reports, which were published in a compiled version as specialist article. For the qualitative and country-specific contextualised completion of the products, national pilot seminars lasting several days were planned, implemented and evaluated by each partner (IO 3). The results of the pilot seminars were documented in a report (IO 3) and were used in particular for the qualitative further development of IO 2 and for the development of IO 4. The modules in IO 1 and IO 2 run close to the action process of WBBS trainings and thematise the topic:Module 1: Basic knowledge of Work-Based Basic SkillsModule 2: Approaches to companiesModule 3: Appeal to employeesModule 4: Developing an Operational Training Programme for Work-Based Basic SkillsModule 5: Realisation of Work-Based Basic Skills TrainingModule 6: Finalisation and Evaluation of WBBS-TrainingHow:The Profi-Train partnership produced the products in a division of labour and were subject to a structured feedback process and a thorough peer review process. The partners took the opportunity to develop a detailed analysis of the educational system, the degree of innovation, etc. based on country-specific characteristics of the educational system. criteria to contextualize and then translate the English-language versions that were initially developed. This was particularly relevant to ensure the connectivity of the products, to make the wording more precise and to increase the chances of implementation in the country. Result:Due to the innovative content of the professionalization concept, the products IO 1 and IO 2 in particular have become much more differentiated, in-depth and thus more comprehensive than expected. The results of the pilot seminars indicate that it has been possible both to comprehensively secure the knowledge base on WBBS and to present guidelines for planning attendance seminars with lively learning methods and opportunities for biographical career development."

"<< Background >>Especially among the lower underprivileged milieu – the “left behind” – there are still major barriers to education and further training (Bremer 2017). This raises questions of connectivity of educational guidance. Many drivers such as digitalisation (e-literacy, information literacy…) polarisation of the labour market (increase of working poor, new forms of precarious work…) immigration from “poor countries” etc. are pushing this development. Because unemployed people are mostly under the supervision of public employment services (PESs), there needs to be a special focus on persons from the prime working age who have a form of gainful work (hereafter labelled “working persons”). In some European countries working persons from the underprivileged milieu are still hardly or not at all in focus of educational guidance, other countries already have a lot of experience with different approaches to reach this group of guidance users.Persons from this underprivileged milieu are characterised by a certain habitus (Bourdieu 1987), which differs greatly from that of the guidance practitioners themselves. They are characterised by lower educational and skill level and lower participation in educational guidance (Bremer 2017). People in a certain social milieu are among other things similar in their preferences and attitudes to work and education (Vester et al. 2001). Many guidance/counselling approaches focus on the users. ReachOut, however, addresses guidance practices and raises the question of the ""connectivity"" of educational guidance practitioners to their clients. Guidance practitioners are challenged to respond to different people and their concerns, to be up-to-date professionally, to deal with new media (social media, online counselling, chat counselling, etc.) and to adapt to an increasingly diversified society (multiculturalism, diverse value systems) (Leonhartsberger-Ledl 2017,5). ""Connectivity"" is created by recognising the lifeworld of the other person(s) and, above all, through ""habitus sensitivity"" (Sander 2014, Bremer 2017). In line with the ET2020/European Agenda for Adult Learning priorities and the Council Recommendation on Upskilling Pathways ReachOut aims at increasing demand and take-up of adult education through effective outreach, guidance, and motivation strategies by adapting guidance offers to the target group of working persons from the underprivileged milieu. ReachOut does this by answering the question how connectable educational guidance is and how habitus sensitivity in offers of educational guidance can be supported (Sander 2014).<< Objectives >>ReachOut sets clear objectives in relation to three direct and indirect target groups:GUIDANCE PRACTITIONERSThe ReachOut project focuses on upskilling educational and vocational guidance practitioners. The first direct target group is the group of guidance practitioners and their organisations (e.g. five associated partners), who are confronted with the challenges of working with persons from the underprivileged milieu, whose habitus differs greatly from that of the guidance practitioners themselves (e.g. due to their educational background). With the ReachOut project we want to achieve knowledge transfer and reflection on measures to reach working people from the underprivileged milieu and on the design, setting and approaches of guidance used in practice. The ReachOut project will have an impact on the skills and competences of guidance practitioners in the fields of education, career, employment and will be of use for providers of further training for guidance practitioners. Guidance practitioners and their organisations will be enabled to reflect on their experiences and practices of guidance and to upgrade its offers. Stakeholders responsible for educational guidance and professional development of the guidance practitioners will benefit from tailor-made guidance offers and will be enabled to design different training programmes.GOVERINING ACTORSThe second direct target group are governing actors on regional, national, and European level. For example, stakeholders responsible for educational guidance and training and policy actors in the field of strategic programme development and funding. To meet the needs of this target group the project will present the key findings in form of a Policy Paper. The Policy Paper “Habitus Sensitive Guidance - recommendations for policy makers"" (PR3) will be published in English, Czech, Slovenian, and German and will disseminate via the projects website and via websites of projects partners. The results will be presented at four national multiplier events (ME1, ME2, ME3, ME4).The project will raise awareness about the challenge of reaching out to working persons from the underprivileged milieu. It will help to redefine objectives and strategies of educational and vocational guidance to meet the guidance needs of this target group. And it will support the implementation of identified measures to better cater this targe group with appropriate guidance offers.WORKING PEOPLE FROM THE UNDERPRIVILIEGED MILIEUThe indirect target group of the ReachOut project are working persons from the underprivileged milieu. They are from the prime working age and have a less stable form of gainful work (e.g. fragmented, precarious, low paid, marginal, partly declared). They have a certain distance to formal education and guidance and some of which have migration background. This group has severe needs to rise their participation in educational guidance and further training. By upskilling guidance practitioners, offering adequate guidance and creation of an adequate policy setting, individual guidance users will be supported in accessing appropriate education and training opportunities in adult education and to have a clear picture about their individual career path and skills needs. They will be supported to size the labour market opportunities through education and guidance. The project will help them to move on to more stable and secure forms of work.<< Implementation >>The following activities will be implemented during the project period and beyond:>Extensive desk research at national (AT, CZ, DE, SI) and European level on the topic at hand>Presentation of progress during Mutual Learning Seminars (MLS1-4) of all partners at the Transnational Partner Meetings >Interviews with stakeholders for PR1, 3-5 interviews per partner (total of 18 all in all, 30 minutes each)>Interviews with guidance practitioners for PR2, 12 interviews per country (total of 48 interviews, 30 minutes each)>Compiling the project results: PR1 Country Reports, PR2 Self-Study-Manual, PR3 Policy Paper (see next point on “project results”>Compiling and setting up a project Onepager and a Project Website (see next point on “project results”)>Presentation and discussion of results at Multiplier Events (ME1-4) in Austria, Germany, Slovenia and Czech Republic. Each event will have about 30 participants.>Presentations at numerous conferences, workshops, seminars for different target groups<< Results >>>The first Project Result (PR1) are four different COUNTRY REPORTS titled: “Habitus Sensitive Guidance for Underprivileged Milieu” on Austria, Germany, Czech Republic and Slovenia in the respective languages, plus English (15 - 20 pages each). The objective is to map the state of the art and situation related to the policy and practice of professional educational guidance offering guidance to working persons from the underprivileged milieu. The target groups are political decision makers, managers of institutions providing training and guidance and other relevant stakeholders and governing actors in the field of educational and vocational guidance. The reports will create a base from which the mutual discussion will start and crucial points in each country systems can be defined and compared within the consortium. PR1 will also enable the target groups to identify potentially good, applied practices and approaches which could be inspiring for partners or other experts in the broader environment. > The second Project Result (PR2) is a SELF-STUDY-MANUAL titled: “Experiences and Cases from working with the Underprivileged Milieu” in English, German, Slovenian and Czech (about 60 p. + Annex each). The Self-Study-Manual is to be directly used by guidance practitioners, policy makers and relevant stakeholders, who want to inform themselves and to reflect on the practises guiding working persons from the underprivileged milieu. It contributes to the professionalisation of guidance practitioners and their organisations. Also, stakeholders responsible for educational guidance and professional development of the guidance practitioners will benefit from tailor-made guidance offers for the special needs of working persons from underprivileged milieus.> The third Project Result (PR3) is a POLICY PAPER titled: ""Habitus Sensitive Guidance - recommendations for policy makers"" in English, German, Czech and Slovenian (15 - 20 p. each).PR3 is a briefing paper for governing actors, political decision makers, managers of institutions providing training and guidance and other relevant stakeholders in the field of educational and vocational guidance. It will support actors, at European, national, regional, and institutional level in adapting their educational and vocational guidance policy towards the needs of working persons from the underprivileged milieu.Other relevant outputs are:>PROJECT WEBSITE: presenting above others all project outputs for download. It is hosted on ÖSB (www.oesb-sb.at/ReachOut) to make sure that all content will be offered for cost-free download (with an open Creative Commons license: CC BY) for unrestricted time. All partners will additionally provide open access to the project results on their websites. >MULTIPLIER EVENTSThis series of Multiplier Events (ME1-4, one in each country: AT, DE, SL, CZ) aims to boost the national discourse on the impact of recent stratification of society and labour market trends on educational and vocational guidance needs and the resulting challenges for providing guidance. These events are used to disseminate the results and to increase the impact of the project by entering a dialogue with relevant persons in the fields of educational and vocational guidance, education, and labour market, such as guidance practitioners, policy makers, administration representatives and national agencies for educational and labour market programmes. Each partner organises one Multiplier Event with about 30 participants. The output will be documentation and evaluation reports on all four 4 Multiplier Events>ReachOut-ONEPAGER: a short presentation of the project for dissemination will be available in English, German, Czech and Slovenian as PDF and PowerPoint.>According to the DISSEMINATION plans of all partner organisation there will be numerous additional results like journal article, newsletter article, Social Media input, presentations targeting different groups of audience."

"<< Background >>The initial idea of the project is based on the observation that the practices described as ""Outreach"", although present in social work training, remain both difficult to put into practice by social workers and volunteers working with socially excluded people and young people and are not very present in the logic of support systems. It is the articulation of the three dimensions: policy planning, institutional organisation and professional/field intervention, which makes effective implementation difficult. This difficulty is visible in the regular questioning of specialised prevention associations which are entrusted with missions that question the basis of their intervention. It appears to us that there are a number of needs that are not covered today in most countries, particularly in terms of bridging the gaps mentioned above. The project will enable us, in the light of the experiences and practices in each country, to identify and evaluate the gaps in existing training, the concrete gaps between training and practice, the gaps between the needs of the populations and the ways in which they are expressed (needs), and how they are taken into account. We note that there is a gap between the strategic, organisational and professional levels of planning and execution of the intervention. The challenge is therefore to bridge the gap between training and practice, and to improve existing training content, and to question the gap between practice and social policy.<< Objectives >>Our general objectives are therefore to : Reduce the gap between training and practice through the education of adults (whether volunteers, returnees, continuing education, etc), Reduce the gap between social policies and professional practices, To concretise adult learning and intervention strategies that strengthen greater coordination between institutions, national, regional and local authorities, social partners and civil society, To fight against isolation, withdrawal and the renunciation of rights by those most in difficulty. Operational objectives : Identify existing studies and practices Design a training module and integrate it into existing training courses, Train trainers to implement this module, Train adults who will implement the experimentation (educators, volunteers, social workers, etc.) To create and experiment with a support methodology Experiment with low threshold services Construction of an educational kit and a common reference framework.<< Implementation >>Our project will be based on 4 main activities: - The capitalisation of training contents and outreach practices in the partner countries - The design and implementation of a training module on outreach in social work training - The design and testing of a methodology for outreach by professionals and volunteers - The design of an educational kit containing these elements. To accompany these activities, 2 learning mobilities are planned: one to train the trainers who will intervene in the training modules on outreach, the other to train in the practical methodology of outreach in the field.<< Results >>The results will allow us to verify that we are achieving the objectives set by the project. They will therefore be of several kinds and will cover several levels. Results during the project Accompaniment of individuals and groups Innovations in responses to people's needs Exchange of practices between partners and participants Training of adults Creation of a theoretical corpus and good practices of outreach (IO 1)Creation of a training module on outreach (IO 2)Creation of a methodology for outreach, (IO 3)After project : Better consideration of people's ways of functioning and needs, Better adaptation of responses to the needs of the populations concerned, Integration of training modules in the partner organisations and in other organisations in the country Pedagogical toolkit (IO 4)"

The Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth acknowledges lifelong learning and skills development as key elements in response to the current economic crisis, to demographic ageing and to the broader economic and social strategy of the EU. The crisis has highlighted the major role which adult learning can play in achieving the Europe 2020 goals, by enabling adults - in particular the low-skilled and older workers - to improve their ability to adapt to changes in the labor market and society. Participation in adult learning has continued to fall, from 9,8 % of the 25-64 year-old population in 2005 to only 9,1 % in 2010, thus making the increased ‘ET2020’ target of 15 % by 2020 an even greater challenge. One of the challenges faced today is the fact that some MS do not have comprehensive strategies on Adult Education, whilst, where they exist no measures are taken for updating and monitoring them, identifying gaps and being at the same time in line with the ET2020 strategy. The development of a comprehensive strategy on Adult Education will enable local and national authorities to contribute towards the achievement of the above EU target and increase adults’ participation in education and training in a lifelong learning perspective. The strategy will be in line with other EU tools such as the EQF and NQF as well as the mechanisms for validating non-formal and in-formal learning. What are the effective policies to be taken into account for the development of an effective strategy, who are the major stakeholders to participate in the development of the strategy, how the strategy can be put into practice, what are some practical tools needed to facilitated these processes, are some of the questions that will seek answer during the project lifespan.The project objectives are fully align with the EU priorities and are the following: - Designing and implementing effective strategies for enhancing basic skills for specific adult target groups, increasing incentives for adult training- Stimulating the development and use of innovative approaches and tools to assess and increase the efficiency of public expenditure and the investment in education, training and youth, including through new funding models such as public-private partnerships, cost-sharing, etc. (Erasmus + , horizontal priority) - Evaluating the effectiveness of adult education policies at national, regional and local levels level (Erasmus +, field specific priority).- EU benchmark referring to the Adult Participation in lifelong learning (15% until 2020)- Priorities of the EU Agenda on Adult Learning 2014-15The consortium consist of 6 partners, from 5 European countries which cover a wide range of expertise related to the aims of the DIMA project, as well they have a Pan-European outreach in their activities:1.MOEC has extensive experience in working with cross-discipline and cross-sector project teams and developed educational activities2.CARDET is an international education research center with global expertise in Adult Education strategies3.Maynooth University is composed by experts and professionals, who were involved in various EU Adult Education projects4.Slovenian Institute for Adult Education is the main national institution for research, education, validation & promotional informative activities in the field of adult education5.The National Lifelong Learning Institute set up for the provision and fulfillment of tasks within the area of lifelong learning and further education in Slovakia6.The European Association for the Education of Adults is the voice of non-formal and informal adult education in Europe. EAEA is a transnational, non-profit association with 126 members in 42 countries.The selection of partners has been based on the needs and matching of abilities identified for the successful implantation of the project and the delivery of high quality outcomes, reflected in their profiles, presented in the previous section. MOEC has endeavored to bring together partners from countries at different stages of development relevant to the project target groups and development activities. The consortium has all the skills necessary to support the successful development, implementation and dissemination of the project and the following project activities.1. State of the art on literature and best practices on how strategies are developed and monitored in the adult education2. Needs assessment for collecting research data and empirical information to assess target group needs 3. Development of a practical and innovative toolkit4. Curriculum development and training material5. Online development for further dissemination and exploitation of DIMA toolkit and training material6. E-learning modules and OER7. Pilot implementations in each country with stakeholders. Case studies of implementation will be show-cased in order to convince more stakeholders to utilize project products.

In a society in which individuals change jobs more and more often, and the pace of innovation and new technologies keeps increasing, individuals need to be prepared for repeated transitions and adaptation to change. All learning might become relevant at some stage in one’s life, with non-formal and informal learning becoming as important as formal education in maintaining an adequate level of skills.The Council resolution on lifelong guidance encourages Member States to consider ways of ‘enabling people to benefit from support in obtaining validation and recognition on the labour market of their formal, non-formal and informal learning outcomes, in order to safeguard their employment and maintain their employability, in particular during the second part of their careers’ (Council, 2008, p. 6).EU countries have already some form of guidance services for adult learners or specific policy strategies that focus on educational guidance and orientation. However, the existing services or the structures on which these services rely, are not suitable to reach the adults mostly in need of education. Furthermore, existing services are often focusing on short term employment and less on identifying educational pathways that lead to more sustainable employment and social inclusion. Due to a lack of commonly arranged procedures in the system of identifying and validating non-formal and informal knowledge, it is extremely difficult for professionals in adult education and guidance to direct adults to further education and training programs.The main aim of the project is to develop Methodology for assessment and validation of ICT, numeracy and language skill for adult education and guidance services practitioners complied th Implementation Guidelines that will provide concrete measures and common principles for basic skills assessment and validation. In the project we will include low-skilled adults in the process of screening, assessment and validation of their basic skills. After the procedure they will receive an individual's skills record, which will include the counsellor’s opinion of achieved level of skills in coherence with EQF, and recommendations for further education and training programs (eg. strong areas, weak areas, recommendations for the future)There are many tools for identifying and evaluating non-formally acquired adult knowledge that may be extremely good across EU, but counsellors are not familiar with them because there is no common EU repository where these tools would be collected and available for professionals in guidance services to use them EU-wide. Moreover the professionals in adult education and guidance services do not have enough knowledge or commonly agreed and accepted instructions on how to assess non-formal learning, or how to interpret the results of different tools for identifying skills and finally how to record the findings. To this aim we are going to establish EU-wide Online repository of different tools for assessment and validation of ICT, numeracy and language skill. The repository will also have a chat room that will enable practitioners to exchange knowledge and experience.PROJECT MAIN OBJECTIVES:-to support the setting up of and access to upskilling pathways for adults through skills identification and validation -to extend competences of professionals in adult education and guidance through improvement of their teaching and guidance methods and toolsIn the project we are addressing two main TARGET GROUPS:- adult education and guidance services practitioners- low-skilled adultsPROJECT ACTIVITIES that lead to development of above mentioned outputs are:Administrative activities:Activity 1: Project management and coordination,Activity 2: Dissemination and sustainability actionsActivity 3: Project evaluation and quality assuranceImplementation activities:Activity 4: IO1: Establishment of EU-wide Online repository of different tools for assessment and validation of ICT, numeracy and language skill - lead CIK TrebnjeActivity 5: IO2: Methodology for assessment and validation of ICT, mathematic and language skill for adult education and guidance services practitioners - lead UVAActivity 6: IO3: Implementation guidelines for adult education and guidance services practitioners - lead SLPActivity 7: IO4: Recommendation for mainstreaming of Methodology into EU Adult Education System and Guidance Services - lead EAEAPROJECT IMPACT:The Methodology for assessment and validation of basic skills and implementation guidelines will support the adult education and guidance practitioners to assist and guide low-skilled adults to maximize development of their literacy, mathematic, digital, and also social skills and thus their competition in the labour market and quality of life will be improved. They will be directly involved in skills assessment and validation process and thus will have a better overview to their skills and a set plan towards skills development.