"The aim of the project ""to improve Learning to Learn (L2L) abilities of adult learners"" is achieved. The project results help adult learners (who have problems with learning skills (migrants, adult returners to learning, young adults in VET, prisoners and similar) to develop Learn to Learn competences and become more effective learners. The Project aim is achieved by two major project results: First: The on-line L2L self-assessment tool in 5 languages (English, Estonian, German, Lithuanian and Spanish) is designed and presented in the form of the web-site (http://www.learntolearn.eu/). The self-assessment tool has two parts: 1 )L2L Self-assessment questionnaire which allows to measure the level of L2L competence which might be: Low, Average and High. The questionnaire is designed to measure the level of five sub-competences of L2L competence: time management, information management, team work, reflection, motivation and self-esteem. The results demonstrate individual learners’ profile. 2) Computer generated recommendations are designed. Based on individual results, the computer generates individual recommendations of strategies for personal development of L2L competences for more effective learning. L2L self-assessment tool can be used by adult learner for self- development or as the basic information for adult teachers in guiding adult learners in their path for development of L2L competences. Second: L2L tutors (guides) are trained to advise adult learners on developing their L2L abilities. As learning skills of our target group are quite low, it is obvious that having the L2L competence self-assessment tool is not enough as learners might not be able to understand the recommendations and not be able to transfer the results of self-assessment into real learning practices. Therefore we created a pool of 19 teachers who are able to guide the learners in their journey for L2L competence. Those teachers are guides in their institutions and wider in the country. To this end we organized training sessions for adult teachers on two major topics: 1) understanding of L2L self-assessment tool and 2) how to guide their learners in developing their L2L competence. Trained teachers are used by project partners as source of information and multipliers for ensuring sustainability of project results. From one hand, project encourages adult learners to develop their L2L competences for more effective learning and adaptation in contemporary society, and from the other hand it encourages organizations dealing with adult learning to be proactive in improving L2L competences of adult learners by applying on-line L2L self assessment tool and guiding adult learners in developing their L2L competences."

The selection of technology, tools and methodologies, intended for education, makes it difficult for educational institutions and adult learners to choose between them. For people who despite being at a disadvantage in society, have gathered up the courage to take up studies, disappointing experience is among the worst that can happen. Bad choices can cost worsened reputation of schools, lost self-confidence among the staff and students, time and money and a breach in trust between students and institutions. Therefore, it is important to learn from others´ best practices and experience in the use of technology in education and career- and study counselling. Professional development of teachers, career- and study counsellors and other staff. To: Share best practices, knowledge and experience of interactive tutorials in teaching and learning; Motivate career- and study counsellors, teachers and other staff to learn Interactive use of technology in counselling and teaching/learning; Help career- and study counsellors learn to design and implement effective strategies for specific adult target groups to enhance basic skills in learning; Design ICT action-plans; Organize workshops on the development and use of exemplary technical projects; Introduce special learning approach and knowledge of how to assist students in the use of ICT in education; Nurture the joy of studying and prevent as possible disappointment among adult learners; Improve access of the institutions´ target groups to education, regardless of place and time; Create the opportunity for learners to assess their own progress with interactive study-material; Make a project web-site linked to the partner institutions´ web-sites. Six institutions from Europe participate in the project. 79 people from the institutions take part in the activities. Invitees included, 50 people participate in each event and learn from each other's best practices.Participants; the project´s coordinator, project managers, teachers, career- and study counsellors and other staff, will be selected and involved in the different activities according to their expertise and experience. Activities: Design and use of interactive tutorials in teaching and learning. Technology in counselling and teaching/learning. Designing and implementing effective strategies for specific adult target groups to enhance basic skills in learning. Development and use of exemplary technical projects.Use of ICT tools and Media as a support for language courses. Assisting students in the use of ICT in education. Presentation of language learning apps.Nurturing the joy of studying and preventing disappointment among adult learners. Improving access of target groups to education. Introduction of self-paced e-learning with access to interactive materials. Use of apps and mobile devices to improve target group´s quality of life. SELFIE: Learners assess their own progress. Supporting adult schools to design ICT action plans. A project website.To carry out the project we will use a mixed-method approach, applying a combination of research methods and workshop activities. It is designed around a series of interrelated activities leading to a common result: to increase the technological knowledge of teachers and counsellors.Results:Professional development of participants and others. Interactive study material, user-friendly and rewarding interface.Shared best practices and experience of interactive tutorials.Career- and study counsellors motivated to learn the use of interactive technology in counselling. Career- and study counsellors can design and implement effective strategies for adult target groups.Knowledge of: how to design ICT action-plans, development and use of exemplary technical projects, special learning approaches and how to assist students in connection with the use of ICT in education, how to nurture the joy of studying, prevent as possible disappointment among adult learners.Access of the institutions´ target groups to education, regardless of place and time.Learners can assess their own progress A project website The impact and longer term benefits of the project will be on the partner institutions´ staff and other educational staff that will be introduced to the project results and learn from them. The institutions´ target groups will benefit from it by easier access to educational opportunities and guidance, independent of time and place. The project will have impact at local and national level since it will facilitate studies and guidance among disadvantaged groups. At European level it will spread tried knowledge among the partners and in their respective communities. It will also bring about experience in communication between different nationalities in Europe.The INTERACTE project is in line with all the priorities stated in the ET2020/European Agenda for Adult Learning priorities8, see: https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/book/export/html/326_en

"Many learners don’t connect learning to something rewarding or fulfilling, but to effort and exertion – something that needs to be done, but takes energy. The project partners understand learning as a social, emotional and cognitive process. Unfortunately in many classrooms the cognitive process is emphasized the most and the other two parts are sometimes even disregarded. We believe however that the social and emotional processes for learning are the crucial part to enhance motivation for learning. Disadvantaged learners, who have breaks and gaps in their formal education background, often have a negative attitude towards learning and are not very open for life-long learning. They might see it as a necessity, but not as a way to evolve themselves. In our opinion, educators have a key role in influencing the motivation and learning outcomes of their students. That is why we seek further professional training of educators in connection with disadvantaged learners, migrants and refugees in particular. We see a chance for educators to break the negative attitude and build bridges between different learning cultures if they take a closer look on social and emotional processes during learning. The project objective is the development of a social and emotional teaching approach as a resource for multipliers to increase learners' learning motivation and the joy for life long learning. In the project we want to achieve, that we explore the topic of learning motivation for our organizations, train our multipliers (3 persons from each partner) and let them work with new methods and a fresh approach. Concrete project results are: Two trainings and reports that compiles the content and outcomes of the trainings. Three multipliers from each partner (18 in total) took part in two Learning/Training/Teaching (LTT)-Activities with the topics of Emotions in Learning and Social Learning.The content of the trainings are based on scientific findings and practical instructions/teaching methods resulting from those findings. The theory was scientifically presented, new methods for the practical implementation of the theory was tested in this seminar, also best practice examples and dealing with disadvantaged learners in the respective country was presented. The participating multipliers received new didactic and methodical ideas on the topic that the respective partner was presenting. They gained insight into the country-specific structures in dealing with disadvantaged learner groups. They were supposed to experience and reflect hurdles of intercultural communication, as well as to understand what different learning cultures, teaching and learning methods mean for heterogeneous classes. The scientific basis as well as a collection of corresponding methods was collected and published. These publications contain relevant knowledge, guidelines and methods, that could be used e.g. in language courses, basic education courses, in job placement measures, for educational support of learners in vocational training or in the teaching of ""life skills"". For multipliers, teachers, pedagogues, social worker and students of pedagogy, the texts will provide an overview of scientific theories on learning motivation and ideas for practical implementation and methods. With new resources for successful learning, multipliers will be enabled to face challenges in their educational work with socially disadvantaged and low qualified learners. Challenges as early dropout, repeatedly attending the same course, underachievement through overstrain and learning problems, heterogeneous groups, early entry into unqualified work instead of longer path of vocational training and education, cultural conflicts, etc. The long term benefits will be an improvement of the learning environment and creation of protected learning spaces. For multipliers to have more resources for successful learning situations and to enhance the learners learning motivation, enjoyment of lifelong learning and intrinsic motivation for personal development will lead in long term to an improvement of the learner’s perspectives for a successful professional life and/or integration/re-socialization."

The UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities demands the right of being included in the community. Thus all countries are in charge to developsupporting systems to foster the social inclusion and to promote systems that the inclusion and participation of them can be ensured. The main and long-termaim of the project MINCE was to attain the social inclusion and participation of people with severe intellectual disabilities in the community.The partnership developed a variety of methods and education programs which, taken as a whole, represent the Model for Inclusive Community Education. Themodel provides multi-level methods and tools to promote social inclusion. It consists of six Intellectual Outputs:• MINCE Curriculum for Peer-Mediators including easy-to-read version: This curriculum is a training program in the course of which people with learningdifficulties or minor intellectual disabilities get empowered to act as mediators between people with severe intellectual disabilities and society.• MINCE Guideline for Peer-Mediators in easy-to-read (STEP UP Guide) (brochure and audiobook): The so called STEP UP Guide for Peer-Mediators offerspeer-mediators support representing the interests of people with severe intellectual disabilities. It can be used by people with intellectual disabilities whileparticipating in the training for peer-mediators (developed in the IO1) as a training handbook and a learning diary and also when acting in their new role aspeer-mediators as it provides tools and support for this new task.• MINCE Curriculum for disability care workers: This is a supplementary curriculum created for professional assistants and care workers. It deals with theevery-day challenges of the professional staff in disability care organisations with regard to the social inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities.There was developed on the one hand a curriculum which identifies the core competencies and the areas that should be addressed during the training. On theother hand and additionally there was developed a more detailed version that provides additional material and knowledge.• MINCE Guidelines for disability care institutions: These guidelines are developed to help organisations in the disability field to gear the contents of theirexisting services towards the social inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities. Additionally they contain action strategies and good practises fordisability care organisations to expand their mission to include the idea of Community education.• Mince Compendium: The MINCE Compendium is a systematic instruction guideline that serves as a basis for the practical implementation of inclusivecommunity education which also provides the theoretical background of the MINCE project (aims and effects of social inclusion, community education, modelsof disabilities, deeper description of the developed material and its use).• MINCE Movie: This film brings the subject of social inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities closer to a broader audience. It shows threesituations (work, visit in a café and leisure time – disco) like they are nowadays and points then out solutions for the future. To keep it barrier-free the filmcomes without spoken language.The objectives MINCE was pursuing were:• Raising awareness of the society to meet the needs of people with severe intellectual disabilities• Collaboration with Peer- Mediators in the matters of inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities• Expert training for Peer-Mediators for Advocacy and Inclusion• Development of professional skills for disability carers working with people with severe intellectual disabilities in the community• Rethinking the role of organisations in the disability field – Facilitating processes within society• Support for the Implementation of Inclusive Community EducationThe MINCE project initiated developments which impacts and long-term benefits turn out on the following themes:• Empowerment of people with intellectual disability to play an active role in the community• Enabling communities to learn together with people with severe intellectual disabilities• Facilitating the process of inclusion of people with severe intellectual disabilities into communities• Enhancing the sensibility of communities and its members for the needs of people with severe intellectual disabilities• Building up an inclusive community in order to facilitate the de-institutionalisation processes of people with severe intellectual disabilities.--

The project ensured that teachers were trained as intercultural mediators, to better understand the cultural issues that foreigners bring with them and become able to effectively transmit the elements of the host culture. This is a fundamental step to ensure the effectiveness of intercultural communication, knowledge and skills. Intercultural learning is of great importance, due to the movement of migrants to Europe and extremely important for teachers of migrants. Increased number of migrants is entering several countries in Europe where there is little or no experience in receiving them and how to solve problems in the classrooms attended by students from different cultures. It was urgent to support teachers and students by helping them understand cultural differences. Intercultural understanding supported teachers offering high quality teaching, deal with complex classroom realities and adopt new methods and tools. Special attention was paid to the integration of refugees and recently arrived migrants. Therefore the role of the teacher and volunteers, connecting people of many cultures, is vital. The objectives were to:- support educators towards a better understanding of interculturalism, share best practices and methods in teaching adult migrants and refugees between different European countries and help with changing problems due to migration into opportunities. - reinforce network between our institutions with the aim of sharing knowledge and experience and increase our capacity to operate at a transnational level. 97 individuals from seven countries participated in the activities. Invitees included, about 50 people participated in each event, or around 350 people who spread the knowledge. All the coordinators, teachers and volunteers were experienced in the field of adult education but with different experience of teaching migrants and refugees. Most of the partners had previously taken part in EU projects. Some have experience of cooperation with volunteers.The main activities were in the form of research and sharing of best practices in the field of interculturalism. Each partner was responsible for finding quality material / topics in order to share their best practices with the others. Also, each partner organization discussed what could be improved and which lessons could be learned from other partner organizations. Each partner was also responsible for the preparation of a conference/seminar/workshop which was focused on certain predefined topics within the field of Adult Education. A mixed-method approach was used, sequently applying a combination of research methods and workshop activities. It was designed around a series of interrelated activities among the partners leading to a common goal: increased quality and intercultural awareness of teachers and volunteers in the field of adult education with the purpose of becoming a good and active cultural mediator between migrants and the local society. Results were discussed during activities and amendments made. The results of the project are:An interactive project website with the opportunity for teachers, volunteers and learners to upload materials, find information and tips about new knowledge of interculturalism, andragogy, and new teaching methods, such as the story line and story-telling. Also, how to use digital devices in adult education, the European Framework Certification and CIS Certification for migrants and refugees. In addition to that, how to use work practice as a means of teaching and assessment as a tool for introducing the local school system to migrants. Another factor is how to become familiar with methods of using volunteers in non-formal language teaching and better communication skills in a foreign language for the participants. The general impact is: Increased quality of education and training - Increased knowledge of transversal skills, social-, intercultural- and language competences - Increased critical thinking among teachers and volunteers - Use of learning outcomes when describing and defining qualifications - Strategic and integrated use of ICT and educational resources in education - Increased motivation for English language learning and development of communication skills among participants - Intercultural communication skills and intercultural understanding - Reinforced interaction between different practices. Budget control was the responsibility of the project leader. It was monitored closely that the funding was spent according to plan. Monthly there was a check on the actual status of the budget. During activities its status was on the agenda. Dissemination is a key factor in the longer term benefits of the project. Besides introductions within the partner institutions and relevant organizations it was done through the partners´ websites and/or other social media available to the partners.