Too many people in Europe lack basic life skills (see, eg the PIAAC results of the OECD). It could be literacy, numeracy or digital skills, but also health capabilities, financial literacy etc. They often lack the know-how to access social services, proper health care that goes beyond urgencies, and democratic participation. Refugees need to learn the host language, but also acquire the knowledge on how to make a home in their new countries. Additionally, too many of the native population of Europe respond aggressively to refugees through xenophobic and violent actions. All of these target groups can benefit from a life skills approach. The life skills approach builds the curriculum around the learner and takes their needs in to account: it combines basic skills with health, financial literacy and many other aspects that enable the learners to manage their lives successfully. This project brought together partners from Denmark (national level), Belgium (European level), the UK (national level), Greece (regional/local level) and Slovenia (national) in order to improve basic skills provision by explaining, further developing and up-scaling the life skills approach. The work was first based on the experiences of the partners but then further developed through surveys, interviews, good practice collections and further analysis. The project had the following objectives, which it has all fulfilled:• Improve life skills provision in Europe• Provide tools and recommendations that can be used for and with the three target groups • Develop an overarching framework and modules that are transferable across Europe• Support people from all target groups to access learning and other services; increase their participation in a democratic society and develop greater intercultural understandingThe project targeted adult education providers and networks through the multiplier events but also policy-makers and stakeholders working in other educational sectors and in life skills areas (e.g. health, social issues etc.). The project has produced several concrete outcomes:Output 1 consists of a thorough report including a glossary based on a survey among adult education organisations and desk research, a collection of good practices of life skills initiatives across Europe and a collection of educational tools. A leaflet was made to communicate the concept of life skills short and clear. The leaflet has been translated into Greek, Danish, Slovenian and French. The summary of the report is also available in Danish, French, Slovenian and Greek.Output 2 consists of a generic learning framework for life skills provision, that was tested in the participating countries. The framework is available in English, Danish, French, Slovenian and Greek.Output 3 consists of an awareness raising and strategy toolkit aiming at both education providers and decision makers (English, Danish, French, Slovenian, Greek).Three inspiring multiplier events were held, two in Brussels and one in Patras, Greece. Given the fact that the projects outputs are available online (see https://eaea.org/project/life-skills-for-europe-lse/) and are acting as a continuing source of inspiration is ensured that the project will have more of mid-long, long-term impact on policies that is hard to be measured at that point. Partners informed their colleagues about the work that has been done on life skills, approaches to life skills and they acknowledged the life skills approach as very promising for vulnerable groups of adults, especially those with less experiences in learning.The project deliverables offer learners and providers inspiring tools to use while they provide to policy makers and stakeholder with a chance to understand better the LSE approach and its benefits. Based on those deliverables the Life Skills Approach will impact the work of the above mentioned target groups. The increased knowledge on the field of Life Skills that LSE offers will lead to a more prominent position of the approach within the area of adult education, especially when it comes to disadvantaged groups of learners.As pointed out earlier, the partners have implemented the results on their levels and will continue to disseminate the results. There are talks ongoing (in 2019) about cooperations with other sectors on how the life skills approach could be shared and further implemented. The annual theme of the EAEA in 2019, life skills and participation, will mean that there will be a Grundtvig Award on the topic of Life Skills, a conference and statement of the EAEA (in close cooperation with DAEA). The further impact is therefore already assured - it clearly demonstrated that the results of this project are being and will be mainstreamed and up-scaled.

Our project is inspired by two observations, shared by most European education policy documents and relevant studies. Firstly, there is a clear need to increase participation in adult education across Europe; and secondly, new ways of sharing best practices among European adult educators must be found. We want to address this need in an innovative way: through the medium of videos. We will produce professional high-quality videos on adult learning that target adult educators, general public and policy makers. A video aimed at the adult educators will tell the story of an adult educator and offer practical ideas and share good practices for professional development for European adult educators. The video for the general public and policy makers tells the positive growth story of an adult learner, inspires to learn and freshens the image of adult education and furthers knowledge about its benefits. The videos will be produced in five partner countries with partners experienced in video production: Finland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Portugal. The sixth partner, European Association for the Education of Adults (EAEA), will lead the dissemination activities of the project.HD video are an effective, time-economical medium speaking to both people’s intellect and emotions. For example, showing good educational practices instead of writing about them is much more effective. Another example: a European citizen is much more likely to be inspired into adult education through the filmed story about a fellow learner than a brochure on learning benefits. Also, videos reach that segment of the population who, for various reasons, do not like to engage with written text. This includes for example special learners such as dyslexics. In other words videos fulfil accessibility criteria better than text. Our project would pioneer and pilot cross-European video production in the adult education sector.Production team, consisting of a camera man, sound operator and a journalist, will travel to each selected location and shoot material based on the research and script developed by the partners. After shooting the material will be edited and post-produced by the production team. The videos are disseminated as an open educational resource in adult education media (LLinE, website of EAEA, with social media sharing options), Erasmus + dissemination platform, and potentially in European national television channels. In adult education media the videos will be complemented by written analysis of the methods and practices filmed, with the possibility to comment and discuss the content online. This analysis, written by education experts and scholars, is, on its part, a bridge between education research and practice. This project will produce innovative adult education promotional material for the use of adult educators and adult education advocators. It thus aims at bringing positive and long lasting effects to the adult education professionals to support their work and also bring adult education closer to the general public in an understandable and easy-access form. The videos produced will be integrated into project partners’ existing communications and they will be made available for different advocates of adult education throughout Europe. By introducing a variety of European examples of adult education issues the project outcomes, the videos, can be utilized in countries with different adult education history and perspectives. The videos produced in this programme will serve as advocacy and training tools for many European organisations. Through the dissemination networks of EAEA (an umbrella organization for 116 adult education organisations in Europe) the videos will reach the main European adult education organisations and policy-makers on education. High quality videos will contribute also to the profile of smaller adult education organisations that wouldn’t have the resources to produce such videos themselves but can exploit the videos in their own work.

"In most European countries, (non-formal) adult education is inadequately funded. In contrast to the formal system, the sources of financing are fragmented. Allocation of public funding can come - depending on the respective country and region - from different ministries, regional and local authorities as well as communes. Furthermore, employers and public employment services play a central role in the financing of adult education. In many countries and depending on the providers and the individual situations and learning needs of the learners, the learners themselves contribute through fees. Different funding mechanisms target providers and learners to enable them to provide learning offers or to participate in learning.Whilst the cost of many learning offers remain an obstacle for many Europeans (especially younger or older people or persons with low educational attainments as highlighted by the Adult Education Survey), funding for adult education has been under increased pressure due to the financial crisis, leading to a cutting of funds for education even in traditionally well-supported countries such as Finland. This is in contrast with a clear need to increase participation in lifelong learning. The PIAAC results have shown that at least 20% of Europeans lack basic skills, and the benchmark for participation has decreased in the last few years rather than made progress. The Thematic Working Group on Financing Adult Learning European Commission tackled this issue in 2012/13. The FinALE project was a reaction and follow-up on this work. The consortium started from the belief that there is a need to look into this topic from the point of view of civil society and to update what has been achieved to make proposals for policy and financing practice that focus on providers and learners. FinALE aimed to answer the following questions: why do we need to invest in adult education? What are the indicators for funding? Where is investment needed? Which instruments work? Which funding mechanisms can engage (more) new learners? The objective of the project was to provide a set of analyses as well as policy recommendations targeted at policy-makers of all levels (European, national, regional, local, communal) and at providers to be used as information and advocacy tools.Through a mix of different methods, including peer learning among the partners, quantitative and qualitative research, desk research, and consultations of stakeholders, the partnership monitored and analysed adult education policies and funding instruments and made recommendations on how to improve them. The main target groups were policy-makers, adult education providers and organisations as well as other stakeholders, such as research institutes, social partners etc. Feedback from these target groups were collected at the multiplier events of the project and through mapping and consulting key stakeholders, establishing an expert group on the financing of adult education in Europe as a ""by-product"" of the project. The outcomes were published in the FinALE Advocacy Toolkit (online publication), the FinALE Executive Summary (online and printed publication), the FinALE research paper on Where to invest, the FinALE paper on financial indicators for adult education, and the FinALE website (www.financing-adult-learning.eu). All publications as well as further information on the project and the topic of financing adult learning will remain available for consultation and download on the project website. The insights into the funding of adult education gained as well as the policy recommendations developed in the project equipped adult education organisations and providers with tools for their own advocacy work, and policy-makers with a better knowledge about key challenges in the financing of adult learning. While a short-term impact on adult education organisations as well as policy-makers can already be seen as the products are referred to and used in presentations, on official platforms etc., the consortium expects the main impact of the project to be visible on a mid-term and long-term perspective. The outputs are contributing to improved efficiency of public expenditure and investment in adult education as well as more effective adult education policies by drawing on European best practices and establishing a set of financial indicators for monitoring and evaluating use of resources."

The number of students participating in language learning for adults is declining in most EU countries. We believe that one of the reasons why adults decide not to engage in language learning is that it is still characterised by industrial society’s view on learning and the use of an audio-lingual method (presentation - controlled practice - use). However, the individual in the knowledge society is demanding more communicative and individualised teaching.The latest research in adult education and second language learning is clear regarding how second language learning for adults can meet these challenges. The latest neurodidactic research shows that modern second language learning must be communicative, based on the individual student’s learning style, qualifications, needs and wants. If the practical implementation of the communicative method involves teaching methods such as cooperative learning, task-based teaching and similar tools, students will find it relevant and motivating, and learning outcomes will improve. Alongside classroom teaching, well-functioning digital tools are making it possible to combine students’ individual needs with the advantages of student-centred classroom teaching.Therefore, the aim of the project is to build a bridge between the latest research in second language learning and daily teaching practices. We want to determine how we in the best possible way can translate these research results into daily teaching practices and thereby attract more adults back to language learning. In the project, we will combine the best from communicative classroom based teaching with an individual coaching process that meets the individual participant’s needs and wants.In the individual courses, we will combine the following:• The good experiences German universities have had with coaching and self-learning courses.• Individual supervision and guidance in second language learning, which has been tested in Denmark and Spain.• An analysis of each student’s individual learning style and learning biography.• The inclusion of digital media in a database that delivers both didactic and authentic material. The database will enable the student to experience the selected language in a virtual environment, which will simulate immersion learning and allow each student to choose the subjects they consider relevant to them. The database will be developed as part of the project.• The students’ individual progress will be measured on a platform that also allows group activities.Alongside these individual courses, the students will meet regularly in groups and a teacher will facilitate classroom based activities to practice the language. The teacher will act as an initiator and facilitator and it is the students who are active. It vital to the project that the teachers are able to transfer the theory into practical learning courses. Therefore, the project will also include targeted professional training for the participating teachers, which will include a foundation introduction to coaching and supervision, an introduction to modern teaching methods and digital media within second language learning. The teacher training programme consist of different flexible courses with an initial online phase, a classroom based phase and a final online phase for reflection and quality assurance of the practical implementation.The complete learning programme will be developed for English, German and Spanish and will be regularly evaluated and optimised with regards to the content and effect, compared with the latest research. After the project has been completed, an innovative and modern second language learning programme will have been produced and thus we can offer a relevant and appropriate language learning course to the post-modern individual. In this way, we expect to win the students back who have decided not to choose traditional language learning. All tools and experiences from the project will be readily available on an open platform, and we expect to be able to provide language learning across Europe with an important and innovative resource bank.A strong consortium will guarantee the high quality and relevance of our product: Folkeuniversiteterne in Norway and Sweden, Studieskolen in Denmark and Volkshochschule Wiesbaden represent the largest providers of second language learning to adults in their countries and will be responsible for the production of the complete learning programme. The Danish Defence Academy and the teacher training center in Sibiu, Romania, will contribute their expertise from a more formal learning environment, while a team of researchers from Roskilde University, Copenhagen University and Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona will provide scientific sparring and quality assurance. The International Association of Language Schools, ICC, and the Danish national umbrella organisation, DFS, will guarantee the relevance and dissemination of our product outside the consortium.

By adopting the holistic concept of ‘Bildung’ rather than ‘education’ and exploring its political and practical potential for adult learning and education (ALE) systems in Europe, this project will contribute to innovation in the sector and promote social inclusion as well as address key challenges for European society. New developments - be it in terms of new technologies or dealing with a changing climate, among many others - leave many people feeling overwhelmed and uncertain. In many European countries, traditional education prioritises labour-related competencies and skills over other important aspects of life, namely striving to unfold one’s unique potential and taking responsibility as an active and empowered citizen. ALE, based on Bildung, has the power to help people navigate increasingly complex environments and the unknown future as well as stimulate tolerance, curiosity and promote interpersonal and civic skills. BILDUNG will contribute to a holistic provision of ALE in Europe by providing civil society-led research on the relevance of Bildung to current ALE provision, by exploring more in-depth four critical themes, namely democracy, sustainability, digitisation and basic skills, and by providing a political and practical roadmap for the implementation of Bildung in ALE systems in Europe. In the understanding of this project, Bildung is learner-centred learning that is not only transmitting skills and knowledge, but is, first and foremost, an empowering approach that enables people to steer their personal development and to become active members of their communities and society. Bildung is a concept that is not only relevant for the development of ALE as such, but, when implemented, also has a deep impact on a large number of other policy sectors and fields. This makes it highly topical within the current political context in Europe.