• About Re.M.I.D.A.

Background

The project R.E.M.I.D.A. intends to help tackle the problem of socio-occupational exclusion of disadvantaged adults over 45, aligning itself with the actions implemented by the Member States. Neither young nor old, often without parental support or the possibility of early retirement, trapped on the fringes of the labor market in a condition of chronic “inactivity”. They are the “older” unemployed, those who have lost their jobs after crossing the 45-year threshold.

An audience that has expanded in the crisis years: according to EUROSTAT data, if in Europe in 2006 there were less than 400,000 inactivated or discouraged over 45, in 2016 they became 670,000, showing an increase of approximately 72%. In Italy, for example, in 2006 there were 150,000 unemployed in the age group of 45 to 65 years; After ten years in 2016 they became 486,000. This means that unemployment over 45 years has increased by 224% in ten years. Today, more than ever, unemployment into most adulthood is likely to crystallize over time, also because they are often poorly educated, low-skilled or outdated skills and abilities, immigrants or former prisoners. Therefore, actions in support of the socio-occupational inclusion of the objective of adults over 45 at risk, both men and women in particular, are essential.

The need for Member States to develop support actions for adults furthest from the labor market and educational circuits was one of the priorities indicated in the Council Recommendation of 12/19/2016 on ways to improve the level of skills: new opportunities for adults, which requires the implementation of “motivational and awareness-raising measures, including awareness-raising on the benefits of improving the level of skills …” and “initial training and continuous professional development of dedicated staff to provide ways to improve the level of skills, particularly professional teachers and coaches. ” On the other hand, the Council Recommendation of 15/02/2016 on the inclusion of the long-term unemployed in the labor market stressed that “among the people most exposed to long-term unemployment are people with poor skills or qualifications, nationals of third countries, people with disabilities and disadvantaged minorities “.

Aims and Objetives

The project “REMIDA – Renewed Models for the Inclusion of Disadvantaged Adults” was created with the aim of supporting the social and working inclusion of adults 45+ at risk of exclusion (low qualifications and skills, obsolete skills, immigrants…) by defining and testing an innovative model of intervention, aimed at achieving personal empowerment and enhancing the informal and non-formal skills / abilities of this target group.

  • General:

    • To tackle the problem of the socio-occupational exclusion of  45+ disadvantaged adults.

      

  • Specific:

    1. Define an innovative model of intervention for the personal empowerment of adults over 45 at risk of exclusion.
    2. Enhance the processes of recognition of informal and nonformal skills/abilities of this target group.
    3. Up-skill the operators of adult education centers engaged in support activities for adults over 45 at risk.

Activities

Activity C1 will be held in February 2021 and will be organized at the locations made available by INERCIA DIGITAL. The training event will last 5 days, for a total of about 46 hours and will involve 17 people. Each organization will involve 2 operators / trainers who deal with the inclusion of disadvantaged adults (except AGENFAP which will participate with only one trainer and Consorzio Ro.ma with only one trainer / operator and an expert in monitoring and evaluation of training activities).

TRAINING OBJECTIVES AND PROVISIONAL PROGRAM:

Operators and experts will share and acquire skills in the following areas:

  • Use of the LSP model to understand the well-being and discomfort of disadvantaged over 45s.
  • Integrated methodologies and assessment tools.Implementation of orientation paths in a systemic inclusion perspective.
  • The contents of the path will be defined during the implementation of the O1 / A4 activities. However, thanks to the exchange and comparison activities that took place between the partners in the planning phase of the proposal, it is possible to identify 3 training thematic areas that will be treated on the days of the event and which can be described as follows:
    1. CONSOLIDATED METHODS OF ADULT EDUCATION: sustainable times and methods, non-formal education, etc.
    2. LEARNING ASSESSMENT: Methodologies and tools for assessing informal / non-formal skills in an integrated perspective. How to use the LSP to identify and recognize adult non-formal skills. Practise.
    3. ORIENTATION PATHWAYS: Training and work orientation paths: methods and techniques with a view to socio-occupational inclusion. How to use the LSP in orientation courses. At the end of each day there is a 1 hour session for the evaluation of the training by the participants and the structured collection of feedback through the use of questionnaires.

Consorzio Ro.ma will be responsible for following the curriculum production process from start to finish, monitoring the actions and evaluating the results to have a quality control with the aim of impact assessment on target groups and results. A monitoring plan will be incorporated into the training activities in order to collect participants’ feedback.

The evaluation will consider the following indicators:

  1. Involvement of participants.
  2. Information, advice and guidelines provided.
  3. Clarity / adequacy of objectives.
  4. Material quality.
  5. Quality of teaching methods.
  6. Methods used to evaluate commitment and learning.
  7. The extent to which the objectives of the activities have been achieved.
TANGIBLE RESULTS:

C1 / R1 Training event.

C1 / R2 Evaluation report based on feedback.

Products and Deliverables

O1/A1: Adaptation of LSP to the context and the target group Agenfap (IT) – HOU (GR)1. LSP MODEL ADAPTATION to the target group through:
• Definition of a set of survey tools.
• Data collection and analysis.
• Alignment of the new model to effective methodologies and standards of AE programs, guidance courses and assessment of non-formal skills.

HOU will guarantee a sound pedagogical approach of AE.
RIC the methodologies for guidance and assessment.
R1: Model draft

2. MODEL VALIDATION through sharing with AE providers. The model will be presented in an event involving at least 10 operators to:
• Collect feedback on functionality and sustainability of the Model.
• Identify the operators skill gap on the use of the model (conducted by CKU)

Following the events the model will be implemented through:
• Definition of the pedagogical framework.
• Application of the LSP model to the target.
• Identification of the potential uses of the LSP model for assessing the competencies and orientation of the target group towards training and/or work paths.

R2: 8 local events
R3: Report on operators skill gap
R4: Model final version

O1/A2 Guidelines HOU (GR)Implementation of guidelines on how to introduce the model within the organizations that deal with education, assessment and orientation of the disadvantaged adults over 45. Target group:
• AE organizations managers.
• PA representatives who are in charge of managing local policies for disadvantaged adults over 45.

R5: Guidelines

O1/A3 Train-the-trainers course design RIC (SI)
Macro-planning of the training path for operators, identifying key-elements such as: methodological approach used for training; how to deliver it, planned activities, learning resources, learning assessment areas.

The training (46 h) will include:
• 30% e-learning
• 50% face-to-face (corresponding to C1 – JSTE)
• 20% practical application (corresponding to O1/A6)

R6: Training course macro-design

O1/A4 Identification and development of training contents Consorzio Ro.Ma (IT)
Definition of learning objectives and outcomes: the knowledge, skills and competences that the operators must acquire. For the micro-design of the training course (both for e-learning and face-to-face) each partner will contribute to the development of the training contents and of the teaching/learning resources (slides, videos, text, etc.), according to its own expertise.

R7: Report on learning objectives and outcomes.
R8: training micro-design (teaching/learning resources).

O1/A5 Design and development of e-learning platform HOU (GR)Design and implementation of an online learning environment that will be hosted by the HOU already existing platform. Linked to the platform there will be an online mentoring space. This space will be developed through MOODLE and managed by Inercia Digital.

R9: e-learning platform + MOODLE.

O1/A6 Local Pilots Consorzio Ro.Ma (IT)All partners (except AGENFAP) will pilot the model proposed during their inclusion, education, training, assessment and guidance activities aimed targeting disadvantaged adults.

The pilots will be delivered by:
• 16 operators (2 per partner).
• 89 adults (12 per partner, with the exception of HOU with 5).

Each adult participates in 2 group sessions (12h tot) and 2 personalized meetings (12h tot).

During the pilot, mentoring is provided for the operators:
through the MOODLE space they can get in contact with partnership experts (about LSP, guidance, etc.) and with other teachers. HOU will tutor the teachers on the recognition of adults non-formal competences.

R10: 8 local pilots.

O1/A7 Pilots’ evaluation EPRALIMA (PT)The impact on 3 dimensions will be considered: organizations, operators and adults. Through questionnaires, focus groups and interviews feedback will be collected on the following topics:
• Adults engagement.
• Usability/sustainability.
• Impact on adults.
• Model effectiveness.
• Improvement areas.

At the end of the activity, 8 case studies (1 per country) will be produced as video interviews with operators, managers and adults.

R11: Evaluation and monitoring plan.
R12: Monitoring and evaluation tools.
R13: Evaluation report.
R14: Improvement plan.
R15: 8 case studies.

O1/A8 Training course modelization Consorzio Ro.Ma
Modelization of the training course ensuring the standards for training for trainers, with reference to the QAVET, in a perspective of transferability

R16: Train-the-trainers course final version.

EU Added Value

The R.E.M.I.D.A. project will have a significant impact on partner organizations and participating operators, stakeholders and key actors at the local, national and EU levels. The project’s expected impact on adults in a situation of disadvantage is to increase their opportunities for social and work inclusion, (re) inclusion in active participation processes and in the labor market, as well as to enhance their life experiences, increasing their self-esteem and awareness.

The R.E.M.I.D.A. it will have a significant impact on partner organizations and participating operators, stakeholders and key players at local, national and community level.
At the heart of the project objectives, however, lies the expected impact on adults in a disadvantaged situation: increasing their opportunities for social and work inclusion, of (re) insertion in active participation processes and in the labor market, enhancing their life experiences, increasing their self-esteem, their awareness and proactivity.

1. EdA operators will directly benefit from the project and Intellectual Output activities through the acquisition of skills to be used in their professional activity and the updating of their professional profile with innovative methodologies and tools. They:

  • They will develop skills to effectively contribute to the path of inclusion of adults.
  • They will improve their pedagogical skills by exchanging and sharing educational methods and tools.
  • They will be involved in group and collaborative work at European level and in interdisciplinary cooperation.
  • They will experiment with different EdA systems.
  • They will broaden their horizons by experimenting with different educational contexts and European cultures.

2. Adults 45+ will be placed in a process of:

  • Empowerment, motivation and activation of personal resources.
  • Assessment and enhancement of one’s informal and non-formal skills / abilities.
  • Conscious orientation towards training or work paths, acquiring self-esteem and approaches and skills that will help them in a (re) insertion in the labor market, also thanks to the support of a international team.

3. Partner organizations and EdA organizations outside the partnership:

  • They will improve the quality and effectiveness of their inclusion and orientation activities by acquiring innovative methodologies and tools.
  • They will acquire updating paths for their staff.
  • They will develop links with European partner organizations, expanding their international dimension.
  • Will acquire new methodologies which will allow an improvement of their pedagogical approaches.
  • Will improve the training offer for their users / beneficiaries / students.
  • Will strengthen their connection with those who, in the field, work to encourage the inclusion of adults (formal education vs informal and non-formal education) and with the tools and methodologies they use.

4. The institutions:

  • Will acquire structured orientation and assessment pathways specifically designed for the specific target group (e.g. Employment Centers, Employment Agencies, etc.).
  • Acquire good practices to support the social and economic inclusion policies of groups at risk (not only adults) in their reference territories (local, national or European).
  • Will benefit from the empowerment process of adults who will be more able to actively contribute to the economic growth of local communities with lower “social costs” (Racc. del CdE 15/02/2016 on “Inclusion of long-term unemployed in the work”).

Operators from other education and training sectors:

  • VET: thanks to the methodological solidity of the proposed Model and the updating course for its use (IO1), they will be able to adapt the products of the project to other target groups (for example young people, NEET) and their formal training courses (ESF, ERDF, etc.).
  • Associations, NGOs (informal education): they will be able to use the products of the project as tools for social inclusion in engagement activities.

6. Local communities:

  • Will develop a deeper understanding of the phenomenon of social and economic exclusion of the over 45s, its relevance and its impact on society, not only in economic terms but, above all, of impoverishment of the social fabric.
  • Will acquire a greater knowledge of the attention by the EU to the phenomenon and the policies and law enforcement tools implemented.

The project will involve participants from different countries across Europe and the expected results will have an impact locally and regionally, nationally and internationally.
In terms of general approach, the R.E.M.I.D.A.project, its activities and its work plan, have been structured in such a way as to ensure a constant balance (input-> feedback-> output) between impacts at local and European level. Therefore, the primary indicators of impact at the geographical level will be those relating to the extent to which the products of the project will be distributed in the 8 countries involved (Italy, Poland, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Spain, Romania, Greece, Portugal).

At the end of the project, the participating organizations will include the project products in their daily activities, in their distance learning platforms, enriching their offer training. In addition, they will disseminate the project results in their national and international network of professional training and higher education organizations.

LOCAL-REGIONAL IMPACT:

The project and its products have been defined to be fully integrated and in line with regional public policies that address the issue of social and economic exclusion of disadvantaged individuals, especially adults (eg ESF). In the framework of these policies, the model developed by R.E.M.I.D.A. will adapt perfectly to the actions related to training, orientation, support for job inclusion of the target group.

NATIONAL IMPACT:

The project will also have a national impact, the EdA system and the central administrations of all partner countries (eg MIUR in Italy) will be able to use the materials and resources implemented by the project as a good practice to increase the quality of the adult education with a view to (re) socio-economic integration. At national level, in fact, most partner countries have implemented measures to contrast the phenomenon (for example in Italy the PON Social Inclusion, SIA – Support for Social Inclusion). In addition, the existing national networks owned by the partners will be strengthened with the entry of new members.

As previously mentioned, the number of managers, operators, PA experts involved in the focus group activities, needs analysis and validation, will act as impact indicators to national level.

EUROPEAN IMPACT:

The project is fully in line with the indications and policies defined by the EU for contrasting the social and economic exclusion of disadvantaged adults, with particular reference to individuals in possession of low qualifications (Council Recommendation of 15/02/2016 on the inclusion of long-term unemployed in the labor market and Council Recommendation of 19/12/2016 on paths to improve the level of skills: new opportunities for adults). The products of the project and its results can contribute effectively to give substance to these policies through:

  • The implementation of “motivation and awareness measures, including raising awareness of the benefits of improving the level of skills …”
  • The definition of methodologies and tools that intervene in favor of “people most exposed to long-term unemployment” such as “those with poor skills or qualifications, third-country nationals, people with disabilities and disadvantaged minorities”.
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