Activities
The SKILLS project was organised in the following work packages:
MNGT - ManagementAim of this WP is the planning, monitoring and reporting about the project and the communication with the consortium for the best success of SKILLS.
PREP1 - Balance of skillsThis WP will analyse the context of the different types of cooperatives involved in the project (social, labour, retail, etc.) in order to identify the learning objectives necessary to train a more aware and active co-operator. All the partners will be involved in a balance of skills (transversal and technical competences) necessary for empowering the co-operators at all levels (managers, members, workers, etc.) to become active co-operators and to construct a curriculum that validates and recognises their training on the basis of the pre-existent non formal and informal learning.
PREP2 - Identification of informal and non formal learning processesThe focus of this WP is to analyse how people are now helped in learning how to set up and manage a cooperative according to the ethics, values and principles recognised by ICA and to have technical skills for managing successful social enterprises. Here, the partners collect and analyse methods, events and contents of existent non formal and informal learning processes. This work will use part of the results of the WP PREP1 for identifying the learning processes according to the training needs and the balance skills as main focus of this work. In this WP, co-operators will be involved in becoming aware of what they have learnt through their different experiences, and so to verbalise, to formalise, to organise their learning in non formal and informal learning.
PREP3 - Construction of the learning systemTo make co-operators more aware and active, non formal and informal learning are central for introducing cooperative ethics, values and principles. Practical notions and training, in relevant areas such as economics, management, governance, etc., are also valuable. The project aim is to combine existent experience and new contents and approaches in an innovative way to construct a system for learning and validating pre-existent non formal and informal learning. An active and participatory learning approach combines the cooperative learning methodology, the support of ICT and the mobility of the learners. In order to develop a learning system coherent with the training needs identified (PREP1) and the previous existent experience of non formal and informal learning in cooperation, the innovative method proposed is a combination of itinerant workshops amongst the participant countries and their cooperatives, with interactive meetings (based on the Cooperative Learning approach) and the use of ICT with specific attention towards the use of multimedia and film.
PREP4 - Preparation and Design of multimedia and interactive didactic materialsThe aim of the project is the development and validation of an innovative system for people to learn in cooperation. This system will be supported by different didactic materials:a curriculum for co-operators to become more aware and active, with specific attention towards social and labour cooperatives and the pre-existent non formal and informal learning(D4.1);interactive and multimedia materials (usable both via Web and on DVD) to support the construction of personalised learning processes (D4.2);a system for the validation of the proposed system that will evaluate both the testing of the learning materials and methodology.
PREP5 - Test and validation of the learning systemIn a lifelong learning perspective, this test of the proposed learning system will be a validation of the analysed pre-existent non formal and informal learning processes. These will be combined with innovative contents, methods and activities in order to make visible what people in cooperation learn outside formal education and training, giving them a possible way for improving their skills and training new co-operators. The testing and validation of the learning system will produce a list of areas for improvement that will be implemented in the final version of the system. Different methodologies and items of interest will be involved in this phase in order to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency (i.e. evaluation of process, evaluation of system, evaluation of learning). Using the System of validation (D4.3.), test sessions (T1, T2, T3) will be organised in the participant countries that have significant experience in cooperatives (Italy, Sweden and Spain), at the same time as the coordination meetings of the project. Other testing sessions (at least 3 per partner) will be organised at a local level with the involvement of local co-operators and trainers. Each testing session will produce a summary of the results (D5.1., D5.2., D5.3.) of the test that will be used for improving the system. All the partners will participate in this phase, organising a group of potential trainers and learners that will actively participate in the testing sessions that will propose a combination of itinerant workshops amongst the participant countries and their cooperatives, interactive meetings (based on the Cooperative Learning approach) and the use of ICT products constructed on the results of the skill balance and the analysis of the existent non formal and formal learning processes.
QPLN - EvaluationThe goal of this work package is to ensure the high quality of the project and results, and effective use of resources. QPLN will work in close cooperation with the management. The approach used in the evaluation is the self evaluation guided by the work package leader with questionnaires and other evaluation activities that include gathering information from work packages and giving constant feedback to the Project Coordinator and work package leaders. An external evaluator will be engaged for assuring the objectivity and transparency of the evaluation.
DISS - DisseminationThe importance of dissemination is paramount where the validation of non formal and informal learning processes and their structuring in a learning system for training co-operators to become more aware and active. It is necessary to establish a set of networks for collaboration and information transfer with and to different organizations and authorities at regional and interregional levels to secure the project results.
EXP - ExploitationThe results of the project will be published in catalogues of learning services and a model for the validation of other non formal and informal learning that will be introduced in the cooperative system of the participant countries.The catalogues will be used to formalise cooperative learning offered and the international exchanges that the learning system will propose.In this phase, the organisations representative of the cooperatives of the participant countries will be used in the creation of the catalogues and their promotion as a structured system of training of their co-operators. and a system for validating pre-existent non formal and informal learning. The possibility to transform this offer in a mandatory one structured in levels (managers, members, workers) will be evaluated in this work package with the decision makers of this specific context. The involvement of universities in the project will introduce the learning system into their training programmes.
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