2012-2013

Training of Trainers: Course Presentation and Strategy

Advanced Training Course Adults Learning for Intergenerational Creative Experiences

This training course is delivered in the context of LLP Project GRUNDTVIG-ALICE Grant Agreement number :2011-3375/001-001 Project Number: 518106-LLP-1-2011-1-IT-GRUNDTVIG-GMP

Training of Trainers Advanced Training Course

University Ca Foscari of Venice - Technical University of Crete Romanian Society for Lifelong Learning SEED The Mosaic Art and Sound - Fondazione Nazionale Carlo Collodi

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Training of Trainers Course Presentation and Strategy

Advanced Training Course Adults Learning for Intergenerational Creative Experiences

Training Coordination University Ca Foscari of Venice

Cover graphic design SEED Authors: Juliana Raffaghelli Umberto Margiotta

This publication is produced with the financial support from the European Community in the frames of LLP, sectoral program Grundtvig , Grant Agreemen Grant Agreement number :2011-3375/001-001 The publication reflects the views only of its authors, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained herein. The authors of the Module are not responsible for the content of the websites listed as resources in this handbook. The content of these pages may change over time and is the sole responsibility of their authors

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1- Introduction
In the complex contemporary European society, social cohesion needs to be built on the basis of a new integrated and complex dimension of the social tissue, where diversity (among cultures, age, gender) is considered an opportunity. Intergenerational learning (IL) bring to the fore the question of differences that enrich: in fact, IL can be a twofold purpose process, that improves dialogue among generations through civic participation in common social and institutional spaces, while at the same time enacts processes of informal learning towards the achievement, both by adults and children, of key competences for lifelong learning. IL is hence, a mean and an end to foster social cohesion. Nevertheless, ensuring IL, through the creation of adequate educational environments is a challenge both for researchers and practitioners. From one hand formal education promotes mainly intra-generational experiences, structured in contexts of learning were few or none contact among generations (beyond the technical role of teachers/educators) occur (Loewen, 1996; Miller et al. 2008). From the other hand, intergenerational learning also implies configuring adults adequate learning settings (Newman, 2008). More research is clearly needed in this field: in spite of the relevance given nowadays to the lifelong learning perspective, adults informal learning, as more frequent learning situations for adults of low educational attainments, is not sufficiently explored, characterized and modelled. This research focus should accompany modernisation of Higher Education, as well as recognition of professional learning, achieved through working situations; the lack of attention to this issue could end in lack of participation to the lifelong learning perspective of an important part of the adult population, as it is emphasized by ET2020 indicators and strategy. In line with the above mentioned research problem, this training course project aims at introducing a perspective on the issue of adults educators needs of qualification, through a case study, namely, the European training of trainers strategy within the GRUNDTVIG LLP PROJECT ALICE Adults Learning for Intergenerational Creative Experiences. The training strategy is envisaged as a device to promote innovations regarding adults learning, particularly those excluded from formal training because of their social condition. The projects leading hypothesis is that generations speak different languages; as it happens in multilingual, intercultural contexts, the only way to create common spaces of interaction is to generate divergent, stimulating situations, where the individual (particularly adults) goes out from the own resources and processes of meaning, to play with new meanings in the relationship with the kid. Therefore, learning situations should lead adults to reflect on the own role as educators, and hence, to become early promoters of a lifelong learning strategy . Informal activities, in the project, foreseen the adoption of creative languages (art, storytelling, social media) as a mean to generate rich and caring environments for kids; moreover, in the process of interacting through creative languages the differences between adults and children are mediated, with impact in both children and adults achievements regarding key competences 1 , 4, 5, 7 and 8 (COM 2006/962/EC ). Consequently, adults trainers must be able of understanding the value of informal learning situations, developing skills to promote events with strategic impact on key competences. It is 3

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not enough to promote cultural events: trainers, as scaffolders of generational dialogue are called to be aware of the educational impacts of their informal activities as a way to engage adults that are normally far from formal (University, Further training) and/or non-formal (training on the job) in lifelong learning trajectories.

problem of building caring environments and the role of Adults as Educators

Early childhood education (ECEC) and care as well as later children support with schooling system, should go in parallel to adult education. In fact, adults are not only caregivers, but also educators whose actions are plenty of consequences for the schooling system as well as future life, and lifelong learning decisions of the growing children. These assumptions emerge both from research and European policy priorities for EU strategic goals 2020. ECEC in Europe has been linked to efficiency and equity in education (Eurydice, 2009) being the mean towards socio-cultural inclusion and prevention of schools' drop-out. This is so not only because pre-primary education facilitates later learning, but also because a substantial body of evidence shows that, especially for disadvantaged children, it can produce large socioeconomic returns. For this reason, the Commission has identified pre-primary education as a priority theme for cooperation between Member States in 2009-10, in particular to promote generalised equitable access - COM (2008) 865 -. It is also to be highlighted that in most European countries (op.cit) there's a common conceptual division between care and education function, emphasizing the role of formal education, and showing less concern on other forms of education, seen as private. As it is possible to see, the adult plays an important role as bridge among between informal and formal learning in childhood, through early caregiving, as informal educational function that supports the children lifelong learning perspective. For example, the EURYDICE 2009 report on Integrating Immigrant Children into School Schools in Europe, point out that communication among school and parents, becomes crucial in supporting effective children engagement in school activities; very often the school has to tackle both the problem of integrating at risk kids and educating adults to understand their children's learning/social problem within the school. This vision is consistent with the importance of adult learning policy priorities in Europe -LLP 2011- where adults education approaches that emphasizes senior volunteering, senior citizen education and improvement of skills through family learning, are a key for a more inclusive society. In fact, as highlighted by European Councils of Stockholm (2001) and Barcelona (2002) Europe will pass through a demographical challenge in the upcoming decades, and the Commission wishes to turn this key issue into an opportunity, COM(2006) 571. The Green Paper Confronting demographic change: a new solidarity between the generations and the Commission's working document on ageing society [SEC(2008) 2911] as well as EU2020 and OMS recommendations, are all aimed to promote a social model that interweaves citizenship education and intergenerational learning, as commitment that strengthens the social and affective relation among senior citizens as volunteers and children. This entails a culture of awareness on rights and needs throughout life. Memory and recent history, and learning on social/technological innovations, are two faces of a same coin of reciprocity and learning to improve quality of life. With the 4

2- The

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2011 as Volunteers year and 2012 to be the European Year for Active Ageing , the context of action is complete.

2.1.

Why Creative Languages (CL)?

As stated before, intergenerational learning is an uncommon situation, that requires pedagogical innovation and crossing boundaries of practice (both personal and institutional). The key point is: how can we ensure IL? Which environments and languages better promote connections between generations? Creative languages, going beyond languages traditionally adopted in educational settings, could be an answer. The role of arts education in forming the competences for young people for life in the 21st century has been widely recognised at the European level. (Jan Figel, 2009, year of Creativity and Innovation in Europe); in adult education, art (from themed film and art to literary evenings, graffiti and performative social media like blogs or videorepositories with own texts/images) and games are used as focal point, as events/situations/objects that promote emotional engagement together with reflection on life values, relationships, identity. The kernel of effectiveness is the creative process, where emotional intelligence together with divergent cognitive processes are enacted. CL are hence powerful tools for facilitating dialogue with otherness (in this case, children). The key issue is the opportunity provided by CL of being together in non-traditional ways, sharing the creative activity with a feeling of play, exploring, trying, expressing. Furthermore, all these activity are now naturally mediated by technologies; in fact, theres an exponential development of accessibility and usability of the same via the phenomenon of Web 2.0 and particularly of social media, that causes the adoption of these new media for everyday life activities of searching for information, self-expression, social connections and support, all these dimensions connected to informal learning and hence, to the participation to lifelong learning pathways. As a consequence, the Creative Languages to be adopted during the project are mediated by technologies to support new literacies and empower dialogue and expression.

3- A.L.I.C.E.s
theoretical and methodological framework

strategy:

The ALICE project aims to work with parents, grandparents, volunteers and other adults interested to interact with children through new spaces of edutainment, to support them in discovering the importance of creative languages (art, storytelling and games) to build intergenerational understanding. It is considered that this learning process provide adults with competences to spend quality time with children, playing, telling and building stories through the use of several artistic languages, and with the help of digital technological tools. Adults will develop specific experience to better interact with children; whereas these last will benefit of better support in early informal learning processes. Specifically, parents (particularly immigrated adults) could benefit from being engaged in the social support networks enacted by the project, developing specific competences (i.e., digital literacy, parental role in the complex society, etc.), useful to reinforce social cohesion. Adults coming from institutions and 5

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particularly volunteers, will be provided with knowledge to give support to children in early informal learning, acquiring also specific technical competences and reinforcing transversal competences for lifelong learning (learning to learn, social and civic participation, digital competence). At the end of the project, major visibility of adult learning institutions could be improved, by dialoguing with schools and families throughout adult learning activities, as well as adults participation into the learning society. This methodology, proposed by the project ALICE, is hypothesized to generate a third space of learning, as zone of proximal development where intergenerational dialogue is effectively practiced, configuring a transversal, social dimension of key competences.

3.1.

Scaffolders of generational diversity : Building an Zone of Proximal Development for Intergenerational Learning

In the context of this project, a theoretical perspective will be adopted in order to characterize learning design, as the development of educational environments and tools for adults learning. This perspective should be transmitted to trainers, in order to give them a framework of practice and reflection. We could define intergenerational dialogue as a process of contact with otherness (generational differences constituting strong cultural and social diversity), that creates a conflict among participants. Adults values and beliefs are already consolidated though the cultural context they developed in, as individuals. Instead, kids values and beliefs are being formed through ongoing interactions, and the own need of being protagonists of change for their own cultural contexts of life, as human need of expression. For this intergenerational learning can have place, in a socio-constructivist approach, it seems necessary to adopt symbolic tools that work as means for interaction and dialogue, as the base of satisfactory exchanges that fulfill both children and adults needs, through a joint process of meaning making, of exploring and building new worlds. To understand this perspective, we can bring James Wertschs words: Instead of acting in a direct, unmediated way in the social and physical world, our contact with the world is indirect or mediated by signs ()Vygotskij harnessed a developmental, or genetic, method when analyzing mediation (). From this perspective, the inclusion of signs into human action does not simply lead to quantitative improvements in terms of speed or efficiency. Instead the focus is on how the inclusion of tools and signs leads to qualitative transformation(Wertsch, 2007:179) From this point of view, Creative Languages as tools, mediate intergenerational communication, leading to more than adaptive learning from children; in fact, it should conduct to creative and transformative processes were adult and childrens developmental perspectives are promoted, together with the construction of joint spaces of expression. To complete this idea, we should now introduce the notion of agency, as emerging concept in Vygotskijs developmental psychology, that indicates the need of expression of the self, through participation into the culture with productivity and transformation (Holland & Lachicotte, 2007; Sannino & Sutter, 2011). The adults need of agency, is represented as willingness of transmitting their own values and beliefs to the next generation, to shape the future giving continuity to the self; but this can enter in conflict with childrens agency as need 6

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of expressing the own creativity and identity- into the culture. Therefore, intergenerational learning is not immediate, even when theres strong interdependence between the children need of care- and the adult caregiver. To this regard, in a dialogical perspective, the adult must be supported in understanding his/her own identity as caregiver and educator, completing others self. Becoming aware of this implies a first important achievement in the sense that consolidates a part of the adults awareness on her/his own autobiography as child and younger (Demetrio, 2000; Cerchiaro&Zambianchi,2011) open to be modeled by the relation with the children/younger. Inspiring on the Vygotskian legacy, adults trainers should be prepared to configure spaces of learning through an interventionist methodology (Sannino & Sutter, 2011): this implies generating educational settings as experimental situations where tools enabling exchanges are adopted, ending in adults reflections on their role as educators and competences achieved to support children. An activity that entails, in the end, trainers reflection.

3.2.

The projects training: an integrated, European networked learning approach

In order to implement the above described approach, training of adults' trainers is envisaged as a necessary step among partners. In fact, training is envisaged as a device to promote the implementation of pedagogical innovations for adults learning. This pedagogical device is represented by the following key elements:
A space for reflection on intergenerational learning and the problems of the intergenerational dialogue within the own cultural context as well as toward an European context Development of specific knowledge and competences achievement to lead intergenerational learning processes through the introduction of Creative Languages, that are expression of projects partners expert knowledge: Art and Adults' creative interactions with Children Children's Literature and metaphors to enact intergenerational dialogue Digital Storytelling: intergenerational narratives Games and social media to promote intergenerational learning

Development of competences for Learning Design and implementation into the Local Communities: Producing Adult Learning Pilot programmes. Analyzing Adults informal Learning and participatory reflections on achieved competences.

The networked learning approach (through eLearning methodologies) help trainers to build the own professional knowledge in a collaborative, transnational environment. Interactions with content and experts of Creative Languages support the acquisition of competences necessary to implement the pedagogical model; whereas support given at local level help trainers to design specific adults learning events (as pilot programmes), as well as to implement a participatory assessment of learning impacts that are part of the interventionist approach. Consequently, trainers are conducted to understand the nature of mediation and the innovation on the adults pedagogical approach as interventionist method, through a process of transnational, networked learning. The transformational power of learning experiences is hence expressed as part of the role of the trainer: his/her shared reflections on the several contexts of practice highlight specificities and commonalities of an evolving professional practice for the European Lifelong Learning strategy. Figure 1 introduces this training structure. 7

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Figure 1 The Training of Trainers Structure

The projects coordinator, as University -educational expert-, will lead the process of integration of content management and learning design, as transnational eLearning course awarded with ECTS. The structure of this course will be blended: a First residential seminar, will launch the programme of activities, with first trainers' presentation -through active laboratories- as well as knowledge of virtual learning environment (VLE) as space to give continuity to European trainers' dialogue. In the following 6 month, every partner will introduce their expertise through a learning unit, to be delivered in about one month, through the VLE. Activities will embrace reading texts, watching videos, discussion forum and the progressive creation of adults' exemplar programmes, to be piloted in the local contexts. A following phase, coordinated by every projects partner include coaching at local level for the implementation of pedagogical innovations, that include informal learning situations mediated by Creative Languages, that conclude in a participatory reflections on achieved competences. This last activity of reflection will be hinted by discussions as well as mirrors of learning situation: the adults productions (i.e. blog posts, games, pictures, videos). Adults will be invited to selfevaluate the own learning and competences achievement through simple instruments proposed by trainers. A final phase of trainers exchanges of results about practices is envisaged as part of their own training.

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4- Towards the development of a

new pedagogical framework
As it was emphasized by Knowles (Knowles, Holton & Swanson, 2005) pedagogical learning and andragogical learning are different, considering the minimized role of the educator in the latter. In fact, an adult will decide to participate in a learning environment only if s/he feels that it is able of taking responsibility, if s/he understand the rationale of what is being proposed, and if s/he consider that the issue is worth to spend energy and time, because it is connected to a central part of the own life. Every adult can recognize the importance of becoming a good educator; however, many adults consider that the own experience as son/daughter, and children in general, is enough to accompany the own children learning experiences. The research background introduced in this training course project shows that there are many cases in which the own adult baggage of learning is not enough, and specific training could be of crucial help. Furthermore, it was assumed that the valorization of adults as educators could encompass a great potential for both adults and children key competences achievements. However, adequate models and practices need to be implemented, as part of educational innovations that make andragogical and pedagogical learning to share a same space of intervention. This claims for new professional profiles as adults educators: the role exceeds that of a teacher, trainer, educator or social animator. In fact, a new lifelong learning perspective will require of new professional skills and knowledges, particularly regarding the issue of mediating informal learning experiences where participants become aware of the own learning through participatory processes. This applies specifically to the case of participation to lifelong learning strategies, beyond formal and non-formal learning (in specialized institutions or on the job), of adults that are in situations of poverty, social risk, immigrants. Therefore, the project, through an interventionist method that builds on the socio-constructivist approach could bring new light to the new skills and pedagogical innovations required to help at least the 15% of adults participating to the lifelong learning, as it is the benchmark of the ET2020.

5- References
1. CERCHIARO, F. , ZAMBIANCHI, E. (2011) Ascolto e relazione educativa. Le azioni dell'Osservatorio Regionale Permanente del Veneto per prevenire il bullismo e il disagio scolastico. Padua: CLEUP. 2. DEMETRIO, D. (2000), Leducazione interiore. Introduzione alla pedagogia introspettiva. Milano: La Nuova Italia. 3. EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2005) Green Training course "Confronting demographic change: a new solidarity between the generations" retrive from http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_situation/responses/e459227_it.pdf , 17 September 2011 4. EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2006) The demographic future of Europe from challenge to opportunity, COM(2006) 571 retrieved from http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2006:0571:FIN:EN:PDF , 5 Dec 2011

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5. EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2008) An updated strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training, COM 2008/865/EC retrieved from http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2008:0865:FIN:EN:PDF , 5 Dec 2011 6. EUROPEAN COMMISSION (2008), COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Demography Report 2008: Meeting Social Needs in an Ageing Society, retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=709&langId=en 7. EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE (2006) Key competences for lifelong learning, COM 2006/962/EC retrieved from http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32006H0962:EN:NOT , 5 Dec 2011 8. EURYDICE (2009) Early Childhood Education and Care in Europe: Tackling Social and Cultural Inequalities Thematic Studies, Eurydice. Retrieved from http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/education/eurydice/documents/thematic_reports/098EN.pdf , 4 Nov 2011 9. HOLLAND, D. , LACHICOTTE, W. (2007) Vygotskij, Mead, and New Sociocultural Studies on Identity in The Cambridge Companion to Vygotskij, edited by Daniels, H., Cole, M., Wertsch, J. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 10. KNOWLES, M.; HOLTON, E.; SWANSON, R. A. (2005). The adult learner: The definitive classic in adult education and human resource development (6th ed.). Burlington, MA: Elsevier. 11. LOEWEN, J (1996) Intergenerational Learning: What If Schools Were Places Where Adults and Children Learned Together?, Research Report. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED404014.pdf , 5 Dec 2011 12. MILLER, R., SHAPIRO, H., HILDING HAMMAN, K. (2008), School's Over: Learning Spaces in Europe in 2020: An Imagining Exercise on the Future of Learning , Report for the European Commission, Institute for Prospective technological studies, EUR 23532 EN 2008 13. NEWMAN, S. (2008), Intergenerational Learning and the Contributions of Older People, Ageing Horizons, Issue No. 8, 3139 14. SANNINO, A., SUTTER, B. (2011), Cultural-historical activity theory and interventionist methdology: Classical legacy and contemporary developments, Theory&Psychology 21(5) 557-570 15. W ERTSCH, J. (2007) Mediation in The Cambridge Companion to Vygotskij, edited by

Daniels, H., Cole, M., Wertsch, J. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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