LLLP is partner in the two-year Erasmus+ KA2 project “ImproVal: Improving validation in the voluntary sector”, involving five partners from five European countries (Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia).
The project kicked-off in Helsinki, Finland on October 29-30th 2018 and aims to provide a synthesis of the work undertaken in the EU on the validation of volunteering experience. It will do so by bringing together the coordinators of a number of previous validation projects, making known the methods, tools and thinking behind validation of learning in the voluntary sector, in a validation compendium, conducting a small-scale study on the usefulness of validation for volunteers, and by encouraging a dialogue between relevant stakeholders locally, nationally and at European level.
The main virtue of voluntary work, that is not always recognised, it is a great non-formal and informal learning opportunity for the volunteer. The ImproVal project starts from the statement that competencies acquired through volunteering activities need to be better recognised in the society.
Indeed, the recognition and validation of non-formal and informal learning is highly relevant in the European educational area. This is widely acknowledged at EU level, for instance, in the 2012 Council Recommendation on the validation of non-formal and informal learning.
More and more people and organisations are becoming aware of the educational value of volunteering, and of validation opportunities for the voluntary sector. At the same time, no bridges between projects have been created, which includes the risk of reinventing the wheel on one side, and ‘’missing links’’ on the other side, e.g. in connecting the validation methods with the European Guidelines or the
European Qualification Framework for Validation and/or because some forms of volunteering would not be recognised.
ImproVal project partners have developed three main outputs:
Volunteering validation compendium: It is a synthesis of the tools and practices used in the voluntary sector to validate competences based on desk research and the results of partners’ previous project on validation. The compendium is available online here. It was presented in a webinar in June 2019.
Study on validation in volunteering: The study looked at the outcomes of the validation of volunteers’ competences. The data was be collected through an online questionnaire and interviews and resulted in an article published in a scientific journal. Have a look on this page.
Policy recommendations: Towards the end of the project, partners used the results of the two first outputs in order to provide recommendations for the European voluntary sector. They were finalised in June 2020.
Multiplier events: Multiplier events took place in Finland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Slovakia. The purpose of the events was to present the project results and to engage relevant national stakeholders in a dialogue about validation in the voluntary sector.
Coordinator: Sivis Study Centre, a nationwide non-formal adult education centre, whose mission is to foster citizens’ competences and promote active citizenship and voluntary work in cooperation with its members.
Partners: the University of Bamberg (Germany), Edos Foundation (Netherlands), Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations (Slovenia) and the Lifelong Learning Platform (EU).